The Month That Was… (and the reading year in review and my book of the year)

Theresa Smith Writes

Dec 30

December

The end of another month and the close of another year. We're having a summertime heat wave this week. I am on a two week break from work, which is lovely and has been highly anticipated! I headed to the beach this week with Zeus, and it must have been the warmer water perhaps, but I got him to wade into the ocean up to his tummy! He loves the beach but not the water, so this was a major milestone. There was no wave jumping or paddling about like M's dog though. His face in the first photo below conveys a lot about what he thinks of water at the beach. He's a funny old dog.

What I've been watching:

In the lead up to Christmas, we were actually watching Christmas movies each night, a tradition in our household. M and I squeezed in one short TV series, The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe, based on a true story of fraud in the UK. It's a slow burn, but I didn't mind it. It was really rather incredible, the fraud these two pulled off. The husband was revolting, he really had no moral compass at all. The wife I had more sympathy for, although I still think she was a fool, but I was glad to see her get her life back on track in the end. This last week in December we've been watching movies in the evening, fully in holiday mode. I highly recommend What We Did on Our Holiday. It's no longer a new movie, but if you haven't seen it, it's well worth the watch. It has everything you could ever want in a movie, honestly, one of the best I've seen in years.

What I've been listening to:

All fiction this month for my audio books. I enjoyed The Coast and A Million Things, but The Sorrow Stone was the pits. Nothing to do with the narration, I'd have not enjoyed it in any format. A Million Things is definitely audio of the month for me.

What I've been reading:

My last read for December was a Christmas novel, Christmas Shopaholic, which was quite delightfully comforting and amusing in the same way a Christmas movie is. It was a lovely book to see the year out on. The Mystery Guest was a great follow-up to The Maid, but The Wiregrass was not as much of an engaging follow-up to Canticle Creek as I'd hoped. Mary, Or The Birth of Frankenstein was utterly brilliant. Definitely my book of the month.

A snapshot of my year in reading:

Total books read: 90

Audio books: 10

E-books: 32

Print books: 48

My reading goal for the year was 100 books, so getting 90 read is satisfying, as I didn't really think I'd actually get to 100. Introducing audio books into the mix in the latter months of the year was a bit of a game changer for me. I read that bit more each week now and the type of books I've listened to are sometimes different to what I would have read, including memoirs and non-fiction titles. I am more and more gravitating towards my Kobo. It's just so convenient for taking to work for lunch time reading and also for reading in bed at night. Almost all of my book purchases this year were e-books, a huge transition for me as I do love a physical book and have them on shelves all over my house.

Goodreads tells me that my average rating for 2023 is 4.2 stars. That signals overall a very good reading year. I am getting more and more fussy the older I get though, so I tend to mostly 'pick right' when it comes to what I'm reading. As such, picking a list of top reads or even a favourite for the year is particularly challenging, as I have rated many books at five stars throughout the year. In trying to settle on just one 'book of the year', I've decided that for 2023 it's a tie between Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith and The Broken Places by Russell Franklin. Looking back over the reviews for these two, I can assuredly say that they made an impact on me, and each made it hard to move onto another book straight after. So, that's a wrap for 2023!

Until next year, good reading, happy New Year, and thanks for another year of book chat!

Book of the Year 2023 - a tie between these two gems: