In January, I posted my reading and writing goals for 2023 and now I'm checking in to hold myself accountable. My reading list from 2023 is at the bottom and I'll share my favorites in another post!

Reading:
Goal: Read 15,000 pages. 
Reality: I read 19,608 pages!

Goal: >50% of the authors will be marginalized or different from me in a demographic way. 
​Reality: 50.9% were marginalized or different from me in a demographic way.

Goal: Read 9 indie books
Reality: I read 9 indie books (see reading list below)

Goal: Read 2 foundational scifi novels
Reality: I read 2 foundational scifi novels: Frankenstein and I, Robot

Goal: Read 4 scifi nominees/winners from the last two years 
Reality: I read more than 4 award winners/nominess, though I'll admit they aren't all scifi, and not all nominated in the last two years: Chain-Gang All Stars (National Book Award 2023 nominee); Babel (Nebula winner 2023); Woman of Light (multiple award winner/nominee 2023); The Sixth Extinction (Pulitzer Prize 2015), All Systems Red (Nebula and Hugo 2018);  Artificial Condition (Hugo 2019)

Goal: 5 debut novels
Reality: I read 7 debut novels: Woman of Light, Lessons in Chemistry, Please Report Your Bug Here, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, The Blood Trials, Camp Zero, and Chain-Gang All-Stars

Writing:
Goal: Send >5 queries each month until I finish my potential agent list. 
Reality: Because some agents never opened in the time period I was querying, I didn't finish the list. However, that's beyond my control, so because I did send more than 5 queries per month until my list ran dry, I am counting this as a success.

Goal: Finish the draft of my current WIP
Reality: Success!

Goal: Continue to attend my critique groups and keep up with pre-reading
Reality: Success!

Goal: Attend one writing workshop or conference
Reality: I attended the PNWA 2023 conference. 

Goal: Get one short story selected for publication
Reality: Nope! I totally forgot this was a goal this year. I wrote a short story, but never shopped it around. Oops!

Overall, not bad. I only fell short on a couple goals.

​Below is my reading list from the year. My most popular genre by far was fantasy, followed distantly by scifi. Three of these books were DNRs, but at least 100 pages of each counted toward my page goal.

             Title                                          Author                    Pub Type              Genre                   Link

The Sixth Extinction                                Elizabeth Kolbert             Trad                     Non-Fiction            My Review

Woman of Light                                       Kali Fajardo-Anstine       Trad                       Historical              My Review

Arsenic and Adobo                                 Mia M. Manansala           Trad                       Mystery                My Review

Reminders of Him                                   Colleen Hoover                Trad                       Romance            Podcast

All Systems Red                                      Martha Wells                     Trad                       SciFi                    My Review

Chain of Thorns                                      Cassandra Clare               Trad                       Fantasy

Lessons in Chemistry                             Bonnie Garmus                 Trad                      Historical              My Review

Anastasia                                                 Sophie Lark                       Indie                     Fantasy                My Review

The Chemist                                            Stephanie Meyer              Trad                      Action                   Podcast

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself        Marisa Crane                     Indie                     Scifi/Literary         My Review

Please Report Your Bug Here              Josh Riedel                        Trad                       Scifi                      My Review

Fevered Star                                           Rebecca Roanhorse         Trad                      Fantasy

The Blood Trials                                    N. E. Davenport                  Trad                      Fantasy                My Review

Murder Your Employer                         Rupert Holmes                   Trad                      Mystery                 Podcast

Artificial Condition                                Martha Wells                      Trad                       SciFi

Bird by Bird                                          Anne Lamott                       Trad                        Non-Fiction        My Review

Babel                                                    R.F. Kuang                          Trad                        Fantasy               My Review

Rogue Protocol                                   Martha Wells                      Trad                         SciFi

Six of Crows                                        Leigh Bardugo                   Trad                         Fantasy              My Review

Story Genius                                       Lisa Cron                            Trad                          Non-Fiction       My Review

Crooked Kingdom                              Leigh Bardugo                   Trad                          Fantasy             My Review

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi    Shannon Chakraborty       Trad                          Fantasy              My Review

Charlotte: The Price of Vengance    James Moore                     Pre-Pub                    Mystery              Podcast

Camp Zero                                          Michelle Min Sterling        Trad                          Scifi                     My Review

The Power of Babel                           John McWhorter                Trad                          Non-Fiction        My Review

