The number announced for the Classics Club’s 37th Spin is eight, which means I’ll be reading The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka. I’m so excited! This year, I’ve made it a goal to read more short fiction, and as a bonus, it’s a translated work. The last book I read by Kafka was The Trial, and that was back in 2018! Where does the time go? “The Metamorphosis” is often considered to be Kafka’s finest work, as protagonist Gregor Samsa navigates the absurd situation that he has been transformed into an insect.
Franz Kakfa (1883-1924)
As much as I’m looking forward to rereading this classic story, I’m actually more thrilled to read some of Kafka’s lesser-known works, such as “The Judgement” and “A Country Doctor.” Considering how much I enjoyed The Trial, I have no doubt I’ll adore these stories.
I’ll be starting this one next week, so expect my review sometime in early May.
A new year has officially begun, which means it’s time for me to reflect back on the past year of reading!
For me, 2023 was one of the best years I’ve ever had, both in terms of the number of books I read as well as in overall quality. I’m also quite pleased with the diversity in my selections throughout the year.
On a personal note, this past year brought about huge changes in my life. Most notably, I left my job of seven years and relocated to a new practice. Change is always scary, but I’m pleased to share that I’m very happy that I made the decision. Having the opportunity to change lives is such a gift, and my current employers have empowered me to grow as a therapist. The hours are way better…so yay for more time to read!
Another change occurred in my life shortly before 2023 began. This was the loss of our cat Indy at the age of 14. He was very special, and it was a struggle to adjust to reading without him laying next to me (our other two haven’t quite caught the reading bug yet).
While my reading increased a lot from the year before, my blogging went through a long drought. Truth be told, I nearly called it quits on this little blog. In the end, I recognized just how necessary sharing my love of literature is for my own mental health. So for those of you that have stayed with me on this journey, thank you with all my heart.
My 2023 Goals:
1. Read 60 books
Nailed it! I finished 72 books, well above my initial goal. I’ve been in a good flow with the pace of my reading, but I’m keeping the 2024 goal at 60 books just so I don’t stress myself out.
2. Review at least 50 books
Thanks to that dry spell, I only reviewed 41 of the books I read in 2023. It’s still more than half, so I’ll take it. For 2024, I’d like to post at least 50 reviews.
3. Complete my first Classics Club list
Success! Check out the following post for more: I Finished My First Classics Club List! This year, I will start a second list and read at least 10 classics.
4. Read at least 10 works in translation
Another success! I managed to read 16 works originally written in another language. For 2024, I’d like to read at least 15 works in translation.
5. Read more of my own damned books
Epic fail! I bought a lot of books. We shall discuss no further. My tentative goal is to slow down on the buying.
My 2023 Reading Statistics:
I always enjoy keeping track of what kinds of books I read and where they came from. Here are some of my stats for the year:
66 of my 72 books were fiction. I read 5 nonfiction works. 1 was a poetry collection.
39 of the books I read were written by women. I read 15 books from LGTBQ authors.
I read 3 short story collections.
Where did my books come from: 45 (vast majority) were thrift purchased or already owned, 22 from the library (big increase from last year), and 5 were gifts.
Who wrote my books: 37 authors were from the United States, 16 were from the UK, and 11 were from an Asian country. Other countries represented were Canada, Poland, Egypt, Germany, Turkey, and Norway.
I’ll be back later this week with my favorite books of 2023. In the meantime, here is my complete book list:
Welcome to the Seventh Annual I Would Rather Be Reading Book Awards! This is where I look back on the best books from the previous year through the lens of some fun categories.
As I was creating this post, I realized something important in that I don’t necessarily have one true favorite. All of the following books were so meaningful to me.
Click on the title if you want to read my full review of each winner. You can also read my complete 2022 list here. Let’s get started!
