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This post may be too detailed for all of you, but I enjoy taking a deep dive into my reading trends. I also like sharing favorite books from various genres that might not make it into my “Top Ten Books of the Year” post. This is always long so bear with me as I review my 2023 reading by the numbers. Links will either go to my review, my GoodReads shelves, or Bookshop.org.
The Stats
Number
GoodReads challenge goal: 100 books
Completed: 107
Format
- 35 audiobooks
- 41 e-books
- 31 physical books
Target Age Groups
I usually read a little more evenly across age groups. I don’t know what happened this year.
- Adult: 84 books
- Young adult: 9 books
- Middle grade: 13 books
- Children: 1 book
Shortest and Longest
- Shortest: Mortimer’s Christmas Manger, coming in at 40 pages.
- Longest: European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss, read by Kate Reading. I actually listened to all 25 hours of this book but GoodReads shows that it’s 720 pages in print.
Page Count
I read 34,286 pages. I’m not sure if that includes audiobooks so I don’t know how useful that stat is.
The average length of my books was 323 pages.
Author Gender
- Books by women: 112 books
- Books by men: 35 books
- Books by genderqueer authors: 2
This used to be more evenly balanced; I don’t know why I’ve been shifting so heavily toward women authors lately.
Average Rating
3.8. My internal rating skews toward 4 stars for books that I like so that seems about right.
Did Not Finish
0. There are two that I should have DNF’d but I hung in there.
Favorite Cover
Genres
The breakdown by rough genres. I did not choose any re-reads as favorites. The totals from these categories will likely equal more than 107, since I shelve books across multiple categories. If I didn’t review a book, I linked to a synopsis.
Adventure
Read: 12
Favorite: The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5) by Rick Riordan, read by Robbie Daymond
Runner-Up: Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #3) by Jessica Townsend, read by Gemma Whelan
Anthology
Read: 9
Favorite: The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis
Audiobooks
Read: 34
Favorite: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, read by Kimberly Farr (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4) by Martha Wells, read by Kevin R. Free
Banned/Challenged
Read: 3
Favorite: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Runner-Up: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Biography/Memoir
Read: 15
Favorite: How to be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery (Top Ten Book that I read twice back to back!)
Runner-Up: The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro (Top Ten Book)
Classics
Read: 7
Favorite: Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
Contemporary Fiction
Read: 13
Favorite: The Attack by Yasmina Khadra, translated by John Cullen (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: The Bookshop on the Corner (Kirrinfief #1) by Jenny Colgan, read by Lucy Price-Lewis
Dystopia
Read: 3
Favorite: Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, read by Robert Petkoff
Runner-Up: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, read by Jon Lindstrom
Fantasy
Read: 38
Favorite: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, read by Kimberly Farr (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss, read by Kate Keading
Graphic Novels
Read: 7
Favorite: Shubeik Lubeik, written, illustrated, and translated by Deena Mohamed (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: Lore Olympus: Volume Two, written and illustrated by Rachel Smythe
Historical Fiction
Read: 13
Favorite: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, read by Scott Brick (Top Ten Book)
History
Read: 9
Favorite: Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation, written and read by Cokie Roberts (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History by Jennifer Wright
Horror
Read: 8
Favorite: How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Runner-Up: Night Shift by Stephen King
Middle Grade
Read: 13
Favorite: One Half from the East by Nadia Hashimi
Runner-Up: The Clackity by Lora Senf
Mystery
Read: 14
Favorite: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Runner-Up: Cold Clay (Shady Hollow #2) by Juneau Black, read by Cassandra Campbell
Retold Stories
Read: 6
Favorite: Beauty by Robin McKinley
Runner-Up: Lore Olympus: Volume Three, written and illustrated by Rachel Smythe
Romantic
Read: 17
Favorite: The Bookshop on the Corner (Kirrinfief #1) by Jenny Colgan, read by Lucy Price-Lewis
Runner-Up: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (Dash & Lily #1) by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, read by Ryan Gesell and Tara Sands
Science/Nature
Read: 8
Favorite: How to be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us by Sam Kean
Science Fiction
Read: 9
Favorite: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, read by Cindy Kay
Runner-Up: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers
Translation
Read: 3
Favorite: Shubeik Lubeik, written, illustrated, and translated by Deena Mohamed (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: The Attack by Yasmina Khadra, translated by John Cullen (Top Ten Book)
Young Adult
Read: 9
Favorite: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (Top Ten Book)
Runner-Up: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
GoodReads Year in Books
See all of the books I read in 2023 by clicking the button below. You can view my 2023 reading stats on GoodReads as well.
6 Comments
I need a better balance between men and women authors. In 2022 I read 88% female authors, in 2023 87%, so I did make progress!
Baby steps are still progress! 🙂
Oh, you have some wonderful books on this list. I like that you’ve broken it down by genre so we can see your favorites of each type.
Some genres (horror comes to mind) are probably never going to crack my top ten list even though I enjoy those books. I like being able to spotlight my favorites like this.
You had a great year of reading! I loved Dark Matter (and Recurrsion) and have Upgrade in my stacks to read this year.
An excellent year… I’m impressed by how widely you read!