2023 Reading Recap

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:

• 68 literary fiction 
• 47 classics
• 46 mysteries
• 22 historical fiction
• seven food books
• seven memoir
• three campus novels

MORE DETAILS

• 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

I love reading challenges but only did three last year. 

• 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.

BUDDY READS

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

BIGGEST SURPRISE

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

Laurie Colwin. I loved Home Cooking and More Home Cooking and now want to read her fiction.

FAVORITE BY A FAVORITE

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman. This was a delightful rom com with a lawyer theme.

SERIES FINISHED

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?