One of the best novels to come out of Japan in years was 2018’s Konbini Ningen (or Convenience Store Woman). It’s a short novel that tells the story of a neurodivergent woman who has worked in a convenience store for 18 years. It explores the fragility of Japanese society in how it functions like a clock, providing all the cogs are greased. While I went into the book not knowing what to expect, I was immediately enchanted with its quirky protagonist and her struggles to be a functioning cog.
Between the World and Me (a line taken from a Richard Wright poem) by Ta-Nehisi Coates was inspired by James Baldwin’s 1963 classic work The Fire Next Time, which was written in epistolary form to his nephew. In this book, Coates writes directly to his teenage son, Samori, about the struggles of being black in America. Filled with insights into his own struggles as a black man, Coates leaves nothing behind in his sharing of their people’s hardships, trials, and hopes. The writing of Between the World and Me is so powerful and evocative. The author sends a message that will force you to stop every few sentences and think. While upsetting and pessimistic at times, it’s a necessary read.
I love stories that blend touches of fantasy into real life, and Kate Atkinson effortlessly weaves these two worlds together. I typically avoid binge-reading a short story collection; instead, I dip in and out while reading a novel so I have some processing time between tales. That wasn’t the case this time, as I just couldn’t resist jumping immediately to the next story. Yes, they’re just that good!
This is a science fiction novel that turns out to not be a science fiction novel at all. Instead, this novel is an examination on the positive aspects of faith, but also the dangers of blind devotion. It’s a story about a minister of the Christian faith who travels to a distant planet to spread the word to a group of aliens. Meanwhile, his wife is struggling at home with numerous tragedies occurring in her husband’s absence. This is a beautiful novel from one of my all-time favorite writers.
Best Classic Book (That I Read for the First Time)
If half the world was destroyed in a nuclear war and a massive amount of radioactive dust was headed your way, how would you choose to spend your final months? This is the question at the heart of On the Beach, one of several post-apocalyptic novels that were written in the wake of the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite the lack of action or riveting plot, I thought this human story about middle-class people finding meaning at the end of the world was sheer genius.
For as long as he can remember, Piranesi has lived in the House, a labyrinthine-like structure with endless rooms, statues that line every corridor, and an ocean trapped in the lower levels that rises and falls throughout the structure. Piranesi knows no other world outside the House and spends his days as its caretaker. Besides being a meticulous record-keeper, he has learned several survival skills, such as fishing, collecting seaweed, and calculating when the tides will rise. His most striking characteristic is his reverence for the House and all its inhabitants, mostly birds. For Piranesi, there is no higher honor than to be the caretaker. This novel is so much fun that I guarantee you will be hooked within minutes. The titular Piranesi is such a quirky character that you will enjoy trying to figure out what is actually happening in this book.
Written decades apart, these two mysteries from Japan are not only disturbing but so wickedly brilliant. I have found a love of Japanese mysteries, and these two are phenomenal. The Decagon House Murders is the perfect homage to Agatha Christie’s greatest work, And Then There Were NoneThe Devotion of Suspect X is a standard police procedural with a difference. The reader witnesses the murder at the start of the novel. Knowing the circumstances of the murder and the identity of the killer become irrelevant; rather, it’s trying to figure out the steps taken to cover up the murder. While the questions of who and why are already answered, it’s the question of “how was this all pulled off?” that becomes the true mystery. The answer leads to one of the most shocking revelations I’ve ever read in a detective novel.
I just adore this cover artwork that conveys the animosity the village has against these protagonists. Plus, it has a cat. I would love to have a fully-illustrated edition of one of my all-time favorite novels.
Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing begins with a young boy named Jojo determined to prove his manhood. It’s his 13th birthday, and he’s helping his grandfather, Pop, slaughter the goat that will serve as the family dinner. “I like to think I know what death is,” Jojo boldly claims, while he does his best not to flinch at the visceral act laid before him. Desperate to emulate this man who has been his only father figure, the boy just wants to prove that he’s “old enough to look at death like a man should.” While Sing serves as Jojo’s dark and twisted coming-of-age journey, it also unearths generational trauma and shows how the ghosts from our past refuse to be forgotten.
