Some of you may have heard of the Shepherd project. It is a new initiative from book-loving genius Ben Fox.

Here’s what he has to say about the project: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023

“I believe that books build better humans, and I am on a mission to help everyone find the book they didn’t know they were looking for. 

I created Shepherd to add magic and serendipity to online book discovery. 

When I look for a new book online, it feels soulless. Online bookstores sell books like toothpaste or powdered gravy mix. Something about that is profoundly wrong. 

Books are magic.

Books are imagination fuel. 

Books change how we see the world.

Books change the direction of our lives.

Books transport us across time and space. 

Books let us see the world through another person’s eyes and emotions. 

I believe they are one of the biggest net positives in the world. “

I was one of the authors contacted by Ben, invited to contribute to the “three favourite books” of 2023. The Shepherd project aims to provide a new way to help readers find books they otherwise might not come across, using the usual digital approaches eg via an Amazon search. But the Shepherd project aims to be much more than that. Check out the website at shepherd.com and follow the various links on the site. Ultimately, this book discovery site should enable a much richer mix of possible book-searches and the discovery of all kinds of new and exciting writing from an unlimited variety of sources: traditional, independent, online only via a website, and others. Click below to see my three book choices.

https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/annette-hamilton

I found it very hard to decide which books were my favourites. I have very eclectic tastes, obviously, and the choices I ultimately made reflected some of my reading practices during 2023. This was a difficult year for my own writing, trying to do final edits on Revolutionary Baby, to make decisions about whether or not to publish Radiant Sands, who to send the final draft of my memoir Regret Horizon to, and other issues I was wrestling with. I realised I had read well upwards of thirty books during that year, including quite a few paperbacks from Australian authors published by Australian publishers. Then there were the very many books I dipped into thanks to my membership of Kindle Unlimited. I found it very hard to finish most of these. In part, I joined Kindle Unlimited to get a sense of what the contemporary indie writers were doing. I will write a post soon about what I discovered, if I have the heart for it.

Meantime, I am supporting Shepherd as a financial member, although you don’t have to do this to use its program, as I think anything which will re-open the wide world of books and writing beyond the current restrictions imposed by Amazon algorithms and such must be a Very Good Thing!