Top Ten Novels of 2023

In which I muse about my favourite novels of 2023.
#topnovels #bestbooks #bestnovel #bestnovels #favouritebooks #fiction #booklover #booktube #bookreview #novel
Books discussed:
Thread Ripper by Amalie Smith
This Book Will Save Your Life by A M Holmes
Pet by Catherine Chidgey
Lanny by Max Porter
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

[@memejs87]

One of the many reasons I love this channel is because Louise talks about a lot of books that I don’t hear American podcasters and Booktubers talk about. Thank you Louise!

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Glad you enjoy it and find it interesting 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@johannaochbockerna]

In a video with Simon you said that you don't like to watch that much of BookTube because you don't want to be influenced too much and keep your taste and I really appreciate that. This was such an interesting to ten list and I was so happy to get new recommendations and not just the same often only new releases that I see spinning around on other channels. Here's to another fabulous reading year for you Louise and I'm looking forward to the videos you will share with us this year.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thank you and I wish you a very happy reading year too 🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@RovingReader]

Okay, Louise! We have a half day of a school tomorrow and then have Friday off and the whole next week off for Spring Break! I’m going to do a reading vlog where I try to read all the ones you mentioned in this video that I already own! 🎉🎉🎉

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Good luck!! And keep me posted 🤩🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚💙💙💙

[@hellobookworm]

Thank you for this wonderful list of books, Louise! Pet sounds so intriguing. I might have to check that one out. Completely agree with you on Lanny. I read it for the second time in 2023, and my appreciation for the book only grew; there's really nothing else quite like it. I loved The Bandit Queens and Demon Copperhead! How delightful that you're already reading a book you can't put down. I too feel like 2024 is going to be an exceptional reading year. 📚👀

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

I do hope so. It’s certainly started well 🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚💜💜💜

[@RovingReader]

School was canceled today where I live in Michigan as we had a snow day. I took myself out to lunch and just got home to see this video up. Can't even wait!!! I think all of these sound good but specifically added Pet, Lanny (which I picked up while in London last summer), Black Butterflies, and The Rain Heron to my list :) Thanks so much for sharing!

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed your snow day. Hope you enjoy the books 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚🙏

[@KendraWinchester]

Barbara Kingsolver! So happy to see an Appalachian author on your list. Sometimes it feels so wild to see my culture’s literature read across the world, but it makes me so happy to see it. Happy New Year!❤

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@CharlesHeathcote]

I've read a few of the books from your list and agree with your estimations - you described Demon Copperhead much more eloquently than I could hope to, and I like the idea of future readers looking back on Kingsolver's novels as classics. I very much appreciate hearing your thoughts on these titles and might keep what you've said in mind when looking for a future read.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thank you. So glad you enjoyed it. 🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚💜💜💜

[@antineah1889]

Thank you Louise for The Rain Heron, I read it this past weekend and loved it! Beautifully written and so compelling. Can’t wait to read his other books.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@antineah1889]

Thank you for another great list! I can’t wait to read Amalie Smith, sounds fascinating. Black Butterflies and Minor Detail are in my tbr pile. I bought The Rain Heron after you first spoke of it; I’m planning a course on dystopian literature next year and this sounds perfect. Kingsolver is one of my favourites, can’t wait to read Demon Copperhead! Enjoy Copenhagen. I’ve never forgotten the Resistance museum there.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thanks for the tip about the resistance museum 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@Sunshinysky432]

Hello Louise, I’ve been following you and Simon for a few years now and realized I have not given you any feedback. Thank~you for your awesome video book reviews. I have read so many, as well, added to my ridiculous TBR list thanks to your recommendations. Some I may not of chosen, or passed over had I not learned from you. And Simon!😊 Thank you and much gratitude for all the time you invest in sharing a variety of wonderful books!💕😊

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thanks so much for your kind words. Very much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏💙💙💙📚📚📚

[@thelefthandedreader6632]

what a great list, Louise. I’ve added some to my TBR. I couldn’t agree more about Demon Copperhead.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@cindyhaiken5644]

What a wonderful list! I can well imagine how difficult it was to whittle your favorites down to 10. And hooray for Kingsolver at #1! It was a treat to listen to you speak about these books with such warmth and enthusiasm. Here’s to another amazing reading year!

