As we approach the end of 2023, I’ve been looking back on a year of very enjoyable reading. I always have a book on the go. It’s as if I am living two lives at any one time: my own and the one created by the author.
My monthly review posts reflect my choice of the best book I have read that month. This is not to say I didn’t love reading others.
Here is a list of the books I’ve read over the last 12 months and my personal star ratings for them. The list includes quite a few murder mysteries as well as literary fiction, reflecting my current writing of a crime novel.
We all need a list of books to borrow or buy for reading over the summer holidays. Hopefully these ratings might inspire your reading pleasure over Christmas and the New Year.
Thank you for reading my blog.
Best wishes for a happy time over the festive season and into the New Year
2023 – Books read and enjoyed
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, 2022 *****
Exiles by Jane Harper, 2022 ****
A Pagan Place by Edna O’Brien, 1970 ****
Companion Piece by Ali Smith, 2022 *****
The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard, 1988 ***
One Hundred Days by Alice Pung, 2021 ****
The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves, 2021 ****
Autumn by Ali Smith, 2016 *****
Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olabus *****
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott, 2022 *****
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, 2022 ****
Imperium by Robert Harris, 2006 ***
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson *****
The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonsborough, 2021 ****
Liberation Day by George Saunders, 2022 *****
Apples Never Fall by Liane Morarty, 2022 ****
Truth by Peter Temple, 2009 ****
Lessons by Ian McEwan, 2022 *****
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivener, 2021 ****
The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane, 2022 *****
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams, 2023 ****
The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien, 2015 ****
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, 2020 ****
A Brief Affair by Alex Miller, 2022 ***
Wifedom by Anna Funder, 2023 *****
Yellowface by R. F. Kwang, 2023 *****
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, 2022 ****
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, 2023 ***
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au, 2022 *****
Still Life by Louise Penny, 2006 ****
Kidnapped. The Crime that Shocked the Nation by Mark Tedeschi ***
Beautiful World Where Are You? by Sally Rooney ***
A Bird in Winter by Louise Doughty, 2023 *****
The Watchful Wife by Suzanne Leal, 2023 ***
The Raging Storm by Ann Cleves, 2023 ****
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville ****
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, 2023 ***
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, 2023 *****
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout, 2022 *****
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante, 2015 ****
White Lies by Janice Newnham, 2022 ****
Jackdaws by Ken Follett, 2001 ***
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott, 2020 **
