bibliophile – Chronicles of a Homebody Adventurer

The other day, I did a silly Instagram challenge picking my favorite book that I read every month. Before finishing this task, I thought that this would be a great way to see what my favorite books for the year were…but it really did not! Given the year that I had–a stressful job hunt, reading slumps, etc.–it’s no wonder that some months had slim pickings and others were chock full of good books.

I also didn’t read as much as I did in 2022. In 2022, I blew through my GoodReads goal eventually reading 108 books. Thus, I went into this year COCKY AF. I set my goal at 100 books, but before February was out, I had to change it because I was already so far behind. I changed it to 65 books, and spent most of the year behind. In October, I shifted my goal to 70 and just this week I met that goal. I will likely go a little over. (Is it cheating to adjust your goal? I don’t think so. I didn’t like that I was feeling stressed out about a FUN GOAL, so I’m allowing myself to change my goals!)

At the end of 2022, I set two goals for my reading in 2023: (1) to read more diversely, both in terms of genre and to read more books by diverse authors, (2) to read more non-fiction. I don’t know that I really met either of those goals–but I didn’t really set benchmarks so I don’t have a better way to evaluate. For the first goal, were some of my authors BIPOC? Yes. Were some authors queer and did they tell queer stories? Yes. Is the majority of my fic still written by white people? Yep. Women, at least but still a lot of white women. Most of my fiction was written by Americans or Europeans (not exclusively), but still a majority. Clearly, I have work to do here. As for non-fiction…I unequivocally failed to finish many non-fiction books. I did read a few self-improvement books, but I don’t count those. 0/2, zero stars on achieving those goals–but I will continue to try to increase these stats every year.

On to my top 10 favorite books I read in 2023, not including re-reads, in order of how I read them.

House of Sky and Breath, Crescent City #2, (series) Sarah J Maas: In 2022, I discovered ACOTAR and read the first of the Crescent City books. I have unabashedly joined the ranks of SJM girlies and am waiting with bated breath for the third installment of this series. Admittedly, when I started Crescent City I was put off by the ~*modern*~ setting rather than the historical one, but like all of her other books, I was sucked in.
Thursday Murder Club, (series) Richard Osman: I read all of the books currently released in this series this year. I love a good multi-narrator mystery where the line of good and bad is constantly redrawn and characters are a little morally gray. This series is a great addition to the canon of murder mysteries set in Britain–it follows a group of 4 septu- and octogenarians who solve murders. It’s not your grandma’s Murder She Wrote though (I say as someone who deeply loves her some Jessica Fletcher and MSW.)
Kingdom of Ash, Throne of Glass #8, Sarah J Maas: I’m not great at separating individual books from their series. They’re all one big story. Throne of Glass was an adventure. I laughed. I cried. I think it–for all intents and purposes–has replaced Harry Potter as *my* series. It also might be why I failed to hit 100 books this year. I think I spent the rest of the year recovering from and trying to find the next best thing to TOG. Forever chasing that feeling of reading an amazing new series again. I have already been fighting the urge to re-read it. (Should we take bets on how long it takes me to reread it into 2024?)
A Shadow in the Ember, Fire & Flesh #1, Jennifer L. Armentrout: An incredibly polarizing author on BookTok, I was nervous about starting to read Armentrout’s books. It helped satiate my desire for a bunch of romantasty books and fill that SJM hole in my life, even if her books need some massive structural editing (especially the From Blood and Ash series.) I would not make the argument that her books are good in quality but they are candy. I think a lot of the problems with FBaA are fixed in the F&F books. They are much better and tighter reads and narratives.
Fourth Wing, The Empyrean #1, Rebecca Yaros: This is an interesting one to include on this list. I read this and devoured it. I was sucked in immediately. It wasn’t perfect, but I was immediately taken in by the DRAGONS and the enemies-to-lovers plotline. I couldn’t wait for the upcoming sequel Iron Flame. However, Iron Flame disappointed me so much that I didn’t finish it. It was a painful read and I just didn’t want to keep going. I skimmed the rest and it’s up in the air whether I will ever finish it. I debated whether to put Fourth Wing on my favorites list then…but I think it qualifies. I even BOUGHT MERCH.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna: This is a book that I tried to read once before but just wasn’t in the right mood (a frustrating thing for me). I decided to try again during the spooky season and fortunately, I was in the right mood. It was a charming story about found family, love, and magic.
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, Melinda Taub: I have had an uneven history with sequels or re-tellings of Jane Austen. I find that most try too hard to be like Austen in style (which feels off) or they do something that tries to disrupt the “happy ending,” which I think is boring. I saw authors I enjoyed saying that they quite liked this book, and I do happen to LOVE imaginative retellings through the eyes of other characters and I was especially interested in how one would rehabilitate Lydia Bennet, the incredibly scandalous and obnoxious youngest sister in Pride & Prejudice. Reader, it was not like Austen, and it didn’t try to be, it was simply the story of a known character and it was good. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I look forward to what this author does next.
Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, Bright Falls #3, Ashley Herring Blake: The first book in this series was in my top 10 last year. I had the wonderful privilege of getting this book at an author event at one of my favorite Nashville bookstores, Parnassus Books. Like the two books in the series, it was a charming and emotional romance that hit all the right spots for me, totally grumpy sunshine, and very cute. I can’t wait to see what Ashley Herring Blake does next!
Six of Crows, Six of Crows #1, Leigh Bardugo: I started Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse a little backwards, starting with this duology rather than the main trilogy but I think it will be fine. This quasi-dystopian, multi-perspective heist was so much fun and tense. I happened to read this around when I saw Inception for the first time (yes, I know I’m 10 years late on that), and it was so fun to think about what goes into a heist movie.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, Benjamin Stevenson: This was a great whodunit, definitely a twist on the unreliable narrative trope, with tons of fun twists that kept you guessing. I had a hunch, but I didn’t figure it out and I usually do, so that was nice.

