My reading goal for 2023 is to beat my previous years of reading. One detail works in my favour: It’s not the most arbitrary goal. There are a multitude of ways to measure and judge, a multitude of paths to victory.
I’ll be happy if I discover new authors and stories, I’ll be happy if I spend more time reading (hit a reading slump in 2022 and only read 5 books), I’ll be happy if I revisit old favourites and adopt new ones, I’ll be happy if I can beat my record for most books read in one year (previously 120 in 2020), I’ll be happy if I discuss and/or review each book with others… I want to experience my best bookish year so far and I’m going to make it happen.
To prepare, I made a list of books to read.
This TBR holds recommendations from friends, books recommended or written by old teachers/professors, stories I discovered scrolling on social media, genres I wish were available to me as a child, new books from authors I already love… I tried to pick as many genres as I could. There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which the books are represented. It’s just a chaotic amalgamation of everything I want to read right now.
There are 209 titles in total. I might add more as I receive recommendations, but it should be more than enough to start.
(the columns on the right represent: if the book is released, if the book is owned, if the book is read)
| The Existence of Amy | Lana Grace Riva | ☑☑☐ |
| The Foxhole Court (…#1) | Nora Sakavic | ☑☑☐ |
| The Look of a King (…#1) | Tom Dumbrell | ☑☑☐ |
| Connection Lost & Other Dark Tales | Gillian Church | ☑☑☐ |
| Kaikeyi | Vaishnavi Patel | ☑☑☐ |
| Faoladh | Brandi Gann | ☑☑☐ |
| Remnants of Blood | H. F. Cunningham | ☑☑☐ |
| Taking Baby for a Walk | Kathryn Gossow | ☑☑☐ |
| Children of the Benin Kingdom | Dinah Orji | ☑☑☐ |
| World Saving and Other Disasters | Bethany Meyer | ☑☐☐ |
| Stormfire (2023) | Jasmine Young | ☐☐☐ |
| Phosphorescence | Julia Baird | ☑☐☐ |
| Come Close | Sappho | ☑☑☐ |
| Akata Witch (…#1) | Nnedi Okorafor | ☑☐☐ |
| Silver in the Wood (…#1) | Emily Tesh | ☑☑☐ |
| Inferno of Silence | Tolu’ A. Akinyemi | ☑☑☐ |
| The Silence of the Girls | Pat Barker | ☑☐☐ |
| Starfish | Akemi Dawn Bowman | ☑☐☐ |
| The Beginning Place | Ursula K. Le Guin | ☑☐☐ |
| Squeezing Minds from Stones | Karenleigh A. Overmann | ☑☐☐ |
| A Thousand Ships | Nathalie Haynes | ☑☐☐ |
| The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs | Stephen Brusatte | ☑☐☐ |
| White Fragility | Robin DiAngelo | ☑☐☐ |
| The Mountains Sing | Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai | ☑☐☐ |
| The Wren Hunt | Mary Watson | ☑☐☐ |
| Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race | Reni Eddo-Lodge | ☑☐☐ |
| Fifty Words for Rain | Asha Lemmie | ☑☐☐ |
| Earth’s Wild Music | Kathleen Dean Moore | ☑☐☐ |
| Great Goddesses | Nikita Gill | ☑☐☐ |
| S.T.A.G.S. (…#1) | M.A. Bennett | ☑☐☐ |
| The Harpy | Megan Hunter | ☑☐☐ |
| The Little Book of Otter Philosophy | Jennifer McCartney | ☑☐☐ |
| Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder | Julia Zarankin | ☑☐☐ |
| Phantasmagoria & Other Poems | Lewis Caroll | ☑☐☐ |
| The Dark Wood | Sydney Mann | ☑☐☐ |
