Hosted by Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner, I like how this survey delves into the specifics of books read and gives me a chance to review all I read and wrote this year. I have completed this survey every year since I started book blogging full time (2014). I removed some questions for which I didn’t have an answer. So, be sure to visit the original post if you’d like to complete the survey. Links to reviews where applicable. My annual overview (in which I recap my goals progress and set new ones) will go live on January 3rd.
2023 Reading Stats
- Number of books read – 61. Bit of a dip after 2022, but given the upheaval I experienced in the first half of the year, I’m satisfied with this number.
- Number of re-reads – 3 (Middlegame, White is for Witching, The Haunting of Hill House). I think 2024 is due for a reread of The Lord of the Rings…
- Genre you read the most from – I don’t track genres but it’s pretty much always going to be speculative fiction. This fun little tool “My Year in Books” (which generates a a Spotify inspired “Goodreads wrapped”) says I read 34 fantasy, 24 middle grade (I dispute middle grade being a genre) and 15 horror. (The graphic does not include my last read of 2023, the MG novel Jude Saves the World.)
Best in Books
- Favourite book read in 2023 – It’s gotta be the first book I read this year: Babel by RF Kuang. Honourable mentions include:
- His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (adult historical fantasy)
- The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill (MG fantasy)
- Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore (YA historical)
- Don’t Want to Be Your Monster by Deke Moulton (MG supernatural)
- Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (adult fantasy)
- Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t – Hamra and the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf. I loved her debut MG novel The Girl and the Ghost but this book had a completely different tone and plot which didn’t work for me it at all.
- Book you ‘pushed’ the most people to read – I haven’t been super active in the book community this year. However, I have recommended Anna-Marie McLemore’s Self-Made Boys to a few people IRL!
- Best series started/ended/continued – Temeraire by Naomi Novik! I’d been putting this series off because, while I loved Uprooted and Spinning Silver, I wasn’t convinced I’d enjoy an alternate history series featuring dragons. But I read His Majesty’s Dragon after it won the vote for “I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read That Yet” and I quickly read the next two books in the series. I might make it through the entire series! I finished book four a few days ago.
- Favourite new author discovered – T. Kingfisher
- Favourite cover – Oddly enough, there weren’t many covers that jumped out at me from my 2023 reads. I’ll go with Lavender House, Babel, and The Bellwoods Game.
- Most beautifully written – She is a Haunting by Thanh Trang Tran is beautiful in a rotting sort of way
- Most thought-provoking/life changing – Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living by Dimitirs Xygalatas
- Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2023 to finally read – Poppy and Ereth by Avi, which I added to my TBR in 2013
- Shortest book – Let’s Talk about Race in Storytimes by Jessica Anne Bratt (112 pages)
- Longest book – Babel by RF Kuang (544 pages)
- Book that shocked you the most – Devotion by Hannah Kent (EVEN THOUGH I knew what I was getting in to, haha)
- Favourite non-romantic relationship – Áine and Ned in The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill
- Favourite book by an author you’ve read previously – The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson
- Best debut – Tie between The Song of Us by Kate Fussner and Don’t Want to be Your Monster by Deke Moulton
- Best world-building – I try not to repeat answers here in this survey, but it has to be Babel or His Majesty’s Dragon
- Most fun to read – …ditto above (His Majesty’s Dragon)
- Made you cry – No tears this year
- Hidden gem – Shout out to these great 2023 middle grade releases which all have less than 150 Goodreads reatings: Speculation by Nisi Shawl, The Takeout by Tracey Badua, The House that Whispers by Lin Thompson, and A Season Most Unfair by J. Anderson Coats (check out my reviews of the latter two here). Perhaps I will write a post in the New Year to boost these titles…
- Most unique – Possibly Devotion by Hannah Kent? I didn’t read anything this year that jumped out as unique to me, but Devotion stands out as unique from what I usually read – it’s historical fiction about a queer teen girl and her Old Lutheran family migrating from Prussia to Australia in the 1830s, which a twist halfway through.
- Made you the most mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it!) – I wanted to hurl The Song of Us across the gazebo at one point.
Your Bookish Life
- New favourite book blog discovered – Gosh, I wasn’t so active in the blogosphere this year. Can I recall any new-to-me blogs? I am fairly certain I started following Lashaan @ Roars and Echoes (spec fic in various mediums) this year.
- Favourite review – Taking Up Space by Alyson Gerber
- Favourite non-review post – An Invitation to Bluesky
- Favourite bookish photo – I didn’t take many this year! So I will go with this photo I took one cozy fall evening, which includes my favourite childhood Halloween books.
- Best moment of bookish/blogging life – The response to my post about blog stats! So many folks left wonderful thoughtful comments, and a few even wrote their own posts on the topic (see Annemieke @ A Dance with Dragons and Kal @ Reader Voracious). Then my work life promptly went off the rails in February and I didn’t reply to any of them 😅 But I’m glad the post resonated with so many!
- Most challenging thing about blogging/reading life – While I improved somewhat on this front in 2023, the balance between reading and reviewing remains my greatest challenge. I’ve been doing well at reviewing books I’ve read this month. Hopefully I can carry through these habits in 2024!
- Most viewed post – Would You Rather: Book Edition (1,843 views) was published in Sept 2020. Most viewed post which was published this year (in January) is 10 Books on the Shikoku Pilgrimage (469 views).
- Post you wished got a little more love – I feel like all my posts this year have been well-received 😊 Thank-you everyone who has read, liked, and/or commented! I suppose I could say my review of Don’t Want to be Your Monster, which only went up on Dec 24 so fair enough that it hasn’t garnered much of a response yet, haha.
