Books I Read in 2023

I read almost 60 books this year which is way below my target of reading at least 100 books per year. But, considering I struggle to find time to read, it was still not that bad. Thanks to Audible, I was reading while doing my house chores and it made a huge difference. I now look forward to completing my house chores every day and also finishing my books.

I continue to buy large number of books in my Kindle as I enjoy the experience of reading. I would never want to lose this trait as I lost it with paperback books. It is sad but I realised this year that I can no longer read a paper back book anymore as I have gotten so used to clicking at the bottom to turn over the page and clicking at a particular word to know its meaning. Just a small habit of reading a few pages every night and reading while travelling has helped me to read experience some great books. Moreover, this habit of reading keeps me away from mindless scrolling on social media sites.

In 2023, I went back repeatedly to a few of my favourite authors like Yoko Ogawa, Keigo Higashino, Michel Bussi and Herman Koch but surprisingly you will see these authors in my “Average Reads” list. It disappointed me but it could be just me or the high expectations I have from these authors every time. These are among some of the authors whom I pre-order well in advance and keep waiting for their new books to come.

Here are all the books I read this year categorized  as, Great Reads, Good Reads, Average reads, and Disappointing Reads.

Great Reads – Books that blew me away

1. There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura
2. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang*
3. The Measure by Nikki Erlick*
4. The Book of Moods by Lauren Martin
5. The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa
6. A Man by Keiichiro Hirano
7. Unnatural Causes by Dr. Richard Shepherd*
8. The Little House by Kyoko Nakajima
9. The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino
10. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray*

These books were magnificent in terms of their unique storyline and simplicity of the characters. After reading each of these books, I felt as if I have done something good for myself.

Good Reads – Books that made me happy

1. Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyoko Nakajima
2. The Twyford Code by Janice Hallet
3. The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker
4. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
5. Pro Bono by Seicho Matsumoto
6. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson*
7. Surrounded by Narcissists by Thomas Erikson*
8. The book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Philippa Perry*
9. Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto*
10. Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney*
11. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney*
12. The Editor’s Wife by Clare Chambers*
13. The Villa by Rachel Hawkins*
14. The Enigma of Room 622 by Jöel Dicker*
15. Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult*
16. Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
17. The Appeal by Janice Hallet
18. Black Widows by Cake Quinn
19. Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
20. Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino
21. The Final Curtain by Keigo Higashino
22. The Five Major Pieces to Life Puzzle by Jim Rohn

Average Reads – Books that were just there

I know, even I was left heart-broken when I put Yoko Ogawa, Keigo Higashino, Michel Bussi, and Herman Koch in this list. When you read a book, it’s not just the story but many other factors that make you like or not like the book. For example, how are you feeling at the time of reading, how descriptive or monotonous the writer is getting, what was written in the excerpt and how it actually turned out. Therefore, some of the books mentioned here may be the best book for someone else, they just could not lift my reading experience.

1. The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth*
2. The Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck
3. Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada
4. The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanan
5. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley*
6. Revenge by Yoko Ogawa
7. The Other Mother by Michel Bussi
8. Never Forget by Michel Bussi
9. The Ditch by Herman Koch
10. Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch*
11. A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino
12. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak*

Disappointing Reads – Books that were just not there

1. Shiver by Allie Reynolds
2. 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard
3. The Swimmer by Graham Norton
4. The Secret She Keeps by Michael Robotham
5. Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham*
6. The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga*
7. The First Minute by Chris Fenning
8. Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney*
9. The Holdout by Graham Moore*
10. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
11. Just One Thing by Dr. Michael Mosley
12. The Pact by Sharon Bolton

Books I Just could not complete

1. The Collected Stories by Arthur C. Clarke – I may pick this book later this year but at that time, probably I was not in a mood of weird scientific short stories.
2. We are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby – The language of this book was too bold and loud for my experience.
3. Last Winter, We Parted by Fuminori Nakamura* – It’s a nice book with a good story but again, a bit violent and sexually graphic which I was not looking for in a book.
4. One Hundred Very Short Stories by Eric Alagan – The stories were too short. I think, any story was not more than 3-4 minutes long. I could not connect with this book.
5. Things I learned from Falling by Claire Nelson – I am sorry, I am mentioning this book in this list. I had read about Claire Nelson and her ordeal when she broke her pelvis during a desert hike and survived without food and water for four days before she was finally rescued. I might pick this book some other time.

This year, I wish to read some of the unread works of Yoko Ogawa and Seicho Matsumoto. Some of the new discoveries of the last year were Alice Feeney, Paul Murray, Kyoko Nakajima, and Cate Quinn and I am looking forward to reading more of them. But by the first quarter of this year, I plan to read the books that I wanted to complete by the end of 2023 but could not:

1. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
2. The Fraud by Zadie Smith
3. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
4. The Ones We Choose by Julie Clark
5. Family Meal by Bryan Washington

Happy reading and happy new year to all of you!

* Audible books