Yearly Recap for 2023

2023 was a weird year for reading for me. I didn't actually read almost any books--I listened to almost everything on audio this year. And obviously, one major change was that I didn't keep track of my reading here on this blog, for the first time in a decade. I just don't have the time or energy for this any more. But I do still track my reading on Goodreads, and I'm writing down the titles I read in a notebook to keep track. 

Since I didn't read a lot of hard copy books, I read only 91 books this year--still a lot of books, but not a lot compared to the 150 I read a few years in the past. But I still read some really great things this year that I loved. This was a year of listening to a lot of Greek mythology, and I really loved it, so I chose my favorites from that genre this year too. 

Favorite Fiction: Maame by Jessica George, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakroborty, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal, Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Favorite Nonfiction: Die with Zero by Bill Perkins, The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Favorite Greek Mythology: A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, Mythos by Stephen Fry

Favorite Mysteries: The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey, The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

Favorite Romance: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Best of the Best for the Year: The Change by Kirsten Miller

Yearly Recap for 2022

I did some good reading this year. The first third of the year wasn't as great with my morning sickness and general exhaustion, but I made up for it and still read somewhere around 120 books. Quite a lot of them were audiobooks and a huge chunk of the rest were ebooks. I read the fewest hard copy books that I have ever read this year. I'm not sure why that is or what has changed, but I sure hope that's not a lasting, forever change in my reading habits. 

Best of the year: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Best Fiction: Anxious People, The Remains of the Day, The Scholomance trilogy

Best Nonfiction: Empire of Pain, Hunt, Gather, Parent, Four Thousand Weeks

Best Mystery: A World of Curiosities, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, The Bullet that Missed

Best Middle Grade: The Last Cuentista, The Hero and the Crown

Best Romance: Book Lovers, Nora Goes Off Script, Thank You for Listening, The Bodyguard

Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes

I really loved this time management book as well. I thought she gave some really good, scientifically based information. Everything she talked about was based in social science studies, most of which she conducted herself, and about what makes people happier. Very well done. Shocker: it's about relationships and not about getting stuff done. 

The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow

I really, really loved this book. It was a look at Mary Bennet as her own character, explaining why she acted the way she did during the story of Pride and Prejudice but also then what happened to her after. I loved seeing how Mary could be a well-rounded, full character and how she developed and grew over time. I really loved it. My only complaint was that it felt a little long and started to drag about 3/4 of the way through.

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

Princess Diaries set in Japan. What's not to love?

Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters by Laura Vanderkam

I like that Vanderkam is a mom of five kids, spread out over a wider spread of ages than our kids are. She isn't writing about time management from her white tower. She's super busy and gets how hard it is to implement things. But I really liked this book and the 9 techniques she talks about. I especially want to implement having a bedtime and doing one big adventure and one little adventure each week. 

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

This may have been one of my favorite ones yet. I love Armand Gamache and every mystery Louise Penny puts out.