FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2023

Books 2023

Books read in 2023 in chronological order:

1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
2. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
3. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
7. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
8. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
9. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
10. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
11. Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo
12. The Mill House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
13. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
14. The Winter King by C.L. Wilson
15. Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven
16. Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven
17. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
18. Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda
19. And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
20. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
21. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto

Here we are again, at the end of the year with the date about to change. This year, I set out to read at least 20 books and I did it! It was the same goal I had in 2022 but I fell short at 15, so I’m happy to say that I read more this year.

Looking back at my reading habits over this year, I expectedly had lulls during 2023’s chaotic happenings. I also received a Kobo for my birthday which I found so convenient during my trips this year and so resourceful at finding new books. I delved into new genres like romance fantasy, also known as “romantasy” books that kicked off and snowballed from recommendations from friends and Reddit threads.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was the first book that kicked off a quick binge of romantasy books. Romance and fantasy are two massive genres, so the two combined is a read to behold. Dubbed “The hottest TikTok sensation” by Kobo, the ACOTAR series is extremely popular and was recommended by two of my friends. I was intrigued and excited with the premise but I thought it was terrible, although bingeworthy and enjoyable in a sense. I’ve been influenced again to read the second in the series as I’ve been told it’s a huge step in improvement from the first.

Out of the books I read this year, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was one that stood out for me. I just love the way Marquez writes, especially about love. The overtly passionate and consuming way he writes about love is overwhelming in how it drives characters mad and rage in purity and power. The book was long and went through a lot of detail, it was fanciful, tumultuous, absorbing and a whirlwind of desperate characters and chaos.

I also really enjoyed Intimacies by Katie Kitamura with its beautiful prose and subtle tension. The way interpretation works was eloquently described as a space between languages and interpreters are responsible for how much space exists, the ideal is to have no space. It was character-driven, delving into small intimacies between characters or within characters themselves and how they do things and exist.

Special mention to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin which I found at first, hard to read because I didn’t like the disjointed and abrupt way the narrator was telling the story but I ended up thoroughly enjoying the book and its themes. I also loved the way classical piano pieces were described in Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s gut-wrenching and powerful Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, and the cover of The Mill House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji.

Next year, I’m going to try 30 books!