stargazer

2023 in Retrospect

2023 has been a busy year with work dominating my schedule. I’ve travelled quite a bit, mostly in Europe, but I’ve also visited New York and one other overseas location, which you may hear about in a later post.

All this has affected my reading and blogging negatively, although I did manage to write more blog posts than last year.

Anyway, let’s take a look back at the year to see how it all panned out.

Reading

In total, I read 47 books in 2023. Whereas the quantity has been modest, the quality has been decent and I struggled to pick my favourite.

Thinking back, Great Expectations made the biggest impression. I listened to it on my commute to work over a relatively long period, which seems to be an ideal way of reading Dickens. Small bits at a time.

Within my favourite genre, crime / mysteries, Faithful Place by Tana French takes the prize, closely followed by The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman.

Finally, best nonfiction must be between Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days and The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee. Both are excellent books, which I would highly recommend.

The authors I’ve read in 2023 are almost equally split between males and females. That was also the case last year. I don’t have a target for male vs. female authors, so this is pure coincidence.

Last year, most of my books were published in 2000-2020 with 1950-2000 being the second biggest category. This year, there has been a significant shift. More than 57% of the books I’ve read were published during 2020-2023. Am I finally giving in to the hype around new releases? I don’t know. But my overall awareness of new releases has certainly increased over time due to the reading community.

In 2023, I had a soft target of reading one nonfiction book per month. This has worked out well. I found some excellent reads and Nonfiction (28%) has become my biggest category followed by General Fiction (23%) and Crime Fiction (21%).

Blogging

I wrote 28 posts in 2022 and posted at least once per month. My most viewed posts in 2023 are:

  1. What I learned from The Metamorphosis
  2. What I learned from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  3. What I learned from Frankenstein
  4. Book Review: The Doll Factory
  5. Which 21st Century Books Will Become Classics?

None of these posts are actually written in 2023. The most viewed 2023 post is my review of Atonement, coming in as number 7 on the list. I quite like that post myself. It’s one of my rare attempts to write a more analytical review.

My participation in book blogger events has been limited to Novellas in November, but as usual I did a fair amount of memes and tags.

What will 2024 bring?

Nonfiction project: 1 book per month
In 2024, I want to continue to read at least one nonfiction book per month. In 2023, this target forced me to search out information about nonfiction in general, which has contributed to me finding some excellent reads.

Reading the Best British Books
I finished my first batch for the Best British Books project in 2023. Having enjoyed most of the books, I mean to continue in 2024. My reading list for 2024 includes The Waves (Virginia Woolf), The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters) and Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë).

Fantasy for Beginners?
It has been a long-standing ambition of mine to explore the fantasy genre properly. This should be fun! It will be 100% mood-driven without a target or goal in sight.

Reading from other countries
In theory, I would like to read more international books (which aren’t necessarily the same as translated books). However, setting another monthly reading target will be too much. I’ve seen readers doing different around-the-world challenges and maybe I will do the same. As you may know, I would love to visit every country in the world. It would be quite nice to read a book from every country in the world as well. Let’s see…

5 Years of Blogging
Finally, I can celebrate my 5 years blogging anniversary in March 2024. Who knew this hobby would last for that long?

Alright. That’s all folks. See you in 2024.

27 comments

  1. I always enjoy your posts though I can’t see me ever doing the sort of statistical evaluations that form a fascinating part of this one. My goals for next year are not dissimilar to yours, so let’s see how we get on! All good wishes for 2024.

    • I quite enjoy putting together the stats, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. Happy new year, Margaret, may 2024 be a good year, bookish and otherwise!

    • Thanks Nicki, it has been a good year, even if I didn’t read as many books as I usually do.

  3. Looks like you had an amazing year with books. I can’t say the same for myself.
    Unfortunately, the last few books I’ve read this year have not been good. I hope next year’s will be better.

    Here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year! ✨
    I look forward to reading more of your posts.

    • Happy new year! Sorry to hear, you haven’t had much luck with your books recently. Hopefully, things will improve going forward!

    • Thanks Rose, happy reading to you too, hopefully 2024 will be a great bookish year!

  8. Happy New Year! I am trying out a 13-book around the world read this year… just to see how I like it, but if it goes well, I may try for more/other countries as well. I find challenges fun just to keep me from getting bogged down in one genre or just a couple of authors. Hope your reading year is everything you want it to be!

    • Happy New Year! 13 books sounds like a good way to start. If I go ahead with the challenge I will probably accept books I’ve already read as part of the challenge. With close to 200 countries in the world, I will never get through, otherwise. Let’s see how it all goes! 😀

  9. Happy New Year Stargazer! Your total books read for the year seems pretty good to me and your stats are fascinating. I love seeing other people’s reading achievements! Here’s to another good reading year in 2024 😊

    • Happy New Year Sandra! I am glad, I’m not the only one who likes stats. 😀

    • Thanks and happy new year to you too! Hope 2024 will be a great bookish year for all of us.

  11. You seem to be on the go with your job. I’m glad to have found your blog and to hear what’s happening in London & your reading thoughts. I’m not sure about fantasy but that is up to you. I like your pie charts. & I wish you happy reading & more blogging in 2024!

    • Thank so much, I enjoy following your blog as well – it is always fun to communicate with someone from a different part of the world and get an insight (and photos) from there. Happy reading – and blogging – to you too!

    • So do I! I did look into the Robin Hobb series you recommended, but I didn’t like the narrator of the audiobooks.. Unfortunately, I think audio is the only way forward with fantasy books, they seem to typically be very long. Maybe I’ll get over myself and give it a try despite the narrator. Happy New Year!

    • Thanks Lashaan! Let’s hope 2024 will be a good year for all of us with lots of books, travel and great experiences in general!

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