Hi All. It’s time to take a look back at my reading for 2023 and see how I did and what I liked. It’s a bit weird but in terms of stats I would say it was sort of an off-year for me. I think because we moved in 2023 and were fixing and selling the old house and trying to renovate the new one, my head and time for reading were a bit skewed. I listened to many audios while I was driving the hour back and forth between the city and the rural place. Luckily in the end, it worked out and the move was completed and it’s been a happy change. So LoL that’s my qualifier.
Also I’m often a mood reader so it’s interesting to see what I picked up this year. I don’t plan much in advance. It looks like I still need to read more diverse authors and books from other countries, not to mention more nonfiction? Nah, fiction is my favorite. But I like that I read many new-to-me authors and they broadened my horizons. And now without fewer adieu, here are my stats and favorites for 2023.
Stats: 60 books completed & reviewed
Fiction — 50
Nonfiction — 10
Female authors — 46
Male authors — 14
White authors — 48
Non-White authors — 13
Print books — 28
Audiobooks — 32
American authors — 34
Canadian authors — 9
British authors — 4
Irish authors — 3
French authors — 2
Australian authors — 3
Brazilian author — 1
Turkish author —1
German author — 1
Malaysian author — 1
Zambian/African authors — 1
Favorite Fiction
1) Demon Copperhead was an epic read for me. It’s gritty but how Kingsolver weaves her Appalachian tale along the lines of the Dickens classic is nothing less than remarkable.
2) I was pleased to finally get to Gil Adamson’s The Outlander from 2007, which transported me with its journey of a female fugitive on the run in 1903.
3) The Nightbitch surprised me with its darkly funny and satirical look of a harried first-time mother on the brink … transforming into something feral.
4) In the past, I’ve been drawn in by Mary Lawson’s storytelling, and her tales set in small hamlets in northern Ontario hit the heart. A Town Called Solace is my favorite of hers.
5) The Light Pirate surprised me early in 2023 with its strong page-turning tale of climate change run amok in Florida.
6) Yellowface turned into my fun audio of the summer with its clever rendering and diabolical narrator that wouldn’t let go.
7) I had to listen to This Other Eden twice through to fully grasp it but found myself taken in by its lyrical passages and the terrible displacement of the people on the island.
8) Small Mercies is a powerful gritty crime novel set in Boston in 1974. The strong character of Mary Pat Fennessey blew me out of the water.
9) Fiona McFarlane is a new favorite Australian author whose two novels I read this year. Her unsettling tale The Night Guest about an elderly woman’s care didn’t disappoint.
10) The Personal Librarian is historical fiction that introduced me to the real life story of Bella da Costa Greene whose courage and life were amazing and challenging.
11) Eastbound is a novella that drew me in with its intense circumstances of two people in flight on the Trans-Siberian railway.
12) Study for Obedience is a very strange novel with a solitary narrator who is an off-kilter mess. But her unsettling circumstances stuck with me for quite a while after.
Favorite Debut Novels
1) Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (2021)
2) Trespasses by Louise Kennedy (2022)
3) The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane (2013)
4) Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow (2022)
5) Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens (2023)
6) Go As a River by Shelley Read (2023)
7) City Under One Roof by Irish Yamashita (2023)
8) Maame by Jessica George (2023)
9) This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs (2023)
Favorite Memoirs /Biographies
1) Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams (2023)
2) The Churchill Sisters: The Extraordinary Lives of Winton and Clementine’s Daughters by Rachel Trethewey (2021)
3) On Hitler’s Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood by Irmgard A. Hunt (2005)
4) You Could Make This a Beautiful Place by Maggie Smith (2023)
5) Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the World by Christian Cooper (2023)
6) Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley (2022)
7) Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron (2022)
Classics
1) Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1956)
2) My Antonia by Willa Cather (1918)
3) The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1963)
Favorite Crime novels
1) Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (2023)
2) I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (2023)
3) Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2023)
4) The Last Ranger by Peter Heller (2023)
5) City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita (2023)
Coming-of-Age Fiction
1) The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue (2023)
2) Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens (2023)
3) Maame by Jessica George (2023)
Historical Fiction
1) The Personal Librarian by Marie Bennedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
2) This Other Eden by Paul Harding
3) The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
4) The Postcard by Anne Berest
5) The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
6) Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these and what did you think?
I can see that I’m going to be spending some time going through the books on your lists. I’ve read several of them, and agree on your assessment of them, and I see a couple of others that I have on hand already, including Small Mercies. You had a really good year, especially considering how hectic your life was at times. Here’s to 2024!
Thanks Sam. Thankfully there were several good novels I got to. I hope you like Small Mercies. It might be my favorite Lehane book so far. Hmm.
And luckily life shouldn’t be as hectic this year, yay! Happy reading in 2024!
