2023 Mid-Year Reading Recap + Favourite Books!

Posted On July 2, 2023

Hi Readers! Half a year has passed us by. As usual, it feels like time has moved slowly but passed quickly. I have had a hell of a year so far, with way too many ups and downs than are expected in a mere six months. Life has changed for me personally. It has improved professionally. It has been mindless and mindful mentally. It has been challenging physically. It has been cherishing humanly. It has been a ride. Every day, month, year came with its own challenges and lessons. I feel like I am learning an entire life’s worth of lessons in 2023.

I had not set any reading target for this year, because I have found that having a target really puts a lot of pressure on the beautiful process of reading. This really gave me a lot of freedom to read however I wanted to. In the first half of the month, I read 45 books across 14982 pages and 17 genres. I loved 13 books a lot. I hated only 3 books. Despite having over 80 books on my physical TBR, I only read 22 physical books and 23 digitally. In terms of the number of pages, I read only 4 books over 500 pages, 20 books over 300 pages and 21 books with less than 300 pages. My top genres were contemporary, literary and historical fiction.

~~SIX FAVORITES FOR SIX MONTHS~~

From those 13 books I loved, it was tough to pick one favourite for each month. But, here we are! These are some book recommendations I can share without thinking twice.

Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Review)

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Review)

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart by Florentyna Leow (Review)

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (Review)

In addition to these six books, I also loved a few more. So, here they are:

The Winners by Fredrick Backman (Review)

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami (Review)

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zelvin (Review)

Open Water by Calub Azumah Nelson

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

Still Born by Guadulupe Nettel (Review)

~~STATISTICS~~

~~MID-YEAR BOOK FREAKOUT TAG~~

I found this tag on Instagram a few years ago & found myself committed to it. I do a mid-year reading recap anyway, but doing this tag gives me a deeper perspective into my year’s past and future reading. So, here we are!

Best Book of The Year:

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

Sometimes I am simply unable to review the books which I have loved very deeply. I can’t put my love for them into words, whether in the form of a review or otherwise. It happens on very few occasions sadly. But, Eighth Life made the cut this year. Still haven’t written about the book but it lives in my head rent-free.

Best Sequel Read This Year:

Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Review)

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano (Review)

I have not read any sequels this year, but I did read third books in a series of books. So, there’s Finlay Donovan Book 3, which I loved. And, Before Your Memory Fades, which is again Book 3 in the ‘Before Your Coffee Gets Cold’ series, also which I loved.

New Releases Haven’t Read Yet But Want To:

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Varghese

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley

This part of the tag is the one that I love. There are always so so many books on my TBR at any given point. And adding on to that are the new releases, which I have started to prefer over the backlists. So, these seven books are certainly the ones I am hoping to read this year. Fingers crossed that it actually happens!

Most Anticipated Releases for the Second-Half of The Year:

Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

 I don’t usually keep a track of my favorite authors and their upcoming books. I usually realize there’s a new book when it’s out and everybody is already reading and raving about it. But, I do have my eye on three books which are to be released in the second half. Before We Say Goodbye is Book 4 in the ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series. And, The Last Devil to Die is Book 4 in The Thursday Murder Club series. The third one is Haruki Murakami’s The City and its Uncertain Walls, but I am not sure if it’s going to be released soon. We’ll see!

Biggest Disappointments:

The London Séance Society (Review)

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (Review)

Happy Place by Emily Henry (Review)

I have always been very vocal about the books that disappointed me. I never let them go down gently after having wasted so much of my time. Luckily, this year so far, I have had only three major disappointments. Really hope it stays that way till the end of the year.

Biggest Surprise:

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Review)

The Luminaries had been on my bookshelf for over 8 years. I finally read it this year thanks to a Readalong organised by Bernie Lombardi on Instagram. I ended up loving the book, which was a surprise. I had tried to read it a few times before, but it never stuck. It’s is basically a literary thriller, which is a genre I now love because of this amazing book.

Favourite New Authors:

Jesse Q. Sutanto

Eleanor Catton

I haven’t yet read multiple books by a new-to-me author this year. But, I did read one book each from Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Very Wong’s Guide to Unsolicited Murder, and Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries, and loved them both! I look forward to reading more of their books, especially Catton’s Birnam Wood.

Books That Made You Cry:

How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart by Florentyna Leow (Review)

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (Review)

I don’t typically cry that easily and books have never made me cry (except for A Little Life.) But these two books came very close. In both of them, there were some very relatable elements that I have experienced in my life, which made reading the books difficult and yet rewarding.

Books That Made You Happy:

How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart by Florentyna Leow (Review)

The Art of Living: Reflections on Mindfulness and the Overexamined Life by Grant Snider

I think How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart sparked a lot of emotions in me, which is why you can see it in both the lists that made me cry and happy. As for The Art of Living, it made me feel lighter and less stressed. So, definitely the kind of book I will revisit often.

Prettiest Book You’ve Got So Far:

The Garden of Tales by Vijaydan Detha

I saw this book at Higginbothams, read the back cover, was intrigued, so I had to buy it. It’s really pretty and I love it!

Book You Wanna Read By The End of the Year:

Again, there are many in this category, but this is my Year of Murakami. So, I really want to read all of his books or at least come close to reading all of them!

So, that is all, folks. You probably won’t be super interested into my or anyone else’s reading statistics, but looking at them gives me joy and insights both! I will keep sharing them month after month and year after year. Happy reading! Hope you get to read some amazing books in the second half of the year!

Until next time,