Best Books is almost here! On December 2 we announce our winning titles. To celebrate we are counting down to our big reveal by highlighting some of our 2023 picks, titles we still treasure, reread, and suggest widely. This week, in advance of Thanksgiving, we offer two choices, a van life adventure and a cozy-adjacent crime fiction debut.

Noami J. Grevemberg’s Living the Vanlife: On the Road Toward Sustainability, Community, and Joy (Simon Element) takes readers on the road for insight into what it’s like to quit a job and choose to live a nomadic lifestyle in a van. This book is ultimately about intention and living an affordable, safe life on one’s own terms. Real, relatable, and remarkable, it’s a great adventure from the first to last page.—Jill Cox-Cordova

Three generations of strong women star in Nina Simon’s dazzling cozy-adjacent debut, Mother-Daughter Murder Night (Morrow). Lana, estranged from her daughter since Beth became a single mother years ago, moves in with Beth and her now-teenage daughter, Jack, while undergoing cancer treatments. When Jack comes across a floater while kayaking and then is accused of the murder, it’s a family affair to exonerate her and ferret out the killer, Columbo-style.—Liz French