2023 Yearly Reading Wrap-Up

     Back again for another fun month of book suggestions? Here are the things Kristin and I have been reading since the last wrap-up. Be sure to tell us if you see any of your favorite reads, something on the never-ending To-Be-Read list, or if you know of a comparable title we might enjoy. Thanks again for reading! Write on.

Kamryn:

        Before we get into the first ever Yearly Reading Wrap-Up, I finished reading two books in December. I did a quick re-read of The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan and I finally finished out The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins with the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I still have not seen the movie as I wanted to watch it with the book fresh in my mind, but I will say that I think this book is a fantastic prequel. It has a very interesting worldbuilding that feels very different from the first series, yet you can see how one world eventually leads to the other. I enjoyed all the little nods and hints to the original series that help you reshape what you think you know, and as always, Collins’ writing technique is excellent in terms of storytelling, suspense, and examination of humanity’s potential for good and bad.

Okay, so now that I’ve gotten December’s reads covered, let’s talk about my favorite reads over the course of 2023. By my tentative count (which hopefully is sort of correct haha), I seem to have finished about 35 books over the year, not counting books I started in 2022, began but didn’t finish, or read more than once.

One thing I did a lot of this year is I revisited a lot of books I hadn’t read in a long time. I did this for two reasons: 1) To enjoy a book I remembered liking but hadn’t read in a while, and 2) To revisit a lot of stories I really loved as a reader and examine them through the lens of a writer. Learning to read for technique is something I think every writer should try to train themselves to do, though it can be a bit hard at times. Honestly, I don’t think I really started reading this way until after I took a college class in creative writing, and started trying to pay attention not only to what the words of a story are arranged to say, but also how they’re used in order to say it. When you’re reading casually, you might not always pay attention to things like word choice or writing to build tension, but noticing and learning from technique will help to improve your own writing.

So, let’s talk the books that made the top of my list. Obviously, since I’ve rambled on non-stop since I got it, The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman was my favorite read of 2023. This swashbuckling story was just an explosion of some of my absolute favorite story elements: mythology, elemental magic, adventure, humor, suspense, romance, and complex characters. It’s a thrilling book and I cannot wait for the second one, plus bonus points for the gorgeous cover. I’ve read a lot of books by Amie Kaufman- all of which are good- but I think this one tops my list for her just because it played right to a bunch of my favorite story elements.

My favorite new series that I read was actually the first one I read this year and that was the Renegades trilogy by Marissa Meyer. As popular as superheroes are, you don’t typically see them in a format that’s not a movie or comic, so I really liked seeing that in a full-length series. It was just a fun series- I liked the creativity, the characters, and the constant challenge to the thinking of the world being only made up of heroes and villains. Love that gray area!

2023 graced us with two new books from Rick Riordan and a Percy Jackson TV show, which I loved because the Riordan-verse is my favorite. The Chalice of the Gods and The Sun and The Star (Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro) were extremely interesting studies into established characters like Percy and Nico. These books are funny, heartfelt, and worth the read.

As I said, a lot of this year for me was rereading, so some of the series I covered were James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series, the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, The False Prince series by Jennifer A. Nielsen, and The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. All of these were very fun to revisit, but I think Beautiful Creatures was my favorite to go back to. I love magic in all stories, but hiding it just under the nose of the comical characters in a small Southern town is so fun and hilarious that I cracked up the whole time I was reading it. The series I enjoyed the writing technique the most on was probably The Hunger Games, as Collins is so good at suspense and raising the stakes. I also liked that in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (the prequel) some of her word choice was extremely specific in regards to showing character’s perceptions and true motivations. Lastly, this one was kind of a mix of reread and new read because I read The False Prince back when it was originally a trilogy, but I didn’t know that two books had been released since then. I hope this is a series more people read because it’s very good. The technique of playing off the reader’s assumptions, the witty humor, and the high stakes make it a fantastic read. 

Kristin:  

This year I had a tendency to read in big bursts. I would read one (or more) at a time, sometimes finishing 400 page novels in a day and then go weeks without picking up a book. But the books I read were so good. If you know anything about the genres of these books, you’ll see a clear trend and that was definitely the theme of this year for me. 

In particular, Song of Achilles and They Both Die at the End had been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read and finally, I got around to reading them. Both were fantastic standalone novels. Song of Achillies has to be one of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. They Both Die at the End was beautifully tragic in its own way, raising a lot of thoughts and reflections on how I’m spending my time and how grateful I am that Kamryn (my favorite co-writer here) encouraged us to get back into writing nearly two years ago. I read a total of sixteen novels and far more comic adaptations/manga volumes which honestly is far less than Kamryn, however, as a busy mom this was a lot for me. 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Heaven Offical’s Blessing have officially taken over my life and become my “Roman Empire” (as was the trend saying of this year). They are beautiful, tragic, exciting, romantic, and I wish I could experience the magic of reading those novels for the first time all over again. These two novels have definitely encouraged me to want to read more light-novels in the upcoming year though I think Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation especially will always have a special place in my heart. I’m hoping in the new year to read through the novels that I’ve been gifted and have been staring at me from my bookshelf and more Xianxia. 

That’s all for this year! Be sure to let us know what you’re reading and we’ll see you in January! Maybe 2024 will be the year you guys will get to add The Visionary to your reading lists (hint, hint). As always, write-on!