2023 Reading Stats
Number of books read : 45
Number of re-reads : 0
Number of books you DNFed :
I don't keep track
Number of pages you read : 15,767
Shortest book you read in 2023 :
Bessie ~ Linda Kass
Longest book you read in 2023 :
Most read genre :
To NO ONE'S surprise - Historical Fiction
Number of new-to-you authors you discovered : 10
Firsts and Lasts
First book you read:
The Masterpiece ~ Fiona Davis
Last book you read :
The Flowers Sisters ~ Michelle Anderson CollinsFirst 2023 release you read : The Brightest Star ~ Gail Tsukiyama
Last 2024 Release You Read : The Sunset Crowd ~ Karin Tanabe
Best In Books
1. Best book you read in 2023 :
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr ~ Crystal Smith Paul
The Brightest Star ~ Gail Tsukiyama
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t :
The Most Beautiful Girl In Cuba ~ Chanel Cleeton - too many characters, too many plots
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read :
Bessie ~ Linda Kass - reading about how Bess Meyerson faced so much prejudice as the first Jewish Miss America was shocking
4. The book I would recommend most :
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr ~ Crystal Smith Paul
The Brightest Star ~ Gail Tsukiyama
5. Best series I read in 2023 :
Chanel Cleeton - The Perez Sisters Series (Next Year In Havana / When We Left Cuba / Our Last Days in Barcelona)
6. Favorite new-to-you author you discovered in 2023 :
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone :
I'm not much of a romance reader, but I adore Roselle Lim and I read and loved Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune
8. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2023 :
9. Most memorable character of 2023 :
She was a real person, but I have to say Anna May Wong - the people she knew, the men and women she dated / slept with, the places she went and things she did while living with the strictures white society imposed on Asians - that woman needs a bio pic or series, like, NOW!!!
10. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2023 to finally read :
ALL of Chanel Cleeton prior to The Cuban Heiress. Her books have history, romance, characters of non-caucasian ethnicity, just so much I look for in books
11. Book that shocked you the most :
I read a few books about people of cultures other than Caucasian in positions of wealth and privilege, and seeing that despite their wealth and privilege, or in some instances because of, these people lived with the same stereotypes and prejudices as anyone else of their ethnicity, shocked me :
Chanel Cleeton - The Perez Sisters Series (Next Year In Havana / When We Left Cuba / Our Last Days in Barcelona)
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr ~ Crystal Smith Paul
The Brightest Star ~ Gail Tsukiyama
12. OTP of the year (you will go down with this ship!) :
Anna Mae Wong and Marlene Dietrich - 2 hot ladies defying society's ideas of who should be together based on both gender and race, made even hotter by the fact it really happened
13. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year :
The Perez Sisters from Chanel Cleeton's novels - they lost their home, their comfortable life of wealth and priviledge to flee Castro's Cuba and stuck by each other
14. Favorite book you read in 2023 from an author you’ve read previously The Spectacular ~ Fiona Davis
15. Best book you read in 2023 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else :
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr ~ Crystal Smith Paul - The book was on a lot of lists
16. Best 2023 debut you read :
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr ~ Crystal Smith Paul
17. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read :
Mastering the Art of French Murder ~ Colleen Cambridge18. Book that made you cry :
I am a big old blubber baby so I usually cry, but these books got me teary the most -
19. Hidden gem of the year :
20. Book that made you the maddest (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it) :
I love Alice Hoffman, but I found 2/3 of The Invisible Hour to be convoluted and silly. I get the message Hoffman was trying to convey, but there are less preposterous ways than what she did in the novel
and
Do Tell ~ Lindsay Lynch made me angry because we still see sexual assault and the potential to make money (as an excuse for not punishing an offender) THE SAME WAY as we did 80 years ago
My Blogging/Bookish Life
1. Favorite review that you wrote in 2023 :
I have difficulty with my own negative reactions to things. If I don't like something I feel wrong or stupid for my reaction, especially if other people have a positive reaction.
I HATED The Philadelphia Heiress ~ Anita Abriel. I loved the premise but the book was under developed and read more like a student using Wikipedia to write a paper for history class. I did not hold back on my opinion.
2. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.) :
Top Ten Tuesday / Net Galley
3. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year :
I completed my reading challenge
Looking Ahead in 2024
1. Book you are most anticipating in 2024 (non-debut) :
The House on Biscayne Bay ~ Chanel Cleeton (April 9)
2. 2024 debut you are most anticipating :
3. Sequel you are most anticipating in 2024 :
Historical Fiction tends not to have sequels
4. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2024 :
To not read at a break neck pace like I did in the middle of 2023. I burnt out and didn't read much from October - December
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