Top 10 Books of 2023

I read 82 books in 2023 and these are my top 10 favorites. They range from horror to extreme horror to literature to nonfiction to fantasy to sci-fi.

1. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (literature adventure thriller)

A thrilling novel about survival, hopelessness, danger, adventure, wandering steps, and growth. A woman is tracking the last Arctic terns as all the animals have been going extinct. She finds one of the last fishing vessels left to take her along their migration.

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2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (fantasy)

One of my top 5 books I’ve ever read! A fantasy sci-fi of all the gods of the world. For a god to exist all they need is to be created by thought, but some become forgotten. I don’t want to say. Just trust me. I’ll likely get a tattoo of this book.

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3. The Anomaly by Michael Rutger (adventure horror)

If you like secrets and what’s hiding underground as much as I do then this book will be one of your top favorites. The suspense and the horror and the claustrophobia and the not knowing. A group of YouTubers who expose conspiracy theories take a trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to find this ancient cave. Well, they find it and what ensues is ancient terrifying madness.

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4. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (psychological horror)

Excellent foreshadowing and building of characters. I received my bachelors of science in neuroscience and thought how the author put together this story was brilliantly done. A man with a boarded up a house, a daughter who can never go outside, and a cat who reads the Bible. I couldn’t put it down.

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5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (dark literature)

Wow. I knew this was the Bible of post-apocalyptic literature, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. Many years after civilization collapsed, this story follows a father and son traveling across the country. At no point in this book are you happy. Heart breaking. Bleak. Authentic.

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6. The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga (Nonfiction)

It’s no one’s responsibility to live up to other people’s expectations of them. A nonfiction dive into the philosophical thought behind Adlerian Psychology. Many shifts in perspective. Shows what’s truly selfish and manipulative. Anger and grudges are a way to control other people. So much more. Trust me, it’s amazing. It changed my life.

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7. The Overstory by Richard Powers (literature)

If I could force every single person in the world to read this book the world would change. A collection of interconnected stories about trees and climate change. If you know me in person then you know I’m obsessed with trees. This book is NOT a page turner. It’s a slow process. This book is meant to be savored. I read it during my month and a half long road trip across the US in my old Chevy van camping out in the wilderness every night. I’ll say, you’ll enjoy the book more if you already have an in depth knowledge of trees. Don’t ask about mine and my partner’s tree books and field notes. There’s a lot. This book could change the world.

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8. Recursion by Blake Crouch (sci-fi)

Time traveling using the mind and creating several realities and dimensions overlayed on top of one another. A secret lab on a platform far out in the middle of the ocean. False Memory Syndrome is spreading rapidly. Makes you evaluate memory and where we stand in the world.

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9. Intercepts by T.J. Payne (sci-fi horror)

Ugh. I just freaking loved every single minute of it. A gruesome extreme horror, human experimentation, government science hiding in the forests below ground. Page turning. Gut wrenching. Horrifying. Could something like this really be happening?

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10. Dead Girl Blues by David Sodergren (extreme horror)

Whoa. The scariest book I’ve ever read. Books have never truly scared me until this one. An extreme horror dive into the underground scene of what only the darkest souls of humanity enjoy. This isn’t solely horror, but a literature dive into the evils that lurk in a select few of us. I had to take a break from reading after this book. I was scarred. I was holding my breath. I was physically sick.

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11. Bonus: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (nonfiction memoir)

We’ve all been manipulated and lied to from the media. Britney Spear’s life and her time being imprisoned and controlled underneath her court ordered conservator. Empowering. Enraging. Moving.

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With all my book recommendations, please check any trigger warnings if you need to. Some of these books are extreme! Even the books that aren’t marked extreme can still contain material some readers wouldn’t want to experience. Thank you so much for reading my blog! If you enjoy my work please consider using one of the links on my website next time you make a purchase as I make a tiny commission each time.

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