It’s a great year for the publishing industry and your reading reflected both the quality and variety of it. It’s nice to see it all neatly categorized. Out of your favorite fiction I read four books. Yellowface and Small Mercies made my top ten as well. I read 42 books overall and, though I compiled a top-ten list, there were just four 2023 releases that were 4.5-5* for me:
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
May our 2024 reading year be as good or better as last year’s! (Fingers crossed!)
Thanks Carmen. I’d like to get to the three that you mention (that I haven’t read), especially the Cosby action one. I struggled whether to include a few on my top fiction list … the ones on the bottom of that books photo. I had trouble deciding. The six novels on the top of the picture seemed pretty firm but the ones on the second line were in flux and almost got nixed. But in the end I kept them on. I hope I can read some strong fiction this year. Fingers crossed for us both.
It sounds like you read a lot of really good books in 2023. I always end up reading more books by women authors, too, probably because I read a lot of romances. ;D
Thanks Lark. Isn’t it amazing how many more novels we’re reading by women than men? It’s a lot! I don’t know whether to try to steer myself to more male authors or just see what I gravitate towards. Hmm. Happy reading in 2024!
Ooh, pretty photo of those snowy mountains!
Like you, fiction is my favorite. I sprinkle a few nonfiction books in throughout the year, but I’m definitely more of a fiction reader. I enjoyed reading your stats and it occured to me that I read more pages than I actually noted in my stats. This year I plan to take note of the books that I start, but give up on, adding those read pages to my final tally.
I also loved A Town Called Solace and The Light Pirate. Such great novels, aren’t they? I will definitely get to Demon Copperhead this year, and I’ve requested Small Mercies and The Night Guest from the library, so those should be coming soon. I haven’t decided on Yellowface, but it’s been quite popular, hasn’t it? Maybe I’ll get it on audio. Oh, I also adored Maame by Jessica George, and I’m eager to read You Could Make This a Beautiful Place. Great write-up! Here’s to another year of outstanding books!
Thanks Lesley. I struggled whether to include some of these on my top list but in the end I left them – 12 instead of 10. I hope you like Small Mercies & the character Mary Pat — it’s good on audio. I think the Night Guest takes awhile to get going at the beginning (read in print). Yellowface is good on audio, though the character can gets a bit tiresome towards the end. Still a bit fun in a mean-ish way. The Maggie Smith divorce memoir was pretty good on audio as read by her, you get the full sense of her emotions & poems. The Mary Lawson novel & The Light Pirate were solid good reads. Let’s hope to have more reads like that this year! I think we will — it’s about finding what you like. Cheers. ps. thx about the photo – it was taken a few weeks back on our road trip to Crowsnest, before we got more snow this week. I like the blue in the photo.
I enjoyed The Personal Librarian and then had to make a special trip to the Morgan Library. Some people in my book group were unimpressed by the writing and turned off by Belle’s living a lie, but her story was certainly fascinating and the husband of our hostess that evening is related to Bernard Berenson, which was entertaining.
Wow Constance how interesting about Berenson and that you went to the Morgan Library. I so wanted to after reading the novel, which I also read for my book club. Yeah people didn’t like the writing — but it didn’t bother me so much. I just thought what Belle accomplished in her life was quite incredible & the courage it took with JP Morgan & others. Her dilemma of how to live her life was rather fascinating. I’m a bit tempted to visit the Morgan Library as they are having a special exhibit of Belle’s life & work in fall 2024. But we’ll see if we can get back to NYC. Cheers.
Hi Susan, great list of books and great job categorizing them. Regarding your top fiction I will definitely read Small Mercies early in this year. I read The Fire Next Time many years ago and it was outstanding and Jeanette Walls is someone I really should have read by now and will do so.
Hi Kathy – thanks. It was a bit hard trying to decide on including some of these books. See what you think of Small Mercies … it’s a pretty gritty crime novel but well done too. James Baldwin often blows me away whenever I read him. And if you ever read Jeannette Walls — go for The Glass Castle first. I think it’s her best one by far. Hope you find some gems in 2024. Happy reading.
I really love reading through these yearend lists! A Town Called Solace was a favorite in 2022 and Demon Copperhead was pretty remarkable, too. I’ve got The Personal Librarian coming up next and Eastbound is in the audio queue. So many good books!
Hi JoAnn, Yeah these year-end visits on blogs are always interesting. I’m always a bit surprised what I find with my reading. I’m catching up on various other titles I missed last year. I hope you like those two novels coming up. And I look forward to your year-end list. Enjoy your week!
I think Demon Copperhead is in a category by itself…it is that good! I also liked A Town Called Solace and Personal Librarian. I’m on the wait list for This Other Eden, and I have to get a copy of Yellowface. I am thinking I would really like it.
