Top 5 reads from the last 2 years

Part 2 (2022-2023) of my best of the best

Last week’s newsletter covered part 1 of this post, outlining my top 5 books from 2019-2021. Here’s part 2. This was a much harder job to narrow down than I thought it might be and I have a long long list of ‘highly commended’ runners up.

At the moment we’re working through our best of the best for 2024, which we’ll share over the coming weeks. You can let us know which round ups you’d most like to see below 👇

My top rated books of the last five years (2022-2023)

2022

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This is such a cracking read about friendship, trust, love and set in a world of building video games. One of my top recent books. I also adore the Shakespeare (& now Hamilton) quote of a title.

• Educated by Tara Westover. An incredible memoir chronicling how Westover left home in search of education, and her journey of self-discovery after leaving her survivalist Mormon family in Idaho. Brilliantly written.

• From Scratch by Tembi Locke. Food, love, Italy, heartbreak… this book has it all. A beautiful memoir, showing how food can centre a community, a family and a history.

• Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. Set across two timelines, this book is both historical and modern fiction. If you love a good saga, this is a great read.

• Apeirogon by Colum McCann. There is no shortage to the list of prizes this book has been nominated for or won. A beautiful book about the story of a friendship between two men: one Palestinian and the other Israeli.

If you like the look of any of these, then perhaps you might like to support Verse? If you buy through this link (you can browse our lists or search for any book you like!) then we get a small affiliate fee which helps to power our development efforts. Thanks if you choose to do this!

2023

• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. One of my top books to help with your creativity, I use lessons from this daily. I love learning and am constantly taking courses - this remains the best value one I’ve ever done. So much learning for the price of a mere book.

• Still Life by Sarah Winman. This book has hung around in my head ever since reading it and is my most gifted book of the last few months. It’s a beautiful read, and whilst the characters are utterly charming the stand out character for me was the city of Florence.

• Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. This is such a great book if you’re looking to get back into reading, to keep you engrossed on a holiday, to read in the bath, or if you just need a cheer up. Sittenfeld at her finest and funnest, questioning why men seem to date ‘out of their league’ but the same isn’t true for women.

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. This incredible book details the time Frankl (a prominent psychiatrist) spent in Auschwitz. It covers how he coped with the experience and how it informed his Logotherapy work. What really hit me with this book was how he didn’t seek to control the experience or outcome, but surrendered to what will be and focused instead on his attitude. A truly phenomenal must read.

• The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. Singer. I picked this up straight after Man’s Search for Meaning. Singer documents his life where he surrenders to every single experience, leading to both a spiritual awakening and a multi million dollar company.

Here’s the list.

👀 What have I missed?

This post is part 2 of best books of the last 5 years:

• Part 1 (2019-2021) including top 5 tips for Black Friday. Read here.

• 2019-2021 book list and 2022-2023 book list

Say goodbye to bad recommendations and hello to a better reading experience 👇