Bryan's Weblog of Stuff

My 2023 Year in Books

New phone, who dis?

Seriously, it has been a lifetime since I posted here, and nearly two years longer than that since I did a "year in books" post. In the lifetime and two years since that last time, I'm still tracking what I read in Goodreads (though I'm looking for alternatives if you have suggestions) and I'm still participating in Goodreads' annual reading challenge. For 2023, my reading goal was 26 books, which I hit in July, finishing the year with an additional eleven books for a total of 37.

Here is a rundown of books completed by month:

If I'm not enjoying a book or able to identify some value in finishing it, I don't force myself to complete it. So, at a minimum, a completed book is one that I liked or found value in completing. As for rating books, I follow the Goodreads guidance, which is:

• 5-stars: it was amazing
• 4-stars: I really liked it
• 3-stars: I liked it

Here's a breakdown of how I rated the books I completed in 2023:

My favorite work of fiction in 2023 was the debut novel by Shelley Read, Go as a River, a beautifully written piece of historical fiction set in the Gunnison River valley of Colorado. I would be remiss if I didn't also mention another 5-star read from 2023, that came in as a close second for favorite fiction: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. After all, it did when a Pulitzer Prize, and is the only Pulitzer Prize winning book that I read BEFORE it was a winner. Of course, it is also amazing!

My favorite non-fiction book in 2023 was actually a tie between On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder and We've Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible, by Beto O'Rourke. I appreciate both for the important lessons they draw from history, to help inform the present and provide a guide for the future.

An interesting note: I ventured solidly into the world of Romance for perhaps the first time, reading Book Lovers and Happy Place, both by Emily Henry, as well as This Bird Has Flown, by Susanna Hoffs (yes, that Susanna Hoffs), and The Seven Year Slip, by Ashley Poston. I am not afraid to admit that I really enjoyed them, and I will be reading more of this genre.

If you are interested in the complete list of the books that I read in 2023, along with how I rated them, you can find that here: Bryan's 2023 Reads.

I did another book-related thing in 2023 (aside from reading and buying them)—I set up shop at Bookshop.org: Bryan's Books, where you can find several curated lists, including my 2023 reads.

Finally, in the face of book challenges and bans, please Keep Calm and Read On, but also fight back!

By Bryan at 10:00 PM , in Books - Permalink
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My 5-Star Rated Books From 2018

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that of the 62 books I read in 2018, I rated 14 as 5-stars, meaning that I thought they were amazing, according to Goodreads' rating system. Since I also suggested that they would make a good list for anyone looking for books to read, I thought I'd do that here (yeah, I also wanted to knock out another post in 2019).

Title, Author

• American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, Nate Blakeslee
• Educated: A Memoir, Tara Westover
• Go the Fuck to Sleep, Adam Mansbach
• How to Stop Time, Matt Haig
• The Impossible Fortress, Jason Rekulak
• The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border, Francisco Cantu
• Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
• Make It Till You Make It: 40 Myths & Truths About Creating, Brendan Leonard
• Narrow River, Wide Sky: A Memoir, Jenny Forrester
• Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, Sheryl Sandberg
• Pure Land: A True Story of Three Lives, Three Cultures, and the Search for Heaven on Earth, Annete McGivney
• Reincarnation Blues, Michael Poore
• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, Michael Finkel
• Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North, Blair Braverman

If you end up reading any of these, please leave a note, letting me know what you think.

By Bryan at 5:41 PM , in Books - Permalink
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My 2018 Year in Books

62. That’s how many books I read in 2018. I think that’s a lot of reading. Once again, I participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, with a goal of 52 books for 2018. I reached that mark in early September. Obviously I slacked off after that. However, I feel like I finished strong, with 5 books in December.

Here’s the number of books completed by month:

Of those 62 books, I enjoyed all of them. If I’m not enjoying a book, or able to identify some high value in finishing it, I put the book down, often for good. To be sure, there were a handful of books that I simply wasn’t able to get into during the year. Some I will come back to, others, well, I gave it a good try. Here’s the final rating breakdown:

I try to follow the Goodreads guidance when rating books, which is: 3-stars: I liked it; 4-stars: I really liked it; and 5-stars: it was amazing.

My overall favorite book in 2018 is American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, by Nate Blakeslee. I won’t provide a review here, but know that if you enjoy great story telling, adventure writing, and nature writing, move this book to the top of your to-read list NOW. Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover is a very close second place, and should be placed right behind American Wolf at the top of your to-read list. Since both of those books are non-fiction, I’ll include my favorite fiction book: Reincarnation Blues, by Michael Poore. Favorites aside, if you’re looking for books to read, the 14 five-star rated books I read in 2018 (the 5-stars are listed first, but ignore the order within each star grouping) is a great place to start, IMHO.

What’s next? My focus is currently on Limits of the Known, by David Roberts. Following that, I’ll be tackling: God Save Texas, by Lawrence Wright; The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah; The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli; and Home Grown, by Ben Hewitt.

Finally, here’s a link to my Year in Review that Goodreads put together.

By Bryan at 10:55 PM , in Books - Permalink
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My 2017 Year in Books

As I mentioned in the Books section of the site, I love to read. I read a ton as a kid, but that diminished quite a bit as an adult. Over the past few years, I’ve started reading more, including 52 books in 2017.

This change is due in part to the unprecedented access to books that we now have, thanks mostly to the rise of Amazon, ebooks, and good ebook readers, but also to me finally getting my own library card *and* using it—wearing it out, if we’re being completely honest. Speaking of the library: after sharing Julie’s library card for several years, using it to access ebooks, and now with my own card in hand, I finally took full advantage of what the library offered, and started placing holds on physical books (I even successfully requested a book not already in their catalog).

There’s probably one other component responsible for the uptick in how much I read, and that’s the use of Goodreads (if you want to change something, start measuring it). To further encourage reading, I’ve participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge the past couple of years, and my goal for 2017 was 52 books, which you already know I hit, seconds before midnight on New Year’s Eve (a signed copy of Andy Weir’s Artemis FTW!). Due to logging what I read in Goodreads, I am able to present to you my 2017 Year in Books.

I read a ton of fiction, mostly science-fiction, with a fair amount of non-fiction sprinkled in. I don’t typically force myself to continue reading a book I’m not enjoying, so there’s not a book on this list that I didn’t enjoy, and most books I enjoyed immensely. I’d love to hear about what you’ve been reading—I can never have too many book recommendations!

By Bryan at 10:50 PM , in Books - Permalink
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