2023 (not a typo!): the year in books

(Yes, this is for last year!)

Back in 2009 I started posting a summary at the end of the year of what I read during the year and people have been enjoying it so I did it every year afterward until 2019 (see 2009201020112012201320142015201620172018, 2019). Then COVID hit and my reading motivation dropped to almost nothing, reading only 42 books in all of  2020-2. I got back into reading again in 2023, but neglected to do an end-of-year post – so here it is, before I do the one for this year! For 2023 I set a modest goal of 50 books and read 73 – success!

For the record, I mostly read ‘real’ books – i.e. not in electronic form – I really don’t like reading off a screen. Yes, I’ve seen electronic readers – we both have iPads – but I don’t like reading electronically. Having said that, I did listen to about 20 of these books using Audible as I was driving or doing mindless jobs at Camp Savage. I also don’t ‘speed read’ – I read quickly and make lots of time for reading.

Why do I track metrics? Because I like doing it, and being able to compare against previous years. Some people don’t understand the logic in that – each to their own :-)

Now it’s the end of 2024 and I can’t remember all the details of all the books I read in 2023, so it’s very hard to pick a top book, but for sheer brilliance in writing, the top spot is shared by The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, and Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad. A tip-of-the-hat has to go to Charles Dickens too, as I read six of his novels, including the classics The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Barnaby Rudge. 2023 was definitely a year of reading classic fiction, that also included Dostoevsky, Hardy, Bronte, Kipling, and more.

Now the details. I enjoy putting this together as it will also serve as a record for me many years from now. I hope you get inspired to try some of these books – push yourself with new authors and very often you’ll be surprisingly pleased. Don’t forget to check out the previous year’s blog posts for more inspiration too.

As usual I leave you with a quote that describes a big part of my psychological make-up:

In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro!

Analysis of What I Read

I read 27,975 pages, which is an average of 76.64 pages a day. The chart below shows the number of pages (y-axis) in each book I read (x-axis).

The average book length was 383 pages, which is a little below average for me, and would have been higher as I re-read the entire Narnia series for the first time in more than 30 years.

  

Almost exactly the same amount of fiction as the prior big year, but three times more history and historical fiction.

The Top 10

I read a lot of excellent books this year and once again I couldn’t whittle it down to a top-10, so here is my top 12. If you don’t read much, at least consider looking at some of these in 2025. It’s impossible to put them into a priority order so I’ve listed them in the order I read them, along with the short Facebook review I wrote at the time.

#23; Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s; John Elder Robison; 302; Biography; April 10 (What an excellent, poignant memoir! It’s very interesting and insightful to read about Asperger’s from someone who’s lived with it all their lives. I’m definitely a bit “on the spectrum” as Kimberly and a few close friends can easily confirm (and some can relate to). It especially resonated with me when he described his second wife as being named (by him) Unit 2 (second of three sisters); when we’re diving together, Kimberly and the girls are K1, K2, K3 :-) Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand more about this mild form of ASD.)

#24; The Three-Body Problem; Cixin Liu; 415pp; Science Fiction; April 12 (Excellent, multi-award winning start to Liu’s Three-Body Problem trilogy. From Amazon: “Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.” Great stuff – with some deep physics/classical mechanics thrown in. Highly recommended for sci-fi fans! On to the next one; The Dark Forest.)

#29; The Great Railway Bazaar; Paul Theroux; 352pp; Travel; May 14 (I haven’t read this since 2007 and was inspired after finishing The Last Train to Zona Verde last month. This is Theroux’s classic travelogue of his epic, four-month trip in 1973 by train from London to Tokyo, and back on the Trans-Siberian. Great stuff!)

#37; Fishing Through the Apocalypse: An Angler’s Adventures in the 21st Century; Matthew Miller; 240pp; Nonfiction; May 31 (Kimberly bought me this last year and it’s excellent! From another reviewer: “What’s to become to become of the ancient art of angling in the dystopian world of 21st-century America? Author Matt Miller goes off in search of an answer, casting his line into trash-strewn agricultural canals, wastewater drainage ditches, pay ponds, as well as near-pristine lakes and rivers, chasing a wide range of species, from beautiful native trout and salmon to dime-sized micro-fish and suckers rarely pursued by anglers. Although Miller doesn’t spare any punches, he is optimistic about the future of angling. Fishing through the Apocalypse is an entertaining and enlightening account for anglers and non-anglers alike.” I devoured the book once I started it – highly recommended!)

