Time for my annual post of all the books I read in 2024. I read 59 books, 36 of which were fantasy, with my next most common genre being non-fiction, with 10 books. In the next few weeks I'll highlight some of my favorites!

I'll post more reviews of these books in the coming months. Have you read any of these books? Were any your favorites? Let's discuss in the comments!

Happy New Year's Eve! It's time to check in on if I met my reading and writing goals for 2024!
Reading Goals

1) Read my physical TBR
Achieved! I read my backlog of physical books and bought more, for a total of 25 physical books.

2) Read what my friends are gushing about
Achieved! I read 12 books with my friends, including the ACOTAR series and the Crescent City series.

3) Find comps for my next book
Achieved! I found three recently published books that are great comps to my book.

4) Keep track of reading stats, but don't sweat
Achieved! I read 59 books and 24,133 pages.

Writing Goals

1) See what working with a professional editor is like
Achieved! I had the opportunity to work with Jeni Chappelle and it was amazing. Read about my experience here!

2) Polish my manuscript and send my first query for my next book
Achieved! I finished in time to pitch at a conference in September and have sent queries since. Keep your fingers crossed!

3) Keep up with my writing groups
This one got difficult at the end of the year when work got pretty overwhelming. I had to let go of my highest-volume groups, but was able to keep up with a couple groups that have a lower volume of reading. 

2023 was a big year in reading for me, and while there are plenty of blog posts reviewing most of my reads, I thought I should highlight my favorites. Since my reviews include recommendations for who would enjoy or not enjoy any book, I think books I loved aren't always obvious. Without further ado, here are my top reads of 2023:

My Favorite Debut
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

My Favorite Award Winner
Babel by R. F. Kuang

My Favorite Writing Craft Book
Story Genius by Lisa Cron

My Favorite Indie
Anastasia by Sophie Lark

If you want to know about  other great books I read, check out my 2023 goals update post, which has links to all my reviews for the year. 
​
What were your favorite reads in 2023? Have you read any of my picks? Let's discuss in the comments!

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

A year ago, I posted my 2022 reading and writing resolutions. Now it's time to check in and see how I did. 

Reading
Goal: Read 45 books
Achieved! I read 45 books exactly and reviewed 23 of them (see links below)

Goal: 8 of those books would be indies
Achieved! I read 8 indies exactly and reviewed 3 of them (see links below)

Goal: Greater than 50% of the books would be written by female authors
Achieved! 66.66% were written either exclusively by women or at least one woman, where multiple authors contributed

Goal: At least 50% of the books would be written by authors who have a marginalized identity. 
Achieved! 55.55% were written either exclusively by or including at least one author with at least one marginalized identity

I read a ton of great books this year. It was a good mix of new, old, big hits, and quieter releases. SciFi and Fantasy tied as my most common genres, which is no surprise as those are always my favorites. 
​Here's my reading list from 2022:

Writing
Goal: Have my WIP query ready by February
Achieved! I sent my first round of queries for this project in February 2022.

Goal: Send at least 5 queries per month
11/12 on this one, can't win them all, though some months I sent more than 5. 

Goal: Complete the first draft of my next WIP by August 2022
Nope! This one is still under construction. 

Goal: Continue attending writing groups whenever possible
Achieved!

Goal: Keep up with this website
Achieved! A couple months were slimmer on content than others,  but that's the way it goes sometimes. 


I'm still deciding on my 2023 resolutions/goals. Did you achieve your 2022 goals? Did we read any of the same books? Let's discuss in the comments!

As the year draws to a close, I thought I’d go back through my e-reader and see how much I’ve read. I know my reading took off in July with the start of my new commute (all public transit, reading was safe). This doesn’t count the five unpublished novels I beta read and the countless sections of bigger works I read for my writing groups.
 
For the Podcast:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid         Historical Fiction
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal                                Science Fiction (Alt-History)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Morena Garcia                                            Horror (Gothic/Historical)
Outlawed by Anna North                                                                     Western (Alt-History)
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult                                                     Contemporary (Legal Procedural)
 
Writing Craft Related:
Take of Your Pants by Libbie Hawker
Deep POV by Marcy Kennedy  (My Review)
The Anatomy of Story by John Truby (My Review)
The Rural Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (My review)
The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
The Occupation Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (My review)
 
 
For Fun: (age category is adult unless otherwise stated)
Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare                                                       YA Fantasy (Historical)
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare                                                      YA Fantasy (Historical)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown                               Non-Fiction (Historical)
The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal                                            Science Fiction (Alt-History)  
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal                                 Science Fiction (Alt-History) (my review of the series)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir                                                            Science Fiction (Near-Future/Space) (my review)
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood                                              Contemporary Rom-Com (my review)
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin                                                          Secondary-World Fantasy
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin                                                         Secondary-World Fantasy
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin                                                              Secondary-World Fantasy (my review of the series)
The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron                                            Contemporary/Historical Fiction (my review)
Speak the Ocean by Rebecca Enzor                                                    Contemporary Fantasy (my review)
The Traitor’s Kingdom by Erin Beaty                                                    Secondary-World Fantasy (my review of the series)
The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee                                                              Secondary-World Fantasy (IP) (my review)
The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee                                                       Secondary World Fantasy (IP)
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia                           Historical Fantasy (Mythology)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab                              Contemporary/Historical Fantasy
The Impossible Contract by K.A. Doore                                               Secondary-World Fantasy
Domesticating Dragons by Dan Kobolt                                                Science Fiction (Near-Future/Biopunk)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett                                                      Historical Fiction
Dismal Dreams by Red Lagoe                                                              Horror Anthology

I have one more I'm hoping to read over the holidays:
Runaway by Emmett J Hall                                                                  Historical Fiction


Anything I read sound interesting to you? Check them out at your local library, indie bookstore, or wherever you get your books.  I have reviews up for many, but not all, so this post helped me realize I have a ton more books I can talk about! 
What did you read this year that you loved? Let's discuss in the comments!