Goodreads’s Best Books of 2023 Released, Great Gifts for Readers This Holiday Season

As the holiday season quickly approaches, consumers are still scrambling to find gifts for their loved ones. And for those of you with avid readers in your lives, that means books. But scouring your nearest Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore can be a challenge when you aren’t sure if the book you choose will suit a person. You may know which genres they prefer or subjects they are interested in, but that doesn’t mean every book will be one they devour and add to their list of favorites. Worst case scenario, it ends up collecting dust on the shelf and only halfway finished.

Luckily for you frantic shoppers, Goodreads has just released the results of their 2023 Choice Awards for the Best Books of 2023 list! Gathering votes from nearly six million of their site-users, Goodreads has collected a list of both fiction and nonfiction titles that their users have deemed the best of 2023. From science fiction to romance and memoirs to history, Goodreads has something for anyone to enjoy on their list. You can even check out the nominees that didn’t win in each category if you want even more gift ideas for readers. 

Scrolling through Goodreads’s social media accounts may highlight the discourse between readers as they argue which book may have been more deserving to win a particular category than others. This is normal considering the subjectivity of art and the wide-range of taste and preferences amongst readers, so don’t fret over buying a book someone else may call ‘boring’ or ‘trash’ (especially if they mention that they didn’t even read it). What someone else hates, your reader may enjoy! If you choose to scroll through their Instagram or Tiktok, you may want to take note of these comments. Not only could you potentially get a better idea of what certain books are about, but you may just get great recommendations! 

Some titles that may be popular gifts this holiday season seemed almost destined to win first-place in their respective categories. Yellowface and Fourth Wing, for example, were immensely popular on bookstagram and booktok this year, so it seems no surprise that they won by such large margins. There were a few interesting outcomes, however. Interestingly, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which was named the 2023 Barnes & Noble Book of the Year, came in fourth-place in its category for historical fiction, losing to the first-place winner Weyward with almost 30,000 votes. Barnes & Noble determines the winner of their prestigious title by inquiring their booksellers to nominate the titles they feel are particularly remarkable and would recommend to a consumer. This explanation, provided in one of their blog posts this past November,, is rather vague. Meanwhile, Goodreads allows their list to be determined as a sort of popularity contest. A voter isn’t required to have read every book in each category in order to cast their vote, so they merely choose the books they have read and enjoyed to determine who they vote for. This is not necessarily bad, per se, as Goodreads pools together a large group of readers, allowing many different perspectives, interests, and preferences to come together and let their voices be heard. If some books win by large margins, perhaps it’s because a majority of readers believed it deserved to win. 

Lists such as Goodreads’s Best Books of 2023 gives us a great insight into the minds of readers and which books or authors have really made an impact in the publishing world. However, just because one book wins doesn’t mean its fellow nominees in the category are any less enjoyable. Yellowface may have won with over 200,000 votes (with second-place lagging 140,000 votes behind) in the fiction category, but the titles it competed against, such as Hello Beautiful (second-place), Maame (eighth-place), or Evil Eye (thirteenth-place) are also incredible books that you should absolutely check out. If the reader you’re shopping for hasn’t read the book that won in their preferred genre, then you should definitely check it out to see if it’s something they would be interested in. That being said, check out all the nominated books in that category! Even if a book didn’t win, it could be a gem that your reader loves!

Our Recent Edits: 2023

Established in 2003, CambridgeEditors is an independent firm dedicated to providing superior editorial services for a wide range of clients. Our diverse clientele includes, but is not limited to, Academics, Creative Writers, and Corporations. We edit texts of all varieties, such as: scholarly monographs, chapters, and journal articles; dissertations and master’s theses; novels and other forms of fiction; poetry; websites; undergraduate essays; proposals and application essays; and institutional materials, brochures, advertising, and reports.

Here are some of our recent projects we’ve completed. Thank you to to everyone who has supported us and to all the authors who have entrusted us with their projects and allowed us to help bring their work to its fullest potential.

Valentine’s and Anti-Valentine’s Day Book Recs

The holiday of love is approaching, and as usual, it has caused some division between those celebrating and those abstaining. Couples and singles alike have planted themselves on one side or the other, so why not let your reading reflect the same? Here is a list of recommendations that anyone can get into, whether you’ve been hit by Cupid’s arrow or you’ve broken the bow in half. Happy reading!

