10 Best English Language Books 2023

#bestbooks #topbooks
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[@ChemicalPenguinn]

You always recommend such interesting books, so I'm curious to see what's going to be on this list!

[@pepperoni4045]

I have to say you're the most articulate booktuber I've followed.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thank you so much! I really do strive for that :)

[@paulaallison9239]

So pleased to find someone who has been so affected by In Ascension as I was, and still am. I went to listen to Martin MacInnes at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August. A wonderful conversation by an unassuming guy. You will like him when you get to see him.

[@bobbykeniston7240]

I have to thank you for introducing me to "In Ascension". I had to order it from the UK, but it was worth the wait. Probably my favorite of the year as well. Another booktube channel, the Lonesome Reader, also loves it and had an interview with Martin MacInness when he made the longlist for the Booker. It was nice to listen to him. He was very thoughtful, humble, and down to Earth, but also, obviously, very intelligent. He seems kind.

[@jaimee-kate]

Ok WOW -- I just discovered your channel and now I come on here and see that THREE books you have in this top 10 are also some of my highest rated books of 2023?! (Looking Glass Sound, Penance, Chain Gang All Stars) ((Vaster Wilds is on my TBR)) 🤩omg I love finding new BookTubers with similar reading taste to me!

[@vortexvibes5944]

😏 I see what you're doing here... Subbed ❤

[@jaimee-kate]

@@vortexvibes5944 Haha I appreciate you! But seriously I'm so happy to have found your channel!

[@jisooc1042]

if you liked Penance, I think you'll also like Biography of X by Catherine Lacey! it has a similar metafictional conceit, framed as a biography of an enigmatic artist written by her widow. Lacey interlaces a fictional, alternate-history late-1900s US setting with real artists and art movements that the artist was a part of. it's really a huge feat of imagination and research, and it makes you think about how we revere and mythologize artists.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I was so tempted to get that! Thanks for reminding me :)

[@MB-hc9tk]

I downloaded Patreon recently but I haven’t looked into it yet, once I do , yours will be the first channel I support through it for sure , I’ve seen an interview with Martin Mcinnes on KZbin recently and he seems to be a very interesting and lovely person. And i think he’s been giving talks on his book around Scotland so definitely keep an eye out.❤

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thank you so much 💜

[@tirarosaurioreads]

I think it was clear what number 1 was gonna be. I bought it thanks to you and I would like to read it January next year :) I hope I dont struggle with vocabulary - I'm not an English native speaker!

[@barbaraellison1095]

I hope In Ascension gets a recorded version soon.

[@lisacole6037]

I haven't read any of the books on your list, but I have In Ascension and would also like to read the Groff book and North Woods. As always, you have an interesting list of favourites. I'm sure everyone has already said this, but your kitten is absolutely adorable. 😀😀

[@meghans5119]

i love hearing you talk about books you love!!! it’s so comforting

[@sambell2743]

What a great list of books and loved how you talked about them❤

[@badfaith4u]

I stayed up all night to finish Yellowface because I was hooked. Loved Babel also.

[@natkass4779]

I found your channel today and I’m loving it! I’d really like it if you had super in depth discussion about books, like lapvona or earthlings with spoilers in it.

[@cosyreadingtimes8857]

So many new books for my TBR, thank you. Also loads of love for Chain-Gang All-Stars, my 6th favourite book of 2023, and Yellowface as well (now I know, why you didn't yet mention Kuang in your essential fantasy video).

[@angelamccollister]

I just recently found your channel so i hadn't heard of In Ascension. I added it to my priority reads list. Thanks.

[@PortiidDreams]

Thanks for all the great recommendations and for all your great content. That cat is amazing.

[@vacantlots]

My book of the year too. Totally agree.

[@rachel1021]

I just noticed that The Glutton is in the library catalog, so I'll be reading that whenever it's ready to pick up at the library. 😊 The majority of my favorite 2023 releases are indie books lol

[@Ali94749]

Great video as always. A chuck tingle joke book was given out at a secret santa I was at recently. I didn't realise he also writes novels 😂

[@GuroFlemmen]

I'm currently reading In Ascension. 65% in. I love it!

[@womenwotreads]

I have seen some of these reviewed elsewhere and not always favourably but I know I can always trust your reviews. You have never disappointed me yet. So my tbr swells again. Bring on 2024 🙂

[@EnbyReads]

Will definitely be doing a video reading some of your top books in this list as we have so many favorites in common this year including Camp Demascus, Chain-Gang All-Stars and Brainwyrms (although not included in this list). Always looking forward to your videos, you are so good at reviewing books!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thanks so much! Brainwyrms didn’t quite make the cut, and I was also aware of horror dominating the list as well

[@ReinReads]

Found you from your Entering My SciFi Era video. Then followed on to this one & subscribed. Camp Damascus sounds fascinating. Only similar in title but from the two videos I’ve seen so far i’d like to recommend Camp Concentration to you. Thomas Disch’s SciFi & horror are well worth exploring

[@vortexvibes5944]

Homework over Christmas break: This!

[@dreamwind55]

I loved "In Ascension" and I can't understand how the Booker Man jury skipped it. I hope for a Nebula or a Hugo award at least. You make me want to read all the other books you talked about. Maybe if I cancel Christmas and stay in bed reading, I might be able to...