Putting the Fact in Fantasy               Dan Kobolt et. al.               Trad                          Non-Fiction        My Review
 
Love, Theoretically                           Ali Hazelwood                    Trad                          Romance            My Review

The Terraformers                             Annalee Newitz                  Trad                          Scifi                     My Review

The Legacy of Yangchen                F. C. Yee                             Trad                          Fantasy

Toph Beifong's Metalbending        Multiple                                Trad                         Fantasy

Fourth Wing                                     Rebecca Yarros                  Trad                         Fantasy                   Podcast

Frankenstein                                   Mary Shelley                        Trad                         SciFi                        My Review

The Mimiking of Known Successes    Malka Older                   Trad                         Scifi/Mystery           My Review

The Raider Bride                           Johanna Wittenberg            Indie                         Fantasy

Starlet                                            Sophie Lark                           Indie                         Historical/Mystery   My Review

Throne of Glass                            Sarah J. Maas                       Trad                          Fantasy                     My Review

iRobot                                            Isaac Asimov                        Trad                          SciFi                          My Review

Of Cinder and Bone                     Kyoko M.                               Indie                         SciFi

Poisoned Primrose                      Dahlia Donovan                    Indie                        Mystery                       My Review

Chalice of the Gods                    Rick Riordan                          Trad                         Fantasy                       My Review

Sun and the Star                         Rick Riordan/Mark Oshiro    Trad                         Fantasy                        My Review

Crown of Midnight                      Sarah J. Maas                        Trad                        Fantasy

The Dictionary of Lost Words     Pip Williams                          Trad                        Historical                      My Review

When We Left Cuba                    Chanel Kleetan                    Trad                        Historical                      My Review

Chain-Gang All-Stars               Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah   Trad                       Fantasy                         My Review

My First and Only Love           Sahar Khalifeh                          Trad                       Historical

The Savior's Champion          Jenna Moreci                            Indie                       Fantasy

Iron Flame                               Rebecca Yarros                        Trad                        Fantasy                      Podcast coming soon!

The Throne of the Five Winds    S.C. Emmett                         Trad                       Fantasy

Grunt                                         Mary Roach                             Trad                       Non-Fiction

Heir of Fire                               Sarah J. Maas                          Trad                       Fantasy

Assassin's Blade                     Sarah J. Maas                           Trad                       Fantasy

We're All Monsters Here        Amy Marsden                           Indie                      Fantasy                      My Review

Queen of Shadows                 Sarah J. Maas                          Trad                       Fantasy

I needed to squeeze one more indie book in before the end of the year to hit my 2023 goals, and thankfully I found the novella We're All Monsters Here by Amy Marsden. At 99 ebook pages, I was able to finish it in one sitting. I'm so glad this is the book I picked up!

We're All Monsters Here is like Glass Onion (aka Knives Out 2) but with a vampire named Anna. She manipulated a corporate big wig into planning an exclusive executive getaway and inviting Anna, whose app he recently bought. It's basically a vampiric buffet. Anna's weekend even improves when she has a fling with one of the assistants, Saira. However, vampire hunters show up and Anna must navigate carefully to avoid being taken out. 

This novella had a great voice and premise. Despite killing people, I really liked Anna--I mean, eat the rich, right? While I often complain novellas are too short, I thought the length of this one was just right. 

The first half was a little too smooth for me. If nothing goes wrong for the characters, I start feeling like the story is too simple and maybe predictable. When things went downhill for Anna, it was much more fun. That being said, the voice and premise kept me going in the first half. 

We're All Monsters Here is for you if you enjoyed Glass Onion, if you're looking for a sapphic urban fantasy, or if you want a quick read. It's not for you if your favorite part of fantasy is extensive worldbuilding, if you are looking for lots of twists and turns, or if you aren't able to handle blood and gore at the moment. 


Have you read We're All Monsters Here? What was your favorite novella of 2023? Let's discuss in the comments!

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah has been on my radar since January, when I read a list of the most anticipated 2023 debuts. Adjei-Brenyah has a short story collection out as well, but Chain-Gang was his first novel. It hit shelves in May 2023 and I've seen it on some lists of top reads for the year. I dove in with high expectations. 

