While there are still a few days left in the year, end of the year content like this is some of my favorite to do. It’s always hard though to know where to put it.

In the past I’ve found it difficult to schedule in time for reflection during what is typically a very busy season.

For some reason if I wait until after January to do this when it’s truly a wrap on 2023, I feel behind already and rushed. Not a nice way to start out a new year.

By some content creator standards, I’m early. By some I’m late. This year I was determined to do my end of year content in a way that works best for me!

I’m really enjoying taking this time between Christmas and New Year’s to examine and put together my 2023 reading year reflections. I think it’s one of the most important practices for an intentional reading life.

My 2023 Reading Year Reflections

Let’s get into some stats first.

Total Books Read and Ratings

This year was record setting in terms of my total books read.

I upped my goodreads goal twice this year, ending with a goal of 200 books. I’ll likely finish the year around 212 books!

A stat that is even more exciting is how much I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read.

I rated 57 books 5 stars or higher. That’s nearly 27% of my total reading and has increased when compared to last year. The 5-stars and up category also contained the most books of any number rating!

Since my main reading life goal is to find and read books I love, this is great indicator I’ve been successful with that this reading year.

Note: I created a page listing all my 5-star reads of 2023. I love when other reading blogs have a post or page sharing their favorite books so I can easily get a feel for their reading tastes. This is something I hope to carry forward in future years. Let me know what you think!

This year I also tracked my 4.5 star reads. There were 42 which is another 20% of my total books reads.

I attempted to tally up my other ratings but since goodreads doesn’t allow half stars I missed a few titles for the tally somewhere.

My second largest rating group was 4 stars which still indicates a very positive reading experience.

According to goodreads my average rating was 4.2 stars this year! As I said above that’s a little bit off because they don’t allow half star ratings so I have to round on my reviews posted there.

Still, clearly I loved a lot of my 2023 reads! It was very tough to narrow down my best books of 2023. All signs indicate 2023 as my best reading year yet for finding books I love!

Other Fun Stats

If you’re a nerd for bookish stats, you may find some of these interesting to consider for your own reading life.

Best and Worst Reading Months

My best reading month in terms of total numbers read was May with 33 books. May was the month I decided to see if I could read a book a day for the entire month so no surprise there. Thank goodness for audiobooks and Ruby Dixon’s alien romance series.

On the flip side of that January was my worst reading month with 10 books.

In terms of ratings it’s a little less clear. April delivered 10 5-star+ reads while November only had 1. I think average rating would be a fun thing to track better next year!

New Authors and Series

I read 65 new to me authors in 2023!

Shout outs to Ruby Dixon and Kresley Cole who were new to me authors and by far my most-read authors for the year.

I read 47 books from Ruby Dixon – I binged her Ice Planet Barbarians and Icehome series – and 19 from Kresley Cole thanks to falling for her Immortals After Dark series.

I also read several books from Elsie Silver, Odette Stone, Sarah MacLean, and Nalini Singh.

Speaking of series, 2023 was a year of series – particularly romance series.

I started at least 22 series this year! Four of these I completed and the other 18 I plan to continue.

Format

2023 was also the year of audiobooks!

Whether it was only listening to the audiobook or reading in combination with the ebook as a hybrid or tandem read, audio is the format I read the most in.

I consider hybrid reading switching back and forth between ebook and audio so I can take the story with me whatever I need to do. Tandem reading is when I actually read along in the book while listening to the audio. Next year I want to track these reading experiences separately.

Final Tally of Formats:

• Audiobooks – 94
• Ebooks – 65
• Hybrid or Tandem Reads – 52
• Physical – 1

I had more ebooks than I would have thought!

Physical books though, what can I say? Years ago, I never thought it’d be the case that I’d prefer ebooks to physical books but the statistics are starkly clear.

