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BEST BOOKS of 2023

Susie — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 11:00:12 +0000

2023 has been a busy year! I think I tried to get in a lot of the traveling I missed over the last couple of years. I traveled to Greece and Turkey in the spring, then France and England in June. Both trips were wonderful and we had absolutely perfect weather, mid 70’s the whole time. Back in the U.S. there was a weeklong family reunion in Lake Tahoe and a trip to Washington D.C. this fall. Lots of other smaller trips, and of course I spent several weeks in beautiful Sunriver, Oregon. Phew! In 2024, I hope to get more traveling done, but maybe not quite as much. I was also lucky enough to spend a lot of time with my 5 grandkids who are growing up too fast!

As for books, I’ve heard people complain that this wasn’t a great year for books, but I disagree. I read so many books I loved, and some I didn’t, but truly appreciated what the authors were trying to achieve. I also read some clunkers and had a few I couldn’t finish. Right now I’m at 153 books and will likely get in a couple more before the 31st rolls around. Still, I’m confident no other books will be squeezing in on this list. I shared My Favorite Debuts of 2023 on Tuesday and if you want to see my Underrated Gems or Hyped Books, you can find those on Instagram. (Where you can follow me to get ALL my reviews.)

For my Best Books of 2023, I’m only including fiction for two reasons. First, I just don’t read that much nonfiction and what I do read is usually on audio. I’ll be covering my nonfiction audio favorites on a post next week on Instagram. (I’ll also cover my favorite fiction audiobooks.) Second, choosing the best was plenty hard without throwing nonfiction in there, too! Now on with 2023 books….

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Best Books of 2022

Susie — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 11:00:09 +0000

Finally! Not a completely normal year, but getting closer. 2022 was my first full year of retirement and I have to say, it feels good! I absolutely love the joy and freedom it brings. I got to travel quite a bit which felt wonderful (And, I only came home with COVID one of those times!) The elections were…the elections, but the world doesn’t feel quite so upside-down right now.

On the book side of things, 2022 was a very good year. I read the most books I ever have with 148 finished as I write this, and I’m confident I can make it to 150 before the end of the year. Even better is the fact that this was such a GREAT year for high quality writing, book after book. I never really slumped. Last week , I shared My Favorite Debuts of 2022 and getting that list down to 10 was no easy task! For my Best Books of 2022, I couldn’t do it! I was swimming in wonderful stories. In the end, I had to go with 12 books. I included no nonfiction because I really didn’t read much this year and the only one that might have had a chance, I’ll be sharing here next week. These 12 books are the ones that spoke to me loudest, that stayed with me longest, that I want to press in everyone’s hands, my Best Books of 2022!…

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BEST BOOKS of 2021

Susie — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 11:00:50 +0000

Another crazy year is nearing its end, and I think I’m glad. 2021 was a year of great sadness, but also happy changes. We quite suddenly lost out mom in May and that’s left a hole in our family that will never quite be filled. Her passing did give me the push I needed to retire from teaching and that has been a joy. It’s impossible to tell you how much I’m reveling in the my new found freedom, and how much I’m loving the additional time to do exactly what I want.

I thought I’d have a lot more reading time, but have come to realize I’m never going to be a 200 book a year reader. There are plenty of other things I like to do, so 120 is about my sweet spot. As of this writing, I’m at exactly 120 books finished, so I had a lot to choose from for my Best Books of 2021. To make it slightly easier, I chose to only include fiction this year. I’ve struggled with nonfiction the last two years and feel a little broken in that area. It’s definitely the main thing I want to work on in 2022. You’re also going to find A LOT of overlap with My Favorite Debuts of 2021 because I have not struggled with debuts. But enough of all that, lets get onto the ten books from 2021 that I fell hardest for. These have had the staying power to earn them a spot on my Best Books of 2021!

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AUDIOBOOKS ~ My Favorites from 2021

Susie — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 11:00:15 +0000

2021 turned out to be sort of a strange year for me with audiobooks. I felt like I hadn’t listened to as many as usual, but when I looked at my stats, I really had. For the last several years, audiobooks have made up about a third of my reading and I think that’s an ideal balance for me. Still, I found myself much more impatient with audiobooks. They really needed to grab me quickly. I feel like I was more willing to give books in print a long try, but audiobooks I wanted to work immediately. So, you can be sure that the nine favorites I’m sharing today were all excellent….