Jesmyn Ward poses for a portrait in her home in DeLisle, Miss., on Friday, August 25 , 2017, Photo Credit: Emily Kask for NPR
I had been putting off reading The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue’s novel of the 1918 flu epidemic, for two reasons: 1) I thought it would be depressing as hell to read during these chaotic times, and 2) historical fiction isn’t necessarily my favorite genre of literature. After finishing the book, I can safely attest to reason number one without a doubt. A story about a plague that resulted in the deaths of millions is hardly a laugh-a-minute read. However, Emma Donoghue embodies this story with so much beauty and heart that one cannot but help feel that spark of hope. My only prior experience with this writer was her unbelievably phenomenal Room, which became one of my all-time favorite books. After finishing The Pull of the Stars, I can now count two of Donoghue’s books as favorites.
Emma Donoghue, Photo Credit: Canadian Press/Shutterstock
Kazuo Ishiguro, who was made a Nobel Laureate in 2017, has managed to create a lasting legacy of stories exposing human fragility using great empathy. No two novels are alike in their settings, or genres for that matter. The commonality lies in the struggles of his characters, all trying desperately to find true meaning to this mystery called life. The Unconsoled is no exception, a place that could be anywhere within any time period. Writing the entire novel in the form of an anxiety dream takes a little getting used to, but once I did, I found myself wrapped up in it the same as I do all of his works. Kazuo Ishiguro is my favorite author of all-time, and I look forward to doing a complete reread of all of his novels in 2024.
Kazuo Ishiguro, Photo Credit: David Levene taken from The New Yorker
There you have it, my favorite reads of 2022. I look forward to many more great books this year!
It never ceases to amaze me how a year flashes by in the blink of an eye. As we welcome in 2023, I thought it would be fun to give a brief recap of my year in reading. In 2022, I completed 50 books. While this was short of my initial goal of 75 for the year, I’m still proud as the quality of my reading was phenomenal. Sometimes, I wonder if I would do better without a number in mind. After all, different years play out in different ways. But I do enjoy looking at the end-of-year stats for my reading, so let’s take a peek. You can see my complete list read here.
I read 47 fiction books, 2 non-fiction, and 1 book of poetry. Those are small numbers for non-fiction and poetry, so I would like to see both areas improve next year.
In 2022, 26 of the books I read were by female authors, 24 by males. I read 5 short story collections, 10 translated works, and 1 graphic novel. One of my goals for next year will be to read more translated works. Considering my love of Japanese fiction, this should not be a problem. I hope to grow further by reading more diversely in 2023.
I participated in 2 yearlong challenges in 2022. The first was the TBR Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. I read 12 books for that challenge. The other challenge was another that I participate in regularly, Back to the Classics hosted by Books and Chocolate.10 of my reads counted for this one. I participated in a monthly challenge, Austen in August, also hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader, for which I read 2 books (and won a nice prize).
As for the blog, I reviewed 46 of the books I read in 2022. Again, it would be nice if that number was higher but I’m still fine with it, as that was a huge percentage of the books I read. It also continues to be fun for me, which is the most important part. I love sharing my opinions on my favorite hobby, as well as interacting with so many fantastic book bloggers. I started I Would Rather Be Reading as a creative outlet, but it has also become something so much more. Even if only one person reads my blog, well that’s one person’s life I changed in some small way, so yay for me! For those that do continue to check out my ramblings, thank you so much!
Next week, I’ll share my 2022 favorites in my annual book awards post as I dive into a new year of reading. I’ve selected Stephen King’s newest release Fairy Tale as my first book of 2023 so stay tuned for that review. And of course…
Some of my favorite book photos of 2022, taken by Natalie Getter
I Would Rather Be Reading 