Bookworm in the City

Or: 2023 – Looking back on a year of reading

The days are dark and dreadful, literally and figuratively, and I’ve happily drawn the curtains to block it all out. Here, in my personal bubble of books, booze, music, and absolutely no news, I’m looking back on the year in reading that is now almost entirely behind me. This is, after all, the time of year where we look back and reflect. So, let the evaluation commence!

The Reading Challenge

• 17 of 25 boxes ended up being checked, which is a result even I didn’t see coming, as I only started the challenge in May. My willingness to drop everything in order to read, has finally paid off!
• The worst book I read for this list was definitely no. 13 – a banned book which had me in a spin for a bit. And then I didn’t finish it. It’s also with great pleasure that I can announce that this is hands down the worst book I ever attempted to read.
• The biggest disappointment in a book was no. 5 – a book with a person’s name in the title. I was so enticed by the teasers and the cover page, and then I just didn’t get it. It happens.
• The biggest stand-out ends up a triple tie between numbers 14 – a western, 20 – a book that prominently features an animal, and 6 – a book that was turned into a movie. The western was just a thrill-ride that sucked me in from the very first page, and the animal I read about, was a delightful octopus named Marcellus. Then there was scientist Elizabeth Zott, who figured if cooking on tv was the way to get her science across, then that was what she would do. Three very different books, but the common denominator was a kick-ass main character with an amazing voice.
• The biggest surprise about a book was no. 10 – a retelling of a classic just because I was fearing a dry and complicated mythical read, and then it turned out to be a delightful, almost Dickensian, tale of love conquering greed and envy.
• Books I learned the most from, are numbers 8 – a book with a one-word title, and 4 – a book with a city in the title. My entry-level knowledge of John Wilkes Booth was what I had learned through tv-show Timeless, but now I know enough to take a quiz on the guy. 1950’s Iran was something I knew equally little about, but reading a story set in that time and place, had me doing a deep-dive into the history books (and recipe books, because the way the cooking and the food was described, had my stomach growl).
• The book I laughed the most about, was easily no. 22 – a book with more than 500 pages. Fucking stuff up is part of life, no matter what age you are, and I really enjoyed the way it was described that Nell came to that realization.

Other reads:
Yes, I probably would have finished the reading challenge if I only had stuck to reading items that fitted the list. But, sometimes books that don’t fit a category, still had to be read: they were either borrowed from friends, I was the next reader on the library waiting list, or they just called out to me from their spot on the to-be-read pile. Then I also re-read some of my all-time favourites, just to get me going again when I got stuck in a reading rut or needed something to get me away from a book.
How to kill men and get away with it , Everyone in my family killed someone, and Factory girls were the stand-out reads in this category. I’m sure it’s entirely coincidental that these three books all have bright orange covers.

In numbers

• 31 – total number of books read that fell outside of the reading challenge category and/or were read before the reading challenge was started.
• 17 – total number of books read for the reading challenge
• 7 – books started but not finished because they were the wrong book at the wrong time
• 27 – books I borrowed from the library
• 5 – books I borrowed from friends
• 23 – books I bought

Overall conclusion
I borrowed books, bought books, and donated books.
I’ve talked about books, written about books, and took so many pictures of books-i-want-to-read that my phone’s memory is close to reaching full capacity.
I got to know amazing characters, and discovered new places.
2023 was one heck of a book year.