Last year, I stumbled across the 52 book challenge 2023. I thought it sounded like a fun idea, and decided to give it a try. I’m a busy mom, and a full-time employee, so I wasn’t sure if I was up to the challenge. I wasn’t going to put too much pressure on myself. However, I did want to discuss what I got out of the challenge, where I ended up. And my favorite books of 2023.
52 Book Challenge 2023
What I got out of it
There are several things that I got out of the challenge. The first one was to actually keep track of how many books I was reading. I have a tendency to read whatever I feel like, and possibly put a book down if I’m not feeling it anymore. This is mainly because, since I did major in English, I like to read for pleasure. The pure joy of the thing. But, with the challenge, I pushed myself to continue reading. This was a good thing, because a lot of books have those ‘saggy’ middles. But are completely worth the read in the end.
Another thing that I got out of the challenge was reading some books that I would have never picked up otherwise. Long gone are the days when I browse shelves reading the backs of books, or the inner covers, just looking for something that catches my eye. But, with this challenge, I was constantly on the lookout for a new book to read. Because of that, I was either in different forums searching for books, authors, even titles that caught my eye, or even looking through the Libby app for a book that just sounded good to me. This reminded me of being a kid in the library, just wandering around and discovering new books.
I am a big reader of series, I have different authors who I follow and cannot wait for their next book to come out. I think anyone who is a lifelong reader has their favorites. But, because of the challenge I was able to discover new authors who I can now read their catalog, and also enjoy their newest works once they come out.
52 Book Challenge 2023
Where I ended up
I did not read 52 books. As I mentioned, I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I ended up reading 35 books for the year 2023. I did not count any audiobooks. I don’t know how many audiobooks I listened to. That works out to be 2.91 books a month. Which is not bad. I noticed when I was in the middle of the challenge that during the summer when I was busy in my garden and with my kiddos when they were out of school, I did not read as much. This challenge is something that was done for fun, and to keep track of the books that I was reading.
52 Book Challenge 2023
My favorite reads
I read a lot of books that I enjoyed immensely in 2023. Some of my absolute favorites were: Station Eleven, The Sea of Tranquility and The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Mister Magic by Kiersten White, The Running Graves by Robert Galbraith, Holly by Stephen King and pretty much all of Sarah J Maas’s work.
My favorite new author that I found in 2023 was Emily St. John Mandel. Not only did I read Station Eleven for the first time last year, but I also watched the series on HBO for the first time last year. I cannot stop telling people about how amazing the book and the show are. I am a fan of Emily’s. Her prose is spare and sophisticated, and she has a lovely way of thinking about the future and the past and life that just speaks to me.
I will be writing about each book later on. Did anyone else do the 52 book challenge in 2023, and did you read anything you didn’t expect to like but loved?
