Final Book List for 2023

My final number for books read in 2023 came in at 58 books. I always set a goal to read 50 books in a year, so accomplishing 58 felt great! Here is my list of books read. Please note that not all of these books will be appropriate for everyone. Please do your research on whether a book is right for you or not. Please also feel free to comment to ask about any particular book, Iโ€™d love to chat about it and give insight.

Key: 

๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ Audiobook
๐Ÿ“• Physical book
๐Ÿ“˜ eReader

TitleAuthor
1The Summer I Turned PrettyJenny Han๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
2Crying in H MartMichelle Zauner๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
3The Case of the Missing MarquessNancy Springer๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
4The Hotel NantucketElin Hilderbrand๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
5The Last Chance LibraryFreya Sampson๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
6House of GoldNatasha Solomons๐Ÿ“•
7A Court of Thorns and RosesSarah J. Maas๐Ÿ“•๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
8Hiroshima DiaryMichihiko Hachiya๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
9It Ends With UsColleen Hoover๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
10Thank You For ListeningJulia Whelan๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
11Mad HoneyJodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
12HitchhikersBernard Poduska๐Ÿ“•
13Beach ReadEmily Henry๐Ÿ“•
14A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and MayhemManda Collins๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
15EdenbrookeJulianne Donaldson๐Ÿ“•
16The Beach ClubElin Hilderbrand๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
17Maybe SomedayColleen Hoover๐Ÿ“•
18Maybe NotColleen Hoover๐Ÿ“•
19A Corner of the UniverseAnn M. Martin๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
20Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneJ. K. Rowling๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
21The Tattooist of AuschwitzHeather Morris๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
22It Starts With UsColleen Hoover๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
23Maybe NowColleen Hoover๐Ÿ“•
24Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsJ.K. Rowling๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
25We Were DreamersSimu Liu๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
26Tomorrow and Tomorrow and TomorrowGabrielle Zevin๐Ÿ“•
27Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanJ. K. Rowling๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
28Enders ShadowOrson Scott Card๐Ÿ“•๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
29We Were LiarsE. Lockhart๐Ÿ“•
30The Bookish Life of Nina HillAbbi Waxman๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
31The Revised Fundamentals of CaregivingJohnathan Evison๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
32Turtles All The Way DownJohn Green๐Ÿ“˜
33Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireJ. K. Rowling๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
34The UnhoneymoonersChristina Lauren๐Ÿ“•
35Britt Marie Was HereFredrick Backman๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
36Hello BeautifulAnn Napolitano๐Ÿ“•๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
37Beneath a Scarlet SkyMark Sullivan๐Ÿ“•
38A Place to Hang the MoonKate Albus๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
39The Rent CollectorCameron Wright๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
40This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!Johnathan Evison๐Ÿ“•
41The Last Thing He Told MeLaura Dave๐Ÿ“•
42The Ballad of Songbirds and SnakesSuzanne Collins๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
43Good Man, DaltonKaren McQuestion๐Ÿ“•
44The MeasureNikki Erlick๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
45The Pumpkin Spice CafeLaurie Gilmore๐Ÿ“•
46Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
47One For the Murphy’sLynda Mullaly Hunt๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
48Tokyo Ever AfterEmiko Jean๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
49Forever, InterruptedTaylor Jenkins Reid๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
50Tokyo DreamingEmiko Jean๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
51The Mostly Invisible BoyA. J. Vanderhorst๐Ÿ“•
52Counting the CostJill Duggar๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
53The Cheat SheetSarah Adams๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
54The Statistical Probability of Love at First SightJennifer E. Smith๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿผ
55Resting Scrooge FaceMeghan Quinn๐Ÿ“˜
56Little Fires EverywhereCeleste Ng๐Ÿ“˜
57A Return to ChristmasChris Heimerringer๐Ÿ“˜
58Found in a BookshopStephanie Butland๐Ÿ“˜

I cannot wait to see what 2024 has in store for my reading journey! What books would you recommend I add to my reading list for the year?

So You Want To Read More? Here’s Some Tips.

