2023 Reading Roundup

I didn't think I was going to do my annual reading roundup this year. I have no patience for much of anything and all I want to do is doomscroll or answer the antisemites on X (formerly known as Twitter). But, as they say in Anatevka, how do we keep our balance? ...Tradition

So here are the 59 books I read or listened to in 2023.

Take Me with You When You Go by Jennifer Niven and David Levithan

A Likely Story by Leigh McMullan Abramson

Happiness Falls by Angie  Kim

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

The Secret by Lee Child

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Judgement Prey by John Sandford

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

 אתי החיים משחק הרבה מאת דויד גרוסמן

The Celebrants by Steven  Rowley

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird

The Collector  by Daniel Silva

Sea Change by Gina Chung

The Maid by Nita Prose

The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

The Survivors by Jane Harper

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

Death of a Dancing Queen by Kimberly G. Giarratano

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

The Adults by Caroline  Hulse

The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia

The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

True Biz by Sara Novic

Bookworm: A Novel by Robin Yeatman

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

Dark Objects by Simon Toyne

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Raising Lazarus by Beth Macy

The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom

Baltimore Boys by Joel Dicker

Flying Solo by Linda  Holmes

Desert Star  by Michael Connelly

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Choice: Escaping the Past and Embracing the Possible by Edith Eger 

This year I read 17 physical books, 15 books on my Kindle, and listened to 27 audiobooks. 

It wasn't my best reading year but also not my worst.

I read only 1 Hebrew book and only 3 non-fiction books but did read 3 books which won a Pulitzer Prize. I read 18 books by authors I've read before and 6 books which are part of a series. 

I also read some books which I can't believe it took me so long to read: Fahrenheit 451, Beloved, and The Man in the High Castle. 

In 2023, I read 11,460 pages and listened to 327 hours and 28 minutes of audio. The shortest book I read was Fahrenheit 451 (158 pages) and the longest was The Seven Sisters (622 pages). I don’t think I’m going to continue the Seven Sisters series. The shortest audiobook I listened to was What You Are Looking For Is in the Library (7 hours and 19 minutes) and the longest was The Covenant of Water which I loved (31 hours and 16 minutes).

The books I liked most included Have You Seen Luis Velez?, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, A Gentleman in Moscow, Signal Fires, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, True Biz, Raising Lazarus, and Baltimore Boys. 

My absolute favorites were Tom Lake, The Covenant of Water, and The Marriage Portrait, all th by phenomenal authors I’ve read before. I’m not sure I would’ve loved Tom Lake if I had just read it as Meryl Streep’s narration takes it to a whole new level.

 I don’t love rating books and there were 18 books which I didn’t rate at all. Of the remaining 41 here’s my breakdown:

Rating	No of books
«	1
««	2
«««	27
««««	10
«««««	1

The only book I really didn’t like was Bookworm. Some of the other books I enjoyed were In Five Years, Trust, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Rodham, Malibu Rising, Thank you for listening, The Measure, The Wishing Game, and Happiness Falls.

 I’ve already got 3 books under my belt for 2024 and though I’m always hopeful to read more books, my only wish right now is for all of our hostages to be returned home as soon as possible.