Chain-Gang All-Stars is like if you mixed the showmanship of pro wrestling, the reality TV/punishment concept of the Hunger Games, and  America's broken prison system. Prisoners with greater than 25 year punishments are allowed to enroll in a program where they battle (mostly 1 v 1) to the death. After three years of battles, they can go free (called high freed). If they are killed, that's called low freed. The main character, Loretta Thurwar, is weeks away from freedom, and you follow her, her lover and fellow inmate Staxxx, and occasionally some other characters both inside and outside the system. 

This book was very well done. Though it incorporated many POVs, some only seen once or twice, it did a great job at denoting POV changes with separate scenes and didn't head hop. I was kept on the edge of my seat, never knowing for sure who would survive any of the battles. Even without the threat of death, the POVs outside the chain-gang were tense and added so much to the understanding of how this system was allowed to continue and how the world reacted to it. The worldbuilding and character development were very well done.

It's hard to find a downside for me. If you're not a fan of  violence, this will be a tough read for you.

This book is for you if you are a fan of the "punishments on TV" concept from The Hunger Games, if you're a prison abolitionist, or if you want to study how doing a multi-POV book can really work. It's not for you if you're not a fan of reading about violence, if you are not in the headspace to read about abusers or rapists (although one character was convicted after killing her rapist, so there's that to balance the scale), or if you're going to be homophobic about the central romance.


Have you read Chain-Gang All-Stars? What did you think about that final scene? Let's discuss in the comments!

 When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton was another recommendation from a friend. It was written by an author whose family escaped Cuba and it was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick, so I had high hopes!

The book focuses on Beatriz Perez, an adult daughter in a family that escaped Cuba during the rise of Castro. Though they'd been very wealthy in Cuba, and continued to travel in the upper echelon of social circles in Florida, they were in financial trouble. However, Beatriz's goals are not to marry rich like her sisters, no, she wants revenge on Castro for the murder of her brother. When she meets a handsome up-and-coming politician, she wonders if revenge is the right route. However, when she is approached by the CIA about going undercover to take down Castro, she's tempted to go on the war path. 

This book has such an interesting premise. A woman cold war era spy, a little romance, I was sold. I didn't know much about Cuban history aside from the very big picture events, so it was interesting to see it from a Cuban/Cuban-American perspective and learn more. 

However, Beatriz kept making decisions that drove me insane. There was not enough spy craft, and when that plot line wrapped up, I was livid. She didn't have enough agency for me. Her male romantic lead was also so forgettable that I can't remember his name, nor find his name easily in reviews or even the blub on Amazon. He's off-brand JFK from Florida, basically. To me, he wasn't worth her time.

This book is for you if you want to learn about the Cuban revolution (but not in a dates and names and places kind of way), if you want a romance with a touch of spying, or if you enjoyed Chanel Cleeton's other books, which have crossover characters with this one. It's not for you if you're looking for a spy thriller, if you're looking for a book about being in the Cuban revolution (that's all in the past in this book), or if you're looking for a more traditional romance plot. 


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Have you read When We Left Cuba? What about Chanel Cleeton's other books? Are there other cold war spy novels about women you recommend? Let's discuss in the comments!

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams is a historical novel recommended to me by a friend. It's about a woman and her contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary in the late 1800s - early 1900s. Being an etymology nerd, and knowing it had a feminist bent, I was excited to dive in. 

The novel focuses on Esme, daughter of one of the men tasked with collecting and organizing words for the dictionary. After her mother died, she spent most of her time with her father in a place called the Scriptorium, where the words were sorted and compiled. Esme found a slip of paper on the floor with a word and realized it had been lost and decided to keep it. As she grew older, she learned that some words weren't lost by mistake, but left out on purpose--often words related to the poor and especially women. She must decide what to do about it, continue to help a dictionary that loses words on purpose or save those words left behind.

This book had a lot of interesting elements. I'd never thought about what it took to make the first dictionary or the thought process behind words to include or exclude. I thought Esme lived during an interesting time in England, which included the movement for women's suffrage and WWI. 

Something frustrating about the book was that Esme took a long time to start on her character arc, so the beginning felt too slow for me. However, a lot of what was happening around Esme was interesting enough that I kept going.

Overall this book was an interesting read. This book is for you if you like Victorian-era historical fiction, etymology, and early 20th century feminism. It's not for you if you are looking for a super active character, if you're looking for a romance, of if you're not in the headspace to read about pregnancy/adoption. 

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Have you read the Dictionary of Lost Words? What other historical novels have you enjoyed? Let's discuss in the comments!