Valentine’s

With its origins in Christian and pagan festivals, Valentine’s Day is one of the longest-running holiday traditions. It’s a time of appreciation for those you love, romantic or platonic, and to be appreciated in return. Here are some recommendations to get you in the loving mood.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

One of the most famous and well-known love stories, Pride and Prejudice is worth all of the love and more. Set in 19th century England, the story follows Elizabeth, an adventurous young daughter of the middle-class and marriage-obsessed Bennett family, who finds herself thrown together with the gloomy Mr. Darcy, a wealthy member of the gentry who seems to hate Elizabeth just as much as she hates him. Romance ensues. Make sure to also watch the 1995 BBC adaptation (available on Hulu and Amazon Prime) and the 2005 film (available on Amazon Prime) for extra Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy content.

2. Beach Read by Emily Henry

Emily Henry has gained enormous popularity in the past two years for her lighthearted rom-com books, especially People We Meet on Vacation, but I personally prefer her 2020 novel Beach Read. It follows January, a rom-com writer, and Augustus, a somber literary fiction writer, two published authors with vastly different tastes. January and Augustus find themselves next-door neighbors in the beach town they both summer in, and bet each other they can’t write the other person’s genre. What I love about Beach Read is that it does not shy away from heavier subjects–like grief, cheating, and death–while still telling a great love story.

Anti-Valentine’s

The anti-Valentine’s Day tradition has become more popular in the last few decades, a celebration of all things horror, grit, and pessimism. Some critics believe Valentine’s Day has become too commercialized, with its current emphasis on buying chocolate, flowers, and presents for others. For all those that celebrate not celebrating, here are some truly dark books to read in protest.

1. Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Set in a post-apocalyptic United States, this book follows two trans women, Beth and Fran, as they try to outlive the T-dominant people turned zombie-like creatures trying to kill them. This novel transforms the popular ‘gendercide’ trope, where one gender disappears from the earth, by instead focusing on the trans women and men that must fight to survive. Manhunt is gory and disturbing while also addressing the subject of love, though in a more balanced and realistic way that addresses trans romance and desire.

2. I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

What begins as a story about a man named Jake bringing his girlfriend home to meet his family turns into a suspenseful thriller that leaves you at the end of the book thinking: What did I just read? All the reader knows for certain is what the main character, the unnamed girlfriend, continues to voice: I’m thinking of ending things. Horror fans will love the surprising twist ending and read it again to pick up on clues they may have missed the first time around.

-Hannah Eaton, CambridgeEditors team

Project Spotlight: Clara Wu and the Warlock

CambridgeEditors is proud to have worked with author Vincent Yee on his five-book series Clara Wu Books. The series is a young adult Asian American fantasy adventure where Clara Wu, Sung Kim, Yuka Satoh, and Daniel Nguyen must battle a demonic Warlock to save the world. But they are not alone, as they are paired with their trustworthy Guardians: the panda, white tiger, red crown crane, and the water buffalo. Proofreading of the first four books in his series was done by Dr. Felicia Lee between March 2021 and August 2022. She will proofread the final book later this fall. 

Yee is a Boston native who currently resides in Cambridge, MA. He graduated from Suffolk University in ’94 and worked in various managerial roles before quitting corporate work during the pandemic. Despite working in the corporate world, Yee always had a dream “to write better Asian representation.” He had envisioned an Asian American fantasy trilogy, but as he began outlining it in October of 2020 it quickly went from three books to five.

Yee grew up on fantasy series such as Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. But, there’s very little to no Asian representation in those books. He wanted to write a series where his friends’ kids could see themselves as the heroes and not just the sidekicks. Yee’s series includes Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese characters and makes sure to highlight Asian values from different cultures. While representation is always important, it’s especially imperative in the current climate of America, where Asian Americans are having to fight anti-Asian sentiments in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. His stories are helping combat the negative stereotypes that exist in the country right now.

While he wants to show Asian Americans can be heroes, Yee also wants to help people reconnect with their culture. Having his characters embrace and love being authentically Asian is a prominent part of his fantasy series. As food is a big part of Asian culture, and is typically something Americans ridicule, Yee made sure it was a main feature of the books. Not only does he love his culture’s food, but his heroes can’t fight demonic warlocks on an empty stomach!

To catch up on the series before the final book comes out later this year, the first four books are all available online on Amazon & Kindle, as well as Barnes and Noble. If you’re in the Boston area, you can also pick up his books at Brookline Booksmith at 283 Harvard St., Brookline, MA. Or, if you’re in New York, you can find the series at You and Me Books, 44 Mulberry St., New York Chinatown.

Sophia Boyce, CambridgeEditors Team

Young readers’s reading Yee’s book at Brookline Booksmith.

