YEAR IN REVIEW: A Breakdown of My 2023 Reads
I’ve been looking forward to writing this post!
It’s like a “Spotify Wrapped”, but for the books I read. I’m a bit of a nerd and love diving into all of the numbers. How many books did I read? What genres did I choose? What were my favorites?
According to my book journal, I read 79 books in 2023!! That’s an all-time record for me.
While, I don’t try to read a certain number per year or per month, I was previously ending up in the same general range from year to year. (If you’re curious: In 2020, I read 65 books; In 2021, I read 72 books; In 2022, I read 68 books.
2023 Reading by the Numbers
-Out of the 79 books, 53% were fiction and 47% were non-fiction. (I’m shocked by this! I consider myself a fiction reader, so I’m surprised to see how close the split was this year.)
-About 73% of the books I read were written by women.
-My top three genres for the year were fantasy at 25%, self-help/self-improvement/psychology at 19%, and thriller/suspense/mystery at 13%.
My Top Picks from 2023
Non-fiction: (not in any order)
- Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman
- Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton
- The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher with Mary Pilon
- Range by David Epstein
- The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
Honorable mention: Mastering Plot Twists by Jane K. Cleland
Fiction: (not in any order)
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- Bow Before the Elf Queen by J.M. Kearl
- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
- All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
Honorable mention: To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
Final Thoughts
This was the year I embraced fantasy books!
Previously, I read almost exclusively thriller/suspense type books, so I’m shocked to see that genre fell to third on my list this year. I think reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (review here) is what really jumpstarted my interest in fantasy.
I’ll be honest, I don’t really see myself backing away from fantasy any time soon. (In fact, I’m on my second fantasy book of 2024 already.) That said, I do want to challenge myself to read more books that aren’t ALL over the internet. As I said in my 2022 reading recap, I want to make more of an effort to read books that aren’t being talked about as much and make intentional choices to seek out diverse voices and experiences.