Revealed! The Best Books Of 2023

What a year! The Girlfriend Book Club — a closed Facebook group with nearly 70,000 members — has enjoyed a fabulous 2023 jam-packed with great literature. We've given away thousands of books. We've heard from many prominent authors, everyone from Barbara Kingsolver to Ann Patchett. We've discussed many incredible reads. And, perhaps most importantly, we've made connections with others who love books.

And now I'm so pleased to announce the winners of the 4th Annual Girlfriend Book Club Choice Awards, the major book awards decided by members of The Girlfriend Book Club. Here are your picks of the year, in 10 different categories. Congrats to all the winners and here's to another fabulous year of reading in 2024! (Also, I know many of your favorites are not on this list but in nine of the 10 categories we were only looking at books PUBLISHED in 2023 — I should have made that more clear.) The only category in which that wasn't the case was the one on which book impacted your life the most.

Your Most-Anticipated Books Coming Out In 2024:

Winner: "The Women" by Kristin Hannah, to be published Feb. 6, 2024

Runner-up: "The Fury" by Alex Michaelides, to be published Jan. 16, 2024


Best Books Read By The Girlfriend Book Club In 2023 — (basically, we loved them all!):

Winner: "Lady Tan's Circle of Women" by Lisa See (Lisa will be joining us for our live monthly discussion on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET)

Runner-up: "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver


Best Author Of 2023:

Winner: William Kent Krueger

Runner-up: Ann Patchett


Best Fiction Books Of 2023:

Winner: "The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese

Runner-up: "The River We Remember" by William Kent Krueger


Best Celebrity Memoirs Of 2023:

Winner: "Spare" by Prince Harry

Runner-up: "My Name Is Barbra" by Barbra Streisand


Best Book Covers Of 2023:

Winner: "Weyward" by Emilia Hart

Runner-up: "Starling House" by Alix E. Harrow


Best Nonfiction Books Of 2023:

Winner: "A Fever in the Heartland" by Timothy Egan

Runner-up: "Democracy Awakening" by Heather Cox Richardson


The Books That Made The Biggest Impact On Our Lives:

Winner: "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver

Runner-up: "The Measure" by Nikki Erlick


Best Books About Female Friendship In 2023:

Winner: "The First Ladies" by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray

Runner-up: "The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise" by Colleen Oakley


Best Cookbooks Of 2023:

Winner: "Skinnytaste Simple" by Gina Homolka & Heather K. Jones R.D.

Runner-up: "Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia" by Laurel Randolph


If you want to check out what books you chose in 2022, go here. And here are the books you chose in 2021.

AARP also chose its 10 favorite books of 2023. Find out which books made the cut.

Thanks to all of you who voted and thanks for your continued support and contributions.

I'm eternally grateful for this group of wonderful women.

Shelley Emling

Moderator of The Girlfriend Book Club


What was YOUR favorite book of 2023? Let us know in the comments below.