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thank you! You too! 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@jlmo3027]

Love seeing books that I have never seen before! A little treasure chest. Thank you for sharing your top. Oils of the year.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

You are so welcome! ‘Oils’ 🤣 Great typo 🤣🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚💜💜💜

[@karenmoore4430]

I picked up The Girl with the Louding Voice last week at Oxfam bookshop in Truro. I am beginning to love Nigerian literaturexx. I finished The Bandit Queens last week. Brilliant book.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

So glad you enjoyed Bandit Queens. 😊🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@readingwithavengeance]

Hi Louise! Pet, Black Butterflies, Bandit Queens & Demon! 🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@cecilialau_]

I like how seriously we take this. I really mean that (I realise it sounds like I’m being sarcastic). I guess it’s bc it can say a lot about us as ppl and individuals. I just find it very fascinating to be curious about our own and others’ reading habits and interests. Also in terms of what we reach for; if we read to explore other cultures and other ppl’s realities as well as understanding ourselves more and various emotions and perspectives. I went on a bit of a tangent there… 😅 Very intriguing to hear of the impact these books had on you this year. -I hope you have a wonderful time in Copenhagen, Louise! 💕

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thanks so much for your reflection - I’m equally fascinated by the hold these decisions have on us. My choices felt really important 💜💜💜📚📚📚🙏🙏🙏

[@martasoltys9091]

You might like THE 100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED. I like stories about some elderly people especially when the younger generation tries to put them in a certain place (a home, a spare room no one visits, an apt they never visit, another state completely) and then they rebel in their own way. Of all the books you mentioned number 10 seems to speak to me the most just b/c I do believe the obsession with money is not as strong as it has been in the previous decades. Maybe I'm wrong but there are a lot of people who sort of make a lot of money and then they either 1. waste it, or realize they've wasted some of the best moments of their lives and must come to some sort of an acceptance. PET also looks good. I can't buy too many more books.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. Much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚💜💜💜

[@martasoltys9091]

@@louisesavidgemuses4135 Thanks for recommending PET. I have been in a bit of a reading slump; nothing seems to be grabbing my attention even though I bought some wonderful books, which I'd have loved at a different time. It kind of just grabbed me from the very start. Waiting on the donut book. Also looking forward to that one.

[@dailyy3]

minor detail omg i love thattt

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@janepeacock3704]

Hi Louise 👋🏻 your top 10 books for 2023 are my kind of books 👍🤓 (I’ve only read 3 ….. so far!!) I had such a good reading year in 2023 📚👏🏻 Demon Copperhead is ‘up there’, as is Black Butterflies; along with Prophet Song, The Bee Sting, Trespasses, A Spell of Good Things, to name just a few. Roll on our reading this year 🤗 TC xx

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Roll on indeed. Wishing you lots of happy reading in 2024 👍🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@janepeacock3704]

Thank you 🤓📚🙏🏻💚❤️💙📚

[@susprime7018]

I loved The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare and I too liked the chapter headings using country statistics. I bought The Rain Heron.😊

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

So hope you enjoy it 👍💜💜💜📚📚📚❤️❤️❤️

[@RovingReader]

This month I’ve read and loved Thin Air and Pet so I’ve officially decided that I need to just read what you tell the people to read 😂

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

😂😂😂😂 So glad you enjoy my recommendations 🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚💙💙💙

[@anitahayne8621]

Some of my favorites from last year: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, Wonder by Emma Donahue, Rodman by Curtis Sittenfeld, Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, and Through a Glass Darkly by Kathleen Koen, A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George, and Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Some great reads there 🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@jaysfarrell]

Great top 10 - I’ve added a few. As an ex teacher you may want to read The Small Hours by Susie Boyt. I think you’d really enjoy it.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

I'll check it out! Thank you 🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@mradcaqbdb]

An excellent top 10, Louise! I adored Black Butterflies and was completely broken by Minor Detail when I read it a couple of years ago. I definitely want to read The Bandit Queens now. I’ve been wondering over by all the love for it. My top 10: A Little Luck - Claudia Pineiro Clytemnestra - Costanza Casati Address Unknown - Kathrine Kressmann Taylor Black Butterflies - Priscilla Morris Wandering Souls - Cecile Pin The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels - Janice Hallett Trespasses - Louise Kennedy Grave Expectations - Alice Bell None of This is True - Lisa Jewell A Murder in the Family - Cara Hunter

[@memejs87]

Oh I just loved Clytemnestra! I thought it would be my top read of 2023, but it got pushed down to #3 behind Demon Copperhead and another Greek myth retelling, Medusa’s Sisters by Lauren J.A. Bear

[@mradcaqbdb]

@@memejs87 Demon Copperhead is not for me, but I am very glad to hear you enjoyed Medusa’s Sisters! I’ve had it out from the library once (but didn’t get to it) and in my hands at bookshops but keep putting it back. I’ll take another look at it.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Really interesting list. I haven’t got to Clytemnestra yet, keep putting it off because Aeschylus’ Agamemnon is one of my favourite Greek dramas and I have my own Clytemnestra so firmly lodged in my head. Thanks for reminding me about Address Unknown - such an exquisite book. Happy reading 😊💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@barbaralemon4170]

My favorites of 2023 are The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Geoff, We Spread by Iain Reid, and Washington Black by Esi Edugyan.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Loved Washington Black. Haven’t read the other two 🤔💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@Penny-ws4mz]

I can only think of one thing worse than having to leave out fantastic books from a top ten list - not have enough great reads from a year of reading to include on a top ten list 😆Demon Copperhead is on my TBR, love that it has inspiration from Dickens. Happy reading 2024!

