2023 End of the Year Book Survey

I was such a mood reader this year. Instead of sticking to a list I read whatever sounded good or was available at the library. I ran one read along on Litsy for The Once and Future King, but other than that I didn’t tackle nearly as many classics as I normally do. I reread things when I felt like it. I read lots of fantasy novels and books based in areas we traveled to, especially Maine.

Number of Books You Read: 143

Number of Rereads: So many! To Kill a Mockingbird in honor of our new pup, Scout. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Bel Canto, Matilda, Station Eleven, and Our Town were all memorable. 

1. Best Books You Read In 2023
Classics — The Once and Future King, Silmarillion, and Jayber Crow 
Mystery — The Late Mrs. Willoughby, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
Literary Fiction — Go As a River, Tom Lake, Hello Beautiful, and Shark Heart
Nonfiction — A Book of Bees, A Fever in the Heartland, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Do Nothing, and Notes on Grief
Fantasy — Starling House, Divine Rivals, Fourth Wing, Throne of Glass series, Ten Thousand Doors of January, and Legends & Lattes
Play/Essay — Our Town, The Book of Delights, The Wickhams
YA — Where the Rhythm Takes You
Children’s — Hello Lighthouse and All-of-a-Kind Family

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love More But Didn’t?
Somebody’s Fool, The Last Ranger, and The Daughter of Time

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book you read?
Legends & Lattes and  The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say?

5. Best series you started in 2023?
Throne of Glass and Empyrean 

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2023?
Alix E. Harrow, I read both The Ten Thousand Doors of January and Starling House

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
The Book of Delights, I don’t often read essay collections, but I loved this one so much I just bought his new collection.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Fourth Wing and The Lioness

9. Book You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
Tom Lake, I’d love to listen to the audio the second time around.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2023?
The Measure, Fairy Tale, The Ladies of Grace Adieu  

11. Most memorable character of 2023?
Manon in the Throne of Glass series and Satchel from Bookshops & Bonedust

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2023? 
Go as a River

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2023? 
Do Nothing, Chain Gang All Stars

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2023 to finally read?
Silmarillion

15. Best memoir?
Patrick Stewart’s Making It So

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2023?
The Greatest Gift - 65 pages
The Running Grave - 960 pages 

17. Book That Shocked You The Most?
Mad Honey and A Fever in the Heartland

18. Favorite Couple?
Iris and Roman Divine Rivals; William and Sylvie in Hello Beautiful

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of The Year?
Violet and Tairn in Fourth Wing; Polly and Agnes’ friendship in Fellowship Point

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2023 From an Author You’ve Read Previously?
Tom Lake

21. Best Book You Read In 2023 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else?
Foster

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2023?
Xaden

23. Best debut you read?
Go As A River

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Fourth Wing and Piranesi

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting and The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America

26. Book That Made You Cry in 2023?
A Heart That Works

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
A Book of Bees

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Women Talking

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2023?
The Shark Heart and Leave the World Behind

30. Book That Made You the Maddest?
Marmee & Louisa, Bronson Alcott was just such a selfish jerk. It Ends with Us, I wanted to know what the hype was about, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

31. Best Audiobook?
Congratulations, The Best Is Over! I will listen to anything R. Eric Thomas reads! Spare was excellent on audio as well.

32. Best Book to Film Adaptation?
Women Talking

33. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2023?

"In the end, it's not the changes that will break your heart; it's that tug of familiarity." - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The laughing snort: among the most emphatic evidences of delight.” - The Book of Delights

"At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a full-time job." - Surviving the Angel of Death

“Perhaps a series of small satisfaction scattered like sequins over the texture of everyday life was of greater worth than the academic satisfaction of owning a collection of fine objects at the back of a drawer.” - The Daughter of Time

“I want my life to be like making pottery. I want to enjoy it while it’s happening, not just for where it might get me eventually.” - Happy Place

“I love to watch how the day, tired as it is, lags away reluctantly and hates to be called yesterday so soon.” -
The House of the Seven Gables

“The idea is not that everything should be slower, but that not everything needs to be fast.” - Do Nothing

“Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language” - Notes on Grief

Thanks to Perpetual Page Turner for originating this survey! It’s always so much fun to look at everything I read throughout the year and think about what I loved/hated.