Alessandra is reading…

My 2023 Reading Wrapped Up

What a crazy year, for reading and in my personal [and now business] life.

I read 96 books in the year of 2023. The same number I had read last year, thus not obtaining my first goal to surpass my 2022 number of books read. 

I did, however, beat my other goal with reading 483 more pages than I had last year, resulting in 28,111 total pages for 2023. 

So, 1 of 2 goals that had been added in September or October. That’s not too bad. Who knows if I’ll try to beat either of those numbers next year.

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Favorite Books of the year

• The Audrey Hepburn Estate by Brenda Janowitz
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
• Atonement by Ian McEwan
• Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku
• The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

Most Important books of the year

• 13 Hours by Mitchell Zuckoff
• American Sniper by Chris Kyle
• Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport
• Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse by Suraya Sadeed
• Guadalupe by Dustin Carter
• Lost in Trans Nation by Dr. Miriam Grossman
• The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam
• Sacred Cow by Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

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Stats

Genre

I read all over the board – it also helps that I specified the nonfiction books that I read and this was the first year that I’ve done this. I decided to track my genres this year because it’s one of the advantages that people boast from StoryGraph, but I personally don’t like StoryGraph. And I figured, I’ll just do it on my own. (Which is something that I’ve been doing for the last few months – instead of being lazy and having someone else do it, I’m doing as much for myself as possible, to decrease reliance on others and so I know what I am capable of (i.e. I’ve done my best to stop buying processed foods from the grocery store and if I want it, I or my husband have to make it ourselves). 

Publication Year

I read one more book published before 2000 than I had last year – this year’s total was 22 books published before 2000. (I’m counting the plays by George Bernard Shaw as before 2000 because they were each published before the 2000s, Pygmalion and Androcles & The Lion in 1912 and Major Barbara in 1905.) 

Side note: I did not get my goal accomplished this year of coding/creating visuals in Apple’s Numbers app, which is actually fine for me. Because I had a few other goals creep up throughout the year that I valued more (i.e. house, marriage, homestead, starting a business). So, graphs can respectively suck my ass. 

Page Count

My shortest book was I Dreamed I Was a Ballerine by Anna Pavlova at 32 pages.

My longest book was The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon at 830 pages.

The remainder of my page count stats:

• 7 books were under 100 pages
• 16 books were between 100-200 pages
• 23 had 201-299 pages
• 34 had 300-399 pages
• 10 had 400-499 pages
• 6 had 500-830 pages

Authors

I was way under my normal Stephen King count of 6 books at a total of 3 books this year. That’s actually so surprising to look at, because I was craving SK a ton near the end of the year. I just prioritized other books over SK.

I explored a ton of new authors. My reading was mostly new authors actually, as I explored so much within so many of my interests.

Interesting stats from the year overall

In addition to the books that I read, I began and eventually abandoned 16 books, for various reasons. I actually attempted these books for a larger average of pages compared to those books that I abandoned in 2022.

I read a total of 4 plays. Which are more plays that I’ve ever read alone [outside of assigned plays to read in school]. 

I read my very first ARC (advanced reader’s copy) of The Veteran by Dustin Carter. I had such a positive experience and greatly appreciated the opportunity Dustin gave me to give him feedback on his book.

I had 4 rereads of books that I’ve loved this year, the most amount of rereads I’ve had in the past few years as I’ve just gotten back into reading and have barely reread books. Those that I reread were

• Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
• White Trash Warlock by David R Slayton

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Here’s to 2024! May I sell some of the books in my picture below, read those that I purchased for myself, and sell even more! I wish you all the very best and have a happy new year. Let’s kick 2024’s ass!