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Happy reading to you too 🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

I made a list of 24 books I wanted to read in 2024. Books like Bandit Queens & Pet were on that list. Then I started watch booktubers best of 2023. The list now stands at 47. My best book of 2023 Deluge by Stephen Markley 🍀👋☘️🤗📖🇮🇪📕☕️📚

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Ooo. I haven’t come across Deluge. Will look it out 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@hellobookworm]

Ooh, I spotted Deluge on Leoslittlebooklife's top reads of 2023. That book sounds fascinating.

[@lizziebennet2700]

I loved 'Demon Copperhead' too (more than 'David Copperfield'!). It was so compelling. I kept waiting and hoping for things to get better for Demon but...nope. My other favourites included 'Stone Blind' and 'Into The Silence' (about the first Everest attempt).

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Stone Blind would have made my top twenty and I must look up the Everest book 💜💜💜📚📚📚🙏🙏🙏

[@janebowell3985]

🎉 The Bandit Queens 🎉 Demon Copperhead for me thank you Louise

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

My pleasure 😇 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@janiceallan2981]

Hi Louise Have you ever considered running an online bookgroup? Thank you. Love your channel!

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Yes I have and maybe on the way! Think I’d love it, so thanks for the encouragement 🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@janiceallan2981]

@@louisesavidgemuses4135 brilliant! Thank you xx

[@ralphharris6374]

Hi Louise, Did you read In-memoriam by Alice Winn last year? I’ve just finished it and it was wonderful. I did read Demon but through audible and I’m not sure if it lost some of its political punch by listening rather than reading. I’m just about to start the Vegetarian. Lovely video more books for the TBR x

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

I haven’t read In Memoriam yet but have been hearing some very positive things about it. Happy reading for 2024 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@ralphharris6374]

@@louisesavidgemuses4135 I think it’ll be just up your street. Historical fiction with a love story written exceptionally well. I couldn’t put it down x

[@GuroFlemmen]

I read A Minor Detail a little over a year ago for the Storygraph Reads the World 2022. I love that challenge. I've read so many books I'd otherwise not know about. I usually search for "contemporary author _country_", and that's how I found this book for Palestine. Barbara Kingsolver is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I just finished her previous one, Unsheltered, and I loved it. Demon Copperhead was one of my favourite books from last year too. And now I want to read the Rain Heron.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Love the idea of Read the World. Didn’t know about it so must investigate. Thank you 🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜📚📚📚

[@GuroFlemmen]

@@louisesavidgemuses4135 This year's countries are Chile, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Lebanon, Poland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Venezuela. I'm very excited.

[@MJ-in-Canada]

Happy New Year, Louise! Is that a John Cooper Clarke book on your trolley? I meant to read his autobiography, ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ but it’s disappeared from the eBooks section of my library for reasons unknown.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

It is indeed 👍😃Love him 💜💜💜📚📚📚🙏🙏🙏

[@ryanand154]

John Cooper Clarke is not available in my local Heather’s Books.

[@enidlacob1157]

Yay I have been waiting for this. What a difficult decision I too loved This book will save your life Pet was a real treat I felt it didn’t get enough praise. Demon Copperhead wasn’t a favourite but I know I am in a minority. I loved The Bee Sting by Paul Murray and am just about to start The vaster Wilds by Lauren Goff. should I try Demon Copperhead again ?

[@Georgesmomsu]

I ended up listening to Demon Copperhead and it was fantastic. Had a hard time with the physical book.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

No. There are so many books out there. Don’t put yourself under any obligation to read something that isn’t working for you 💜💜💜📚📚📚🙏🙏🙏

[@leeh4343]

I just put Minor Detail down - I read about 50 pages - I just don’t think I can do it. Could I ask, do you think you need to read David Copperfield before Demon Copperhead? Barbara Kingsolver is one of my fave authors but I have put off reading this because of the Dickens connection. Thanks 😊

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Absolutely no need to have read David Copperfield at all. Happy reading 💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@karenmiddlebrook5069]

I'm partway through Demon Copperhead and didn't expect the humour in the writing, given that it's about some pretty awful things 😂 am listening on audio, and enjoying it so much that I'm rationing it out. I'm relieved as The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all time favourite books but I so disliked The Lacuna.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Oh gosh, I know that rationing out feeling so well! 🤣💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@mandywendell1980]

I know where you live, you had Spag Bol last night, the meatballs were well done. The basil was exactly 2.3 inches long. I put semame oil into it.

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

😂😂😂

[@teneshaanderson4761]

This book will save your life is awful

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

Sorry you didn’t enjoy it.

[@spexi513]

Loved Girl With The Louding Voice, really liked Pet & Bandit Queens, Demon Copperhead was my favorite book of the year ( a tie w Vaster Wilds perhaps depending on the day ) and Lanny added to TBR 📖🪱💚

[@louisesavidgemuses4135]

💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏📚📚📚

[@hellobookworm]

So many great books! Sounds like you had an extraordinary reading year.

[@spexi513]

Read Pet bc of youuuuu ma so Ty for that I meant to say