Ebooks have become so practical and convenient for my reading life. I love being able to easily take my book with me wherever I go. I have multiple library cards and regularly use their various online options (Libby, Hoopla, CloudLibrary) for reading or listening to books. Getting really into Kindle Unlimited this year also means reading more ebooks. Sharing highlights or quotes for online books clubs and buddy reads is easier too with an ebook.

In the past I’ve felt that ebooks are looked down on in the reading community. Like I’m not a “real” reader if I’m not surrounded by a ton of physical books and “real” readers read “real” books. I would never make that assumption about another reader so it’s beyond time to stop passing judgement on my own reader-ness.

Now that I’m in the habit of reading ebooks, have started digitally annotating my books, and see how easily it pairs with my tendency toward minimalism, I’m embracing this preference wholeheartedly.

Reading Life Bucket List

This year I framed most of my 2023 reading goals in a reading life bucket list. In July, I shared a mid year reading life check in where I reflected on my progress with these goals.

I broke this bucket list down into 4 areas: reading goals, new experiences, community goals, and just for fun.

Reading Goals

In the first half of the year, I checked off a month long slow and steady read and also read several new series.

The genres/formats goal didn’t feel as important to me as the year went on but I still crossed 7 of those 8 categories off.

I went into my mid year check in having read 3 of the 12 authors on my list to read again. Since then, I’ve read all but one of the 12 authors left. I’m good with that.

New Experiences

Mr. O and I did not make it to that story time at a library a few towns over geared toward younger kids.

In the first half of the year, I checked out a new to me bookstore. Also I decided that a reading spreadsheet on the computer wasn’t for me in my current reading life.

I did keep a reading response journal for the rest of the year. I loved my experience with it and have already created my 2024 edition!

Community Goals

I participated in 9 buddy reads rather than 12 but again I’m good with that.

I not only started the two fable book clubs but kept going with them for the entire year! My fable book club, A Dose of Romance, filled that desire for community in many of the months.

I read a book with my husband at the beginning of the year but it would have been nice to read another.

Just for Fun

I did find a couple books that celebrate the seasons or holidays for Mr. O but not for every one.

I discovered more book scented candles and candles inspired by various stories and fictional worlds!

We still only have books in 3 out of the 5 rooms of our house. I have plans for a cookbook shelf in our kitchen soon though.

We did our book advent calendar for Mr. O again this December. That’s a tradition I’ll be happy to continue.

Reflections on my Fable Book Clubs

Fable has quickly become a bookish app that my reading life wouldn’t be complete without. At the end of 2022 I played around with using it for buddy reads.

For 2023, I wanted to create and moderate 2 book clubs there – one for romance and one for nonfiction reading. I kept those going for the whole year and I mostly really enjoyed both experiences.

As I mentioned above, A Dose of Romance often gave me the sense of reading community I was looking for this year. My friend Nicole read with me most months which was so fun! We even turned a couple months into buddy reads with Ashley, who blogs over at A Seed for the Soul.

Other members come and go. I do wish Fable made it a little easier to get to know your fellow book club members. I have some plans to make the book club a more interactive experience next year in hopes members can feel more involved and known to one another.

While Pearls of Wisdom kept me on track for reading one nonfiction book a month and helped me be more intentional with my reading, the community aspect has been very lacking.

It’s a bit of a strange experience because it’s grown a lot in members but I’ve only had one other reader contribute to the conversation. The growth at this point is a bit of a hindrance to me using the book club to learn, reflect, and grow because I’ve become even more self conscious of getting deeply personal with that many strangers in the background.

In my 2024 reading life post, I”ll share my plans for each of these book clubs in the new year.

Reflections on the Reading Life Bucket List

This was a fun way to experiment with my reading life and set bookish goals but I’m not planning to do it again next year.

I’ll share more about this soon in my next post covering my 2024 reading plans but I’m focusing on some very different reading goals next year.

Rather than making a dedicated reading life bucket list next year that’s just for me, we created a 24 for 2024 bucket list as a family.