Project Spotlight: Theatre and Hull House

CambridgeEditors is glad to have been able to work with Stuart Hecht, an associate professor at the theatre department at Boston College.

Hecht’s book project, edited by CambridgeEditors, focuses on Hull House theatre and the history of theatrical art and progressive reform. Hecht discusses the legacy of Jane Addams, recognizing theatre in the 1970s and more recent years that ties back to Hull House.

Hull House, founded in 1889, was Chicago’s first social settlement. It offered social services to the surrounding community, including legal aid, employment offices, childcare, education, and arts programming. Jane Addams was a central figure in organizing this settlement. The services this project provided greatly impacted the way social activists have thought about what kinds of community services are important to an area.

In his project on Hull House, Hecht identifies how the settlement’s theatre programming worked towards social reform—using the arts to promote social rehabilitation.

Hecht’s project is a work of dramaturgy. Dramaturgy refers to a study of theatrical composition that identifies the most important parts of a play and considers the best way to stage it in the current moment. Before becoming a professor at Boston College, Hecht was a resident dramaturg for the Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago and has been recognized as a very prominent dramaturg in the field. Dramaturgy considers history deeply in order to put on a performance—looking at the history and context of a playwright to decide what will resonate most in a modern-day performance     .

Hecht’s project on the legacies of Hull House dives into the history of Chicago and thinks about the purpose of art in the context of social work. The art programming at Hull House seems to have had a strong internal impact on the participants of the settlement’s programs while they were trying to improve other external factors in their lives, such as their economic positions.

Hecht ends his introduction by writing: 

“So as much as this is the story of theatrical activities at a particular sponsoring organization, this also traces the various shifts in attitude towards the arts and their relative value over the course of almost a century and a quarter.  And as we will also consider the legacy of Hull-House and its use of theatre to help others, examples of which continue to this day, our story remains happily incomplete.”

CambridgeEditors is so pleased to have worked with a prominent dramaturg such as Stuart Hecht on a project that so closely examines the development of art and theatre throughout the nation.

The Shanti Bhavan School

After a long and successful entrepreneurial career in the US, Dr. Abraham George returned to his native country of India in 1995 with a mission: to find a way to alleviate the burden of poverty on the poorest and most socially disadvantaged children through education. This led him to start the George Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Bangalore, India which encompasses several projects in women’s empowerment and providing medical care, though arguably its most famous is the Shanti Bhavan school.

Shanti Bhavan’s approach is a holistic one which provides not only a globally competitive leadership-focused academic environment, but also shelter, food, clothing, medical care and a supportive community. For many children in India’s poorest areas, who often come from the lowest “untouchable” social caste, this allows them to become the first in their families to receive an education, go to university, or become doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers and authors. When these children succeed, their accomplishments bring their families with them, opening doors for younger siblings, freeing them from generational debt and making them into positive leaders for their communities.

On the Shanti Bhavan website, they have highlighted many of the incredible stories of their students, some of which were featured in a Netflix documentary produced a few years ago, entitled Daughters of Destiny. Ted Talks and Glamour’s the Girl Project are just a few of the many other outlets which have publicized their amazing work as an ever-growing institution. Just last year, CambridgeEditors had the pleasure of working with Dr. George on his upcoming autobiography. If you are interested in learning more about how we can provide similar support to you, or about any of our other editing services, please contact us by email or check out our website at http://www.cambridgeeditors.com.

Hannah Voteur, CambridgeEditors Team

Editor Spotlight: Nili Belkind’s Recent Award

Congrats to a member of the CambridgeEditors team, Nili Belkind, who has received the International Council for Traditional Music’s Book Prize for 2022.

CambridgeEditors wants to congratulate Nili Belkind for her most recent honor, winning the International Council for Traditional Music’s Book Prize for 2022. The International Council for Traditional Music is a non-governmental organization founded in 1947 that is in formal consultative relations with UNESCO, working to further the study and dissemination of traditional dance and music from all countries. They have recognized Belkind’s book, Music in Conflict: Palestine, Israel and the Politics of Aesthetic Production (Routledge 2020), for its significant contribution to ethnomusicology.

            Belkind has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Columbia University, and draws on subject fields including anthropology, urban studies, cultural geography, and migration and diaspora studies. All of these fields and many more informed her huge undertaking with Music in Conflict, a book based on field work in Israel and the West Bank conducted in 2011-2012, as well as supplemental excursions since then.

