I haven’t kept up with regular book posts throughout the year so instead I offer a quick summary of my 2023 reading. I read 65 books, falling pretty short of previous years, but I don’t have any “worst of” to list because if I don’t like a book I simply won’t finish it. (Life is short.) I think my lower total is indicative of starting and abandoning several selections that just didn’t do it for me. I will, however, say that I read some pretty dubious stuff while down with Covid because my attention span just wouldn’t let me focus on much else so who knows how it all evened out.

Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) again captures a top spot with The Running Grave, the latest in the Cormoran Strike saga. I don’t particularly like Rowling and don’t agree with her public statements about the trans community and think she should have just kept her mouth shut since other people’s choices in that area don’t have anything to do with her, but for some reason I can’t hold Strike accountable for her bigotry. This one wasn’t quite as engrossing for me as last year’s Ink Black Heart but still quite good.

Top honors also go to Natasha Pulley’s Watchmaker of Filigree Street trilogy, which I found absolutely beautiful and which brought me to tears several times.

I gave Nona the Ninth high marks as well. This is the latest of the sci-fi goth mindbender series that is Tamsin Muir‘s Locked Tomb series. Holy smokes it’s good.

I also loved Circe by Madeline Miller and Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati gets an honorable mention.

2024 is starting out for me with the Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. It has a sexy premise of occult Yale secret societies so we’ll see if it holds up! I look forward to seeing what my bookish friends get into in 2024 and as always, I love recommendations and would love more friends over on Goodreads (link in my sidebar). Happy 2024 reading!