Phew, what a year! I had some ups and downs in my reading this year, but overall I would say that it was a successful year!
March was my best reading month- this checks out since I was MISERABLY pregnant and could hardly move for the first half of the month, and then I was snuggling a newborn in bed for the last half of the month.
Not surprisingly, my worst month for reading was September. Although we went back to school in August, September is really the first full month of our new fall/school/work routine and it was also the month that Orion really started to become mobile, and my reading time was seriously affected.
Overall, I ended up reading 123 books. 60% of my reading was fiction, and 40% was non-fiction. And yet I find that it’s easier for me to give a non-fiction book a higher rating. The non-fiction books are also the ones that I feel confident about recommending to others- fiction feels a lot more objective to me, and I often struggle to give a ficton book 5 stars. But I have no problem LOVING and SHARING non-fiction reads!
So, here are my TOP Nonfiction READS OF 2023:
Non-Fiction:
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys Soccer Team
This book was incredible! Even though I knew the outcome, I could NOT stop reading and literally had my jaw drop multiple times. This is geared towards a younger audience and is full of pictures, but I LOVED it. I was sobbing and laughing and just thought the whole thing was incredible from cover to cover.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Phew, this was a good kick in the pants! It was so interesting and compelling and had so many tips and tricks that are easy to implement into life. I took away pointers from this book for my classroom, my parenting and myself.
Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
I read this book every time that I’m about to have a baby, because I love the birth stories in it and how she empowers women to prepare for a home birth. This book does have some scary stories of childbirth not going according to plan and some of the red tape involved in the midwifery side of things, but overall I love this book- even on the fourth read!
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir
Wow! I was completely blown away when I read this book! I have been familiar with Beth Moore and her ministry, but had no idea that she had so much happen to her throughout her life. I loved the gentle but truthful way she confronted the demons of her past, and how she wrote candidly about her time as a public figure in the Christian world. Even if you don’t know who Beth Moore is, I still think this would be a great read!
The Stranger in the Woods
This story was FASCINATING. It’s not a topic I would have expected to be so interested in, but I sure was!
Heirloom Rooms
We do not have the same style, but I loved this home decor book by Erin Napier. I loved her she encouraged using everyday objects, and items that have personal significance to you, even if they don’t come from a home decor store. The whole book just really inspired me to think about my own home and what I can love most about it, or what parts of it my kids will remember fondly when they are grown.
Hey, Hun
Honestly, THIS is the book that I cannot stop thinking about that I read this year. I didn’t love the ending as she spent the last few chapters talking about her new woke ideology, and I just had a big problem with her tone, but the other 90% of the story was impossible to stop reading. She basically pulls back the curtain on her time in an MLM, and how toxic the culture truly was. It was eye-opening and has given me a lot of new insight into the elusive “You can have it all, just DM me” culture that I see all over social media.
Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogny at Goldman Sachs
Again- a memoir that I had no real reason to think that I would like it- and I couldn’t stop reading! This is the story of a woman who rises through the ranks at Goldman Sachs- and hates every moment. She writes about the incredibly toxic culture, how she contributed to it, and how much insane amount of money that she made. The only thing that I don’t like about her story is how often she gives excuses for why she couldn’t leave- which I thought was dumb. Quit complaining about it and just leave and suck up the repercussions. Even with this bit of annoyance, I found the entire story riveting.
Becoming Free Indeed/Counting the Cost
This is a two for one because they both address the same topic: the Duggar family and how the adult children are now dealing with the ramifications of how they were raised. Becoming Free Indeed focuses more on the toxicity of the IBLP and how she is now learning how to disentangle her faith from the legalism of how she was raised. Counting the Cost is more of a scathing tell-all of the Duggar parents and how they have treated their children. Both books were excellent.
What can I say? I think my reading tastes are obvious: I like a good memoir
Since this post is getting long, I decided to dedicate a separate post to my top fiction reads! Come back on Wednesday to see that list.
What were your top non-fiction reads of 2023?