            The book follows the music in order to follow the conflict—going to concert halls, demonstrations, community centers, and alternative urban scenes. By following the music in these specific instances, Belkind sees how music is used to assert social boundaries within conflict. Belkind recognizes that music is an important social manifestation of the way that power imbalances impact knowledge and artistic production. Using music to examine the dynamics that emerge from political and structural violence in the region, Belkind examines music as politics. She writes a complex narrative demonstrating how making music is both informed by and also forms identities and communities.

            Some areas Belkind studies are the Al Kamandjâti music conservatory as a site of everyday nation-making and resistance, the Jaffa Arab-Jewish Community Center (AJCC) as a site of multiculturalism and coexistence, and checkpoints in Palestine as a way of understanding the politics of music and boundaries. Belkind crafts a compelling and immensely valuable study of music and the social manifestations of conflicts. She teaches her readers how music reflects identities and shapes communities in conflict.

            As an editor, Belkind has worked with a wide range of texts as well as translations from Hebrew to English. Her editing experience reflects the interdisciplinary nature of her work. Her range of expertise and experience enriches her ability to support clients interested in content and developmental editing. CambridgeEditors is proud of the recent international value and recognition placed on Nili’s work.

Tatiana Jackson-Saitz, CambridgeEditors Team

An Examination of the Female Figure in Silvina Ocampo’s Work

CambridgeEditors’ exciting new line edit done by Dr. Felicia Lee for Dr. Fernanda Zullo’s book that reinvigorates the ideas of Silvina Ocampo, a brilliant Argentine writer.

“Silvina Ocampo’s words are maps that trace the familiar in the familial spaces of motherhood and childhood by marking their designated boundaries and recording their breaches.”

-Dr. Fernanda Zullo, Motherhood and Childhood in Silvina Ocampo’s Works

CambridgeEditors is proud to have worked with Dr. Fernanda Zullo on her book Motherhood and Childhood in Silvina Ocampo’s Works. A line edit by Dr. Felicia Lee of this book took place in the fall and spring of 2021-2022. Silvina Ocampo was an Argentine short story writer and poet who created a unique space for herself in Argentine literature—lauded by figures like Jorge Luis Borges as a genius, and one of her era’s greatest poets in the Spanish language.

Dr. Zullo launches a detailed study of the overlapping spaces of motherhood and childhood in Silvina Ocampo’s writing. Whereas literary criticism of Ocampo largely focuses on her depictions of childhood, Zullo recognizes the existing dialogue between mother and child throughout Ocampo’s stories. Motherhood defines and creates the space of childhood while childhood constantly refers to the mother. Wants and needs of childhood and adulthood conflict as they coexist in the literary time that Ocampo creates, and these conflicts become commentaries on the idealized positions of the mother and child.

Zullo uses the “spaces of motherhood and childhood” to “observe Ocampo’s adroit hand at pushing the norms of what is acceptable and questioning the very concept of normal.” Zullo recognizes the way Ocampo wrestles with Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, capitalism, Catholicism, media, and popular narratives of what is normal for the positions of mother and child. Ocampo uses these discourses to represent complicated characters that comment “as much about the inhabitants of those spaces” of motherhood and childhood “as they do about those responsible for their construction and preservation.” Silvina Ocampo works against idealized versions of mother and child, creating ambiguity for these spaces.

In the first chapter of her first section, Dr. Zullo begins by quoting Shoshana Felman’s What Does A Woman Want? And introduces the question of what a woman can want in a patriarchal society except being some kind of relation: a mother, a daughter, or a wife. Zullo argues that Ocampo’s writing leaves her readers wondering what each particular woman in each text wants. Zullo walks us through Ocampo’s stories that house characters who push the boundaries of their clearly defined maternal roles, demonstrating the way Ocampo continually subverts “normal” expectations of motherhood and childhood. 

Zullo’s exciting examination of a writer who has recently been given an increased importance in the literary canon (more publications, translations, and artistic works have recently been dedicated to Ocampo) gives us the opportunity to understand Ocampo’s work and the way it is relevant to us. Zullo’s insights walk us through the way a brilliant writer like Ocampo was able to play with the boundaries of the set social positions as mother and child. The result is an avenue to discuss what a woman wants—and what she is allowed to voice her desires for.

Tatiana Jackson-Saitz, CambridgeEditors Team

Machine versus Human Translation

The internet can easily facilitate connection and communication across the globe, so it is increasingly important to be able to share your work across language boundaries. What do you need to know to choose the best translation method for your work?