Happy reading in the new year!
Thanks Jane. You’re right — the world Kingsolver creates in Copperhead seems so comprehensive that it is pretty much on its own. I didn’t get to The Covenant of Water but perhaps its epic-ness might have some similar qualities in scope.
See what you think of This Other Eden and Yellowface. Some didn’t like the Harding but the second time captured me. Cheers. & Happy reading.
The Fire Next Time was so powerful — that was a great pick for our book group. We don’t read many classics, but I was really glad that we go to that one.
The Personal Librarian keeps popping up as one that I would like. I’m also intrigued by The Churchill Sisters. The youngest daughter, Mary, showed up quite a bit in The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson.
Hi Joy: The Churchill Sisters is soo good! And was such an enjoyable read. You’d love it, especially for British Isles Fridays. I learned a lot about the daughters who are all fairly interesting. Mary, I think being the longest lived and most normal without the problems that the others all did.
And I must say: the power of Baldwin is in a category of its own.
Cheers & Happy reading in 2024.
Moving by itself is time consuming and you were swamped with renovations as well. You managed to get in quite a bit of reading anyway from the looks of it–and so many great books! I enjoyed reading your stats, Susan! It’s always fun to see what others keep track of. As you know, Yellowface was among my favorites this past year too. I haven’t read Small Mercies, but I enjoy Dennis Lehane’s writing so am happy to see he made your list. I want to read The Outlander this year and get it off my TBR finally. I hope you have a wonderful new year of reading!
Thanks LF: 2023 was a personally eventful year. Perhaps 2024 will be a bit calmer? I hope my reading will be less interrupted, LoL.
I liked Small Mercies and The Outlander quite a bit. There’s quite a few different novels with the Outlander title (& it’s not the TV series novel) … but this one is the Canada novel from 2007. I was finally glad to read it and she has a sequel to it called The Ridgerunner which I’ll try to get to this year.
Wishing you a happy year ahead as well. & Mouse.
Your list is amazing — you kept track of so many features of the books you read, and you have so thoroughly categorized them. I’m surprised that so many are from multiple countries and ethnic groups.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Thanks a lot Mae. It takes me awhile to organize a list from my Goodreads compiled books of the year. But it’s a bit fun to see once it’s done. It’s a bit of feedback for me to try to improve for this year on a variety of reads. Wishing you a happy reading year! & bird watching too.
I always look to you, Susan, to sort out what to read in new fiction. I’m still thinking about Yellowface and Study for Obedience (I have that one here now). I find that much of the best contemporary fiction is bleak; unfortunately for me, reading bleak stories lingers with me for weeks—not what I want at my age! The Bee Sting still hangs over my shoulders like widow’s weeds.
I am on the lookout for fiction that offers hope and a way forward in life…without being pedantic or trite or sappy.
Hi Deb, I hear what you’re saying. Unfortunately Study for Obedience might not be for you. It is pretty strange & rather bleak too. The character is not a happy one! So you might want to steer clear. Yellowface is a bit more amenable perhaps, but is conniving in not always nice-ish way. It’s making a point though … what it’s saying and trying to show … in its satirical way.
I have not tried the Bee Sting — I’m not a big family generational story kind of reader, but I don’t mind bleak fiction – as most of D. Copperhead certainly was — if there’s something about it that is transportive like the writing or the message or if it’s true to the bone. But there must be something redeeming like that. Cheers. & I hope you find the books you like.
Beautiful photo! I’m glad your move was successful. I like that you broke up your favorites by genre. I just mashed all of mine together. 🙂 I hope 2024 is an awesome reading year for you!
Thanks AJ. The photo is one of my favorites, taken perhaps 25 mins from here. The move has been good! And luckily we survived it too. Hopefully more reading in 2024. Wishing you a great year ahead.
I moved from Southern California to Northern California in 2021 and it was hard to focus on reading that year! So much goes into the process of selling and buying! Fixing up the old, renovating the new. I also listened to a ton of audios that year with the long drive back and forth! Glad to hear you’re all settled now.
I also enjoyed City Under One Roof by Irish Yamashita and I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai.
Hi Rachel, your move from South to North Cal must have been brutal — just judging what we went through. And what was your time driving: 8 or 9 hours apart? We had just an hour back & forth but that was plenty. So glad to have sold the old one & to be here now! It’s almost been a year now since we moved but I still feel like we went thru a bit of hell. I just need to fully put it behind me. Your environs from Southern Cal to Northern seem like they’re totally different, beautiful where you are and I hope you like it more, right?
I enjoyed those crime novels too!
