Happy New Year, readers!
In January of 2013, I began blogging about everything I’d read that previous year. This tradition began when my dad asked me how many books I’ve read in my entire lifetime.
I couldn’t begin to give him an answer to that question, but it did make me decide to start keeping track from that moment forward. The previous posts in this series are as follows: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.
I read 55 books this year not counting the ones I review pseudonymously for other sites. That number is a little lower than usual, but I also tended to read longer books this year than I did in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2023 was a year of me diving more deeply in the biography genre and less deeply into the history genre than usual. My brain is can handle a little horror now if I stick to the psychological or paranormal flavours of it that avoid the gory stuff. Before 2020, I read much more about zombies and pandemics and such, but these past few years have changed my preferences.
I’m enjoying the gentler sides of fiction and nonfictions these days.
Here are the books I’ve read (or reread) over the past year. I’ll wait for Top Ten Tuesday tomorrow to share my favourite stories of the year, so stay tuned.
Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs
“After the Annex: Anne Frank, Auschwitz, and Beyond” by Bas von Brenda-Beckmann
“Never Give Up: A Prairie Family’s Story” by Tom Brokaw
“Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Rase Massacre in Her Own Words” by Viola Ford Fletcher
“Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder” by Caroline Fraser
“Kukum” by Michel Jean
“Quiet Street: On American Privilege” by Nick McDonell
“The Story of Tutankhamun: An intimate Life of the Boy Who Became King” by Garry J. Shaw
“Waswanipi” by Jean-Yves Soucy
“Peace by Chocolate: The Hadhad Family’s Remarkable Journey from Syria to Canada” by Jon Tattrie
“Little House in the Big Woods” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Little House on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“On the Banks of Plum Creek” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Farmer Boy” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“By the Shores of Silver Lake” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Little Town on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“These Happy Golden Years” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
“The First Four Years” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Fiction
“Destination Prairie” by Cathie Bartlett
“Don’t Cry for Me” by Daniel Black
“Yes, Miss Thompson” by Amy Boyes
“Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan
“Foster” by Claire Keegan
“Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe
“Looking for Jane” by Heather Marshall
History
“Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice “ by Christine Kenneally
Psychology and Sociology
“50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food” by Susan Albers
“CBT for Social Anxiety: Simple Skills for Overcoming Fear and Enjoying People” by Stefan G. Hofmann
“NPR Funniest Driveway Moments” by NPR
“NPR Laughter Therapy: A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious” by NPR
“Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream” by Alissa Quart
Science Fiction and Fantasy
“The Girl With All the Gifts” by M.R. Carey
“The Boy on the Bridge” by M.R. Carey
“A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers
“A Prayer for the Crown-Shy” by Becky Chambers
“The Last of What I Am” by Abigail Cutter
“Bloom” by Delilah S. Dawson
“A Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter M. Miller
“Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland” by Lisa Schneidau
“The Necessity of Stars” by E. Catherine Tobler
“War Bunny” by Christopher St. John
Science, Health, and Medicine
“Cave of Bones: A True Story of Discovery, Adventure, and Human Origins” by Lee Berger and John Hawks
“Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet Into Shape” by Henry Dimbleby
“The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica” by Naira de Garcia
“Into the Forest: The Secret Language of Trees” by Susan Tyler Hitchcock
“The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction” by Pat Shipman
“Homo Sapiens Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution Rewriting Our Origins” by Paul Pettitt
“The Autumn Ghost: How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care” by Hannah Wunsch
Young Adult
“Still Stace” by Stacey Chomiak
“The Other Pandemic” by Lynn Curlee
“Sarah, Plain and Tall” (#1 in series) by Patricia MacLachlan
“Skylark (#2 in series)” by Patricia MacLachlan
“Caleb’s Story” (#3 in series) by Patricia MacLachlan (Middle Grade)
“More Perfect Than the Moon” (#4 in series) by Patricia MacLachlan
“Grandfather’s Dance” (#5 in series) by Patricia MacLachlan
I haven’t read many of your books and there are so many. I listed my favs under nonfiction/memoirs and fiction and only listed a few. Hope you will visit. Harvee at https://bookdilettante.blogspot.com/
You find some of the best sounding non-fiction titles! I need to just explore my library’s NF shelves more and see what jumps out at me. I haven’t really gotten back to browsing in the library again since 2020… these days I go in with a plan (or with books already on the hold shelf) and I’m out again in 5 minutes.