While the world continues to become more interconnected and global, facilitating communication between speakers of different languages has become more important than ever. Although the internet has increased the availability of information from all over the world, academic papers, news articles, literary pieces, and journal entries all require translation to make them accessible to speakers of other languages. MT, or machine translation, has developed enormously in the last few decades, but it is still questionably reliable compared to the human standard. How can you know which will better serve your project? This decision ultimately comes down to your focus and subject matter since both translation modes have benefits and negatives.

MT is the most efficient choice of the two, providing inexpensive and nearly instantaneous translations. Since the computer is automatic, it also doesn’t need to be supervised throughout the process. The AI software grows more reliable with every use, constantly improving and creating better results. However, this doesn’t mean MT is a perfect tool. By choosing automated efficiency, you are likely missing out on nuance and context, which can be particularly detrimental to important documents or literary pieces. Machines can’t interpret connotations unless explicitly laid out for them, which can sometimes produce nonsensical phrasing. Is the screen a window filter or the lit backing of a computer? Is a fork a utensil on the dinner table or an intersection in the road?

This issue of subtlety is solved with human translation, which is done by real people with multiple language fluencies. These can be individuals working freelance or for institutions. They’ve often gone through university training in both translation and their specific field of focus. Humans can pick up on subtext and implications lost on machines, making their translations significantly more reliable and accessible. People also know how to draw on other sources when they’ve found something they don’t understand, so where a machine would take its best guess on an ambiguous sentence, a person would know to cross-reference with other speakers to ensure their translation is accurate. Another benefit of human translators is their ability to localize writing depending on its intended community, making it more relatable and understandable by using appropriate vocabulary and tone.

However, because they are more thorough and accurate, human translations are much more expensive and time-consuming. People need breaks, and even experienced translators cannot compete with entirely computerized systems in that respect. Overall, the main tradeoff to consider is cost-effectiveness versus accuracy. For social media posts or other short, insubstantial materials, being able to translate large quantities quickly and cheaply is a better option. On the other hand, literary works or longer specialized academic papers would be advantaged by a human eye and understanding of language. If you’re in the process of writing or are looking for support in getting your piece ready for publication or translation, feel free to visit CambridgeEditors website for more information on our wide array of services. 

Hannah Voteur, CambridgeEditors’ Team

The Peer Review Process

Academic writing goes through many rounds of revision to ensure it is ready for publication, and one of the most important is peer review.

Peer review has always been one of the most important ways for people to improve and refine their ideas, from philosophers in Ancient Greece to modern scholars looking to circulate their work through digital journals. Peer review ensures that all fields have high-quality information that is presented in a clear and useful way for future researchers. For anyone looking to publish their work, it is important to learn how to make use of the peer review process to polish their paper and promote its credibility. 

There are several different versions of peer review. All forms of peer review offer critiques to ensure that the paper asks meaningful questions and seeks to answer them through logically sound procedures, though each has different benefits. Open peer review is one of the more common methods and is typically orchestrated by the author themselves. The paper is sent out to colleagues, volunteers and any other individuals with expertise in the topic to review the content and methods, essentially crowdsourcing revisions. The author’s identity is available to the reviewers and vice versa. Open peer reviews are usually able to draw on the biggest pools of reviewers. 

Single-anonymous peer reviews receive the same type of feedback as open peer reviews, but the reviewers’ identities are withheld from the author. The anonymity of the reviewer encourages honest commentary, but knowledge of the author’s personal information sometimes results in unintentional reviewer bias. Double-anonymous peer reviews withhold both the reviewer’s and author’s identity from one another, which reduces the risk of bias. However, it can be difficult to ensure the process is entirely blind, particularly if the paper has been submitted elsewhere or published previously online. 

If your goal is publication in a journal, your paper will have to go through another version of peer review to determine if the subject matter is consistent with the focus of the journal. This review will involve a panel from the journal determining whether or not your work would be within the scope of subjects they publish. Critiques or rejections you receive here have less to do with the quality of information, and more to do with the suitability of the topic for that specific journal. 

Post publication peer review takes place after the work is submitted and accepted by a journal. Any commentary or critical discussion of the article can be referred to as part of its post publication peer review. These comments may also be included in a submission portfolio to other journals, referred to as a portable peer review. This portable peer review includes edits or revisions suggested by reviewers alongside the paper itself. 

Since technology has made it so much easier for authors to publish their work online, papers are often circulated without formal peer review, which is detrimental to both quality and credibility. Peer review is an essential part of getting your paper ready for publication, making sure it is vetted against the existing knowledge of academic and scientific communities. If you are in the process of editing your paper or preparing it for peer review, check out the CambridgeEditors’ website for more information on our wide array of editing services to see how we can support you. 

Hannah Voteur, CambridgeEditors’ Team