In 2022 my goal was to read 12 books, which is roughly the national average of books read a year. This is also one book a month, which felt doable for me. I was very into reading when I was younger, but then life became busy and finding a good routine was hard to get into, especially after having kids. 

But 2022 was my year to change that. I made reading a priority, which was the biggest factor in finding success. I also trained my brain to listen to audiobooks. I had a hard time focusing on listening to anything from podcasts to audiobooks, so I took the time to slowly acclimate myself to listen when being read to. Once I felt like I had audiobooks down, I had to train myself to pick up physical books to read them. All of it took work and time, but I was making reading a priority!

Possibly one of the hardest things for me to do was retrain my brain to pick up a book instead of picking up my phone to scroll through social media. Whether we like it or not, social media has us trained to feel like we are missing out if weโ€™re not on it constantly, so itโ€™s easy and natural to open Twitter and Instagram multiple times a day without really thinking about it. Itโ€™s mindless. But once I replaced my social media time with reading, it gave me ample time in my day to finish more books. 

By the end of March, I had accomplished my goal of 12 books. So I set a new goal to finish 50 books by the end of the year, and I ended with 53. How did I make such a huge jump from rarely reading to finishing 53 books in a year? 

Because reading begets reading. This is true for adults and kids. Once youโ€™ve gotten into and finished a book, itโ€™s so much easier to pick up the next one and continue reading. And if the next book you picked up happens to be the first book in a series, well then once youโ€™re finished, you HAVE to find the second book ASAP! And while youโ€™re reading that book, a friend hears that youโ€™ve been really into this series and suggests another similar book that he knows youโ€™re just going to LOVE. So then you have to read that book when youโ€™re finished. And once youโ€™ve finished the book your friend suggested, you may stop reading for a time because you just blazed through so many books so fast. But once you give yourself some time, itโ€™s not as hard to pick up the next book your librarian set aside for you because she heard itโ€™s the type of book you really like and she thought of you when it was returned by the last person. 

Reading begets reading, and once you start itโ€™s much easier to keep going. A few tips I want to share if you or your child is trying to make reading more of a priority: 

Reading can and should be fun. Do not read historical WWII novels or Jane Austen if thatโ€™s not what youโ€™re into. Just because it seems โ€œeducationalโ€ or โ€œbetter literatureโ€ doesnโ€™t mean itโ€™s something you have to be into. If reading cheesy romance novels or fantasy books is what youโ€™re into, then read those. If youโ€™re reading words on a page that work together to create sentences and paragraphs and chapters, then youโ€™re reading.ย 

Join a book club. This can be a great thing or it can backfire, thatโ€™s up to you and the book club you choose. Oftentimes book clubs rotate which book theyโ€™re reading and let members pick the book, which can leave a lot of variety and can sometimes make it hard to finish a book youโ€™re not into. But it can be a great thing to have people who also read the book and loved it come together, sit down, and enjoy discussing what everyone did and didnโ€™t like. 

If youโ€™re finding it hard to pay attention to an audiobook, find a mindless activity to do while listening. Simple games to play on your phone, knitting or crocheting if youโ€™re into that. Or even go for a walk! Something to keep your hands busy while you listen.ย 

Pick a book that’s also a movie. The book will always (ALWAYS) be better, but sometimes it can be great motivation to finish a book so you can watch the movie.

Find the right platform. We are lucky to have reading available in so many different formats! But it can be overwhelming. Try out physical books, audiobooks, a physical eReader, or an eReader app on your phone, tablet, or computer. Whatever works for you, stick with it. You don’t have to be reading physical books every time (or ever) to have it count as reading.

Dedicate reading time. For me, it was in the evenings before bed, that was the easiest time for me to pick up a book or listen to my audiobook. Maybe for you, itโ€™s right after school? Maybe itโ€™s first thing in the morning. Once youโ€™ve dedicated reading time and made it a habit, itโ€™s easier to do more and more often throughout the day.ย 

What things do you do to help you make reading more of a priority?ย 

Photo by Rahul Shah