#38; The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket; Benjamin Lorr; 336pp; Nonfiction; June 3 (This piqued my interest as a behind-the-scenes look at something we take for granted. From Amazon: “In this page-turning exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on the highly secretive grocery industry. Combining deep sourcing, immersive reporting, and sharp, often laugh-out-loud prose, Lorr leads a wild investigation, asking what does it take to run a supermarket? How does our food get on the shelves? And who suffers for our increasing demands for convenience and efficiency?” It’s *extremely* interesting and, as with any food-related exposé, pretty shocking too. Highly recommended!)

#46; Don Quixote; Miguel De Cervantes; 1056pp; Fiction; June 25 (Although I bought the book ten years ago, I listened to it on Audible while driving to and from Redmond and working around camp. Rob McMillan does an excellent job of bringing the story to life. This classic book has been on my literary bucket list for a very long time and I found the various adventures and the squires interminable proverbs hugely enjoyable, but I’m glad I listened to it as I think it would have been a slog to read. And now I’ve finally read about tilting at windmills :-) Highly recommended!)

#51; The Pickwick Papers; Charles Dickens; 848pp; Fiction; July 21 (Another one I listened to (via Audible) while working at CS and driving to/from Redmond. I didn’t realize this was Dickens’ debut novel until just now. I really enjoyed it! Not terribly deep, but entertaining. From Amazon: “Few first novels have created as much popular excitement as The Pickwick Papers – a comic masterpiece that catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to immediate fame. Readers were captivated by the adventures of the poet Snodgrass, the lover Tupman, the sportsman Winkle and, above all, by that quintessentially English Quixote, Mr Pickwick, and his cockney Sancho Panza, Sam Weller. From the hallowed turf of Dingley Dell Cricket Club to the unholy fracas of the Eatanswill election, via the Fleet debtors’ prison, characters and incidents spring to life from Dickens’s pen, to form an enduringly popular work of ebullient humour and literary invention.” Recommended!)

#53; Oliver Twist; Charles Dickens; 608pp; Fiction; July 30 (Another classic book that I’ve been wanting to get to for many years. I would say this is one of Dickens’ best-known works and I enjoyed it immensely. From Amazon: “The story of Oliver Twist – orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath – shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters – the Artful Dodger, vicious burglar Bill Sikes, his dog Bull’s Eye, and prostitute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.” Highly recommended!)

#56; Madame Bovary; Gustave Flaubert; 512pp; Fiction; August 26 (Another classic I’ve always wanted to read, and that I listened to on Audible while driving and doing stuff around camp. Excellent novel! From Amazon: “Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy provincial doctor, Emma revolts against the ordinariness of her life by pursuing voluptuous dreams of ecstasy and love. But her sensuous and sentimental desires lead her only to suffering corruption and downfall. A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence. Who is Madame Bovary? Flaubert’s answer to this question was superb: “Madame Bovary, c’est moi.” Acclaimed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1857, the work catapulted Flaubert to the ranks of the world’s greatest novelists.” Highly recommended!)

#57; Typhoon; Joseph Conrad; 108pp; Fiction; August 30 (Listened to it while making Lego this afternoon. Absolutely fantastic! The passage of a steamer through a typhoon in the South China Sea. Borrowing a few lines from another viewer… The eloquence of the descriptive passages was astonishing. Conrad’s prose swells with an almost rhythmic and poetical cadence that makes it deeply satisfying, But there is nothing pretentious or abstract about the story: the characters are all vividly portrayed, and their interactions lively and amusing. The narration by Roger Allam was just superb. A rare *very* highly recommended!)