[@the_eerie_faerie_tales]

well I was going to go to bed but guess that can wait 25 minutes 😄

[@lenareis8946]

whenever mary wollstonecraft (the cat) is in the video brings me instant joy! 3:22

[@osonhodeleon]

A great selection of books. Congratulations.

[@isaaczurich9272]

As always, great list! One of my favourite English-language publications from this year, and one that I think would really appeal to you and your audience, is Drinking From Graveyard Wells: Stories by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Oh thanks! What an amazing title!!

[@spexi513]

Loved Babel! Have yet to read Yellowface, but I eventually will . 📖🪱💚

[@spexi513]

Really liked Chain Gang Allstars & loved Vaster Wilds . 📖🪱💚

[@SM-vr8dz]

You have me really wanting to read Camp Damascus. I did not like Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s short story collection, so I won’t be getting to his novel, but you make it sound great.

[@ipshitajee]

Awwwwwwww your cat is so CUTEEE

[@TheKickasskatie]

I just got vaster wilds and camp damascus at the library!!! So psyched. Also, i cant believe you didnt like poppy wars! Its one of my favorite trilogies. Everything you loved in yellowface is there in fantasy form

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I might like it more if I ever go back to it :)

[@ElleryArden]

I didn’t hear anything you said during the time the kitten was on screen, so I had to back up and re-watch! 😂

[@readingfuriously]

Will you do a short story one as well?

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I haven’t read enough to warrant it, I don’t think. But it would be a fun project for next year :)

[@sotelovillagrandianaitzel5704]

Chain Gang All Stars sounds AMAZING plus all the time you were talking about it I couldn't stop thinking about one of my favorite comics: Bitch plantet, it's a sci fi comic in which women who don't fit the patriarchal world on Earth are sent to a prision on another planet called Bitch Planet

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Bitch Planet is fantastic! Kelly-Sue DeKonnick is goated

[@chriscze6153]

no spoilers for anyone reading the comments but I was wondering where your #1 book was - I had assumed it would be in the translated books of 2023 but it was apparently written in English. I only read one book in this list, Camp Damascus, which wasn't really my cup of tea, but you've definitely hooked me on The Vaster Wilds, Penance, and Looking Glass Sound, and your #1 book. Thanks as always for a brilliant video!

[@gojos.1stan]

please read "heaven official's blessing" it's a chinese novel it's very queer coded if you loved "the song of Achilles" you'll thank me for recommending this

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Didn’t vibe with it but I might try it again one day

[@gojos.1stan]

@@WillowTalksBooks OMG! thnkyu for even reading my comment it's okay every1 has their own preference

[@sleepiestgf]

i recommend devil house by john darnielle if you like penance. i hate to say it but penance really disappointed me and i ended up dnfing it. i personally think devil house does a very similar thing but leagues better, so i would be really interested in hearing them compared by someone who liked penance! devil house is much more steeped in 90s suburban california than 00's small town england, and it is fictional true-crime author is much less of a piece of shit. its also much more sympathetic to like...literally everyone in the story, including the victims and murderers. the ending fell a little flat for me, but that might be because i listened to it (read brilliantly by the author) and was not paying close enough attention. maybe penance turns around shortly after where i stopped (i think about halfway through violet's story? or just a bit into jayde's?) but i was over halfway through the book and just sick of reading intentionally bad journalism for 100 pages. it has some pacing issues, basically. it needed either something to break up the monotony or some more clear forshadowing for what the fictional author was hiding. anyway i'm glad you liked it so mcuh! i really wanted to love it so im glad it at least worked for someone.

[@the_eerie_faerie_tales]

hold on, did you say steeped in 90s suburban California... 🌳🏠🌳 🏃💨💨 added to my TBR because I need that nostalgia! 😄

[@Ali94749]

Was Everything the Darkenss Eats close to making the list?

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yes, and Boys in the Valley. Both great horror novels. But I wanted the list to have a nice mix of books so I just included my favourite horror novel: Camp Damascus :)

[@florinn5332]

Im sorry but I dont think that Alice Winn understands what it meant to be gay a century ago and Im starting to think that people forgot the harsh realities of that time if so many people are willing to accept such an unrealistic novel. Think what Alan Turing had to deal with after second world war and this novel is supposed to happen 30 years earlier.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I completely see what you mean, but I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoy the queer utopia of Schitt’s Creek. It’s not accurate, but as a queer person I witness enough pain as it is

[@dcdszgage2125]

I thought the same thing watching Bridgerton. It took me several episodes to realize we were not going to get into race within the characters plots. It was refreshing. Like how David and Patrick inspire relationship goals in both the gay and straight relationships. I like to recommend the book The House in the Cerulean Sea for a gentle read on big issues. But if you want a gay history reality check in fiction then pick up My Policeman or The Miniaturist. But keep the Kleenex close.

[@florinn5332]

@@WillowTalksBooks it would have been nice if the author presented this as an utopia.

[@florinn5332]

@@dcdszgage2125 I dont see In memoriam as something similar to Bridgerton. Bridgerton is genre fiction made for fun. In memoriam was always presented as a serious book with serious themes and it was in consideration for a lot of literary prizes. Its another type of novel.

[@venuswilliamsinfurs]

B&B you should read Big Swiss by Jen Beagin! Really funny / gross(ish) woman trope.