Ep. 158: Best Books of 2023 Genre Awards with Susie (@NovelVisits)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2023
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 158, we wrap up the year with our Best Books of 2023 Genre Awards with Susie (@NovelVisits). We reveal our Overall Best Books (Fiction and Nonfiction), and we have a full breakdown by genre, including: Best Literary Fiction, Best Romance, Best Brain Candy, Best Genre Mash-Up, and more! Plus, we’re sharing the winners for these same genres as chosen by the Sarah’s Bookshelves Live Patreon community!
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CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Announcements
- My 2024 Reading Tracker is out! Once again, the Tracker is ONLY available to $7/month Superstars patrons (i.e., no longer available as a separate purchase for $14.99 here on my website). Become a Superstars Patron here!
Highlights
- Podcast reflections from 2023 — including top episodes based on download stats.
- Overview of Susie’s and Sarah’s 2023 year in reading — including trends and stats.
- Favorite books of the year: overall and by genre, including the SBL Patreon Community’s picks.
2023 Genre Awards [19:14]
Susie
- The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:19]
- Tom Lake
by Ann Patchett | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [22:41]
- No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:00]
- The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:22]
- In Memoriam by Alice Winn | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:16]
- The Art Thief by Michael Finkel | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:24]
- You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:32]
- The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:02]
- The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:39]
- Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:59]
- Go As a River by Shelley Read | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:30]
- Shark Heart by Emily Habeck | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:58]
Sarah
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:51]
- Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:27]
- Spare by Prince Harry | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:00]
- All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay | Amazon | Bookshop.org[34:08]
- Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:06]
- Generations by Jean M. Twenge PhD | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:04]
- The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin | Amazon | Bookshop.org[45:43]
- Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:21]
- My Murder by Katie Williams | Amazon | Bookshop.org [51:53]
- Yellowface by R. F. Kuang | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:05]
- Happiness Falls
- Talking at Night by Claire Daverley | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:38]
Patrons
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:45]
- Tom Lake
- Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:14]
- All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay | Amazon | Bookshop.org[35:58]
- All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:29]
- In Memoriam by Alice Winn | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:41]
- We Were Once a Family
- The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin | Amazon | Bookshop.org[46:13]
- Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:50]
- Chain-Gang All-Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Amazon
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:45]
- Starling House by Alix E. Harrow | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:30]
- Congratulations, the Best Is Over! by R. Eric Thomas | Amazon | Bookshop.org[57:18]
- I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai | Amazon
| Bookshop.org[58:59]
- Shark Heart by Emily Habeck | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:02]
- Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:31]
Other Books Mentioned
- Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce [4:19]
- Atomic Family by Ciera Horton McElroy [13:57]
- The Caretaker by Ron Rash [14:02]
- All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher [14:03]
- One Woman Show
- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin [14:19]
- Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano [21:00]
- The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne [21:26]
- The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue [22:16]
- Wellness by Nathan Hill [22:19]
- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese [22:22]
- Ghost by Dolly Alderton [26:27]
- Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering [26:29]
- Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutano [31:00]
- Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum [31:30]
- The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand [31:33]
- The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel [31:39]
- Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane [36:44]
- Drowning by T. J. Newman [36:48]
- Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent [37:00]
- Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash [39:54]
- The House Is on Fire by Rachel Beanland [40:05]
- The Postcard
- The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel [41:38]
- In Light of All Darkness by Kim Cross [42:18]
- A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan [43:49]
- Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond [44:00]
- The Woman in Me by Britney Spears [46:22]
- All My Knotted Up Life by Beth Moore [46:29]
- How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key [46:38]
- Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane [47:28]
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin [49:06]
- Happy Place by Emily Henry [49:45]
- Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez [50:00]
- The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins [52:43]
- Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling [52:45]
- The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton [53:06]
- Starter Villain by John Scalzi [53:21]
- Holly by Stephen King [54:20]
- Lone Women by Victor LaValle [54:48]
- How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix [54:52]
- Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley [59:34]
- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross [59:44]
- Normal People by Sally Rooney [1:00:56]
- Maame by Jessica George [1:01:39]
Top Podcast Episodes for 2023 [8:42]
- Ep. 129: Best Books of 2022 Genre Awards with Susie (@NovelVisits)
- Ep. 150: Fall 2023 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
- Ep. 140: 2023 Summer Reading Special with Susie (@NovelVisits)
- Ep. 131: The Best Backlist Books We Read in 2022 with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
- Ep. 128: Best Books of 2022 Superlatives with Susie (@NovelVisits)
- Ep. 151: Angie Kim (Author of Happiness Falls)
- Ep. 133: Speculative Fiction / Fantasy 101 with Sarah Landis (Literary Agent)
- Ep. 143: Behind the Scenes of Book Coaching with Abigail K. Perry (of Lit Match Podcast)
- Ep. 138: Rebecca Makkai (Author of I Have Some Questions for You)
- Ep. 132: Katie Gutierrez (Author of More Than You’ll Ever Know)
- Ep. 156: 2023 State of the Industry with Sarah Landis (Literary Agent)
- Ep. 147: Lara Love Hardin (Author of The Many Lives of Mama Love)
- Ep. 144: John Marrs (Author of The One, The Passengers, and The Marriage Act)
- Ep. 152: Liz Nugent (Author of Strange Sally Diamond)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week, I talk with a bookish |
| 0:15.6 | guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they do not love, |
| 0:21.8 | and one new release they're excited about. |
| 0:23.5 | We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky about all things books. |
| 0:27.7 | If you like the show, I'd love it if you follow the show in your podcast player, spread |
| 0:32.2 | the word to your reader friends, post about it on your social media, or support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash Sarah's |
| 0:41.9 | bookshelves. Supporting the show on Patreon gets you access to bonus podcast episodes and lots of other |
| 0:47.6 | goodies. There's also a link in the show notes and in my Instagram bio. Let's get rolling. |
| 0:53.6 | Welcome to the 2023 year-end genre awards special and the last big show episode of the year. |
| 1:02.5 | Susie is here today to talk through the year in books with me. Hi, Susie. Hi, Sarah. This is the |
| 1:08.1 | most exciting episode to do all year. It is. And it also gets the most downloads, |
| 1:15.0 | as we'll talk about later. We are going to share Susie's and My Picks for each of our genre |
| 1:21.4 | awards. And we surveyed our Sarah's Bookshelves live Patreon community for their picks for each of these |
| 1:28.5 | genre awards. So we're going to share those results today as well. And Susie is going in blind |
| 1:34.4 | to the patron picks for these categories so she can kind of take some guesses. And looking at |
| 1:40.5 | these categories ahead of time I'm thinking about, I'm like, man, some of these are hard. |
| 1:45.8 | Yes. I mean, I know the results. And there are some of these that I would not have guessed. |
| 1:49.1 | Uh-huh. |
| 1:50.3 | One quick reminder, y'all, before we get started, my 2024 reading tracker is now available to Superstars Patrons only. |
| 1:58.3 | It is not available for independent purchase on my website. And this is an Excel spreadsheet |
| 2:04.0 | that tracks the books you've read and DNF'd and automatically calculates all kinds of nerdy stats about |
| 2:09.8 | them. There is a link to join my Patreon community to get the spreadsheet in the show notes |
... |
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