2023 Book(s) Report: A Year in Review

Quantifying my reading year plus my 2024 reading resolutions

Happy New Year!

As we head into the new year I’m taking time for one final 2023 reflection. I’m always interested in the data behind my reading, so today I’ll be sharing the trends of 2023 and take a moment to make resolutions for 2024.

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Number of Books Read: 152

I started off 2023 with an exceptionally strong January, which was rivaled only by extra reading time afforded by the summer months. School clearly impacts the quantity of books that I’m able to read, so I remain grateful for audiobooks and the small moments (breakfast and before bed) that allow me to steal a few pages.

Books Read in 2022: 170, Books Read in 2021: 119

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Average Rating: 8.44/10

Last year when I was making my 2023 resolutions, I said that I wanted to read more highly-ranked books in the coming year. I can now confidently say that I did. Although I read fewer books than in 2022, my average rating was 8.44/10 up from 8/10 last year, which either means that I got lucky or that I was more discerning in what I chose. My most frequent rating was a 9/10 and I nearly doubled the 10/10s that I read. My highest quality month was September, earning an average rating of 8.9/10, a personal best. I read four 10/10s in July, which was a record.

Although not every book gets a 10/10, not every book needs this rating to be worth reading. They might not have the prose or structure to earn a 9/10 or higher, but the plot and characters propelled the story forward and made me want to flip the pages, which I think gives the book merit. Different books serve different purposes, and sometimes you need a fun mystery, thriller, romance or genre outside of your comfort zone.

The software that I use to track my books rates books on a 5 star scale. I’ve always used a 10 point scale.

Average Rating in 2022: 8/10, Average Rating in 2021: 8/10

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Genre Breakdown

The piechart below, generated by the app where I log my reading, simplifies the genre breakdown a bit more than I’d like. It is true that 14% of my reads were non-fiction, while 86% were fiction, but this division doesn’t take into account the range of reading within each of these categories. This year I read more short story collections than in years past, while reading fewer thrillers and mysteries. I read wonderful historical fiction but fewer romances and beach reads. I read some fascinating political non-fiction, insightful memoirs, and a great book on a therapy cult. My top category remains literary and then contemporary fiction. In 2024 I want to make sure I continue to read widely while boosting my percentage of non-fiction.

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New Year’s Resolutions

• Just like last year, I want to continue trying to emphasize reading more highly-ranked books instead of choosing a book just for its buzz. I’m also trying to allow myself to stop reading a book if I’m not enjoying it. I’ve typically been very bad at putting aside a book - what if it redeems itself partly through? I’ve already committed time to it, might as well finish! - but in 2024 if it doesn’t grab me in the first 50 pages, it might be time to reconsider.

• I am continuing my project of reading every Fiction Pulitzer Prize winner going back to 1948. I read seven this year and enjoyed them all, so am looking forward to seeing what else the prize has in store. It’s been a wonderful excuse to read older books and consider the factors that shaped them at the time they were written.

• I want to read more books that I already own. I have trouble walking into a bookstore without leaving with a book and publishers have been so generous this year in sending me advanced reader copies of upcoming releases. I love the New York Public Library, but I might need to pause before I immediately request a new find in order to prioritize my current shelves.

• If I’m going to read more from my shelves that means I also need to prioritize backlist titles, which I define as books that aren’t published in 2024. I am working on striking a balance between keeping up with new releases and making sure I get to books that I just haven’t had time for yet.

• Just like last year, I am once again setting a goal to read 20-25% non-fiction. There’s so much out there that I want to learn about that isn’t just law-related.

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On to 2024! Thanks for subscribing to the Book House Blog. I’m looking forward to the books coming in the year ahead. Until then, you can check out my favorite books from 2023 below.

What are your reading goals for 2024? Let me know in the comments below!