Hello,

This week, we're excited to bring you the Top 20 books of the year as chosen by BookBrowse subscribers, including our four Award Winners for Top Debut, Top Fiction, Top Nonfiction and Top YA, which you can explore in depth through reviews, "beyond the book" articles and excerpts.

You can also browse content for our Editor's Choice pick, Shelley Read's Colorado-set coming-of-age story Go as a River, a newly reviewed book appearing in our Top 20 issue.

Plus, it's time for this year's annual Big Holiday Wordplay. See if you can decipher the clues to identify 10 animal-related titles. Good luck!

With best wishes,

The BookBrowse Team

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BookBrowse offers a constantly rotating selection of book reviews, "beyond the book" articles and excerpts that anyone can view through our Top Picks, which are currently our four Award Winners for Top Debut, Top Fiction, Top Nonfiction and Top YA. Just click below to start browsing.

You can also explore all our 2023 Top 20 Books, as rated by subscribers like you—and thank you if you took part in the voting.

Winn's descriptions of the WWI battlefront leave an indelible image and the author realistically conveys the various ways conflicts like this can leave someone permanently scarred, both physically and emotionally. As well-written as the novel's battle scenes are, the highlight of In Memoriam (Top Debut) is the love story between Ellwood and Gaunt, and the dynamic between the two sets up the primary tension in the narrative. Winn completely captures Ellwood and Gaunt's terrible longing for each other and the ache of their unexpressed love.

Verghese sustains the massive story in The Covenant of Water (Top Fiction) with numerous enigmatic and vividly drawn characters like Big Ammachi, Digby, a Swedish physician named Rune who runs a colony for lepers, Philipose and his love Elsie, who is born to be an artist of staggering genius if only the world will let her. However, running like a riptide beneath the waters of the Malabar Coast, the Condition strikes the family in new, unbidden and heartbreaking ways. It will reach a crescendo with Mariamma, Big Ammachi's granddaughter, who becomes a neurosurgeon to unlock the secrets of this affliction, only to face the secrets "that can bind them together or bring them to their knees when revealed."

I found The Wager (Top Nonfiction) to be well-researched, well-written and extremely easy to read. It was actually quite a thrilling read to be honest. It felt more like I was reading an adventure book than a nonfiction book (Tara T). Although the subject matter was not of great interest to me when I started reading the book, my opinion quickly changed when more of the narrative was developed. The author takes a maritime scandal and engulfs the reader in a suspenseful historical thriller! (Dan W). It's a riveting, page-turning adventure, complete with shipwreck, mutiny and murder (Lois K).

Woodson strikes an excellent balance of accessibility and poignancy with her writing, lending the novel genuine appeal to a broad readership. While Remember Us (Top YA) is aimed at younger audiences and her adolescent protagonist feels authentic, its themes of place, memory, identity, and belonging will ring true for readers of any age. It never seems as though Woodson is patronizing younger readers by simplifying the complex themes and emotions at play, and she never resorts to clichés or saccharine prose.

Shelley Read's debut novel, Go as a River, follows the life of Victoria Nash from her teenage years through early adulthood. When readers first meet Victoria – "Torie," to most – she's the matriarch of her family at the tender age of 17. We learn almost immediately that her mother, aunt and cousin died in a car crash five years prior to the book's start, and she was left to keep house for her father, brother and disabled uncle while also working in their peach orchard. Ripe for love and adventure, she meets Wil Moon – an encounter that will change both their lives forever.

The story unfolds in Victoria's voice as she navigates a world of love and loss over the ensuing 26 years, from the aftermath of World War II in 1948 through 1971, touching on the Vietnam War. Although the conflicts bracket her story and each has a huge impact on her life, the book is about much more than the effects of war. The author stays laser-focused on Victoria's determination to thrive despite the obstacles she faces. ...continued

"A Brief History of the Peach," our "beyond the book" article accompanying Go as a River, is available for you to read along with the review.

To enter, decipher the 10 books and their authors from the clues below (e.g. the answer to M B by G F would be Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert).

T J S S by R K

T C O T W by J L

T W I T W by K G

T T O J T-M by B P

W T P by A A M

M W F D by R M

A F by G O

M F A O A by G D

R by S N

J L S by R B

The answers to the Big Holiday Wordplay will be revealed in our first January issue.

The answer to the last Wordplay: One N U G

The original Pledge of Allegiance was composed in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army Officer during the Civil War:

Balch was a proponent of teaching children, particularly children of immigrants, loyalty to the United States. He wrote a book on the topic and worked with both the government and private organizations to distribute flags to every classroom and school. ... continued

BookBrowse Highlights is one of our four free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly.

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