Books I Read in 2023

❗ These images are from my profile on the StoryGraph app and are some charts of my reading year in review!

What I Read: A Summary

As a semi-avid reader, there are a few thoughts I have on my reading year in review. To start, it was very similar to last year. Romance books and fun reads were the primary driver in my reading goal success. Reading is more of an escape for me, so I’d rather spend my free time reading something light and simple and easy to consume than something that takes a lot more brainpower to get through.

That’s not to say I didn’t read thought-provoking books. Around September 2023, I suddenly decided I wanted to read 12 nonfiction books in a year, and while I was very far behind on that particular goal, I set my mind to it and was able to finish out the year accomplishing that! I will admit, some of the books near the end didn’t really have extensive notes taken on them, but I expect to return to them to write up some notes for this blog, so it’ll all even out. I think.

Books and Pages Read Per Month

This year’s reading has been a tad tumultuous, some months were great and I read tons of books, and others weren’t. Part of my “strategy” is that I read multiple books at a time. I never DNF a book, but if it’s a book that I’m not enjoying, it’ll take me a long time to finish. There are also some books that I simply put to the side for months on end, but I still count that break as part of the reading period. I don’t know why, but that’s just how I roll, probably because it’s easier to keep the book on my “Currently reading” shelf than to change it. Summer was a great month for reading, I found some fun and easy books that I was able to get through, and I find that if I’m slow reading one month, I usually make up for it in the following months.

Love Is In the Air. Or Genre

Romance once again reigned supreme as my favorite genre. Nothing beats a sappy story while you’re all cozy and have nowhere to be for the evening. Or weekend. Young Adult also made a bit of a comeback for me, mostly thanks to the Hunger Games books. I reread those books with a pal of mine and it was great to get immersed in the story again.

Business was my next favorite genre, and I attribute that you my general interest in finance and self-help books. Did I find them to be life-changing? Absolutely not, and it’s making me reconsider how I go about purchasing my nonfiction books (it’s expensive to pick up these mediocre books and to be overall dissatisfied with the content that is in them).

Critics Will Say…

Overall, I’m very forgiving with my book ratings. For a long time, I always gave books at least three stars because they published a book, got me to buy it, and then I sat through and finished the whole thing. That’s multiple-star worthy. Or so I thought…

Around summertime, I decided to be a little more critical with my ratings. That meant dealing out 1 or 2 star ratings (I only do whole stars just because) more than ever. My five star reads this year are probably more than they should be, but it is what it is. Props to the books that were able to get me; I would say that out of the 18 books that I rated 5 stars, only 7 are really worthy of the rating…

This year with books was also really a mixed bag. A lot of the reads were highly rated, and I found myself disappointed in the writing, the story, or a combination of both. I found myself more often than not aggravated with the read and I wasn’t overly excited to read any particular story (with the exception of a few).

But! A book read is a book read, so even though it wasn’t my cup of tea, I still get to say I read it. I could do without buying some of the books I disliked because that would save me a pail of money, but you live and you learn. If you’re gonna hate read a book, go to the library. Much cheaper LOL.

Put Your Hands Up For the GOAT

While I read over fifty books this year, there’s only one that steals your heart and is your favorite of the year.

Well, not always. Sometimes I have multiple favorites. Who doesn’t?

This year, though, I do think I had a favorite. Drumroll please…🥁

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect book. There are things about the way the story was written that I didn’t always love, but this is the book that lingered with me after I read it. I kept coming back to the story, coming back to memorable quotes and feelings that this story made me feel. It left me wanting more, wanting the story to say to be continued…

But, I love the story the way that it is, and I can see myself going back to this over and over again.

All the Books I Read in 2023

And below are all the books that I read, in the order I completed them! Overall, I’m very happy with how this year’s reading went. I could do without a few books that I think made me lose some brain cells, but you win some, you lose some.

⭐ TLDR. I read a lot, especially romance books. I also started to get critical with my ratings and I tried to read 12 nonfiction books which really took forever in my mind.

Just One More Chapter. Said Everyone, But No One Followed Through

And that’s all she wrote! I’m really happy with how many books I read last year, and while I don’t want to make bold assumptions, I do think I have it in me to read more than 53 books in 2024. Only time will tell, but I’m really excited to get started with this year’s reading goals. Fingers crossed it goes well!

Keep your eye out for reviews and notes of books I read last year, though. I’m hoping to post more reviews of past reads soon! I would love for part of this blog to be an archive of books I’ve read and what I thought about them after I read them. The other part of this blog is just ramblings, so might as well have something a tad productive posted here 😉

I would also love to hear what you all read this year or how you felt about certain books! Feel free to comment on this post and we can have a lil ~discussion.

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Thank you again for reading this, and I hope you all have a great day! Till next time 🫰