2023 was a great year for me! I got to travel to Japan. My daughter started first grade. I completed my first full year at a job that I love. I finally got to meet my best friend’s baby in person. And I read, a lot. 🙂
Books I Read:
I read 120 books this year! I participated in several reading challenges, and I completed them all but one. It was a great readying year!
I love the wrap-up that Goodreads creates at the end of the year, so if you want to see a fun round-up of the books I read, check out my Year in Books 2023!
Top 10 Books I Read in 2023:
1: Begin Again by Emma Lord
2: Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare
3: The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
4: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
5: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
6: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
7: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
8: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
9: The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
10: The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews
Here are some of my reading stats for 2023:
Total Books Read: 120
Books DNF’d: 2
Number of Pages Read: 18,551
Number of Hours Listened: 27 days, 23 hours, and 49 minutes
BOOKS BY TYPE
Print Books: 34
Digital Books: 21
Audio Books: 65
BOOKS BY AGE GROUP
Adult: 71
YA: 33
Middle Grade/Children’s: 16
BOOKS BY GENRE
Romance: 33
Fantasy: 27
Historical Fiction: 14
Mystery: 14
General/Contemporary Fiction: 16
Classics: 3
Sci-Fi: 2
General Nonfiction: 6
Memoir/Biography: 6
Self-Help: 1
Science/Nature: 1
Travel/Food: 1
Romance was my highest this year, followed closely by fantasy, which is not surprising. I was a little surprised I didn’t read more historical fiction than I did, because it is usually one of my highest genres. I ended up with 15 nonfiction reads this year! I usually aim for one non-fiction per month, and I surpassed it!
Reading Goals for 2024
- I am going to give myself a goal of 50 books for 2024!
- I am going to try to read at least 1 nonfiction book each month.
- I want to continue to read more books that I already own.
- I want to attempt to read all of my backlist Book of the Month books, as well as read any new ones that I receive throughout the year.
- I am going to loosely follow these reading challenges:
- Little Inklings Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge 2024
- A to Z Challenge
- Genre Reading Challenge
- Reading Rainbow Challenge
- On the Cover Reading Challenge
- Around the World Reading Challenge
- Read Through the Ages Challenge
- 24 in 2024 Challenge
- I am going to allow myself to be more relaxed about my reading goals this year. I am going to read what I feel like reading. Unless it is an ARC or a Book Club pick, I will mood read. If it fits a challenge prompt, great! If it doesn’t, great! Much more loosey-goosey than in years past.
Personal Goals for 2024
I only have a few personal goals for 2024:
- I want to be mindful of what I am putting into my body – smaller portions, more water, no food after my daughter goes to bed.
- I want to start being more intentional with my music: practicing guitar, posting singing videos on TikTok/Instagram/YouTube, potentially teach voice lessons.
- I want to blog more consistently.
- I would like to start writing in my journal weekly and spending time in the Word every day.
How was your 2023 reading year? Did you accomplish your goals? What are your goals for 2024? Let’s talk about it in the comments!
Love, happy reading, and happy new year,
Whitney
Whit Reads Lit 