US. Travel experience specialist Hudson, part of Avolta (previously Dufry), has released its ‘Best Books of 2023’ list. Its top reads for the year were selected from nominations submitted by company employees, booksellers and executives, as well as customers.
The ‘Best Books of 2023’ selection is now available at Hudson stores across North America. The complete list, including booksellers’ favourites and reviews, can be found here or as an audiobook collection.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros has earned Hudson’s ‘Book of the Year’ title. Book Marketing Manager Russell Roth said: “Fourth Wing masterfully wields the power of dragons, infusing the narrative with a relentless, fiery intensity that ignites the imagination and leaves an indelible mark on every page.”
For the first time Hudson has selected an ‘Audiobook of the Year’ – Tom Lake, written by Ann Patchett and narrated by American actress Meryl Streep.
To celebrate this expansion into a new medium, Hudson has partnered with Libro.fm to offer Tom Lake as a free audiobook to customers who purchase one of the ‘Best Books of 2023’ titles in store or online. 
Avolta North America Vice President Category Management Books & Media Sara Hinckley remarked: “Our ‘Best Books’ programme is my favourite every year. It’s the culmination of a year’s worth of conversations around books we love that happen every day in our stores, and between our booksellers, publishers and friends.
“While everyone will have their personal favourite, our ‘Best Books’ list is a compilation of the varying passions and perspectives of the Avolta team across North America, representing the best of what books offer us: entertainment, escape, enlightenment and empathy.”
Hudson Booksellers’ ‘Top Ten Fiction’ includes Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros; Tom Lake by Ann Patchett; Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson; Happy Place by Emily Henry; Loot by Tania James; The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese; Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah; The Postcard by Anne Berest; Lone Women by Victor LaValle; and Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward.
Its ‘Top Ten Non-Fiction’ list features The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann; Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond; Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby; Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy; Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shahnaz Habib; How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair; Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis; The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro; Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan by Alex Pappademas, Joan LeMay; and Rocky Mountain High: A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West by Finn Murphy. ✈
