Ten Favorite Reads from 2023 (in no particular order):
- Phoebe’s Diary by Phoebe Wahl (YA)
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (adult)
- Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (adult/audiobook)
- Thank You for Listening (adult/audiobook)
- The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh (MG)
- Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow (MG)
- Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson (adult)
- The Museum of Lost and Found by Leila Sales (MG)
- Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin (adult)
- Nothing Else But Miracles by Kate Albus (MG)
- A First Time For Everything by Dan Santat (MG/GN)
I’ve read 172 books this year, which is wild to write down because as 2023 comes to a close, I feel like there are so many more books that I wanted to read. Certainly a first world problem if there ever were one, and a byproduct of both forming so many relationships in the publishing industry and being aware of, well, *all* of the books?!
Exactly one year ago, I wrote that I hoped to read more adult books in 2023, and as I parse through my records of this year’s reading, I was surprised to discover that even though it felt like I didn’t, I think I actually I did (69 grownup books – might be a record for me?). Still, I wish I read more. (I will always wish I read more.)
Built into my desire to finish a thing and the satisfaction I find in crossing something off a list is that the shorter books, well, they hold appeal. Too often, I find myself selecting the book I know I can finish quickly instead of the one I *most* want to read at the moment. Anyone else?
My hope, heading into the new year, is that by tackling some of the lengthy tomes in my TBR that I desperately want to read, I can begin to break myself of that bad habit. Logically, of course, I know that I don’t need to read X many books and that reading a truly satisfying one over several days or a week or — gasp — weekssss might be equally or more fulfilling.
Perhaps it’s my bad habit of placing library holds on every title that strikes my fancy (my library is *the best* and has *everything*) and the accompanying fear of dying under said pile of books, and hence, feeling heavily motivated to finish and *return* some of them, any of them, please, before you pick up more, Jenn, that’s getting in my way.
Maybe things will change in 2024?
We’ll see.