| Queens of the Conquest | Alison Weir | ☑☐☐ |
| A Deadly Education | Naomi Novik | ☑☐☐ |
| Slewfoot: A tale of Bewitchery | Brom | ☑☐☐ |
| Argent Blade | Luke Courtney | ☑☐☐ |
| Lost in the Never Woods | Aiden Thomas | ☑☐☐ |
| Dearest Josephine | Caroline George | ☑☐☐ |
| Forestborn (…#1) | Elayne Audrey Becker | ☑☐☐ |
| A Song Beyond Walls | S. Escobar | ☑☐☐ |
| Melmoth | Sarah Perry | ☑☐☐ |
| Scars of Iron (…#1) | Ivy G. Shadrick | ☑☐☐ |
| Mar King (…#1) | Nicolette Beebe | ☑☐☐ |
| Girl, Serpent, Thorn | Melissa Bashardoust | ☑☐☐ |
| A City Inside | Tillie Walden | ☑☐☐ |
| Starfall (…#2) | Lauren Jade | ☑☐☐ |
| Day of the Horn (…#1) | Chris J. Edwards | ☑☐☐ |
| Smallhead & the Horrible Hag of Hollowdale | Aoc O’Ferrell | ☑☐☐ |
| A Touch of Darkness (…#1) | Scarlett St. Clair | ☑☐☐ |
| Fishes May Come Back | Emre Attindağ | ☑☐☐ |
| The Stars that Guide You Home | Jemma Robinson | ☑☐☐ |
| Maui & Other Maori Legends | Peter Gossage | ☑☐☐ |
| How to Write like Tolstoy | Richard A. Cohen | ☑☐☐ |
| This Golden Flame | Emily Victoria | ☑☐☐ |
| Elatsoe | Darcie Little Badger | ☑☐☐ |
| Black Smoke | Mckayla Eaton | ☑☑☐ |
| The Last Children of Tokyo | Yoko Tawada | ☑☐☐ |
| Binti | Nnedi Okorafor | ☑☑☐ |
| Daughters Who Walk this Path | Yejide Kilanko | ☑☐☐ |
| Wild Swans: 3 Daughters of China | Jung Chang | ☑☐☐ |
| The Dictionary of Lost Words | Pip Williams | ☑☐☐ |
| Little Book of Bees | Hilary Kearney | ☑☐☐ |
| The Prince of Starlight (…#1) | Lou Wilham | ☑☐☐ |
| Daughter of the Deep (…#1) | Lina C. Amarego | ☑☐☐ |
| Terry Jone’s Medieval Lives | Terry Jones | ☑☐☐ |
| The Mushroom Garden | Adam Oehlers | ☑☐☐ |
| The Gods of Men (…#1) | Barbara Kloss | ☑☐☐ |
| Harrow the Ninth (…#2) | Tamsyn Muir | ☑☑☐ |
| The Centaur’s Wife | Amanda Leduc | ☑☐☐ |
| H is for Hawk | Helen Macdonald | ☑☐☐ |
| Fool Proof Dictation | Christopher Scott Downing | ☑☐☐ |
| The Women Troubadours | Meg Bogin | ☑☐☐ |
| Orfeia | Joanne M. Harris | ☑☐☐ |
| The Silk House | Kayte Nunn | ☑☐☐ |
| Synchronicity | C.G. Jung | ☑☐☐ |
| Echoes | Marissa Lete | ☑☐☐ |
| The Forest for the Trees | Betsy Lemer | ☑☐☐ |
| Heir of Elriyon (…#1) | K. Michele Moseley | ☑☐☐ |
| A Curse of Illusions | Vivian Sader | ☑☐☐ |
| The Doors of Riverdell (…#1) | Marianne Rosen | ☑☐☐ |
| Life Stages and Native Women | Kim Anderson | ☑☐☐ |
| 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act | Bob Joseph | ☑☐☐ |
| They Called Me Number One | Bev Sellars | ☑☐☐ |
| Inuit Mythology | Bernard Hayes | ☑☐☐ |
| A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School | John S. Milloy | ☑☐☐ |
| Demon Copperhead | Barbara Kingsolver | ☑☐☐ |
| Animal Dreams | Barbara Kingsolver | ☑☐☐ |
| Prodigal Summer | Barbara Kingsolver | ☑☐☐ |
| Piranesi | Susanna Clarke | ☑☐☐ |
| Hamnet | Maggie O’Farrell | ☑☐☐ |
| The Power | Naomi Alderman | ☑☐☐ |
| Ghost Forest | Pik-Shuen Fung | ☑☐☐ |
| Probably Ruby | Lisa Bird-Wilson | ☑☐☐ |
| All the Quiet Places | Brian Thomas Isaac | ☑☐☐ |
| We, Jane | Aimee Wall | ☑☐☐ |
| Little Fish | Casey Plett | ☑☐☐ |
| The Invisible Life of Addie Larue | V.E. Schwab | ☑☐☐ |
| The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | ☑☐☐ |
