2023 Reading Year In Review

Another reading year in the books. This was my lowest number of books read in recent memory. I lost my job at the end of 2022, and while I thought I’d have a lot of time to read, I ended up spending all my time at my desk looking for a job and feeling guilty when I wasn’t. And now I am back at work with more to do than hours in the day, so I never got caught up. Like last year, I had some success with books I couldn’t put down, but I also found myself mired in books that took weeks to finish. And like last year, literary fiction and memoirs worked best for me, making up almost all of my Best Books of the Year. Some of the Big Books of 2023 were misses for me – I found myself in the minority a lot of the time. But I did do well with quieter, under the radar books.

Meanwhile, I am working on a book-related project which I am hoping to be able to share here on the blog in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Here are my 2023 reading stats:

I missed my goal of 70 books, finishing 56 in total. I did complete the 2023 EDIWTB Reading Challenge last week with Tomi Obaro’s Dele Weds Destiny, which satisfied the final category (Book From My Bookshelf).

Books finished: 56
Fiction: 43 (77%)
Non-fiction: 13 (23%)
Average star rating: 4
Backlist: 18 (32%)
#Ownvoices books: 10 (18%)
Male/Female authors: 47 female (84%) / 9 male (16%)
Audiobooks plus Read/Listen Combo: 19 (34%)
Repeat authors: 16 (29%)
New-to-me authors: 20 (36%)
Debuts: 20 (36%)
Backlist: 18 (32%)
Book sources: library (48%), ARCs (18%), Indie bookstores (11%)
Genres: literary fiction (38%), contemporary fiction (23%), memoir (18%)
Most books read: January, July
Fewest books read: September, November, December