The Book Club Review
Best Books of 2023 • Episode #154
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Episode notes
It's our 2023 review of the year. Join me (Kate), Laura and Phil as we look back over our favourites, from new releases to backlist gems. Find out our overall book of the year, plus the books we're looking forward to in 2024. If you're wondering what to read next, this is the show for you, with over fifty tried and tested recommendations.
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Find full shownotes and a transcript on our website thebookclubreview.co.uk
Book list
Favourite New Release
August Blue by Deborah Levy
The Rainbow by Yasunari Kawabata, and we also discussed Snow Country
Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan
Favourite backlist title
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Charlotte by David Foenkinos
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd
Favourite non-fiction
This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes
A House of Air (collected writing, ed. Hermione Lee) by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
How to Talk About Books you Haven’t Read by Piere Bayard
Carmageddon by Daniel Knowles
Free by Lea Ypi
Favourite Book Club Read
Super Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell
The Years by Annie Ernaux
Favourite comfort reads
Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe
The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 191/2 Front Gardens by Ben Dark
Once Upon a Tome by Oliver Darkshire
Madensky Square by Iva Ibbotson
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell
Going Zero by Anthony McCarten
Most disappointed by
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (but do read Sabrina and Corina)
Patreon recommends
Loot by Tania James
Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen
Cider House Rules by John Irving
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
The Axman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey
Not Now Not Ever by Julia Gillard
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase
Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham
The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
Machines Like Me by Ian McKewan
Death and the Penguin by Andrei Kurkov
The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting
Overall Book(s) of 2023
Septology by Jon Fosse (and we mentioned Morning and Evening)
Stay True by Hua Hsu
How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Monsters by Claire Dederer
Books we’re looking forward to
Arturo’s Island by Elsa Moranti
Rememberance of Things Past by Proust (vol. 3)
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
Tremor by Teju Cole
The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut