As 2023 slinks out with a whimper, I find myself several books behind schedule in my blogging efforts, sitting in a heat-less home with a case of COVID to welcome in 2024. Hopefully this isn’t a harbinger of things to come …
I *will* go back and finish writing up the final 6 or so books of 2023, but in the meantime, I figured a quick summary of the year was something my covid-infected self could manage. In between naps and drinking water and tea.
I did end up reading 42 books, MUCH more than expected (although 3 of them were children’s books, all read on the same day).
I had an unspoken goal this year to read more books by female authors, and ended with year with 31 of 42 books written by women. It’s telling, I think, that I thought it was more.
Half (22) of the books were classified (by me) as Great or very very close to great, falling into a category called “pretty darn good” that I only created to try and split the “great” list up a bit and tease out the best of the best. Better, only two books were disappointingly “meh”.
To revisit my reading challenge for 2023, here is how it all fell out. A 2024 challenge will be along at some point in January.
Challenges related to books:
- Read a favourite book of a close friend or loved one.
- It’s hard to get my avid-reader friends to specify a favourite book, so I went with “here’s one I liked” instead. Based on that, I read Little Fires Everything (Sharl’s recommendation) and Magic for Liars (Erin’s recommendation). Both totally worth it! My friends have good taste in books.
- Read a graphic novel
- This is the reason I read The Sandman, and I enjoyed it! Would I read another graphic novel “just because”? Likely not, but I would definitely read one as part of a challenge or book club pick.
- Give a book a second chance
- Americanah, which turned out to be simultaneously not amazing, but better than I thought when I abandoned it the first time. I don’t regret picking this one back up.
- Read a book by a non-cis-white author
- I think the closest I came here was Christian Cooper, but I don’t think he passes the non-cis test? This challenge will likely reappear in my 2024 list.
- Read a book by a local PEC author
- Blackwater Bluff. I will be repeating this goal in 2024, and already have a 4-book collection lined up.
Challenges related to activities:
- Figure out my wheelhouse and my doghouse (a fun list coming in Dec, and yes, “wheelhouse” will definitely include murder mysteries!)
- Okay this is harder than I thought, so maybe I’ll start broad and narrow it next year.
- Wheelhouse:
- Books with a bright, fun cover (yes, I’m just that shallow, but it worked like gangbusters for Eleanor Oliphant and Lessons in Chemistry, so just let it be)
- Muuuuurder most foul
- A few choice authors who I’ll read unconditionally (Guy Kay, Emily St John Mandel, Marina Endicott, Tana French, Megan Miranda…)
- Doghouse:
- Family drama and generational trauma
- Romance, unless the romance is secondary to, say, a murder mystery
- Most self-help books. Maybe all self-help books.
- Write a blog about the books I have read (since you are reading this, check!)
- I am behind schedule, with about 6-7 books to go. A bit of a writing slump, sadly. But in general, I upheld this goal pretty well.
- Read at least 2 books per month
- Going with an overall count, I needed to read 24 books and ended up at 42 (excellent!!) so I’m calling this a win.
- Buy books from independent booksellers, ideally local stores OR borrow from the library
- I’m just going to say I spent way too much money at the local book store, Books & Company, and highly recommend it to anyone who is in the area.
- Read more diversity
- I think I can call this a win: Christian Cooper, Michelle Good, Celeste Ng, R.F. Kuang, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Finally, a summary of my 2023 reading, by category.
So Great!!
- The Witch Elm, by Tana French
- Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
- Sea of Tranquility: A Novel, by Emily St John Mandel
- Shit, Actually, by Lindy West
- Five Little Indians, by Michelle Good
- The End of Everything (astrophysically speaking), by Katie Mack
- The Witches are Coming, by Lindy West
- Atlas of the Heart, by Brene Brown
- How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, but Michael Schur
- The Observer, by Marina Endicott
- Normal Rules Don’t Apply, by Kate Atkinson
- Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang
- Eleanor Opliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
- Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
Pretty Darn Good!
- Such a Quiet Place, by Megan Miranda
- What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman
- Living with Cannibals & Other Women’s Adventures, by Michele Slung
- Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey
- Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
- The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes – Book I, by Neil Gaiman etc
- Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn
- Better Living Through Birding, by Christian Cooper
Okay.
- Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, by Christopher Moore
- The Appeal, by John Grisham
- Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, by Sarah Vowell
- The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz
- Briefly, a Delicious Life, by Nell Stevens
- The Six-Figure Student Playbook, by Jackson Thornley
- Ottawa Rewind 2: More Curios and Mysteries, by Andrew King
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Why Birds Sing, by Nina Berkhout
- Blackwater Bluff, by S.M. Hurley
- Furbidden Fatality, by Deborah Blake
- Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng
- A Place of Execution, by Val McDermid
- Chapter and Curse, by Elizabeth Penney
Meh 🙁
- Field Notes from an Unintentionial Birder, by Julia Zarankin
- Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, by Zsuzsi Gartner
For Kids
- Night Owl Night, by Susan Edwards Richmond
- A Warbler’s Journey, by Scott Weidensaul
- Two Green Birds, by Geraldo Valerio