At the beginning of every year (not so much the beginning this year), I take the time to update my records of what I’ve read the previous year and write up a summary.

Previous summaries: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.

I’ve continued to keep track of my reading using Goodreads. My profile has nearly the full list of the books I’ve read since 2010.

2023 Goals

Last year I wrote:

I’d like to do a better job of keeping track of my reading. This should be pretty easy to do.

I don’t feel too bad about the reduction in reading but I’d like to read more this year. Some of my reading time has been replaced with worthwhile endeavors but not always.

Reading rejuvenates me. I need to keep it a regular part of my life.

Well, I don’t remember how poorly I did in 2022 of keeping tack of reading but I don’t think I did a great job in 2023. Was it better than 2022? Perhaps.

I didn’t write many reviews for specific books nor did I send out any emails about what I was reading throughout the year. But I did do fewer corrections of the data I had in Goodreads.

I did read more than I did last year.

If I were grading myself on how well I achieved my goal, I’d give myself a B.

Highlights

Below are the highlights from 2023. Any title link will bring you to Goodreads.

Five-star books

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

I started off the year with this book and really enjoyed it. It is a pandemic story that has characters spanning hundreds of years.

It is a little weird and beautiful. It did an excellent job of conveying feeling.

This is one of the few books that I did a mini-review of when I finished it. That review:

A beautiful novel. While reading, I found myself rereading parts. Not because the sentences were confusing but because they expressed such a clear feeling.

I highly recommend this book.

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

This book is real weird and fantastic. The main character is extremely interesting. I had a blast reading this.

Network Effect by Martha Wells

I really enjoy this series and thought this as an excellent addition to it.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

This was an excellent book about friendship and creative, collaborative pursuits.

How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion by Derek Sivers

A friend offered to send copies of this books to anyone who was up to reading it and I’m glad I spoke up and asked. Each chapter presents a philosophy. And the next chapter usually presents a different, conflicting philosophy. Every chapter is small, so it is easy to read a bit and take some time to reflect.

The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle

A bunch of distilled ideas around improvement. No fluff, just tips.

Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey

I have mixed feelings about including this book on the list. I reread this series when I was debating watching the television show. Even on a second read, I still enjoyed this story.

Is it complex and view shattering science fiction? Nahh, not really.

Is it entertaining? Yep.

Other highlights

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This is a really well done book that explores a modern gladiator system of punishment for criminals. It is dark and creative and a solid commentary on modern society.

Maybe this should have been five-stars.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

I knew nothing about it going in and thought this was a interesting take on first contact with aliens.

Stats

I read 53 books in 2023.

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| Year | # of Pages | # of Books |
|------+------------+------------|
| 2023 |      14956 |         53 |
| 2022 |      10127 |         35 |
| 2021 |      19564 |         57 |
| 2020 |      12093 |         43 |
| 2019 |      15994 |         42 |
| 2018 |      13538 |         36 |
| 2017 |      18317 |         48 |
| 2016 |      22790 |         59 |
| 2015 |      21689 |         51 |
| 2014 |      24340 |         71 |
| 2013 |      19815 |         60 |
| 2012 |      14208 |         44 |
| 2011 |       9179 |         19 |
| 2010 |      14667 |         46 |

There are definitely some spiky months in the data.

Unsurprisingly, electronic books are still the dominate format.

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|           | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|-----------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
| audiobook |    0 |    0 |    0 |    1 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |
| ebook     |   51 |   34 |   56 |   41 |   43 |   37 |   37 |   56 |   47 |
| hardcover |    0 |    1 |    0 |    0 |    1 |    1 |    7 |    0 |    1 |
| paperback |    2 |    0 |    1 |    1 |    7 |    5 |    5 |    3 |    3 |

Fiction continued to dominate the book count this year. If I did this by page count I think it would tell a different story, as I read quite a few short stories published as Kindle books and this skewed my fiction book count high.

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|                           |  2023 | 2022 |   2021 |   2020 |   2019 |   2018 |
|---------------------------+-------+------+--------+--------+--------+--------|
| fiction                   |    47 |   28 |     46 |     26 |     28 |     29 |
| non-fiction               |     6 |    7 |     11 |     17 |     23 |     14 |
| fiction:non-fiction ratio | 7.8:1 |  4:1 | 4.18:1 | 1.53:1 | 1.22:1 | 2.07:1 |

Here is the star rating distribution.

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|             | 2 stars | 3 stars | 4 stars | 5 stars |
|-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
| fiction     |       0 |      21 |      22 |       4 |
| non-fiction |       0 |       1 |       3 |       2 |

2024 goals

I’d like to maintain a regular reading practice. I think this means having a similar number of pages read this year.

I have a massive stack of books at home that I haven’t read through yet, I’d like to whittle that down some.