#66; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Oscar Wilde; 304pp; Fiction; November 11 (Another classic that I’ve always wanted to read, and the Audible production of it was excellent. It’s a brilliant book with absolutely superb writing, and is probably the best book I’ve read all year. From Amazon: “Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to sell his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, where he is able to indulge his desires while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only Dorian’s picture bears the traces of his decadence. A knowing account of a secret life and an analysis of the darker side of late Victorian society, The Picture of Dorian Gray offers a disturbing portrait of an individual coming face to face with the reality of his soul. Shocking in its suggestion of unspeakable sin, this novel was later used as evidence against Wilde when he was tried for indecency in 1895. ” Highly, highly recommended!)

#73; The Magus; John Knowles; 605pp; Fiction; December 24 (Brilliant – a complex book with many twists and turns. From Amazon: “A young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching post on a remote Greek island in order to escape an unsatisfactory love affair. There, his friendship with a reclusive millionaire evolves into a mysterious–and deadly–game of violence, seduction, and betrayal. As he is drawn deeper into the trickster’s psychological traps, Nicholas finds it increasingly difficult to distinguish past from present, fantasy from reality. He becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his very survival. John Fowles expertly unfolds a spellbinding exploration of the complexities of the human mind. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature.” I’ve been meaning to read this since it was suggested by our friend Wendy Brown on a dive trip back in 2017. Highly recommended!)

The Complete List

And the complete list, with links to Amazon so you can explore further. One thing to bear in mind, the dates I finished reading the book don’t mean that I started, for instance, book #2 after finishing book #1. I usually have anywhere from 10-15 books on the go at any one time so I can dip into whatever my mood is for that day. Some books I read start to finish without picking up another one and some books take me over a year. Enjoy!

