As always, I will first share some stats and fun facts about my reading year, then my Top Picks in different categories, and finally, my Top 10 (or whatever) Lists in each category. It was an outstanding reading year, so I had some tough choices to make! With adult fiction in particular, my first cut of best novels of the year included 15 books, and whittling that down to just 10 was painful!
You can see a complete list, with links to reviews and favorites indicated, of all the books I have read since 2015 at my Book Reviews tab.
You can also watch a video version of my 2023 Reading Wrap-Up.
Stats and Facts
My stats were very similar to the year before :
Total Books Read in 2023 = 76 (75 in 2022)
Adult Fiction = 46 (59%)
Adult Nonfiction = 6 (8%)
Teen/YA = 12 (16%)
Middle-Grade = 12 (16%)
Of Those:
(note that some categories overlap)
Total Nonfiction = 12 (16%)
Audio Books = 29 (38%)
Graphic Novels/Memoirs = 7
Classics = 6
Poetry = 0
Short Story Collections = 0
Fun Facts:
Women Authors: 48 books (63%) - more than last year
Diverse Books: 40 (53%) - a little less than last year
From My Own Shelves: 30 (39%) - note that I only counted physical books, not audios or e-books, so I may change that this year
Re-reads: 0
Authors Read More Than Once in 2023: Matty Dalrymple (2), Annie Hartnet (2), Lisa McMann (2), and Anne Tyler (2)
Shortest Book: Dreamer by Akim Aliu (128 pages)
Longest Book: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (870 pages)
Average Book Length: 344 pages
Total Pages Read: 26,173 pages
Top Picks - Best of the Best!
Note that several of my picks fit for multiple categories, but I tried to choose something different for each one. Links are to my reviews.
Best Adult Fiction
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
(also see Best Audio Book)
Best Nonfiction
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Best Memoir
How to Forget by Kate Mulgrew
Best Audio Book
Demon
Copperhead by
Barbara Kingsolver (also a #1 fiction pick)
Best Teen/YA Book
This Is Our Place by Vitor Martins
Best Middle-Grade Book
A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat
Best Graphic Novel/Nonfiction
Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith and Boulet
Best Classic
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Top 10 (or whatever) Lists
These were incredibly hard choices to make! I read so many great books last year, and it was tough to leave some out. Many of the top audio picks were also top fiction picks, but I tried to give everything a fair chance! Lists are alphabetical.
Top 10 Adult Novels
Check out my Top 10 Novels of 2023 video, for discussion of why I picked each of these.
Billy Summers by Stephen King
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Upgrade by Blake Crouch
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
Top 6 Nonfiction Books (all ages)
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat
How to Forget by Kate Mulgrew
Layers by Pénélope Bagieu
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Top 3 Classics
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Top 6 Teen/YA
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
Crash by Lisa McMann
Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick
Layers by Pénélope Bagieu
Scythe by Neal Schusterman
This Is Our Place by Vitor Martins
Top 6 Middle-Grade
Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith and Boulet
Can You See Me? By Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat
Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar
Lines of Courage by Jennifer Nielsen
Top 3 Graphic Novel/Memoir
Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith and Boulet
A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat
Layers by Pénélope Bagieu
Top 10 Audio Books
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara
How to Forget by Kate Mulgrew
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Lines of Courage by Jennifer Nielsen
The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
This Is Our Place by Vitor Martins
Wow, what a reading year!
What were YOUR favorite books read last year?
Fantastic lists of books. Looks like I better think about The Lincoln Highway and definitely Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll like them both, Kathryn!
DeleteYou have some excellent books in this post. I love that your top 10 has such a variety of books. And, I do like seeing the stats and what everyone chooses as favorites.
ReplyDeleteYes, I realized that when I talked about each of the top 10 in my video - lots of variety this year. I had trouble whittling the list down to 10, so my criteria was: books that I was sorry when they ended. That helped! And also led to some less typical choices for me.
Delete