I was glad to have it all over, too! It was quite an undertaking. Moving and transferring my job (my husband works from home). We lived in the northern end of Southern California, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, so our drive to where we moved was about six hours. We moved to a little town called Grass Valley, which is an old historic mining town back in the day. We live out in the country part, but the downtown is really cute. I’m so happy to be out of Southern California, though! Too much traffic! It’s definitely prettier up here, and we get actual seasons!
What prompted your move?
Wow Grass Valley – seems idyllic & beautiful. It seems like you made a great choice. I have only been to Yosemite once but haven’t been too near where you are. I can imagine how different it is from SoCal, away from traffic, yay!!
We too got tired of living in a busy growing city here (Calgary) with cars everywhere and housing on top of each other. We wanted more outdoor space & quiet. We are now more in a farming community with ten acres and just love the space & solitude and the nature. It suits us well at this stage of our lives.
A very nice list and set of stats! And I certainly understand being busy with moving, renovating, etc., etc. My reading in 2023 was sparse indeed. However, it was still there, thank goodness. I noticed you liked City Under One Roof. I liked that one too and there will be a new book with some of the same characters coming out next month, I think. Soon, anyway. Looking forward to it. Let’s have a really good 2024 in the reading department!
Yes Kay, let’s have a good 2024 year in reading! Thx for stopping by. We can put 2023’s disruptions into the rearview mirror. It’s nice to start over again with books. I’m looking forward to more of Yamashita with her 2nd book. Happy reading.
I am so glad to hear you liked The Personal Librarian as it’s on my TBR shelf and I wasn’t totally excited about it. Now I am more so!
Great stats; these posts are always fun to see.
Hi Helen thanks. The post is sort of fun to put together.
The Personal Librarian amazed me with its story — of Belle, a real life person in the early 1900s. I hope you like it. She must have had some fortitude to do what she did in life. Cheers & happy reading.
I think I’d enjoy listening to Yellowface with its “diabolical” narrator! I enjoyed the print book.
Hi Harvee, wow yes the audio reader does a great job with Yellowface. It was so fun to listen to last summer. I was glued to it. Check it out if you have a chance.
I’m glad you liked the book.
Great to see your stats and favourites! With 60 books, you still did better than me. I haven’t read any of your listed books, besides from Demon Copperhead, which wasn’t a favourite for me. However, I would like to get to Giovanni’s Room one day and wouldn’t mind picking up Maggie Smith’s memoir either. Hopefully, 2024 will be another great reading year and I’m glad the move and everything went well.
Thanks Stargazer. The move was worth its weight in gold, lol, but it sure took a ton of work to do. Less stress now. So I hope 2024 will be a good reading year. It sounds you are working tons so that is hard to do both. Giovanni’s Room was a bit different Baldwin than I was expecting but I still was able to follow the audio story quite easily. Baldwin’s writing has some power to it. The Maggie Smith memoir I thought at first was from the British actress but No it’s from a poet in Ohio, Lol. Her divorce really threw her for a Loop. See what you think. Cheers!
Looks like you had such a fabulous reading year with a lot of variety. I am definitely a mood reader so I may have plans at the beginning of the year but they usually go in different directions! So many of these books are on my TBR so I’m glad to hear they were some of your favorites! Here’s to a great reading year.
Thanks Iliana. I’m a bit all over the place in my reading too. Most of my books I get from the library and I have a lot on hold & they sort of come in whenever and then I get them. I’m hoping 2024 will be a better reading year for me. And for you as well. It’s a bit about time management, LoL. Happy 2024.
Some that we have in common are The Outlander (Adamson wrote a second novel about those characters, so I figure you’re looking forward to that now too) and The Sleeping Car Porter (which I absolutely loved, it made me laugh aloud a couple of times even though it’s mostly a quiet and serious story). Chain-Gang AllStars is one that I found quite riveting; I’m surprised, in some ways, that I haven’t seen it on more people’s lists because it’s such a page-turner. And I think I’m now two “behind” with Mary Lawson, which is kind of a nice feeling, because I think she’s just great and it’s so easy to fall into her stories that they suit almost any reading mood. Are you planning to read more Baldwin this year, since you’ve had two of his on your favourites list? I hope you’re already enjoying some potential future-new-favourites in 2024.
Hi Marcie, Yes I’m definitely looking forward to the second Adamson novel! I’m behind on that. Sleeping Car Porter really made me imagine the character on the train. It was well done visually. I thought the love story between the two gladiator women in Chain Gang All Stars was good & tragic. Not sure I’ll read more Baldwin this year — but for classics I’m reading Twain a bit so that I can compare a bit to the upcoming Percival Everett novel (March) called James that reimagines The Adventures of Huck Finn from Jim’s point of view. Hmm.
I’m glad we have some of these in common. I’m always trying to do more Canadian reading, so I will continue on. I’m hoping to read Crummey’s The Adversary this year. And of course Ridgerunner … and others. Thx for stopping by!