Wow, it's hard to believe that we are already at the end of another year! Time certainly seems to fly by faster than anticipated!😊
The last couple weeks of the year have been particularly busy for me. In addition to the usual exercise of reflecting on the past year, tying up loose ends, and preparing this year end reading recap, I’ve also been busy trying to stay ahead on my assignments for school, which started back in September (I’m working on an MA in English Literature so there is quite a bit of academic reading and writing involved). While I love the back-to-school experience so far (especially the part where I get to read and learn about so many different things), the downside is that, now having to juggle the demands of work, school, and family, I’m left with much less time for “leisure” reading. Indeed, when I look back at my reading year for 2023, one of the first things I notice is how few books I read in the last few months of the year that weren’t related to my studies in some way. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course, since I’m still reading a ton, plus I’m finally getting to some backlist titles that have been on my TBR (and my bookshelves) for years. Another thing that I did more of this year is re-reading – this was mostly out of necessity, as a few of the novels for my classes were classics that I last read 20+ years ago, so I had to re-read in order to refresh my memory. Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against re-reading and would actually love nothing more than to engage in re-reading more often, except for the fact that there are just way too many books out there that I haven’t yet read (and want to read) and there just isn’t enough time in the day for me to get to everything. This last point is something I’m particularly aware of this year given all the 2023 new releases that, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find time to squeeze in (more on this later).
I actually decided to do this recap differently this year, since my reading has been a bit all over the place, especially in the latter part of the year. Instead of recapping a list of “favorites” based on star ratings, I am going to list out books I read based on categories. This year specifically, I found myself struggling more than past years to rate books according to the traditional star rating system. To be honest, I have never really been fond of ratings systems because I feel they are too arbitrary and limited in scope, which renders them ineffective in painting an accurate picture of a particular experience. As such, assigning ratings becomes even more of a challenge for people like me who prioritize “the reading experience” (basically, how a book made me feel) over the technical elements (such as writing style, pacing, plot, etc.). For instance, I may have a book that is brilliantly written, nails all the technical elements to near perfection, is widely read and beloved, and from a literary/scholarship perspective, absolutely blows me away, however I find all the characters in the story to be exceedingly unlikable to the point that I can’t bring myself to root for anyone -- so overall, the reading experience for me was unpleasant / frustrating / miserable. What would be the “fairest” way to rate such a book? On the one hand, giving it a low rating would appear to signal that I dislike the book or that I’m discounting its literary merit (neither of which is my intention), while on the other hand, giving it a high rating would appear to delegitimize my own feelings and experience with the book (which also is not my intention). After much agonizing, I eventually chose the “happy medium” rating (though with the caveat to read the actual review rather than go off the rating alone). All this is to say that a reader’s experience of a book can be shaped in a myriad of ways that can’t be simply explained on a 1-5 rating scale.
So for the purposes of this post, I am going to ditch the ratings! Instead, I’m going to focus on whether I fulfilled my reading goals this year as well as what my reading experience was like overall. In terms of the reading log stats that I usually include in these year-end posts, I will still include some stats in my write up below, but I won’t be doing screencaps of each section as I’ve done in the past.
Ok, so let’s get to it…
At the start of the year, my reading goals for 2023 were as follows:
- Read as many books as possible from my own shelves: Based on my reading log, out of the 57 books I read this year, 25 of them were books I own. While it’s true that some of these books were newly bought this year, quite a few were ones I already had sitting on my shelves but never got to them – book club and school gave me a chance to finally pick these up. So yes, I would count this goal as met.
- Work through my list of backlist “must-read” books: I read 16 backlist books this year, which is the most backlist I’ve read in a single year since I started tracking my reading 6 years ago. A large part of this was due to school, since most of the books I’ve had to read for my classes were written years ago. No doubt this will continue to be the case in 2024 with the rest of my classes focusing on the classics.
- Read widely and diversely: To be honest, I’m cheating a little in making this a goal, since, as a person of color myself, I’ve always made it a priority to support POC and other authors from marginalized groups. In past years, a little over a third of the books I read would by POC/marginalized authors, but this year, I exceeded that: out of the 57 books I read this year, 30 were by POC / marginalized authors. Of course I intend to continue this reading habit in the coming year.
- Re-start my “completist” project: This is a carry-over project from 2022 wherein I wanted to read all the books written by my favorite authors. The goal was to finish at least 1 author on my favorites list each year. Unfortunately, I have not made any progress on this goal, so it will continue to be a carry-over for next year (though if I’m being honest, based on all the reading I’ve got lined up for 2024 so far, most likely this is going to continue to carry over into subsequent years).
- Incorporate books about Writing into my reading schedule: This one is also an ongoing goal for me. In terms of stats, I was able to read 2 books that were specifically about the craft of writing this year. However, this doesn’t count all the writing / craft stuff I’m involved with for my classes, which in a way, offsets not being able to read actual books about writing. With that said, I still intend to continue this goal, but like my completist project, it will likely be carried over to subsequent years.
Now for the actual book lists. I tried to separate the books I read into categories that give an overall idea of what my reading life was like this past year. Some of these books were indeed “favorites” that I adored, while others were ones I appreciated but didn’t necessarily love. If you’re interested in my specific thoughts on each of these books, feel free to check out the reviews for more details. [Note that the below are not listed in any particular order].
1) Classics that I read/re-read for School:
- Emma by Jane Austen
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
- The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
2) New 2023 Releases by Favorite Authors:
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
- Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
- Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos
- No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
- The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton
- Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
3) 2023 Releases I Read and LOVED (Fiction and Nonfiction):
- The Porcelain Moon by Janie Chang
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
- The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
- Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
- Good Fortune by C.K. Chau
- The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
- The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
- A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen
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4) Other Notable 2023 Fiction Releases I Read and Enjoyed:
- A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo
- The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges
- Paper Names by Susie Luo
- Community Board by Tara Conklin
- A Quitter’s Paradise by Elysha Chang
- The Sorrows of Others by Ada Zhang
- The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
- The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
- The Golden Gate by Amy Chua
- Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
- Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang
5) Backlist Books I Read in 2023 (and ADORED):
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
6) Notable Nonfiction Reads (New & Backlist):
- The Upstairs Delicatessen by Dwight Garner
- The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
- The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
7) Book Club Picks I Enjoyed (New & Backlist)
- The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
- Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
- Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
- Fault Lines by Emily Itami
- Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
- Did You Hear About Kitty Karr by Crystal Smith Paul
- Talking at Night by Claire Daverley
- Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
- The Postcard by Anne Berest
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
8) 2024 Releases I Read and LOVED:
- Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung
- The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang
