Welcome to the 2023 Reading Wrap Up!
This year, I set myself a goal of reading 100 books!
From past experience, I know this is an achievable goal for myself, if I dedicate time to picking up a book rather than staring into space or binge watching YouTube – which, let’s be honest, is often times my preference.
I’m happy to report that I did meet my goal this year, found some new authors to follow and rediscovered a love for Australian crime fiction.
Regardless of how many books you read this year, or if you have the same reading tastes as me – you may find a few books that spark your interest in the lists below!
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Happy Reading, Friends!
Dear reader, I make it up. All rating systems are variable and depend on the readers mood at the time.
I tend to give a book 5 stars if I want to recommend it to a friend, or am eager to continue with the series or pick up another book by that author. But then, sometimes I won’t follow that rule. Often times I’ll give a book 5 stars if I just can’t get it out of my head.
A 5 star rating doesn’t automatically mean that the book has literary merit or would be considered ‘high brow’, or that it will even appeal to the majority of people. All it means, is that – at the time of reading – the book spoke to me in some way, and I liked it.
No book leaps out as my top-tier fave this year. If I had to choose one to represent – I think I’d land on ‘The Eloquence of the Sardine: Incredible Stories From the Marine World” by Bill Francois. Ocean creatures are FASCINATING to me, and the fact that there are whole communities of sea-life living and working together in such an elegant and brutal way, is amazing. Bill Francois drops some facts in interesting and accessible ways & you should totally pick up a copy.
A 4 star book means that it ticked a lot of boxes for me when I was reading it, but didn’t quite push the novel into prime place. Either I’ve read better stories from the author before; some of the subject matter might make me rethink recommending to a friend; or maybe I was just feeling slightly less generous at the time of rating.
On reflection, some of the books that I’ve rated 4 stars this year, would easily fit in the 5 star category. Some of my favourite authors are in 4 star place this year – looking at you Stephen King & James Lee Burke.
“The Haunting Season: Tales for Long Winter Nights” actually made me reconsider the short-story format, which I’m not usually a fan of. “The Strings of Murder” kicked off an interest in a brand new historical crime series that I’m keen to follow. “The City of Doctor Moreau” and “Our Hideous Progeny” were clever spins on old classics.
Out of all of the categories this year, the 4 star reads are in the majority – which is a pretty good statistic & means I had great luck with the titles I was picking up overall.
A 3 star book means that it did what it said on the tin, and not much more. It means that I read it through to completion, but there were either issues with pacing, story or subject matter that would make me reluctant to recommend to anyone or rush out to own a copy.
None of these books are bad, by any means – and again, some of my current favourite authors have generated 3 star reads for me this year. I’ve loved all the cosy mysteries that I’ve read from Vicki Delany, but “We Wish You a Murderous Christmas” had me rolling my eyes in a few places – and not out of festive joy.
There’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for Shaun Micallef – he’s the epitome of Aussie champagne comedy and I’ll fight anyone who says differently. His memoir “Tripping Over Myself: A Memoir of Life in Comedy” left me a little meh however.
Grady Hendrix is one of my auto-buy horror authors, but I found “How to Sell a Haunted House” fell a little short for me – despite all the creepy puppets.
Sometimes I try to push myself out of my default crime/supernatural reading genre and pick up something like “The Chilbury Ladies Choir”, and while I can appreciate the story, it’s unlikely to be one of my faves. This means the star rating is firmly due to my reading preferences, and no shade to the writing or author necessarily.
You’ll note that one of the book-community’s most loved cosy fantasy reads “Legends & Lattes” only made it to my 3 star list. While I enjoyed the low-stakes plot at the beginning, I did crave a little more oomph as the story progressed.
It’s unusual for me to rate a book 2 stars, that’s the lowest I’ll go. Often times I’ll stop reading if I know I’m not enjoying the book. As such, only 6 books made it on to this list for 2023.
Most of the books that appear in this 2 star list, are a result of my own expectations. I picked up the book looking for a specific story, and that author had different ideas.
I love reading about people walking – heading into nature to discover themselves and “Windswept: Why Women Walk” focused more on the impacts on family and motherhood, which isn’t my bag.
“The Night House” was a trippy read, but the cover art had me craving an 80s/90s inspired spook fest, which wasn’t the case.
Books like “Jonathan Segal Chicken” just don’t date well, despite the plucky sketches scattered throughout.
Life is too short to push through books that you’re not enjoying.
If I pick up a book and I just know that it’s not to my taste, or it definitely won’t make it above a 3 star ‘average’ read – I’ll tend to stop reading and DNF it before it throws me into a reading slump and kills my whole vibe.
Some of the books on this list are reader favourites, and I can hear the Internet cracking its knuckles ready to go into bat for books like “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” or raising an eyebrow that literary darling Margaret Atwood wouldn’t hold my interest.
Each to their own. A book DNF’d today, may be a firm favourite tomorrow. There are exactly one million books out there waiting to be read (don’t fact check me on that), so keep the reading train moving on to a station you’ll actually enjoy stopping off at for a spell.
Read for enjoyment, for fun, for knowledge, for bragging rights, to send you to sleep or to raise your blood presssure. Read for the joy of it, for a bet, for a challenge or just because you heard everyone’s favourite actor Michael Sheen narrated an audiobook that you’re keen to check out. Keep reading for you, and read for me.
Peace out, friends & happy reading.
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