| Crown of Fire (…#1) | Lisa King | ☑☑☐ |
| Ammonite | Nicola Griffith | ☑☑☐ |
| Till We Have Faces | C.S. Lewis | ☑☑☐ |
| The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Taylor Jenkins Reid | ☑☑☐ |
| The Priory of the Orange Tree | Samantha Shannon | ☑☑☐ |
| A Nest of Nightmares | Lisa Tuttle | ☑☑☐ |
| The Black Chalice | Marie Jakober | ☑☑☐ |
| Summoned (…#1) | Mckalya Eaton | ☑☑☐ |
| Marie de Régnier Gérard d’Houville | Henriette de Chizeray-Cuny | ☑☑☐ |
| Jazz | Toni Morrison | ☑☐☐ |
| Flots | Patrick Senécal | ☑☐☐ |
| Les Catilinaires | Amélie Nothomb | ☑☐☐ |
| Mercure | Amélie Nothomb | ☑☐☐ |
| Barbe bleue | Amélie Nothomb | ☑☐☐ |
| Les fiancés de l’hiver (…#1) | Christelle Dabos | ☑☐☐ |
| Même pas mort | Jean-Philippe Jaworski | ☑☐☐ |
| Eagle | Janine Rogers | ☑☐☐ |
| Ladivine | Marie NDiaye | ☑☐☐ |
| Three Strong Women | Marie NDiaye | ☑☐☐ |
| Self-Portrait in Green | Marie NDiaye | ☑☐☐ |
| Les enfants sont rois | Delphine de Vigan | ☑☐☐ |
| Black Moses | Alain Mabanckou | ☑☐☐ |
| Mon mari | Maud Ventura | ☑☐☐ |
| Les ombres filantes | Christian Guay-Poliquin | ☑☐☐ |
| Le fils de l’homme | Jean-Baptiste Del Amo | ☑☐☐ |
| L’Arbousier | Ruth Rendell | ☑☐☐ |
| Signé Parpot | Alain Monnier | ☑☐☐ |
| Le divin enfant | Pascal Bruckner | ☑☐☐ |
| Je ne connais pas ma force | Stéphanie Hochet | ☑☐☐ |
| Un roman anglais | Stéphanie Hochet | ☑☐☐ |
| The Housekeeper and the Professor | Yōko Ogawa | ☑☐☐ |
| The Memory Police | Yōko Ogawa | ☑☐☐ |
| Le Musée du silence | Yōko Ogawa | ☑☐☐ |
| La Maison où je suis mort autrefois | Keigo Higashino | ☑☐☐ |
| Le journal de mon père | Jirō Taniguchi | ☑☐☐ |
| Un zoo en hiver | Jirō Taniguchi | ☑☐☐ |
| Furari | Jirō Taniguchi | ☑☐☐ |
| The God of Small Things | Arundhati Roy | ☑☐☐ |
| Ace of Spades | Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé | ☑☐☐ |
| Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells | Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling & al. | ☑☐☐ |
| Clementine (…#1) | Cherie Priest | ☑☐☐ |
| The Secret History | Donna Tart | ☑☐☐ |
| Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | ☑☐☐ |
| Six of Crows (…#1) | Leigh Bardugo | ☑☑☐ |
| Neverwhere (…#1) | Neil Gaiman | ☑☐☐ |
| Unseelie | Ivelisse Housman | ☑☑☐ |
| We Hunt the Flames (…#1) | Hafsah Faizal | ☑☐☐ |
| Daughter of the Pirate King (…#1) | Tricia Levenseller | ☑☐☐ |
| Jhereg (…#1) | Steven Brust | ☑☐☐ |
| A Broken Blade (…#1) | Melissa Blair | ☑☐☐ |
| Babel | R.F. Kuang | ☑☑☐ |
| The Thorn Birds | Colleen McCullough | ☑☐☐ |
| L’ami prodigieuse | Elena Ferrante | ☑☐☐ |
| Through Black Spruce | Joseph Boyden | ☑☐☐ |
| The Orenda | Joseph Boyden | ☑☐☐ |
| Fresh Water for Flowers | Valérie Perrin | ☑☐☐ |
| Deficiency | S.C. Eston | ☑☐☐ |
| The Burden of the Protector | S.C. Eston | ☑☐☐ |
| The Story Grid | Shawn Coyne | ☑☐☐ |
| The Atlas Six (…#1) | Olivie Blake | ☑☐☐ |
| When Women Were Dragons | Kelly Barnhill | ☑☐☐ |
| A Career in Books | Kate Gavino | ☑☐☐ |
| Let the Rubble Fall | Mandi Lynn | ☑☐☐ |
| What Lies Above (…#1) | Caitlin Lambert | ☑☐☐ |
| Aletheia (…#1) | Megan I. Tennant | ☑☐☐ |
