I’m not going to be too defensive about my count this year. Twenty-five books is a perfectly acceptable number of books to read. Far more than most people read in a year or even a lifetime, no doubt. Nevertheless, I will point a few things out. One: several of the books were long, and I’ve noted the page counts of the three longest. Two: There were some graphic novels, which I’ve included separately at the end but could’ve totally counted. And three: Toronto’s library system was hit by a huge ransomware attack, throwing my whole reading plan into chaos!
Okay, that last part is a half-truth… which is to say the part about the ransomware attack is true. But all it really disrupted for me was my plan to get through all the A books on my holds list. (The decision was made because I always add new books onto the list as I take others out, and consequently, it never feels like I’m making any progress! And while I mostly accept that I will always have more books that I want to read than books I have time left in this life to read, it was nice to create some semblance of progress!) Of course, as I write this, the website has been down for something like five months (curse you, hackers, and I mean that!), so it’s possible my holds list is gone forever! But at least I got through all of the A section but ONE BOOK… which I remember, so I’ll still get to it either way.
Anyway, that did get a little defensive… so I’m also going to add in some self-criticism. Looking at the list, I’m realizing it’s a lot more homogenous in terms of authors than I would like. Something to keep an eye on again next/this year. But for now, without further ado (or as a certain someone said many times this past year to my amusement, “without further adieu”), here’s what I read in 2023:
- We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland, Fintan O’Toole
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Joan, Katharine J. Chen
- This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World (and Me), Marisa Meltzer
- My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell
- The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
- Antkind, Charlie Kaufman (705 pages!)
- All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told, Douglas Wolk
- American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, Shane Bauer
- King: A Life, Jonathan Eig (557 pages!)
- Autopsy of a Boring Wife, Marie-Renee Lavoie (translated by Arielle Aaronson)
- The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees, Ben Mezrich
- All This Could Be Yours, Jami Attenberg
- The Fake, Zoe Whittall
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr (626 pages!)
- The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell
- Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America, James Poniewozik
- Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, Melissa Maerz
- Who Gets In: An Immigration Story, Norman Ravvin
- The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, John Green
- All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia, Simon Garfield
- The Adversary, Michael Crummey
- How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, Michael Schur
- Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America, Elizabeth Wurtzel
- How Basketball Can Save the World: Thirteen Guiding Principles for Reimagining What’s Possible, David Hollander
Bonus (comic) materials:
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (I can’t remember offhand which ones ‘cause the library system is still down, but several!)
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, Frank Miller & John Romita Jr.
Daredevil: Born Again, Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Jody Houser & Adriana Melo