My 2023 Book List

In what has been an annual tradition with me, I'm listing out all the books I've read this year.

(This is my fourth (!) post of this kind. Here are the posts from 2022 & 2021 & 2020.)

This year, this post is a little less work since I've been writing monthly posts where I write short & sweet book reviews. So, if you happen to see a book on this list that you want a little more information on, just take a peek at those posts!

Nonfiction

Christian

Some really great books on this list! A few that were not what I was expecting - some disappointingly so. For the most part, each of these books had something (or a lot of somethings) that I carried away from reading them. This is a category where I've spent progressively more time & I don't see that changing anytime soon because my TBR pile is mostly Christian nonfiction.

1. Start with Hello by Shannan Martin
2. Gentle & Lowly by Dane C. Ortlund
3. If by Amy Carmichael
4. Raising Emotionally Strong Boys by David Thomas
5. M is for Mama by Abbie Halberstadt
6. Raising Worry-Free Girls by Sissy Goff
7. The Time-Saving Mom by Crystal Paine
8. Find Your People, Love Them Hard by Jennie Allen
9. The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson
10. Beholding & Becoming by Ruth Chou Simons
11. Raising Confident Kids by Ed Drew
12. Breaking Free from Body Shame by Jess Connolly
13. Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson
14. What Cannot Be Lost by Melissa Zaldivar
15. Homeschool Bravely by Jamie Erickson
16. You Can Trust God to Write Your Story by Robert & Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth
17. Come to Jesus by Christa Threlfall
18. Valuable by Liz Carter
19. Hopeward by Dai Hankey
20. Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley
21. When Strivings Cease by Ruth Chou Simons
22. Reach Out, Gather In by Karen Ehman
23. Faithfully Present by Adam Ramsey
24. Make Their Day by Karen Ehman
25. The Whole & Healthy Family by Jodi Mockabee
26. The Christian Manifesto by Alistair Begg
27. On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior
28. Christmas Uncut by Carl Laferton
29. He Gives More Grace by Sarah Walton & Linda Green
30. Blessed by Nancy Guthrie
31. The Advent of Glory by R.C. Sproul
32. 52 Weeks in the Word by Trillia Newbell
33. Teach Me to Feel by Courtney Reissig

Memoir/Biography

I usually read more of these, but I guess the releases this year were less intriguing to me. The Matthew Perry book was so good. As a Friends fan & as a person who has been an eye witness to the hold addiction can have on a loved one, it had so much impact. Beth Moore's memoir is also so, so good. If you get a chance to listen to the audiobook of her reading it, listen to it! I didn't know much about her before, but this book gave so much candid insight into her faith. Loved it.

1. Friends, Lovers, & the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
2. All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore
3. Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo
4. What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana

Parenting/Home/Personal Development

A little bit of a mixture on this one! A few that I put up in the Christian category could've been here, too.

1. Modern Miss Mason by Leah Boden
2. Adventuring Together by Greta Eskridge
3. Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
4. The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson
5. Beyond the Bake Sale by Anne T. Henderson et. al.

Fiction

Classics

Some of these were re-reads, but a few were new to me! Most of these are also read-alouds I did with my kid or kids.

1. Betsy & Tacy Go Over the Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace
2. Sarah, Plain & Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
3. Betsy & Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace
4. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
5. Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen A. Taylor
6. Five Children & It by Edith Nesbitt
7. Theatre Shoes by Noel Streatfield
8. Emma by Jane Austen
9. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
10. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
11. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
12. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Juvenile/Young Adult

A mixture of older & newer titles. Some were better quality than others. Mostly light-hearted & fun. But most importantly WINGFEATHER!!!!

1. Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
2. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
3. The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
5. Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean
6. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
7. The Warden & the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson
8. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Contemporary

Circe was a title I've seen on so many lists recently, so I finally got around to reading it. The mythology angle was pretty interesting. I also finished the series by Julie McElwain that I've been following for a while.

1. A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin
2. Caught in Time by Julie McElwain
3. The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
4. Betrayal in Time by Julie McElwain
5. Shadows in Time by Julie McElwain
6. When in Rome by Sarah Adams
7. Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams
8. The Marriage Season by Jane Dunn
9. An Unsuitable Heiress by Jane Dunn
10. Circe by Madeline Miller
11. The It Girl by Ruth Ware
12. Kit McBride Gets a Wife by Amy Barry
13. Ripples in Time by Julie McElwain

Christian

Only a couple here this year. It's hard to find titles worth trying or finishing. Some I quit after reading the first paragraph if the writing is bad. I'm open to your suggestions!

1. The Rose & the Thistle by Lauren Frantz
2. The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar

Not as long of a list as in years past, but I slowed down on purpose so that I could be a little more thoughtful of what I'm reading. It's been a good change for me.

Are you looking for bookish gifts to give to your reading friends? I just wrote a whole post about that & I'm sure I'll be adding to it regularly because I tend to get these gifts regularly! Haha!

I just recently became an Amazon affiliate, so use this link to go to shop for your own books!

Did you see any titles that you also read this year? Any suggestions for what I should add to my stack of books to read? Please let me know in the comments!

Cheering you on!

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