Kay’s 2023 Reading Recap

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Hi, if you’re new here, I’m Kay. I like to read books.

For the past few years, I’ve been keeping track of my reading but hadn’t thought to actually write it down anywhere easily accessible to share when friends ask for book recommendations. So today I’m bringing you my 2023 Reading Recap!

Compared to my 2022 Reading Recap, I read a lot more books in 2023. I didn’t have any specific reading goals to meet, but along with my usual bookclub with my gal pals, I followed a few more book influencers and authors on social media so my book TBR just kept getting longer and longer haha. But the biggest reason I was able to read more was due to the app “Libby.” It is a digital library app that allows you access to your local (or not) library’s digital collection of ebooks and audiobooks.

For FREE.

Don’t you just love public services?!?

I don’t have unlimited money, and I don’t have much time to visit the local library in person, so this app has truly changed my life. I went full Matilda all of 2023. I also feel as though having more access to books has also changed my outlook on HOW I read. Previously, I was someone who had the uncontrollable need to finish a book I started, regardless of how much I hated it – either because I bought it or I had gone all the way to the library to get it so it would seem wasteful if I didn’t finish the book.

But nowww…if a book hasn’t captured my attention in the first chapter – or maybe even less – I will return the ebook without a second thought. It’s a freedom I didn’t know I was missing.

But back to the point, it isn’t important how many books I read, but I do have to say there were some true knockouts on this list. My 2023 also involved a lot more non-fiction, I usually only read one or mayyybeee two if there’s an interesting memoir out, but 2023 I expanded and read a lot more. AND THEY WERE SOME OF MY FAVORITE READS OF THE YEAR. A few other genres (like crime) that I don’t usually read also made the 2023 reading recap, and again that was due to Libby and feeling more reassured to step outside of my comfort zone when reading.

So while I will link their amazon pages (so you can get a more robust summary of the novel), I highly encourage you to pick up books from a library or, if you choose to buy, at your local bookstore.

You may also notice a lot of books by Japanese authors on this 2023 Reading Recap, and a large part of that is due to my 2023 2 week trip to Japan. I read so many that I’m working on putting together a blog post dedicated to all the books by Japanese authors I have read over the years.

Now in terms of my ranking system, unlike when I do food or destination round-ups…my 2023 reading recap IS based on how much I like them. This list goes in order from my favorite to my least favorite. Again, cuz I know you girls like to tussle, this list goes in order of MY favorites. Those at the bottom of my list doesn’t necessarily mean they are “bad” books or that I don’t recommend them. Some weren’t my preference for writing style. Others, the characters might have irked me but the story was interesting – or vice versa. Others didn’t move at a pace that kept me engaged.

And…okay yeah, some were just flops – in my opinion.

I’m not saying which ones tho. oop

2023 Reading Recap

• American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer (best nonfiction)
• Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
• Crimes of Passion by Jack Harbon (best romance)
• The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (best memoir)
• She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa (best contemporary)
• Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (best dystopian)
• The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
• Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino (best YA)
• If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
• The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (best graphic novel)
• Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
• All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers (best crime)
• Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
• Spare by Prince Harry the Duke of Sussex
• The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura
• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zaunder
• Bad Mormon by Heather Gay
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (best speculative fiction)
• By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
• Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
• Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
• A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli
• Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (best thriller/horror)
• Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen
• The Breakup Artist by Erin Clark & Laura Lovely
• Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
• Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
• We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
• Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
• Love at 350 Degrees by Lisa Peers
• Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen (best fantasy)
• Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray
• The Nanny by Lana Ferguson
• Hurricane Summer by Asha Ashanti Bromfield
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
• Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
• Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson
• The Comeback by Lily Chu
• Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo
• Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder by Gracie Ruth Mitchell
• An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
• The A.I Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole

Have you read any of these books? Let me know if there’s any on my 2023 Reading Recap that you would rearrange!

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