My complete list of books read in 2023! I feel compelled to share it because there were too many good ones to include in my best of 2023 list. I intentionally read more fiction this year but also spent too much time finishing books I wasn’t into. My 2024 goal is to DNF more books so that I can free up time to read more that I love. As always, this list includes audiobooks and books I read aloud with my children.
I love seeing everyone’s book lists, planning a few priority reads for the next year, and deciding what I’ll read at the beginning of the new year. I’m very picky about January reading because I have to accommodate my January brain, which craves gentle feel-good books and rereads of old favorites. My most-reread book and favorite January read is The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. It’s nearly a century old but I’m still holding out hope that some day it will be made into a movie.
Here’s the list:
Seven Transforming Gifts of Menopause By Cheryl Bridges John’s
The Blue Castle By L.M. Montgomery
An Owl Called Star By Helen Peters
Vacationland By Meg Mitchell Moore
Mindful Silence By Phileena Heuertz
The Way of the Rose By Clark Strand and Perdita Finn
The Witch of Blackbird Pond By Elizabeth George Speare
How the Word is Passed By Clint Smith
A Duckling Called Button By Helen Peters, illustrated by Ellie Snowdon
Shoutin’ in the Fire By Dante Stewart
A Duckling Called Button By Helen Peters
Motherhood So White By Nefertiti Austin
Heal Your Way Forward By Myisha T. Hill
The Nickel Boys By Colson Whitehead
Soul Care in African American Practice By Barbara L Peacock
The Midnight Library By Matt Heig
The Color of Law By Richard Rothstein
Lent of Liberation By Cheri L. Mills
Starfish By Lisa Fipps
A Piglet Called Truffle By Helen Peters
Feminist Prayers for My Daughter By Shannon K. Evans
Forget the Alamo By Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford
All My Knotted Up Life By Beth Moore
Toys Go Out By Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Strong Like Water By Aundi Kolber
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey By Trenton Lee Stewart
Bring It Home By Matt Kendziera
Everything Sad is Untrue By Daniel Nayeri
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
How to Be a Good Creature By Sy Montgomery
An Untidy Faith By Kate Boyd
Toy Dance Party By Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Living Resistance By Kaitlin Curtice
When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough By Taylor Schumann
Inside Out and Back Again By Thanhha Lai
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before By Jenny Han
Everybody Come Alive By Marcie Alvis Walker
Non-Toxic Masculinity By Zachary Wagner
PS I Still Love You By Jenny Han
Finally Seen By Jessica Yang
Bible Stories for Grown Ups By Josh Scott
For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez
Fat Talk By Virginia Sole-Smith
Everyone Knows You Go Home By Natalia Sylvester
In the Margins By Shannon T. L. Kearns
Catherine Called Birdie By Karen Cushman
Touch the Earth By Drew Jackson
I Won’t Shut Up By Ally Henny
True Biz By Sara Novic
Trauma in the Pews By Janyne McConnaughey
The Librarianist By Patrick deWitt
Candlelight By Susan Phillips
No Bad Parts By Richard Schwartz
Lessons in Chemistry By Bonnie Garmus
Finding Mother God By Carol Lynn Pearson
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Book Lovers By Emily Henry
The Backwater Sermons By Jay Hulme
Dark Night of the Soul By St. John of the Cross
When Religion Hurts You By Laura E. Anderson
The Change By Kirsten Miller
Yellowface By R.F. Kuang
Fierce Fairytales By Nikita Gill
Little Women By Louisa May Alcott
Women Talking By Miriam Towes
Blessing the Boats By Lucille Clifton
The Last White Man By Mohsin Hamid
Famous for a Living By Melissa Ferguson
See No Stranger By Valarie Kaur
This Time Tomorrow By Emma Straub
Charlotte’s Webb By E.B. White
Heartstopper, Volume 1 By Alice Oseman
Heartstopper, Volume 2 By Alice Oseman
Heartstopper, Volume 3 By Alice Oseman (not pictured)
Lindsay L. O'Connor 
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