  1. The Making of the Atomic Bomb; Richard Rhodes; 886pp; History; January 18
  2. Over the Edge of the World Updated Edition: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe; Laurence Bergreen; 480pp; History; February 7
  3. Greenlights; Matthew McConaughey; 304pp; Autobiography; February 19
  4. Galileo: A Life; James Jr. Reston; 318pp; Biography; February 28
  5. Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization; Richard Miles; 560pp; History; March 7
  6. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World; Adm. William H. McRaven; 144pp; Nonfiction; March 8
  7. Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations; Adm. William H. McRaven; 335pp; Biography; March 10
  8. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind; Yuval Harari; 498pp; Nonfiction; March 13
  9. The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus; Owen Gingerich; 306pp; Nonfiction; March 16
  10. The New Health Rules; Frank Lipman & Danielle Claro; 224pp; Nonfiction; March 18
  11. The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived; Adm. William H. McRaven; 176pp; Nonfiction; March 18
  12. In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire; Laurence Bergreen; 464pp; History; March 19
  13. Gordon Ramsay’s Three Star Chef; Gordon Ramsay; 224pp; Cooking; March 19
  14. Water: A Visual and Scientific History; Jack Challoner; 208pp; Nonfiction; March 19
  15. Silence: A Novel; Shusaku Endo; 240pp; Historical Fiction; March 22
  16. The Magician’s Nephew; C.S. Lewis; 240pp; Fiction; March 22
  17. Orbus; Neal Asher; 438pp; Science Fiction; March 27
  18. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardobe; C.S. Lewis; 224pp; Fiction; March 27
  19. Salvation Lost; Peter F. Hamilton; 576pp; Science Fiction; March 31
  20. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War; Max Brooks; 352pp; Fiction; April 2
  21. The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs; Dr. Richard Smith; 312pp; Nonfiction; April 4
  22. The Saints of Salvation; Peter F. Hamilton; 512pp; Science Fiction; April 8
  23. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s; John Elder Robison; 302pp; Biography; April 10
  24. The Three-Body Problem; Cixin Liu; 415pp; Science Fiction; April 12
  25. The Last Train to Zona Verde; Paul Theroux; 368pp; Travel; April 14
  26. Johnson’s Life of London: The People Who Made the City that Made the World; Boris Johnson; 400pp; History; April 25
  27. Measuring the World: A Novel; Daniel Kehlmann; 272pp; Historical Fiction; April 29
  28. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed; Eric H. Kline; 241pp; History; May 8
  29. The Great Railway Bazaar; Paul Theroux; 352pp; Travel; May 14
  30. The Magdalene Deception; Gary McAvoy; 298pp; Fiction; May 15
  31. The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History; Boris Johnson; 400pp; Biography; May 16
  32. Running Against the Tide: True Tales from the Stud of the Sea; Capt. Lee Rosbach; 256pp; Biography; May 17
  33. Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science; Faith; and Love; Dava Sobel; 432pp; Biography; May 17
  34. Crime and Punishment; Fyodor Dostoevsky; 576pp; Fiction; May 18
  35. The Hills of Adonis; Colin Thubron; 208pp; Travel; May 26
  36. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century; Yuval Harari; 372pp; Nonfiction; May 26
  37. Fishing Through the Apocalypse: An Angler’s Adventures in the 21st Century; Matthew Miller; 240pp; Nonfiction; May 31
  38. The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket; Benjamin Lorr; 336pp; Nonfiction; June 3
  39. The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649; N.A.M. Rodger; 691pp; History; June 6
  40. Hard Choices: A Memoir; Hilary Rodham Clinton; 656pp; Biography; June 9
  41. Amy and Isabelle: A Novel; Elizebath Strout; 320pp; Fiction; June 10
  42. The Magdalene Reliquary; Gary McAvoy; 366pp; Fiction; June 18
  43. The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate; Robert D. Kaplan; 414pp; Nonfiction; June 19
  44. The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years; from Stardust to Living Planet; Robert M. Hazen; 320pp; Nonfiction; June 22
  45. The Horse and his Boy; C.S. Lewis; 256pp; Fiction; June 24
  46. Don Quixote; Miguel De Cervantes; 1056pp; Fiction; June 25
  47. On China; Henry Kissinger; 608pp; Nonfiction; July 1
  48. Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living; Todd McLellan; 160pp; Nonfiction; July 5
  49. The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up The Yangtze And Back In Chinese Time; Simon Winchester; 432pp; Travel; July 8
  50. Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus; Robert D. Kaplan; 384pp; Travel; July 16
  51. The Pickwick Papers; Charles Dickens; 848pp; Fiction; July 21
  52. The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World; Laura J. Snyder; 448pp; History; July 28
  53. Oliver Twist; Charles Dickens; 608pp; Fiction; July 30
  54. David Copperfield; Charles Dickens; 1024pp; Fiction; August 10
  55. The Soldier: Rise of the Jain; Book One; Neal Asher ; 400pp; Science Fiction; August 14
  56. Madame Bovary; Gustave Flaubert; 512pp; Fiction; August 26
  57. Typhoon; Joseph Conrad; 108pp; Fiction; August 30
  58. A Christmas Carol; Charles Dickens; 88pp; Fiction; September 1
  59. Barnaby Rudge; Charles Dickens; 768pp; Fiction; October 2
  60. Hard Times; Charles Dickens; 368pp; Fiction; October 16
  61. Prince Caspian; C.S. Lewis; 256pp; Fiction; October 18
  62. First Love; Ivan Turgenev; 112pp; Fiction; October 19
  63. The Thirty-Nine Steps; John Buchan; 108pp; Fiction; October 22
  64. The Secret Agent; Joseph Conrad; 320pp; Fiction; October 27
  65. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; C.S. Lewis; 288pp; Fiction; November 2
  66. The Picture of Dorian Gray; Oscar Wilde; 304pp; Fiction; November 11
  67. The Silver Chair; C.S. Lewis; 272pp; Fiction; November 20
  68. Under the Greenwood Tree; Thomas Hardy; 206pp; Fiction; November 22
  69. Kim; Rudyard Kipling; 256pp; Fiction; November 29
  70. The Professor; Charlotte Bronte; 320pp; Fiction; December 2
  71. The Riddle of the Sands; Erskine Childers; 276pp; Fiction; December 5
  72. The Magdelene Veil; Gary McAvoy; 328pp; Fiction; December 15
  73. The Magus; John Knowles; 605pp; Fiction; December 24

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