Best Books of the Year
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Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year 2023

Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year 2023 names 15 books. 8 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

  1. Absolution by Alice McDermottsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Biography of X by Catherine Laceysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Commitment by Mona Simpsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Julia by Sandra Newmansource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Lone Women by Victor LaVallesource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Loot by Tania Jamessource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Loved and Missed by Susie Boytsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai, translated by Polly Bartonsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Parksource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Take What You Need by Idra Noveysource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Terrace Story by Hilary Leichtersource (opens in a new tab)
  12. The New Life by Tom Crewesource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groffsource (opens in a new tab)
  14. Wednesday's Child: Stories by Yiyun Lisource (opens in a new tab)
  15. Witness by Jamel Brinkleysource (opens in a new tab)

About the Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year

The Los Angeles Times' own year-end best books lists. 2006-2009: the Book Review staff's favorite books of the year, 25 fiction and poetry titles (filed as Fiction) and 25 nonfiction titles. 2010-2015: book critic David L. Ulin's top 10 books of the year, the paper's year-end list after the Book Review section closed. 2016: the 10 most important books of 2016. 2017: the holiday guide's best fiction and best nonfiction of the year. 2020: the 10 best books of 2020. 2021-2022: 20 best books, five each from four Times critics; rows cite each critic's page. 2023: the 13 best novels and 2 best story collections, chosen by three critics; no matching nonfiction list ran. 2024-2025: 15 best books chosen by three critics; picks two critics shared are counted once, and the 2024 Marguerite Young entry covers two books. No list for 2018 or 2019: 2018 ran only a critic's essay, and 2019 ran only celebrity picks. Left out: author and celebrity picks columns, holiday gift guides, genre side-lists, and other critics' columns. The 2012 and 2013 lists were photo galleries whose slides no longer load on latimes.com; titles come from Wayback Machine captures of the same galleries. No list is ranked; most run alphabetically.

Organization: Los Angeles Times. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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