2023 READING RECAP
Before 2024 is too far along, I wanted to do a little recap of my 2023 reading. I read 139 books in 2023, about 30 more than usual. You can find the list of all the books I read last year here. Below are some thoughts on my year of reading.
FAVORITES
Picking favorite books is like being asked to pick a favorite grandchild! With that in mind, I have five grandkids, so here are five favorites from last year:
- Decline & Fall by Evelyn Waugh
- Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
- Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
- The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
- Mating by Norman Rush
OVERVIEW
I mostly read fiction, but I thought I read more nonfiction in 2023 than I actually did. I have nonfiction books stacked on my floor because I have no room for them on my shelves. So I better make an effort to read more of them!
- 113 fiction
- 24 nonfiction
- two poetry
- 74 audiobooks
- 65 book books
GENRES
There's crossover here:
MORE DETAILS- 68 literary fiction
- 47 classics
- 46 mysteries
- 22 historical fiction
- seven food books
- seven memoir
- three campus novels
- 15 (major) prize winners
- nine rereads
- five translations
- 73 by men
- 68 by women
PUBLICATION DATES
- one from pre-1800s
- nine from the 1800s
- 26 from 1900-1950
- 33 from 1950-2000
- 64 since 2000 (before 2023)
- six new in 2023
CHALLENGES
- TBR 23 in '23: I finished the 23 books on my list.
- European Reading Challenge. I read books from 12 different European countries.
- Mt. TBR: I read 63 books off my TBR shelves, in addition to my TBR 23 in '23 books, for a total of 86 books off my TBR shelves -- my best year ever! The main reason is that I concentrated on audiobooks that were already on my shelves as paper books so I could clear some space.
I really got into buddy reads on bookstagram for the first time.
- eight Daphne du Maurier books with a Du Maurier Deep Dive group
- four Evelyn Waugh novels in a Waugh Together Now group
- four Somerset Maugham novels
- Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a Classic Buddy Read
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte for Victober
- War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy as a yearlong readalong with the Whisky & Perseverance group
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. I highly disliked Fates and Furies so almost skipped, especially when I saw a sea monster. Glad I didn’t!
FAVORITE NEW-TO-ME-AUTHOR
FAVORITE NEW-TO-ME-AUTHOR
Laurie Colwin. I loved Home Cooking and More Home Cooking and now want to read her fiction.
FAVORITE BY A FAVORITE
FAVORITE BY A FAVORITE
I have dozens of mystery series I want to read so made an effort in 2023 to finish series I've already started. I need to make room in my brain before I start any others.
- John Banville/Benjamin Black’s Quirke: I read the last two.
- Colin Bateman’s Mystery Man: I finished the last one.
- E.F. Benson’s Mapp & Lucia: Not a mystery series. I read the final three.
- Anthony Horowitz's Hawthorne: I read the fourth one and am caught up until/unless he writes another.
- Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole: I didn't finish reading all of them, but they got increasingly more gruesome and scary. I read The Snowman last year and it was past the scary limit for me, so I am done with this series.
- Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club: I read all four.
- Louise Penny’s Three Pines: I read eight and caught up until she writes a new one.
- Dorothy L. Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey: I finished the novels a couple of years back and finally read all the short stories.
SERIES CONTINUED
- Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlow: I read The Long Good-Bye last year and have read several others. I love them but want to wrap up the series.
- Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: I only read one last year, The Big Four, and have a long way to go.
- Elizabeth George's Lynley/Havers: These are chunksters! I read six in 2023 and have nine to go before I'm caught up.
- Susan Howatch's Starbridge: A series about the Church of England in the first half (or so) of the 20th Century. I read the fifth of six, Mystical Paths.
- Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther: Even though I don't read many WWII stories, I read the third one and plan to continue now that the stories are past the war and into the Cold War.
- Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti: I am not reading these in order, which is highly unusual for me. I read Aqua Alta last year, my ninth, and there are 23 others in the series so I don't plan to read them all.
- Ian Rankin's John Rebus: This is a favorite, but I am ready to move on. I read seven last year and have three to go.
SERIES BEGUN
- Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders: I will definitely read the second one, Moonflower Murders, this year and hope he writes more.
- Blythe Baker's 1940s Cotswolds: I read the first, A Simple Country Murder, and liked it but have no plans to read more unless I find the next one in the wild.
- Benjamin Black's Detective Inspector Strafford: I read Snow, a spin off of his Quirke series, and will continue if there are more books.
- Alexander Campion's Capucine Culinary Mysteries: Despite the appealing premise, I didn't care for the first one, The Grave Gourmet, and won't continue.
- Nita Prose's Molly the Maid: I read The Maid for book club and plan to read the second one soon.
That's a wrap! On to 2024!
What bookish thing are you most looking forward to?
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