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Shirley’s 2023 Reading List //
A digital illustration of a fictional library card. The owner of the card photographed is my "froggysona" and the card says:
POND COUNTY LIBRARY
SHIRLEY'S 2023 READING LIST

And there is a barcode on the bottom. Behind the card is a pattern of California Poppies.

This is the space where I'm going to keep track of the books and articles I've read for this year!
Last year, I read a total of 32 books; 2 graphic novels; and 23 articles!

At the beginning of the year, I had a goal of reading 50 books. But in June when I re-evaluated the goals I made at the beginning of the year, I decided to change my goal from reading 50 total books to reading however many books I could.

I found that having a number attached to my goal made reading stressful—I was checking out more books than I could actually read slowly enough to truly enjoy the story. And I felt like I had to slog through some books I didn't actually like just for the sake of finishing them for the list.

Removing that number, reading felt fun again. And if I were to include graphic novels in the total tally, I did end up achieving that 50 book goal!

Unfortunately, I didn't quite track all of the articles I ended up reading. But for 2024 I may try doing a better job of that.

My favourite thing I read all year was They're Made out of Meat.

My least favourite thing I read was Fledgling (it was probably the worst book I've ever read, which was disappointing because I liked Octavia E. Butler and her perspective I gathered via articles and interviews she did.)


BOOKS

  1. Act Your Age, Eve Brown (re-read)
  2. Happily Ever Afters
  3. No Gods, No Monsters
  4. Fledgling
  5. The Magician's Nephew (re-read)
  6. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (re-read)
  7. Blackout
  8. Whiteout
  9. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (re-read)
  10. What Moves the Dead
  11. Keeper of Enchanted Rooms
  12. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
  13. The Silver Chair (re-read)
  14. The Last Battle (re-read)
  15. The Light We Carry
  16. The Cabin at the End of the World
  17. Delicious Monsters
  18. Project Hail Mary
  19. Happy Place
  20. 10 Things I Hate About Pinky
  21. How to Sell a Haunted House
  22. Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again
  23. There's Something about Sweetie
  24. A House with Good Bones
  25. The True Love Experiment
  26. A Head Full of Ghosts
  27. Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks
  28. Dance of the Dissident Daughter
  29. Women Who Run With the Wolves
  30. Counterfeit
  31. Witchful Thinking
  32. Remarkably Bright Creatures
  33. The Beast You Are
  34. The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music
  35. Rewilding: Bringing Wildlife Back Where It Belongs
  36. The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone
  37. The Twisted Ones
  38. Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror
  39. The Black Guy Dies First
  40. The Only One Left
  41. My Roommate is a Vampire

DIDN'T FINISH

The Taking of Jake Livingston

GRAPHIC NOVELS

  1. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 1
  2. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 2
  3. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 3
  4. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 4
  5. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 5
  6. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 6
  7. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 7
  8. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 8
  9. Tokyo Tarareba Girls 9
  10. Seconds (re-read)

ARTICLES

  1. Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba on Writing 'Vindicated,' the Best Spider-Man Song Ever
  2. Muriel Tramis | A First Lady of Gaming | The First Black Female Game Designer
  3. Driver charged with murder in crash that killed Hoover High School student
  4. The Power of Instant Pudding Mix
  5. Martin Luther King, Jr. Was More Radical Than You Think
  6. Dead Stadia Game Lives On Through Sneaky Steam Update
  7. Why Nintendo's Satoru Iwata refuses to lay off staff
  8. James Webb Space Telescope discovers water ice at ringed asteroid Chariklo 'by remarkable luck'
  9. VFX Supervisor Charles Gibson on 'The Ring'
  10. The Complicated Representation Of Black Immortal Bodies
  11. Watch the green comet pass the bright star Capella on Sunday (Feb. 5)
  12. Read People’s Strange (And Similar) Pandemic Dreams
  13. Hidden In Plain View Release New EP, “Tantrums”
  14. On Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes
  15. American Egyptomania
  16. How to Paint Like Hayao Miyazaki
  17. When politicians have no shame, the old rules don't apply
  18. ‘The Den’ Embodies Fear in the Digital Age
  19. HOST Review–The Scariest Film of the Past Decade
  20. ‘Juice’: An African-American Horror Classic
  21. It’s Always Someone You Know: Ghostface and Our Fear of Trust
  22. IKEA Wants Me To Think They’re Nice
  23. The Surprising Animal Science Behind Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’
  24. The Bachelor’s messy, uneven, and long-overdue reckoning with racism, explained
  25. Preserving the Indigenous and African American Heritage of Martha’s Vineyard
  26. The downfall of ‘Bon Appetit,’ one year later
  27. In a Sheep to Shawl competition, you have 5 people, 1 sheep, and 3 hours — good luck!
  28. ‘None of Us Thought We’d Be Doing Thursday 20 Years Later’: Geoff Rickly on Two Decades of Full Collapse
  29. Freedom is a Horse
  30. Goodreads Has No Incentive to be Good
  31. Powdered Sugar Pillows: The History of the Beignet
  32. Meet The Calas, A New Orleans Tradition That Helped Free Slaves
  33. African-American dessert recipes have been passed down from generation to generation
  34. For many African-Americans, sweet potato pie isn’t just a dessert, it’s about family
  35. Trailblazing pitmaster Ed Mitchell shines light on Black barbecue history
  36. The Humble History of Soul Food
  37. The Truth About Soul Food
  38. The Dark Satire And Cutting Remarks Of ‘The Blackening’
  39. Previously, On ‘Insidious’…: Everything You Need To Know Before You Watch ‘Insidious: The Red Door’
  40. We Could Be Good Friends
  41. At This Year’s Game Awards, Nobody Won

MISC

  1. They're Made out of Meat
  2. Bears Discover Fire
  3. Story of Your Life
  4. Magpies, Bridge and Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols and Rediscovering the Lost Goddess in Chinese Qiqiao Festivaland Rediscovering the Lost Goddess in Chinese Qiqiao Festival