2023 Take Aways

2023 was the YEAR OF ROMANTASY for me. Though I first read ACOTAR in 2022, it was the majority of what I read in 2023, and it’s the kind of stories I want more of.
Historical Romance–the kind without magic and fae–my longstanding ‘home’ genre–barely made a dent this year; though it did make a mild appearance. There have been more closed-door/non-spicy historical romances popping up and that proved annoying to me.
I only re-read 6 books, which is wild for a committed rereader. (And five of them were ACOTAR -.-).
While I didn’t read to my goals (diversity, non-fiction) I did read more adventurously. I tried a lot of new authors.
Gosh I’m a sucker for a series. I love finding something that’s reliably good and knowing that there’s more where that came from. Hence, I think, why I was so bummed Iron Flame in no way lived up to The Fourth Wing.
I read long books. My average book was 456 pages long in 2023. Almost 100 pages higher than my 2022 average.

I don’t really like the idea of New Year’s Resolutions– they always seem to be the trite “new year, new me!” kind of thing. I do, however, LOVE the idea of fresh starts and new beginnings. For instance, I have a slightly obsessive Sunday ritual where I essentially clean my house, wash my clothes, get all of the little odds and ends done around the house, so that the work week can start with everything ‘just so.’ There’s a whole lot of a benefits to this ritual for me (and some, to be fair, detractors), so I’ve taken today, a Monday, to be the “Sunday” for 2018.

Instead of resolutions, which I see as burdensome and onerous, permeated with the idea of unpleasantness, I have a few fun goals for 2018, that are instead tinged with fun. I have a few of those boring health and work minded ones too, but who wants to read about those?

Don’t re-read books. I love re-reading books. Picking up a familiar book is like a heart-to-heart chat with an old friend. They’re there to comfort you when you’re blue, cheer you when you need it, and re-reading books just fills me with warmth. In 2017, however, I feel like my tendency to re-read slowed me down; there was less of an urge to read because I already knew what was coming. I only read 40 books this year which is around 20 less than my normal output. In 2018, I challenge myself to read all new books. I have allowed myself three exceptions: one) if I am reading a series in which I have not read the whole thing, but would like to re-read an earlier volume, two) if there is something I want to re-read but have not read in the past ten years (for instance, I have a hankering to read Little House on the Prairie series again. and I have not read those since 1997), and three, see number 2.
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text I have just discovered the magic that is a good podcast. One that I am REALLY excited about is Harry Potter and the Sacred text. In every episode, they take a chapter of Harry Potter and treat it as one would a sacred text, reading and plumbing the chapter based upon a theme. It’s magical. As a serial re-reader, I love the idea of approaching a series that means so much to me from a different direction. So, starting in 2018, I have decided to oh-so slowly work my way through the podcast, doing an episode a week. If I stick with it, I’ll be doing this for years!
Fun and Skills! I want to make sure I maintain my efforts at quilting and crafting. I would like to keep up with my previous years’ records of completing two quilts in 2018. I’ve already started one, and I have an idea for number 2. I also want to learn how to hand letter. I have always been rather proud of my handwriting and while some like to draw, I’m much better at word doodling (thought I do both). So this year I’m going to continue on my quest to learn hand lettering and calligraphy. Keeping on a theme, here’s one I made for my sister that I think is sorta okay.