--- title: "Best books of 2023 — a smorgasbord to tickle every literary tastebud" description: "The team at The Reading List has gathered a selection of the best books of 2023 (plus a preview of what’s coming in 2024). Whether you’re looking for stocking-stuffers, holiday hardbacks or dazzling audiobooks, dig in." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WRIT LARGE" author: "The Reading List" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/the-reading-list/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-12-20-best-books-of-2023-a-smorgasbord-to-tickle-every-literary-tastebud/" published: "2023-12-20T10:52:41" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 1265 --- # Best books of 2023 — a smorgasbord to tickle every literary tastebud > The team at The Reading List has gathered a selection of the best books of 2023 (plus a preview of what’s coming in 2024). Whether you’re looking for stocking-stuffers, holiday hardbacks or dazzling audiobooks, dig in. By The Reading List · Published 20 December 2023, 12:52 SAST ## Key points - From Booker Prize-winners to Nobel laureates, the best of 2023's books have something for everyone, whether it's a powerful South African coming-of-age story, a lyrical journey into past and present, an exposé of the human rights abuses within Congo’s cobalt mines, or a surreal speculative novel - and don't forget to dial into some of the best audiobooks! - Tan Twan Eng's novel 'The House of Doors' is our book of the year, set in 1920s colonial Malaya with a cameo for the Karoo. - South African non-fiction includes Justin Fox's Place, Micki Pistorius' Catch Me a Killer and Ray Hartley, Greg Mills and Mills Soko's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. - Don't miss the Booker Prize winner Prophet Song by Paul Lynch and Nobel Prize winner Aliss at the Fire by Jon Fosse. - Best audiobooks include Misbelief by Dan Ariely read by Simon Jones, Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah read by an ensemble cast and Tom Lake by Ann Patchett read by Meryl Streep. ## Content #### **Book of the Year** The House of Doors*by Tan Twan Eng* Our book of the year is by Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng, who counts Cape Town as one of his homes. His new novel has attracted dozens of glowing reviews. Set in 1920s colonial Malaya, with a cameo for the Karoo, the book features a fictionalised W Somerset Maugham and a scandalous murder trial. **Non-fiction: Heavy-hitting, shocking and considered, these are the year’s instant non-fiction ­classics** *Some People Need Killing* by Patricia Evangelista is a powerful record of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs. It covers the extrajudicial killings stealthily carried out by pro-Duterte hit squads and vigilantes. ![Book cover of 'Some People Need Killing' by Patricia Evangelist. (Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/MsA4nhYafZK0ajTX773G8EXsdh0=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Smorgbord-of-books-2.jpg) *(Photo: Supplied)* *Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives*by Siddharth Kara is billed as an exposé of the human rights abuses within Congo’s cobalt mines – although Kara has been criticised for his “colonial mindset”. A primer on the horrors and exploitation of the industry. *Fair Play* by Katie Barnes offers a nuanced and compassionate consideration of how to maintain fairness in sport in the context of trans and intersex athletes. Barnes, who identifies as nonbinary, delves into the science, the personal and the ­politics. *Normal Women* by Philippa Gregory, the Queen of Historical Fiction, who turns her hand to historical fact, chronicling the disregarded, neglected and miswritten women of British history, from 1066 to the present. **South African non-fiction: The engine of South African publishing never disappoints** *Place* by Justin Fox. Possibly the top gift book of the season, in which Fox sets off to explore the landscapes of his favourite authors, from the Cape interior (Deneys Reitz) to the bushveld (Eugène Marais) and the Wild Coast (Zakes Mda) to the Cederberg (Stephen Watson) – and more. ![Book cover of 'Place' by Justin Fox. (Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/EPXM-9SfE48Mg6g_yBuNQhcnwsk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Smorgbord-of-books-3.jpg) *(Photo: Supplied)* *Catch Me a Killer* by Micki Pistorius. Soon to be a major TV series, the book dives into the sphere of criminal profiling with trailblazing psychologist Micki Pistorius. Not for the faint of heart. *The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly* by Ray Hartley, Greg Mills, Mills Soko. The bad news: South Africa is facing an extraordinary “polycrisis”. The good news: leaders in business and politics have workshopped the scenarios that could save us. All we need is the will to make difficult choices. *I Write the Yawning Void* by Sindiwe Magona, edited by Renée Schatteman. Magona, an author of pre-eminence across genres, turned 80 this year. These essays span the transition from apartheid to the post-apartheid period, and address themes such as HIV/Aids, culture, home and belonging. *Finding Endurance* by Darrel Bristow-Bovey. The author has a deeply personal relationship with the story of Endurance and in this lyrical journey into past and present, above and below the Antarctic ice, he revisits the famous ship’s story. **2023 prize winners: The books that took the Big Ones** Don’t skip*Prophet Song* by Paul Lynch, the winner of the Booker Prize, aka “the best novel written in English” this