It’s hard to believe that we’re officially a week into 2024. I’ve been working through my Powersheets this past week, and I’m still working on setting my goals for this year. But, it’s been really fun to look back on 2023 and what a year it was! I’ll be doing a Year In Review post soon, but today we’re gonna talk about books I read in 2023!

2023 was a record breaking year for me with the amount of books I’ve read as an adult! I started a second business, while still running my photo biz, working full time, and mom life, so I’m absolutely stoked that I read 56 books in 2023! This past year, I set a goal for 30 initially, then I crushed that goal before summer even started, so I changed my goal to 45 and then crushed it again! I think this year I’ll set a goal for 60 books!

Without further ado, here is the list with some fun stats at the bottom!

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
2. The Co-Parenting Handbook by Karen Bonnell (this was my second time reading it)
3. How to Raise an Intuitive Eater by Sumner Brooks + Amee Severson
4. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
5. I Guess I Haven’t Learned that Yet by Shauna Niequist
6. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
7. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
8. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
9. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
10. The Guncle by Steven Rowley
11. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
12. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
13. The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams
14. Undistracted by Bob Goff
15. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
16. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
17. Beach Read by Emily Henry
18. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
19. All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
20. Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson
21. The Wish by Nicholas Sparks
22. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
23. When in Rome by Sarah Adams
24. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
25. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
26. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
27. Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
28. Daisy Jones + The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
29. There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk
30. Happy Place by Emily Henry
31. November 9 by Colleen Hoover
32. All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover
33. The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
34. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield
35. Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
36. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
37. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
38. The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
39. Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes
40. The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
41. Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks
42. The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros
43. The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren
44. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
45. The Home-Wreckers by Mary Kay Andrews
46. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
47. How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
48. What You Wish For by Katherine Center
49. The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center
50. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
51. Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover
52. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
53. Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson + Susan DiLallo
54. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
55. The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
56. Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy

Goodreads started this new thing where it gives you some stats, so apparently I read 19,745 pages this year, with the shortest book being 221 pages and the longest book being 500 pages. I covered a lot of ground this year and I discovered some fun new authors (Katherine Center, Sarah Adams, Christina Lauren etc.)!

Naturally, I have sub-lists for the 56 books, so I wanted to share a few with you!

My top six fiction books from this year (I think, it’s so hard to narrow them down!):

1. The Things We Leave Unfinished – This is now one of my top fave books of all time!!
2. Fourth Wing – I’m not really much of fantasy person, but this got me hooked!! Can’t wait to read her second one!
3. November 9 – Ugh, Colleen Hoover outdid herself with this one!
4. The Cheat Sheet – this one was so funny!
5. When In Rome – I freaking loved the story in this one!
6. The True Love Experiment – the banter in this book was top notch!

My top four non-fiction books:

1. There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather – I felt so seen by this book!!
2. Undistracted – I love anything by Bob Goff and this was very powerful and convicting
3. Good Inside – This book was pure gold.
4. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry – I didn’t realize this book was faith based when I bought it but dang it was so freaking good!

The hardest books to read:

1. Redeeming Love – parts of this book made want to throw up, but it was a heartbreakingly beautiful book.
2. The Nightingale – this book is H E A V Y. But it was also really, really good. It was after this book that I started getting into the rom-com genre!
3. The Book of Lost Names – this one was also heavy for me to read, but equally powerful.

My least favorite book from this year was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It just wasn’t great in my opinion. It had such a high rating on Goodreads, that I kept going, and about 115 pages in it started to get interesting and then it went downhill pretty quickly at the end. I would not recommend this one, haha.

So, those are all the books I read in 2023! I could go on and on about all the fun ones but I’ll save those convos for a different time! Tell me, what was your fave book from 2023?!

Linda Barry Co. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you.

Linda is a Portland-based photographer specializing in weddings and creating family legacies from Portland to Boston and across New England. You can see more of her work online at lindabarryphotography.com, on Instagram, or on Facebook. If you want to reach out directly: linda@lindabarryphotography.com.

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