Actual Books:
47. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch; Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Following the re-watch of the series.
48. Pardonable Lies; Jacqueline Winspear; resurrecting a series I had started many years ago. It was ok, if predictable.
49. Remarkably Bright Creatures; Shelby Van Pelt. Have recommended this several times-- very fast-paced, engaging, and with a twist at the end I didn't see coming
50. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood; Trevor Noah. A great autobiographical read
51. Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy; Damien Lewis. Wow. What an incredible life.
52. The Maze Runner; James Dashner. Picked this off the boy's bookshelf to see if I wanted to re-start the series. Nah.
52. The Da Vinci Code; Dan Brown. Another re-read, it has been at least a decade. I still think I like Angels and Demons better
53. Anxious People; Fredrik Backman. Borrowed from a friend after her book club finished; it was ok a bit boring in the middle but a good ending
54. Coming Clean; Kimberly Rae Miller. Memoir of a child of hoarders and how it impacted her life and relationship with them. Sounded like she kept coming back to "save" them from their filth, but they never stopped and she never drew a boundary
55. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed their Lives; Dashka Slater; B had to read this for English 9 and was having trouble writing his essay response, so I read through to get the sentiment. It was a compelling story, although the author hammered home their opinion a bit heavy-handed.
56. Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about the Jewish Religion, its People and its history; Joseph Telushkin. Saw this on a bookshelf at a party and put it on my to-read list. It was VERY LONG and took a LONG TIME. I learned a lot about Jewish history and the history of Israel, which is very important given current world events.
Books read to Kids:
57. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; JK Rowling. This may have taken the spot as my favorite of the Harry Potter's-- enough action to make it exciting and she still had a good editor who would pare down her excessive prose (that we're slogging through now in HP4).
E-Books/Audiobooks:
58. The Last Heir to Blackwood Library; Hester Fox. Had high hopes for this, which were shattered. So overwrought and redundant.
59. People we meet on vacation; Emily Henry. Meh. Ok premise, not the best pacing.
60. Death Masks, Jim Butcher. Finally finished this after multiple requests from the library. A good listen in the car, even the kids are interested.
61. Empire of Storms; Sarah Maas. Have been requesting the books in this series through the library. Slowly working my way through them. The main character is growing on me, and I appreciate the twists and turns and final reveals that I didn't spot initially.
62. Blood Rites; Jim Butcher. The next audiobook we finished Dec 31st so I could get my tally up!
End-of-year comparisons:
In 2017, I read 55 books
In 2018, I read 70 books.
In 2019, I read 57 books.
In 2020, I read 61 books.
In 2021, I read 69 books.
In 2022, I read 60 books
In 2023, I read 62 books. Not my strongest showing, but I'm proud of what I read in 2023!
Here's to another year of good reading.
