The Year in Reading, 2023 Edition

By -

2023 was a busy reading year for me. I got into the triple digits, discovered some great cozy reads, and lured another unsuspecting person into the World of Books.

My husband was a perfectly normal person who would read books when the mood struck. Then he discovered Andy Weir, began listening to audiobooks, joined a book club, and installed bookshelves in the living room for his growing collection. It's fun to hear him say, "You'd like this book I read." It wasn't an instantaneous transition, but it has stuck long enough to be a part of his personality now.

But back to the topic at hand: I read 102 books. (Goodreads calculates the average book length at 264 pages.) 

I indulged in Escargot and met The Knight Owl; encountered octopuses, an ogress, Christopher Marlowe, and an alien with a Scottish accent; and discovered Dark Academy. 


I read popular books, including Demon Copperhead and Lessons in Chemistry. I discovered Howl's Moving Castle and met Mel Brooks (on the page). I re-read a few books (including Ninth House; The Princess Bride; A Lot Like Christmas; Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret; and Forever....). 

I mixed media like mad: audiobooks, e-books, print books, graphic novels, picture books, books with line drawings and photos, and books where the images were all in my head. Some books I read in two or three formats. 

Nearly half were from My (Public) Library. Nearly a quarter were from my own shelves (several are pictured, above), and many others were consumed via my e-reader and mobile phone.


My first 2023 read was Upgrade by Blake Crouch.

My final read of the year was What You are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. 

My least favorites were Atlas Six and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

The ones I have talked about the most include Of Time and Turtles, Finding the Mother Tree, Light from Uncommon Stars, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and Demon Copperhead. Each of these books ripped out my heart and gave it back to me better than it was before. 

I have gifted The Ogress and the Orphans, Horse, Warrior Girl Unearthed, Lessons in Chemistry, and The Magician's Daughter.

One author managed to wow and underwhelm me with two (very) different tomes.

I finished The Invisible Library series and started a few others (The Glass Library, Wolf Hall, Witches of Brooklyn, Alex Stern) (though, technically, Ninth House was a re-read).

I don't know if I'll ever again read this much in a single year, but it was a wild ride I enjoyed immensely.

What did you read in 2023 we're not talking enough about? Tell me!

Chris' 2023 Reads

  1. What You Are Looking For Is In The Library

  2. Golden Rage

  3. The Untold Story (The Invisible Library, #8)

  4. The Medici Manuscript

  5. Just Because

  6. Of Time and Turtles

  7. Simon and the Bear

  8. The Shortest Day

  9. Upside Down Hanukkah

  10. Seven Spools Of Thread

  11. The Shortest Day of the Year

  12. A Lot Like Christmas

  13. The Skull

  14. Bookshops & Bonedust

  15. Witches of Brooklyn: Spell of a Time

  16. This Book is Gay

  17. Yellowface

  18. Notorious

  19. Easy Crochet Dishcloths

  20. The Road to Roswell

  21. Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth

  22. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores

  23. Finding the Mother Tree

  24. Garlic and the Witch

  25. The Magician's Daughter

  26. What an Owl Knows

  27. Hallowe’en Party/ A Haunting in Venice

  28. The Pram

  29. Elvis Puffs Out

  30. The Princess Bride

  31. Hell Bent

  32. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories

  33. Cultish

  34. Poems to See By

  35. Wifey

  36. The Portable Door

  37. Bloody Summer

  38. Mickey7

  39. The Personal Librarian

  40. Forever…

  41. I Need a Hug

  42. The Measure

  43. Hudson and Tallulah Take Sides

  44. Wolf Hall

  45. Big Panda and Tiny Dragon

  46. The Killers of the Flower Moon

  47. Shit Cassandra Saw: Stories

  48. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

  49. The Seven Year Slip

  50. All About Me!

  51. Trespass series: The Tiger Came to the Mountain

  52. Little Owl Lost

  53. Take it Away, Tommy! A Breaking  Cat News Adventure

  54. Murder Your Employer

  55. Howl’s Moving Castle

  56. Heartstopper 1

  57. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

  58. Allergic: A Graphic Novel

  59. Witches of Brooklyn: S’more Magic

  60. The Atlas Six

  61. Light from Uncommon Stars

  62. Warrior Girl Unearthed

  63. Catherine, Called Birdy

  64. Beastly

  65. Demon Copperhead

  66. Ozma of Oz #2

  67. Code Name Verity

  68. Vegan Cooking for Two: 200+ Recipes for Everything You Love to Eat (America’s Test Kitchen)

  69. Oddball (A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection, #4)

  70. The Poet’s Dog

  71. A House With Good Bones

  72. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

  73. Cookiesaurus Rex

  74. What If 2

  75. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

  76. I Swear: Politics is Messier than My Minivan

  77. Horse

  78. The Librarian of Crooked Lane

  79. Poverty, by America

  80. If Cats Disappeared from the World

  81. Into Shadow: The Garden, Persephone, The Six Deaths of the Saint

  82. Ninth House

  83. A Lullaby for Witches

  84. Thank You for Listening

  85. A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting

  86. Dear Ijeawele; or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

  87. Lessons in Chemistry

  88. Odder

  89. A Tip for the Hangman

  90. The 1619 Project

  91. The Wehr Wolf

  92. The Ogress and the Orphans

  93. Trayvon: Ten Years Later

  94. Black Cake

  95. Come From Away: Welcome to the Rock: An Inside Look at the Hit Musical

  96. The Shadowy Horses

  97. Remember How I Love You: Love Letters From an Extraordinary Marriage

  98. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

  99. The Dark Archive

  100. Less is Lost

  101. Remarkably Bright Creatures

  102. Upgrade

Comments

Post a Comment