Checking in on your 2023 reading goal

The TBR stack that lives on the floor of my office

Now that we are solidly into fall, I figured this would be a good time to see how everyone’s doing on their reading goals for 2023. With only three months left in the year, it’s crunch time to get those pages in. How’s yours coming along?

We have a fierce debate in our office related to reading. Joe on one side. Laura on the other. Is listening to an Audiobook the same thing as reading a physical copy? If one listens to an Audiobook, are they allowed to go around claiming they’ve “read” it?

Joe would say no.

Laura would say yes.

Please comment your opinion - we need to settle this debate once and for all.

I am a hard copy reader. I don’t even like to do e-books if I can avoid it. I am a frequent patron of the East Lansing Public Library. In my opinion, borrowing books is better because 1) it saves me money and 2) I will probably never re-read it anyway so what’s the point in owning it?

I basically treat reading like a competition. I realize I am only competing with myself but I have this need to try to beat my Goodreads stats from the previous year. This year, I set my goal for 50 books and I’ve read 46 so far. I’m right on track!

And, because I love nothing more than stalking what other people are reading… Here are my 46 books of 2023:

-       The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

-       The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown

-       Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

-       The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

-       The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

-       Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah

-       Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah

-       About Grace by Anthony Doerr

-       Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

-       The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

-       The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks

-       Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

-       Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton

-       Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

-       We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

-       Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

-       Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

-       Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

-       I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney

-       Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

-       Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score

-       Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

-       Finding Me by Viola Davis

-       The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

-       My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

-       The Measure by Nikki Erlick

-       Spare by Prince Harry

-       Book Lovers by Emily Henry

-       Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid

-       A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

-       Happy Place by Emily Henry

-       The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman

-       Search by Michelle Huneven

-       Never Never by Colleen Hoover

-       The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

-       Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

-       My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey

-       The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

-       The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

-       Untamed by Glennon Doyle

-       The It Girl by Ruth Ware

-       Know My Name by Chanel Miller

-       Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

-       The Sixth Wedding by Elin Hilderbrand

-       Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly

-       They Never Learn by Layne Fargo