In rough chronological order, below I’ve listed the books I read in the second quarter of 2023:

1. La Patience du Diable, by Maxime Chattam (French language edition)

2. Model Home, by Eric Puchner

3. Y/N, by Esther Yi

4. Take What You Need, by Idra Novey

5. A Spell of Good Things, by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

6. Jackal, by Erin E. Adams

7. How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, by Sarah Bakewell

8. The Usual Mistakes, by Erin Flanagan

9. Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez

10. Come with Me, by Erin Flanagan

11. This Other Eden, by Paul Harding

12. A House with Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher

13. Ways to Disappear, by Idra Novey

14. The Anatomy of Story, by John Truby

15. The Trees, by Percival Everett

16. Dear You, by Emily Blaine (French language edition)

17. Barbara isn’t Dying, by Alina Bronsky

18. Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang

19. La Dernière Fois que J'ai Cru Mourir C'était Il y a Longtemps, by Clémence Michallon (French language edition)

20. Writing Mysteries, edited by Sue Grafton

21. Blue Skies, by T. C. Boyle

22. Harness the Power of Your Ancestors for Your Success & Happiness!, by Nuzo Onoh

23. About Writing, by Gareth L. Powell

24. Citizen Orlov, by Jonathan Payne

25. L'Heure des Femmes, by Adèle Bréau (French language edition)

26. Before I Let Go, by Kennedy Ryan

27. Open Throat, by Henry Hoke

28. The Get, by Dietrich Kalteis

29. My Murder, Katie Williams

30. Soudain, Seuls, by Isabelle Autissier (French language edition)

31. The Whispers, Ashley Audrain

32. What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez

33. Reste, by Adeline Dieudonné (French language edition)

34. Be Brief and Tell Them Everything, by Brad Listi

35. The Say So, by Julia Franks

36. Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, by Paul Rudnick

37. Les Malvenus, by Audrey Brière (French language edition)

38. Make It Stop, by Jim Ruland

39. Ceci N'est Pas un Fait Divers, by Philippe Besson (French language edition)

40. Between Two Moons, by Aisha Abdel Gawad

41. The Glow, by Jessie Gaynor

Books that really wowed me and that I’d recommend highly—as always—I’ve bolded.

Find here what I read and what I particularly loved out of the list for Q1 2023. And because I’ve published the following quarters’ lists since this post went live, click here to read my Q3 2023 reading list and check out my reading list for Q4 2024. Plus! You can check out my my list of the best books I read in 2023, which went live in early 2024.

My top favorites from 2022 (along with links to the books read in each quarter of that year) went live shortly after that year ended, and in that post you’ll find links to a quarter-by-quarter books-read review, with my favorites of each quarter bolded.

More books get bolded each year than make the full-year favorites lists, so you might want to click through and check out the comprehensive quarterly lists, if you seek what-to-read recommendations.

To learn which books I read in 2021 that I considered the best of the best (along with links to all the other books I read and recommended that year, along with links to what came in year before), click here.

You’ll find previous years’ favorites lists via the 2022 and 2021 best-books lists.

What have you read recently that I should read?

And if you’ve read any of the books on this quarter’s list, what did you think of them?