The New York Times shares top 10 books of the year for 2023
According to The New York Times, the top 10 books of the year for 2023 are as follows:
1. “The Bee Sting” – Paul Murray
Murray makes a magnificent return with a tragicomic tale of an Irish family struggling with crises. The novel focuses on the wealthy Barnes family’s decline after the 2008 financial crisis. Amidst family troubles such as old secrets, blackmail, the death of a past love, seemingly friendly enemies, online pen pals, and more, the novel brings together the increasingly isolated Barnes family’s stories, offering hope rather than disappointment.
2. “Chain-Gang All-Stars” – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Adjei-Brenyah, known for his story collection “Friday Black” in 2018, narrates the story of death row inmates engaging in a televised duel for freedom in his debut novel. In the heart of the heartbreaking love story between two rivals forced to choose between each other and freedom, the fight scenes are so well-written that they reveal how easily one can accept such a diseased world.
3. “Eastbound” – Maylis de Kerangal
Originally published in France in 2012 and newly translated by Jessica Moore, De Kerangal’s short lyrical novel follows Alyosha, a Russian soldier on the Trans-Siberian train filled with soldiers. The atmosphere is bleak and harsh. After a fight, Alyosha, disturbed, decides to escape and forms a peculiar partnership with a French woman.
4. “The Fraud” – Zadie Smith
Set in the 19th century, the book tells the story of a criminal trial where a servant is judged in place of a nobleman, showcasing the splendor of both London and rural England. One main character is a Scottish servant following the case, while the other is a Jamaican former slave servant giving testimony in favor of the plaintiff. Smith also explores the literary culture of the era.
5. “North Woods” – Daniel Mason
Mason’s ambitious novel takes the reader to the door of a remote house in western Massachusetts, keeping them there for 300 years and 400 pages. Through pages filled with letters, poems, song lyrics, diaries, health reports, real estate ads, botanical illustrations, and ephemera, we learn about the lives of the residents from the colonial era to the present. An apple orchard owner, an advocate for the abolition of slavery, a wealthy factory owner, a pair of insects, a landscape painter, and a ghost intersect with each other and with nature in the same adventure.
6. “The Best Minds” – Jonathan Rosen
Rosen recounts his friendship with “Michael Laudor,” who first gained fame at Yale Law School for changing the view of schizophrenia. Laudor later killed his pregnant girlfriend with a bread knife and was committed to a maximum-security psychiatric clinic. The text questions the fine line between madness and genius and society’s ethical responsibilities, created from newspaper clippings, court and police records, legal and medical documents, interviews, and Laudor’s own writings.
7. “Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs” – Kerry Howley
Howley delves into the workings of the national security institution. At the center of the events is a woman named ‘Reality Winner,’ sentenced to 63 months in prison under the Espionage Act. The research on privacy and digital surveillance extends to conspiracy theorists and those who claim Trump is fighting the deep state. Ultimately, a darkly humorous and unclassifiable text emerges.
8. “Fire Weather” – John Vaillant
In 2016, Fort McMurray in the Alberta province of Canada was reduced to ashes by fires. Vaillant narrates how the event started and grew, detailing the factors that brought about the damage and disaster. We meet firefighters, oil workers, meteorologists, and insurance experts.
9. “Master Slave Husband Wife” – Ilyon Woo
Ellen and William Craft, a slave couple living in Georgia in 1848, decide to escape to the north by disguising themselves as a plantation owner and a male slave. The incident, hailed by an American anti-slavery activist as ‘one of the most exciting stories in the country’s history,’ enriches Woo’s detailed style.
10. “Some People Need Killing” – Patricia Evangelista
The book narrates extrajudicial killings that occurred in the Philippines during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte from 2016 to 2022. Evangelista, who worked as a reporter during those days, sheds light on the country’s history with her truth-seeking language.
