Posted on by Mark

2023 Reading List

I had a strong year of reading in 2023. I blew past my annual goal of 24 books in September and kept on going. I always had my Kobo by my bed to read at night, while making sure I found time and space on the weekends. Erin also read voraciously this year; being synchronized in that effort was helpful. My highlight was binging The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey. It’s amazing.

This year I decided to put together charts for the genres I read and the number of books I completed each month, in addition to the full table of completed titles. Let’s dive in.

In 2023 I read a total of 38 books written by 23 different authors. As has been the case for several years, I leaned digital: I read 30 books, or about 79%, using some combination of my Kobo, phone, or iPad.

Here is how many titles I finished in each month of the year.

January was a big month: I finished several books while home for the holidays in 2022 and maintained that momentum. I like having a strong start to the year. I didn’t finish any books in June since it was a busy month with travel. In September, October, and November, I had several flights during which I almost exclusively spent my time reading.

Here is the genre breakdown. As with last year, the numbers won’t add to 38 as I assign multiple genres to some books.

Reading The Giver series pushed me to add “Speculative Fiction”. Its classification tends to be science fiction, but that feels improper. Several books I read this year fall into the realm of alternative history, or a world “just after a feasible apocalypse” where everything that happens is due to a small tweak. There’s no new science or made up tools, no space, no hallmarks of standard science fiction. Instead the author is speculating on that change—similar to the show For All Mankind. The distinction felt important.

Even with that caveat, science fiction continues to be a winner for me. The Expanse series—nine novels, and a book of short stories—is a majority representative, and I expect 2024 to have a similar bend as I plan to dive into Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Hainish Cycle” of novels at some point.

While this year showed a stark increase in the number of books I read, I can’t specifically point at any variables that put me on that path. As such, my goal continues to be a good pace of two books each month. I’m going to hit physical books hard the first half of this year—I have a backlog that needs attention—and go from there.

Finally, here’s the complete list of books I read in 2023 in chronological order.

TitleAuthorGenreMedium
Things Fall ApartChinua AchebeHistorical FictionPhysical
Child of GodCormac McCarthyLiterary FictionPhysical
Maxwell’s DemonSteven HallMystery,Science FictionPhysical
Arrow of GodChinua AchebeHistorical FictionDigital
No Longer At EaseChinua AchebeHistorical FictionDigital
The AutomatonIan YoungScience FictionPhysical
WatchmenAlan Moore and Dave GibbonsGraphic Novel,Science FictionDigital
Normal PeopleSally RooneyLiterary FictionPhysical
How High We Go in the DarkSequoia NagamatsuScience FictionPhysical
The Eleventh HourClint McElroyFantasy,Graphic NovelPhysical
The CommittedViet Thanh NguyenHistorical FictionDigital
Leviathan WakesJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Caliban’s WarJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Abaddon’s GateJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Cibola BurnJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Nemesis GamesJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Babylon’s AshesJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Persepolis RisingJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Tiamat’s WrathJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Dead WakeErik LarsonHistorical Non-fictionPhysical
Leviathan FallsJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Memory’s LegionJames S.A. CoreyScience FictionDigital
Light from Uncommon StarsRyka AokiFantasy,Science FictionDigital
Last Comes the Raven – And Other StoriesItalo CalvinoFantasyDigital
Doing Good BetterWilliam MacAskillOther Non-fictionDigital
What We Owe the FutureWilliam MacAskillOther Non-fictionDigital
The Great School RethinkFrederick HessOther Non-fictionDigital
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowGabrielle ZevinLiterary FictionDigital
The GiverLois LowrySpeculative FictionDigital
Gathering BlueLois LowrySpeculative FictionDigital
MessengerLois LowrySpeculative FictionDigital
SonLois LowrySpeculative FictionDigital
All Souls LostDan MorenFantasy,MysteryDigital
Killers of the Flower MoonDavid GrannHistorical Non-fictionDigital
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s CourtMark TwainFantasy,SatireDigital
The Man From the FutureAnanyo BhattacharyaMemoir/BiographyDigital
The CrossingJason MottSpeculative FictionDigital
Lincoln in the BardoGeorge SaundersHistorical Fiction,Literary FictionDigital

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