| The Secret Gift (…#1) | Bethany Atazadeh | ☑☐☐ |
| Scales of Ash & Smoke (…#1) | Emily L. Schneider | ☑☐☐ |
| A Taste of Magic (…#1) | J. Elle | ☑☐☐ |
| The Nature of Witches | Rachel Griffin | ☑☐☐ |
| Carval (…#1) | Stephanie Garber | ☑☐☐ |
| Isoldesse (…#1) | Kimberly Grymes | ☑☐☐ |
| The Ghost Map | Steven Johnson | ☑☐☐ |
| City of Ghosts | Victoria Schwab | ☑☐☐ |
| Revenant Prince | T.A. Hernandez | ☑☐☐ |
| Daughter of the Moon Goddess (…#1) | Sue Lynn Tan | ☑☐☐ |
| The Wish-Eater | Claire Luana | ☑☐☐ |
| Fantacy: Daughter of Fate (…#1) | Vanessa Marie Caron | ☑☐☐ |
| Cities of Smoke and Starlight (…#1) | Alli Earnest | ☑☐☐ |
| Wings of Ebony (…#1) | J. Elle | ☑☐☐ |
| The Other Side of the Sky (…#1) | Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner | ☑☐☐ |
| The Mesmerist | Claire Luana | ☑☐☐ |
| Romanov | Nadine Brandes | ☑☐☐ |
| Calico Thunder Rides Again | T.A. Hernandez | ☑☐☐ |
| When Nothing Stares Back | Marcus Vance | ☑☐☐ |
| The Slow Regard of Silent Things | Patrick Rothfuss | ☑☐☐ |
| Le Fantôme de l’Opéra | Gaston Leroux | ☑☐☐ |
| The Princess and the Goblin | George MacDonald | ☑☐☐ |
| Kafka on the Shore | Haruhi Murakami | ☑☐☐ |
| Medecine Walk | Wagamese Richard | ☑☐☐ |
| Falling in Love with Hominids | Nalo Hopkinson | ☑☐☐ |
| The Art and Science of Forest Bathing | Qing Li | ☑☐☐ |
| Kiskajeyi – I am Ready | Michael Calvert & al. | ☑☐☐ |
| The Thundermaker | Alan Syliboy | ☑☐☐ |
| Mik’maq Landscapes | Anne-Christine Hornborg | ☑☐☐ |
| Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | ☑☐☐ |
| Stitches: A Memoir | David Small | ☑☐☐ |
| Parenthesis | Élodie Durand | ☑☐☐ |
| Stone Fruit | Lee Lai | ☑☐☐ |
| Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy | J.M. Ken Niimura | ☑☐☐ |
| Spinning | Tillie Walden | ☑☐☐ |
| Ariadne | Jennifer Saint | ☑☐☐ |
| The Children of Jocasta | Natalie Haynes | ☑☐☐ |
| Daughters of Sparta | Claire Haywood | ☑☐☐ |
| Woman Eating | Claire Kohda | ☑☐☐ |
| Comfort Me With Apples | Catherynne M. Valente | ☑☐☐ |
| House of Names | Colm Tóibín | ☑☐☐ |
| Firekeeper’s Daughter | Angeline Boulley | ☑☐☐ |
| Mexican Gothic | Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ☑☐☐ |
Did you make it all the way through the list? Have you read any books on it?
(Shoutout if you can guess how many blank pages I still have reserved for this TBR)
Oh, and here’s the all books my dad gifted me over the holidays! I chose them based on what was on clearance/sale at the time (shoutout to Kerri for joining us on that shopping trip), but I forgot to add them to the TBR:
- Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville
- Strange Harvest: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects by Edward Posnett
- Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
- The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner
- Song of a Nation by Robert Harris
- After the Flood by Kassandra Montag
- The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
- Why Will No-One Publish My Novel? by Fay Weldon
I think 2023 is going to be a fine reading year.
I look forward to what’s ahead.
Renard's Reading Journal 
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