I'm Gilbert Cruz, editor of the New York Times Book Review, and this is the Book Review

podcast.

We've been off for the past two weeks, both for the Thanksgiving holiday, but also because

it's one of the busiest times of the year

here at the Book Review as we put together our two big year and review projects, the 100 notable books

of 2023 and the 10 best books of the year.

On the show this week we're talking about the latter, the 10 best books.

It's physically impossible to fit 8 people into one of the audio recording studios here at the times, even if we could

it would be slightly chaotic.

So we've broken it up into two conversations in which editors from the book review each

discuss one of the books on the list as well as one title

that they wish had made it. Now thousands of books are published every year here in America.

So how do we choose a mere tin?

Well, briefly put, it's almost a year-long conversation

here at the Book Review.

Starting in the spring, we meet every month to talk about books that we think might be worth discussing for the year and list.

And then once fall hits, it turns into longer, weekly meetings, their discussions and debates, and once in a while arguments.

And by the time Halloween rolls around, we have a series of votes and all of a sudden we have the 10 best books of the year.

It's pretty

representative of this group of editors and critics here at the book review. Now what

does best mean? Well to state state the obvious, it's pretty subjective, of course. It can't help but

be. There are a lot of year-end lists out there, and I think that we hear the book review collectively

...