2023 reading recap

Books I read in 2023

 

2023 is safely behind us, but I wanted to post a recap of my reading stats and short reviews of my top three reads as well as three honorable mentions. Without further ado…

Reading stats

• Total books read: 52
• Total pages read: 22,027
• Days read: 363
• Average rating: 3.7
• Books bought/received: 19

 My goal was to read 50 books and get my physical TBR down to as few books as possible. That meant a book buying restriction. Book buying bans don’t work (I know I’ll buy a few books anyway), but I know how to restrict my book buying – although seeing all the pretty books on bookstagram doesn’t really help!

Anyway, I met my goal of reading 50 books, I read almost every day of the year, and I got my physical TBR down to 11 books (from 24 books at the start of the year). And I only added 19 books to my shelves. Some of the were gifts, some I bought myself.

2023 was also the first year I used a reading journal to keep track of and document my reading. In case you’re interested what my reading journal looked like you can find a flip-through on my Youtube channel:

 

Top 3 reads of 2023

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

France, 1714. A young woman makes a bargain with Darkness to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. New York, 2014. The woman finds a man who remembers her despite the curse.

I loved this book! The writing was beautiful, and it made me feel all the feelings from sadness to joy. After reading this book, I read some reviews that said that the book was too long and that nothing happened. Funny thing, I agree with that criticism, but I wasn’t bothered about it while I was reading the book. I simply enjoyed reading about everything that Addie experienced. The only thing I didn’t like was the inexplicable hatred for corsets. I’ve watched too many videos by dress historians on Youtube to find it believable. If historical fantasy is your thing and you don’t mind a slow-paced read, try this book.

 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

In an exclusive interview, Evelyn Hugo, a retired actress and a Hollywood bombshell, finally divulges all the tea about her seven husbands – and reveals who her true love had been for all those years.

Daisy Jones and The Six was my first encounter with Taylor Jenkins Reid, and to my disappointment I didn’t like it that much. I had been excited to read about 1970’s music industry, but the book was more about drugs and relationship drama.

So when I picked up The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, my hopes weren’t high. I was pleasantly surprised when I loved this book! Evelyn was ruthless and self-serving yet likable. The love story was beautiful, and I bawled my eyes out in the end. I could have done without all the relationship drama between Monique (the journalist interviewing Evelyn) and her ex-husband, but that was a minor thing.

 

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Princess Shiori is cursed to be mute and her six brothers are turned into cranes after she witnesses her stepmother’s magic. Six Crimson Cranes is a YA fairytale retelling of The Six Swans, one of my favorite fairytales. I loved this version of it. The Asian-inspired fantasy world was unique, and I loved Shiori’s character development. Kiki, her enchanted paper bird, was my favorite character.

On the downside, I found the fight scenes and some other parts slightly confusing, such as the scene where Shiori is sailing from the sea inland up a river and somehow ends up at the top of a waterfall? Shiori was also sometimes a bit infuriating, but I feel I have a higher tolerance for infuriating characters in YA than in adult literature.

This is the first book in a duology, and the sequel, The Dragon’s Promise, is in my TBR for this year.

 

Honorable mentions

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles is a beautifully written and moving love story between Achilles and Patroclus, the Greek heroes of the Trojan War. Yes, I cried and cried and cried. But I also found the ending cathartic and touching. Since I knew the story in advance, it was nice to be able to focus on the way the story was plotted and retold.

Although I’m in no way an expert in Mycenaean era or Homer, I’ve studied ancient Greek language and literature. That affected my reading experience, and I found that few things took me out of the book. There was at least one mistake with the Greek language and a few potential anachronisms. I’m not sure they measured time in hours that early in history, and in any case it made little sense for Patroclus to talk about, for example, walking for hours. It’s not like he had a pocket sundial with him.

I found Achilles’ and Patroclus’ relationship cute, but I wish Patroclus had been less passive and Achilles less perfect. That being said, the hype isn’t misplaced when it comes to this book, even though I don’t think I’d rate it five stars. Maybe 4 or 4.5.

 

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

This book definitely would have deserved a place in top three, but as it was a reread, I left those spots for books that I read for the first time in 2023. That being said, this is the best book I read in 2013, and still highly recommendable.

The famous sci-fi author H.G. Wells helps people with their time-travel-related problems in this Victorian steampunk fantasy. It’s an absolutely fascinating read packed with time travel, romance, crimes, and hoaxes.

One of the reasons why I loved this book on the first read were the plot twists. This book has one of the most mind-blowing plot twists I’ve ever read. Obviously the second read wasn’t as surprising as the first, but that didn’t diminish my love for this book. I love books where the narrator breaks the fourth wall, and this book makes great use of that device. So if you love a good historical sci-fi/fantasy with quirky narration and plot twists, you should read this!

 

The Book of Sand by Mo Hayder

The Book of Sand by Mo Hayder

A group of people lives in a dystopian-esque desert world trying to find a mysterious object that will help them leave the place. Elsewhere, in the modern USA, a teenage girl is trying to figure out why she has visions of lizards that don’t exist. How are their stories connected?

The premise of this speculative fiction was truly unique, and I was super-excited to read this book. I was sure when I picked this book up that it would be in my top three for the year. Alas, that was not the case.

This book left me a bit conflicted. I loved the worldbuilding, I liked the characters, and I enjoyed the plot. That being said, I think my expectations were too high. I wasn’t wowed by the ending and found it a bit predictable. There were a lot of little issues with the text, mostly typos but also small plot holes. The book would have benefited from few more rounds of developing the story and editing it tighter. I suppose that didn’t happen because the author passed away before publication, but at least the typos should have been fixed! Still, I hope they publish the next books in the series because I want to find out what happens next.

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What was your favorite read of 2023? Do we share any favorites? Comment below!