- Best bookish discovery – Okay, believe it or not… I just realized the purpose of book sleeves… those fabric pockets you put a book in when you’re carrying it around? (here is an example) I haven’t acquired one yet, but I think I could benefit from one lol as I often fret about my books when I have them in my purse, backpack, work laptop bag, etc.
- Completion of challenges/goals – To be discussed in my “wrapping up, looking forward post” on January 3rd.
Looking Ahead
- Most anticipated debut – My TBR is woefully short on 2024 releases. I don’t have any debuts which I’m highly anticipating.
- Most anticipated sequel – Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #4) by Jessica Townsend. Do you think this will be the last year I put Silverborn as the answer for this question? It’s been the same answer for three years in a row now 😔
- Most anticipated non-debut – The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
- One book you didn’t get to in 2023 but will make a priority in 2024 – The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. Peat @ Peat Long’s Blog has convinced me to finally pick this up, after a couple years of saying I would. I would like to make it my New Year’s Day read, but I’m not sure my hold will make it in time.
- One goal for your reading/blogging life – I haven’t decided yet!
And that’s a wrap on 2023! Let me know if you completed this survey.
Happy New Year! 🎉 See you on the other side 😄
I just love this survey but haven’t done it for years (it’s so time consuming to put together😅) I’m actually posting mine later this week. But I love seeing your year laid out like this. I really need to try and read Babel one of these days.
Thanks Tammy! It did take me a good chunk of time over a couple weeks to finish this post, but I like how it sort of forces me to reflect on my reading/blogging year.
I thought I was late to the game with BABEL but I’ve seen a lot of folks make a similar comment. Maybe 2024 will be your year to enjoy it 😉
I hope 2024 is a happier year for you than 2023! I didn’t realize that Hannah Kent had another book out, so I should look into that. I loved Burial Rites, despite how bleak it was. It probably helped that I read a lot of it while I was in Iceland, but whatever. Off I go to add Devotion to the old TBR…. Happy New Year!
Thanks Kim! The Hannah Kent book passed my notice for awhile, too. I think it didn’t have a North American release? I live in Canada and had to order it from a British shop. (Also very cool that you read BURIAL RITES in Iceland – I would love to visit there one day and do the same.)
I suppose not having a North American release would make it easy to slip it past a North American audience! I’ll have to add it to my Blackwells wishlist. Reading Burial Rites while in Iceland was pretty cool. It was easy to get sucked into that windswept story while the wind was howling across the volcanic landscape outside my window. I love Iceland, and I want to go back.
Thank goodness for Blackwell’s! 😄 (That’s where I ordered my copy from as well.) Here’s hoping a trip back to Iceland is in your cards sooner than later~
I love this survey and kind of wish I chose this one back when I first started blogging, even though it’s WAY more involved than the one I did every year. 61 books is still pretty darn great and you should be proud, Jenna!
Here’s to a fantastic 2024.
Thanks Kal 😀 It is indeed nice to have this record to look back on. Happy New Year!
Maaan, I need to get round to reading Babel. I was so eager for it when it came out, but the hardback’s kinda chonky and I admit, it daunted me. Nettle & Bone definitely on my list of favourites this year!
Glad you enjoyed the Temeraire books! I have such a soft spot for them, though… I don’t think I ever actually finished the series…
I get what you mean re the hefty size of BABEL – I rarely read books that long but the topic was so appealling to me. As for Temeraire, I think it might end up being the first series I complete in a long long time! But as there are nine books, I shouldn’t guarantee anything, haha.
That’s so exciting that it’s been 10 years! I had so much to catch up on that spilled over from year-end so I still haven’t really taken a good look at my yearly stats
Its hard to imagine it’s been 10 years already! That’s virtually 1/3 of my life so far :O I hope you can find some quiet time to reflect this month, if that’s something you usually like to do 🙂
Ooo, I’m interested in She is a Haunting. 👀 And I finally have a copy of Nettle and Bone, so I must get on that this year.
You had a fabulous reading year Jenna! I hope 2024 is even better! 🥳💖
Excellent, I am fairly confident you will enjoy that one 😄 She Is a Haunting has a completely different atmosphere but I think you’d enjoy that as well!
👍👍👍
I’m so glad you got into the Temeraire series! It’s one of my favs and I’m tickled you picked it up.
It is a bit annoying that My Year in Books / Goodreads calls MG its own genre, when it’s clearly a reading level or age group thing with different genres within it.
In any case, it looks like you had a successful reading year all around. Happy New Year!
Temeraire was an unexpected delight in my 2023 reading! I’ve decided to pace myself a bit better having blazed through the first four books, haha. Maybe I will take another year or two to read the remaining five. Thanks for stopping by, and happy New Year to you as well 🎉
I love your answers! Temeraire was one I really enjoyed as well, but I stopped at book 3, I think because the next book wasn’t available at the time. Maybe it’s time to pick it up again! Your blog stats post was very interesting! I’m too new at blogging to think about stats at all, but it’s fascinating to see yours and the discussion about it. I’m also adding a couple of books you mentioned to my TBR – Ritual and The Theory of Crows, they both look so interesting. Thanks so much for sharing!
Haze @ The Book Haze
https://thebookhaze.com/
Thanks Haze! The Temeraire books are so fun. I hope you can get back into them sometime 🙂 I don’t think I started thinking about stats until I was maybe five years into blogging haha. It is a side point but stats can be interesting to explore further down the road. Ritual and The Theory of Crows were both some of my better reads in 2023 – enjoy!
His Majesty’s Dragons was fun. I really need to read on with that series!
It really is enjoyable! I had no problem settling into those books.