65 of the Best and Most Anticipated Books of 2023

January 12, 2023 ndowd

book covers of some of the best books of 2023

Courtesy/Leah Romero

The new year has already brought with it a crop of impressive, headline-driving books (see: Prince Harry’s explosive memoir Spare, and Kashana Cauley’s inventive The Survivalists), but the rest of 2023’s library promises to be just as enthralling. Apologies in advance to your mile-high TBR list; it’s about to get a lot taller.

Ahead, you’ll find 65 hand-picked titles, many of which ELLE has already had the chance to flip through and assess. These recently published and soon-to-be-released books come from a broad range of categories, including fantasy novels, historical nonfiction, celebrity memoirs, essay collections, romance, and literary fiction. (The only thing you won’t find here is young-adult books and series, which we reserve for other, more specific lists.)

Narrowing down the most anticipated titles from a list of thousands is never not a daunting task, and so to make up for any gems we’ve missed, you can check back on this page as we update it throughout the year with the true best of the best. Better prepare your pre-orders, and happy reading.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

Soft Skull

The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Riverhead Books

The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer

Random House

Spare by Prince Harry

Harper

Vintage Contemporaries by Dan Kois

William Morrow & Company

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

Henry Holt & Company

The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen

Ballantine Books

Central Places by Delia Cai

Riverhead Books

What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro

Catapult

Brutes by Dizz Tate

Random House

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

Hogarth Press

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez and translated by Megan McDowell

William Morrow & Company

Venco by Cherie Dimaline

W. W. Norton & Company

Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop by Martin Puchner

Viking

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Harper

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman

Soft Skull

Users by Colin Winnette

Bloomsbury Publishing

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

Zando

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

Simon & Schuster

Confidence by Rafael Frumkin

Random House

Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Pamela Dorman Books

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Grand Central Publishing

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez

William Morrow & Company

Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Viking

Take What You Need by Idra Novey

Dial Press

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Crown Publishing Group

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

Astra House

Y/N by Esther Yi

Little, Brown and Company

Above Ground by Clint Smith

Catapult

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer

Scribner Book Company

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Ecco Press

A Living Remedy: A Memoir by Nicole Chung

Random House

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Mariner Books

Homecoming by Kate Morton

G.P. Putnam’s Sons

The One by Julia Argy

Doubleday Books

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

Berkley Books

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Harper

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

Pantheon Books

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Counterpoint

You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg

Viking

Oh My Mother!: A Memoir in Nine Adventures by Connie Wang

Random House

The Guest by Emma Cline

Vintage

Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby

William Morrow & Company

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Ballantine Books

A Renaissance of Our Own: A Memoir & Manifesto on Reimagining by Rachel E. Cargle

One World

Dances by Nicole Cuffy

Riverhead Books

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

Flatiron Books

Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page

Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books

The Mythmakers by Keziah Weir

HarperOne

Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris

Hanover Square Press

Adult Drama: And Other Essays by Natalie Beach

Viking

Watch Us Dance by Leila Slimani and translated by Sam Taylor

Gillian Flynn Books

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The Vegan by Andrew Lipstein

Doubleday Books

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

Scribner Book Company

Onlookers: Stories by Ann Beattie

Hanover Square Press

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

Crooked Media Reads

Mobility by Lydia Kiesling

Henry Holt & Company

The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones

Ecco Press

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

Ballantine Books

Congratulations, the Best Is Over!: Essays by R. Eric Thomas

Gallery Books

Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks

Little Brown and Company

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

If you fell in love with How Much of These Hills Is Gold, then you, like I, are surely waiting with bated breath for C Pam Zhang’s next book, Land of Milk and Honey. We don’t know much about the story yet, but Zhang described it on Twitter as “a novel about food, female appetite, class, culinary hierarchy, & the sticky-sensual necessity of finding one’s own pleasure in a world gone to shit.” Sounds delicious.

Release date: TBA 2023.

Alright, another disclaimer: I’m biased about this one. Our beloved site director, Jessica Roy, is releasing her first book later this year, one that expands on an ELLE.com story she published in 2019. (You might recall the title: “Two Sisters and the Terrorist Who Came Between Them.”) We’re still waiting for all the details, including the name and release date, but given the level of reporting and nuance in Roy’s feature, I expect the subsequent book to be nothing short of breathtaking.

Release date: TBA 2023.

Lauren Puckett-Pope
Associate Editor
Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers film, TV, books and fashion.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

source