It’s been a long time since I’ve done a wrap-up, so I thought I’d catch y’all up to speed on what I’ve been reading so far this year!
As of March 31, 2023, I had read 39 books, which was quite a bit ahead of schedule for my goal this year of reading 125. It’s possible that around the halfway mark of this year that I’ll bump the goal up to 150 books, but that’s a problem for future-me.
Here’s my breakdown and thoughts for each month so far:
January
I read 14 books in January, which I’m quite satisfied with in terms of quantity, though the quality of the books I read was lacking to say the least. I apparently decided to torment myself by reading the entire The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, Rivals (the third book in the American Royals series), The Duke and I (the first Bridgerton book), and a variety of other romances that I know I wasn’t going to enjoy that much. They were all quick and light reads, but I honestly cannot recommend any of them in good consciousness.
Side note: How did Jenny Han go from writing The Summer I Turned Pretty, a veritable train wreck, to writing the absolute peak of YA contemporary romance with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before? The world may never know.
In spite of all of the horrible reads this month, I did read four 5-star books, as well as one honorable-mention 4.5-star book. The latter was Ariadne, by Jennifer Saint, while the 5-star reads were The Stardust Thief, by Chelsea Abdullah (who may be a new favorite author); Beartown, by Fredrik Backman (which I’m not surprised by; Backman has never failed me); Chain of Gold, by Cassandra Clare (which was a reread in preparation for Chain of Thorns); and Counting Down With You, by Tashie Bhuiyan (an absolutely unexpected standout of the month).
February
I read 11 books in February, almost all of which were solidly in the 4-star range (I had seven 4-star reads, and then one each of 2.5-. 3-, 4.5-, and 5-star reads). It was definitely a solid reading month; there was only one book I didn’t like at all, and everything else was at least somewhat enjoyable.
The absolute standout read of this month has to be The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang. This book meant the absolute world to me. I’m autistic, but had never read an autistic female protagonist written by an autistic author before, and the experience was absolutely extraordinary. The plot wasn’t even that amazing in the range of romance fiction, but I had to give it 5 stars simply for the tears it brought to my eyes at actually getting to relate to a character so much. My autism doesn’t present in exactly the same way that the protagonist, Stella’s, does, but she was still so much more like me than the vast majority of neurotypical characters. This is why representation is so important.
March
March was another decent reading month. I read 14 books with an average rating of 4 stars, so definitely not too shabby. My two 4.5-star reads this month were It Happened One Summer, by Tessa Bailey, and Better than the Movies, by Lynn Painter, both of which were just super cute, swoon-y romances. The four 5-star reads were Circe, by Madeline Miller (a full review of which is coming in the next week or two); Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas (which was a reread); Unseelie, by Ivelisse Housman (another autistic female protagonist that brought me to tears; full review also coming soon); and Spy X Family Volume 1 (because apparently I like manga now).
Reading plans for the coming months
Overall, I’m just taking reading for the next two months as it comes; there’s quite a few books that I’ll be reading for my classes that I’m quite excited about, but I’m also hoping to start the first Mistborn trilogy and maybe knock out some of the YA fantasy standalones that have been sitting on my shelf for ages.
I’m also currently reading Priory of the Orange Tree, which I’m hoping to finish today. I’m absolutely adoring it—it’s the first book I’ve read so far this year that I know for certain will be in my top 5 reads of 2023.
I’ve also started thinking about what my bookish plans for the summer are. I’m hoping to get an internship or job, but reading will definitely take up the majority of my time outside of that. The big goal is to cut down on the number of unread books I own, both by un-hauling some of the ones that I’ve had for years and realistically know that I’ll never get to, and by prioritizing books I own over library books (the biggest reason for my ever-expanding TBR pile being my addiction to ebooks from Libby).
I’m also considering starting a BookTube channel this summer. I’ve really been getting into watching BookTube videos recently, and I feel like it might be a better platform for me and the type of content I’d ideally like to create than either this blog or Bookstagram. I also think it could help me with gaining confidence in speaking, since that’s something I’ve struggled with a lot as an autistic person. It’s still only in the very early planning stages, but that may be something that you’ll see from me in June or July.
That’s really all I have to say for now, but I’m hoping to be blogging a lot more than I have been the past month or two, so I’ll see you around!
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