The 24 items mostly include one off events, tasks, or projects. I have a few bookish experiences on there which I’ll share in my next post, but most of the list covers family adventures and home projects that I probably won’t get into on the blog.

My First Readathon

One amazing new experience that wasn’t on my reading life bucket list but must be mentioned was participating in my first readathon!

I had so much fun with The Romance Readathon in August. It was the first one and created by Maggie from Maggie’s Books and Stuff.

It was a team based readathon where you pick a character and then gain points for your team as you read. This one was Bridgerton themed so our points determined which suitor our lady wound up with. There were two storylines you could follow – one hetero and one sapphic. If you’re curious, I go into it more in my July Wrap Up.

I think team based readathons are the most fun! I tried a shorter Monster Mash Readathon at the beginning of October. It was still enjoyable but I didn’t find it nearly as interactive or community driven as the previous readathon.

I plan to participate again in The Romance Readathon in 2024. It’s scheduled to take place in September this time. I also have the Icelands Readathon in my plans already for 2024 – that’s in January. Go Team Unicorns!

Seasonal TBRs

This year I created a TBR for each season!

I aim my winter holiday reading for the stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas, keeping that separate from my fall reading and sharing the book list as part of my winter TBR.

Halfway through this year I also started sharing a seasonal TBR wrap up post, a process I really love and plan to continue.

Some Stats

In terms of total books read, I had 100% success with my winter 2023 TBR (12 of 12).

My spring TBR was one to learn from. I only read 4 of the 10 books on that reading list (40%).

Thanks to that experience, I definitely planned differently with the 20 books on my summer TBR (100% read).

I read 29 books off my fall TBR with 1 DNF which worked out to 85%.

Currently I’m wrapping up the last book on this year’s holiday TBR (6 of 6).

Reflections

This is another area where it would be interesting to track my average rating next year.

I love the idea of judging the success of the reading list based on how well I liked my book choices in addition to whether or not I completed the reading list.

I go into a lot more detail about what worked and what didn’t with my seasonal TBRs in their wrap up posts so check those if you’re curious about more specific reflections.

In general though, I love this process of making seasonal TBRs. Some clearly worked out better than others based on the completion rates but I find there’s something to learn from each one. I enjoy taking the time to look at, reflect, and then alter the next one to better fit my reading tastes.

It’s also more fun for me to have smaller reading lists like these to focus on than one massive TBR where I’m easily overwhelmed and paralyzed by what to pick up next.

I definitely plan to continue making these seasonal TBRs next year.

Kindle Unlimited Goal

This is a goal I added to my reading life in May when I discovered all the Kindle Unlimited recommendations that Romance Book Tube – currently my favorite source for reading recommendations – has to offer.

After making it a priority to try several KU authors on my summer TBR and falling in love with their work, I bought a 2 year subscription. Since then I’ve added another 3 months to it with the recent purchase of my new Kindle.

To ensure I continue to use this subscription, I keep a list in my reading notebook of titles I’ve read on KU. The amount will fluctuate month to month with my reading life, but my goal is for it to average out to 3 books a month.

This is going really well. I’m currently at 30 books and have been tracking for 7 months so I’m reading even more than I hoped.

I will continue to track this goal next year as well.

Questions for Reflecting On Your Own Reading Life

At the end of last year, I listened to a podcast episode of Get Lit(erate) about yearly reading reflections. If you’re interested in creating more intention in your reading life or ideas for applying your reading life to your actual life, I definitely recommend checking out this podcast!

I immediately jotted down the three questions in my own reading notebook to remember for this year.

They are:

1. How did I want my reading life to feel?
2. If my books could talk, what would they say about me and my reading life? Is that what you want them to say?
3. How has my reading life changed me?

I’ve been reflecting on these questions in my reading notebook. I have also been thinking forward to next year and what I hope the answers will be to try to shape my 2024 reading goals or plans from those insights.

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How was your 2023 reading year? Did you accomplish the goals you set? More importantly were you happy with how your reading life felt and supported you?