2023 WRAP-UP: A Year in Review

My recommendations and best reviews from 2023, all in one place!

What a year! Probably my most frustrating one with the blog, but also a fulfilling one in so many ways.

Let’s start with the downside

From Amazon eliminating clickable photo links and forcing me to revisit how I create a lot of my posts to Twitter falling apart (and losing the community there) to FOMO about TikTok to stressing about whether I was reviewing enough to family stuff, it was a messy year. I had to change gears a lot, and that seemed to take away from my peaceful reading time.

Plus, some of my favorite authors didn’t release any books this year, or they were clearly struggling as well. Not necessarily a biggie, but when I just want to sit down and read something I know is going to be great, I definitely felt the absence.

I also stressed about reading less than usual, though I don’t know if that’s actually true or if the books are just beefier these days! Check out my Goodreads report from 2023 – 65,000 pages or 180 books read.

Interestingly enough, if you compare that to my report from 2021, the differences are striking – 80,000 pages or 264 books read. That means I didn’t actually read a whole lot less, it’s simply that the books are trending longer these days. Fascinating. When I factor in all the DNFs I didn’t bother adding to Goodreads, I actually think I might’ve read more than usual. Just because it’s taking me longer to get through books and I’m quicker to DNF, that doesn’t mean I’m reading fewer pages. I also think the DNFing makes sense, because I’m a lot more likely to push through a 300-page book than I am to continue reading something that’s 400-500 pages if I’m not enjoying it.

Now on to the good

What’s been good? Interacting with more readers and authors! The longer I do this, the more people I connect with. I love trying out new-to-me authors, and this was a great year for that. I’ve also made some book buddies, and that always makes the experience more fun.

Plus, the blog continues to grow… quite a bit! I know a lot of people think blogs are dead, but I’m not seeing it. Check out my year-to-year growth below.

That tiny little bar on the left is my total website visitors and views from 2020, back when I was reviewing twice as many books as I do these days. I started the blog near the end of 2019, so you can see how it continues to grow and grow – the bar on the right is 2023. Well over a million views just last year! Hitting that milestone was surreal, and I’m excited to see where things go from here.

I still have some FOMO about not being active on TikTok or not doing more on Instagram, but I’m honestly pretty happy sticking to what feels the most comfortable and fulfilling to me – and that’s this website. So I’m pleased to see it grow!

I’m also excited to continue listening to more audiobooks, which I took up a notch in 2023. I used to be so focused on reading the new releases immediately that I never waited for the audiobooks, but now I really just read whatever strikes me that day. My TBR is still a mile long, but I’m loving how I’m able to follow my moods. Let’s see where they take me in 2024.