year. ![(Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/QVf1hg_AdPhdlyCs_2BiYQwnTmk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Smorgbord-of-books-5.jpg) *(Photo: Supplied)* Scoop up the Sunday Times Literary Awards winners: *My Land Obsession: A Memoir* by Bulelwa Mabasa (non-fiction) and *How to Be a Revolutionary* by CA Davids (fiction). Take on *Aliss at the Fire*, by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Jon Fosse. Don’t miss the winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize – oh, you haven’t heard of it? Well, it was just our excuse to include this debut detective novel from the world’s best absurdist comedian: *The Satsuma Complex* by Bob Mortimer. Finally, The Book Lounge’s Book of the Year, though not a formal prize, makes for a read all literary tastemakers should heed. They chose a “powerful South African coming-of-age story”, *A Soft Landing* by Wisani Mushwana. **Best audiobooks of 2023: Dial into these reads** *Misbelief* by Dan Ariely, read by acclaimed actor Simon Jones. An ear-opening exploration of the human side of the misinformation crisis. *Chain Gang All Stars* by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, read by Shayna Small, Aaron Goodson, Michael Crouch and Lee Osorio. Audiobooks with an ensemble cast are an acquired taste, but these readers pull it off emphatically. *Tom Lake* by Ann Patchett, read by Meryl Streep. A hopeful and moving novel, made even more so by Streep’s virtuoso delivery. *Making It So* by Patrick Stewart, read by the author. A fascinating read elevated further by Stewart’s performance. **Fiction: Because TV’s becoming boring and Instagram Reels are bad for your eyes** *The Fraud* by Zadie Smith brings 1860s London alive. It tells the tale of the bizarre trial of a cockney-born Australian butcher who claims to be the heir to a fortune. ![Book cover of 'The Fraud' by Zadie Smith. (Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/gMShm3kE38eZAf0Pj79lyXlkhS8=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Smordbord-of-books-1.jpg) *(Photo: Supplied)* *Bridge* by Lauren Beukes is a surreal new speculative novel, in which a grieving daughter’s quest to find her mother becomes a journey across parallel universes. Tight as a drum, and set at a page-turning pace. *The Bee Sting* by Paul Murray is an addictive 650-page Irish family saga set after the 2008 financial crash: You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll make excuses to stay in and read. *The Bitterness of Olives* by Andrew Brown, who takes his signature literary detective storytelling to Tel Aviv, where a retired Israeli detective and a Palestinian doctor are reeling from a crisis that has jeopardised their delicate friendship. *The Future* by Naomi Alderman, which unfolds at a breakneck speed. A handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from tech giants’ greed. **Cookery: Life’s too short for a summer body. Bake and braise your way into the new year** *Now & Then: A Collection of Recipes for Always* by Tessa Kiros is part memoir, part recipe book from London-born Kiros, who grew up in South Africa. With influences from her Tuscan home, her SA childhood, and her time in Mexico, New Orleans, Thailand and Greece. ![(Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/d_7yeXQkPxKp9_4cd0eANqrylno=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Smorgbord-of-books-4.jpg) *(Photo: Supplied)* *Sweet Salone* by Maria Bradford offers a culinary journey to Sierra Leone. Inspired by her grandmother’s cooking, Bradford introduces the world to her country’s diverse and rich food culture. *Clever Cooking* by Vickie de Beer. South Africans are having to take the meal prep fad one step further, thanks to the ­perils of load shedding. This book shows you how to organise nutritious meals ahead of time. **2024 reads: Some mouth-­watering titles** January: *The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years* by Shubnum Khan is “a haunting, a love story, and a mystery”. ![(Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/ASwaBYWaL30MPAinNMdkCD5WWYw=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Smorgbord-of-books.jpg) *(Photo: Supplied)* February: *Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons* by Sarah Scoles. Why are we no longer scared witless of the Bomb? Scoles chastens us in her book. March: *Until August* by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, the “lost novel” from the Nobel laureate, which he worked on while struggling with dementia. *Love and Fury: A Memoir* by Margie Orford, South Africa’s Queen of Crime, in which she divulges some of the harrowing experiences that have shaped her life and influenced her writing. April: *We Have Everything We Need to Start Again* by Koleka Putuma, whose new collection is aimed at young readers and offers a positive take on coming-of-­age ­experiences. September: *The Creation of Half-Broken People* by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, an African take on the Gothic novel. **Get your litfest on: Plan your 2024 literary pilgrimages** In Durban, the 27th Time of the Writer festival will run from 14 to 21 March. The Franschhoek Literary Festival is on from 17 to 19 May. Accommodation sells out fast, so book now! Also watch out for Cape Town’s Open Book Festival (September), Johannesburg’s Kingsmead Book Fair (May), and the Gauteng International Book Fair (December). **DM** *This story first appeared in our weekly*Daily Maverick 168*newspaper, available countrywide for R29.* ![Image](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DM-16122023-001.jpg)