The Best Books of Winter 2023

Welcome back to another year of books. Already, 2023 has yielded a bounty of incredible new reads—in fact, the pile overwhelms us here at Esquire’s book department.

If your New Year’s resolution was to read more, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve rounded up our favorite books for Winter 2023, which range from debut works by emerging voices to new adventures by canon writers. Our favorite books of the season cover everything from prisons to utopias, scandals to ghost stories, and American dreams to American failures.

Whether you’re into novels, short stories, memoirs or non-fiction, there’s something here for every type of reader. Not all books are on the shelves yet, but if you see something you like, pre-order it now and thank yourself later. If it arrives in your mailbox a week from now, long forgotten, it will be like a gift from the Past.