BOOK REVIEWS

The Best Books I Read in 2023

Note: that’s best books read but not necessarily written in 2023

Some of the books I read in 2023. Photo by author

I read 42 books in 2023. I challenged myself to read 40 books so I’m happy to make it slightly over target.

These are the books I loved most in 2023. They’re not new releases, just books I read during the year. Titles are listed in alphabetical order so I don’t play favourites with my favourites.

The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi

I love family sagas and The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem doesn’t disappoint. It’s the story of a Sephardi family living in Jerusalem during the first half of the 20th century, mostly pre-1948.

The plot centres around Luna, who is beautiful, tempestuous and cold to her daughter, Gabriela, the book’s narrator.

I read The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem because I was interested in Israeli history, but it was the family story that wound up captivating me.

There’s also a Netflix series of the same name. I enjoyed that too but found it discombobulating because they changed around the characters and timelines a lot. You pretty much need to approach the book and series as two separate texts.