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BEST BOOKS of 2020 | More

Susie — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 11:00:22 +0000

There’s no doubt about it, 2020 will probably be the most memorable year in most of our lives. It’s also a year no one will be sad to see coming to an end. I think almost everyone experienced stress and emotions that we’d never expected. I know I was a hot mess in the early spring and again in September, but no matter what I always had books. Throughout my life, books have always offered me an escape when I most needed it, and though sometimes this year it was hard to concentrate, books still delivered the freedom to venture into other realities. For that I am always grateful.

Narrowing down my Best Books of 2020 was no easy task. I initially had 30 books in the running, all ones I’d given a grade of A or A- to this year. Gradually, I eliminated books until I reached 12 and could cull no further. Interestingly, I eliminated some books that I originally rated higher than some of the books I kept, but my Best Books of 2020 are the ones that had staying power for me, the books I still think about. I think you’ll find some of my choices a bit surprising, but then this has been a year overflowing with surprises!

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My Favorite Books of 2020 (so far) | More

Susie — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:00:35 +0000

In a normal year, I might be saying something like, “It’s hard to believe, but the end of June is already here.” Not this year! Now it’s, “The end of June is FINALLY here.” If you’re anything like me, time has crawled with months of quarantine and establishing a whole new way of life. Add to that, the long overdue call for an end systemic racism that has finally moved to the spotlight, but change there also feels far too slow. I guess it’s just a slow year, but it has given me plenty of time for books. As of this writing, I’ve finished 60 this year, many of them very, very good. For a wide variety of reasons, nine stand out as my favorite books, so far this year.

Last year five out of the nine books on this mid-year “So Far” list were on my Best Books of 2019 list. (Though to be honest that list had a total of 12 books!) These nine favorite books are in order of publication date and nothing more!…

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Year by Year: My Favorite Books of the Last Decade

Susie — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 11:00:52 +0000

Back in early December I first considered doing this look back post. I went through my old book journals, and narrowed down my options, but guess what? The holidays and life just got in the way and I ran out of time. Big surprise there! So, now I may be a little late, but life is also a little calmer, so I’m finally ready to share my favorite books from each year of the last decade.

Some years choosing a single book was easy, but other years it was a HUGE challenge. So much so, that I’m also going to give you my runner(s)-up for each year. I kept my choices limited to fiction, since I’ve only been seriously reading nonfiction for the last few years. It will be fun to see how many books others loved as much as I did, so let me know what you think….

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BEST BOOKS of 2019 | More

Susie — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:00:05 +0000

I alway love this time of year, seeing what books others considered to be best, and what the bigwigs at places like the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and Book Riot chose as their best. My own list rarely lines up with those, but I don’t expect it too. Their list pulls from almost everything, whereas mine pulls from the 110 books I’ve read so far this year. That made it difficult enough!

Putting together my Best Books of 2019 proved to be almost painful. 2019 was truly one of my very best reading years ever, with 20 different books that I gave a grade of A. It’s so difficult kicking any books out of that “better than the rest” club, but it had to be done! Even as I type, I’m still feeling badly for those books that almost made it. Never-the-less, I’ve done it and am thrilled to share my twelve personal Best Books of 2019….

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Six 2019 Underrated Gems | #AMonthofFaves

Susie — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 11:00:46 +0000

Monday I shared Six 2019 Books That Deserved the Hype, plus Six That Didn’t, and today I’ll be turning to 2019 books that just didn’t seem to get the hype they deserved or as I like to think of them, “Underrated Gems.” Underrated Books We Think Deserve More Buzz is today’s challenge for #AMonthofFaves from Girlxoxo, and Traveling with T, the hosts for this annual month-long blog event. Everyone has those special books they just want to press into the hands of others and I’m hoping at least one of the six I share today will make it onto your “to be read” list!

Six 2019 Underrated Gems

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My Favorite Books of 2019 (so far) | More

Susie — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:00:15 +0000

The end of June is nearly here and with it the midway point for 2019. It’s the perfect time to look back at my favorite books of 2019…so far. As I’m putting together this post, I’ve finished just over 50 books and DNF’d another 15, so I feel like I’ve had a pretty good sampling of what’s been out there in the first half of the year. The toughest part of putting this list together was culling it down to my 9 favorites and for that I’m thankful!

I haven’t read a lot of nonfiction this year, so decided to keep my favorite books here strictly to fiction. The list is ordered by publication date and nothing more. To find the truly best book of the year we’ll need to wait until December….

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