The New York Times unveiled its list of its 10 best books of 2023, with five fiction and five nonfiction titles making the cut.
Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, which was a finalist for this year’s Kirkus Prize and Booker Prize, made the list, with the newspaper hailing the Irish author’s “triumphant return.” Also honored was Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars, which was shortlisted for the National Book Award.
Zadie Smith’s The Fraud made the Times list, alongside North Woods by Daniel Mason and Eastbound, written by French author Maylis de Kerangal and translated by Jessica Moore.
John Vaillant’s Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World, the winner of this year’s Baillie Gifford Prize and a National Book Award finalist, was one of the nonfiction books to appear on the Times list, along with Ilyon Woo’s Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom, another Kirkus Prize finalist.
Other nonfiction books making the cut were Jonathan Rosen’s The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions, Kerry Howley’s Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State, and Patricia Evangelista’s Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
