It is time once again to look back at my year in reading for 2023. My goal was 31 books. I failed. I read 27. I could make excuses (it was tough year, lots of stresses, things happened, yadda, yadda, yadda) but the simple truth is I didn’t read as many books as I wanted to. Not that it was a surprise. I have been suspecting that my personal limit for any given year is going to be right around 30 books, so coming in just under was probably right. Anyway, here are some metrics on the past year’s books. Some of the numbers are pulled from Goodreads, so no promises on the accuracy. And in the genre breakdowns, as usual, the actual numbers don’t add up to 27, but that’s because some books fall into more than one category (mystery and romance, for example).
Fantasy 9
Non-Fiction 8
Mystery 6
Science Fiction 5
Urban Fantasy 3
Romance 2
Middle Grade 1
Thriller 1
Horror 1
There was an uptick in non-fiction but that was because this past year, I decided to try to catch up on some of the books on writing and craft that I have accumulated and not read. I am not sure I will try to fit as many in in the coming year, but I will try to add a few at least.
Total number of books read: 27
Total number of pages read: 9006
Shortest book: 158 pages
Longest book: 613 pages
Lowest rating: 2 stars (How to Be a Writer, and The Three Body Problem)
Highest rating: 5 stars (Fun with Murder)
Average rating: 3.6 stars
And the books:
Winter’s Myths- Gage Greenwood
Grave Reservations- Cherie Priest
Heartless (Parasol Protectorate #4)- Gail Carriger
The Necessary Beggar- Susan Palwick
Getting the Words Right- Theodore A. Rees Cheney
The Spare Man- Mary Robinette Kowal
Sky in the Deep- Adrienne Young
Gather Her Round (Tufa #5)- Alex Bledsoe
The Raven Spell- Luanne G. Smith
The Darkness Manifesto- Johan Eklof
Hooked- Lee Edgerton
Digital Fortress- Dan Brown
The Omnivore’s Dilemma- Michael Polin
Fun with Murder- Lucy Carol
Lock In- John Scalzi
Down Among the Sticks and Bones- Seanan McGuire
Enchantment- Katherine May
The Three-Body Problem- Cixin Liu
Death Masks (Dresden Files #5)-Jim Butcher
The Runelords- David Farland
Dust & Grim- Chuck Wendig
How to Be a Writer- Barbara Baig
Discount Armageddon (InCryptid #1)- Seanan McGuire
Femina- Janina Ramirez
Story Structure Architect- Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Artificial Condition (Murderbot #2) Martha Wells
He Drank and Saw the Spider (Eddie LaCrosse #5)- Alex Bledsoe
And that’s the past year in books for me. I have set my 2024 goal at 30 books. Here’s hoping I can make it!
Drink your water. Eat a vegetable. Get outside and refresh. Be nice to one another.
And, speaking of books, did you know that I have written a few? My latest is a collection of very short stories, half science fiction and half fantasy, called “Crossed Wires and Other Very Short Stories”. I have also written a few other short pieces, another collection, two novels, and an urban fantasy series. You can find most of them at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold. A few are also available from Amazon in paperback. My novel, “Circle Unbroken” is also on Kindle Unlimited, if that’s your reading preference. You can find out about all of them here.
There are also some stories you can read here on my site, mostly the yearly Halloween short I write, but there are a few others. You can read them from here.
And So On... 
I’m impressed with that number. Congrats!
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Thanks! I hit a dead spot in the middle of the year where I didn’t get much reading done. I kppe to do better this year!
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