2023 Year in Review
It’s been far too long since I’ve done a personal year in review. Let’s take a look back at what I read, listened to, and watched in 2023.
Reading
I read forty-three books in 2023! That’s a total of 13,759 pages, with an average book length of 320 pages. The shortest book was 21 pages (Clap Back, by Nalo Hopkinson), while the longest book was 608 pages (Death’s End, by Cixin Liu).
I explored the works of 28 authors, including Maya Angelou, Connie Willis, Susanna Clarke, Mike Chen, James McBride, Janelle Monae, and Haruki Murakami. I also made it a point in 2023 to read from a diverse set of authors. Since my favorite genre is science fiction it’s fairly easy for the bulk of my reading to come from white males, but in 2023 that demographic only accounted for 15% of the authors I read.
While it’s always difficult to pick a single favorite, the books that brought me the most joy last year were The Hate U Give, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Here are all of the books I read:
- The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
- Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams
- A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, by Becky Chambers
- Mickey7, by Edward Ashton
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
- Don’t Cry for Me, by Daniel Black
- The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, by Janelle Monáe
- The Direction of the Wind, by Mansi Shah
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
- Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
- Clap Back, by Nalo Hopkinson
- Big Shot, by Mindy Kaling
- The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- China Rich Girlfriend, by Kevin Kwan
- Network Effect, by Martha Wells
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
- This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar
- Rich People Problems, by Kevin Kwan
- Time and Again, by Clifford D. Simak
- Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala
- Death’s End, by Cixin Liu
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
- Black Buck, by Mateo Askaripour
- Death by Dumpling, by Vivien Chien
- The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson
- The Rosetta Mind: Book Two of the Rosetta Series, by Claire McCague
- Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Legacy of Yangchen, by F.C. Yee
- Fugitive Telemetry, by Martha Wells
- Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley
- Deacon King Kong, by James McBride
- The Regional Office is Under Attack!, by Manuel Gonzales
- The House in the Pines, by Ana Reyes
- Reboot, by Amy Tintera
- Rebel, by Amy Tintera
- Dracula, by Bram Stoker
- The Spanish Love Deception, by Elena Armas
- The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
- House of Gold, by C.T. Rwizi
- Standard Loneliness Package, by Charles Yu
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami
- Akata Woman, by Nnedi Okorafor
- We Could Be Heroes, by Mike Chen
Listening
I had 7,382 scrobbles in 2023! This translates to 489 hours of listening, 1,200 artists, 2,078 albums, and 4,496 tracks.
My top artists were, unsurprisingly, The Roots, Blackalicious, Kendrick Lamar, OutKast, and J-Live. My new discoveries included Dojo Cuts, Cleo Soul, Dijon, Jalen Ngonda, and Kimberose. My favorite new discovery is easily Dijon. While his album Absolutely is not a new release, it was a revelation to me. I had “The Dress” on repeat!
I even got to check out some live music, Little Brother in May and The Roots in December. These are two of my favorite acts to see and they did not disappoint. I’m happy to report that they still got it!
Watching
I watched 62 movies in 2023! Some of the standouts were The Woman King, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, A Man Called Otto, and The Hate U Give.
I viewed 478 episodes from 44 shows in 2023! My favorite overall was Travelers, while my favorite new releases were The Power and Night Agent.