I usually like to do a few year-end posts so I can review all the things I’ve been tracking and look at the results.

For this year, I did things a little bit differently and I’m going to combine a couple of posts in one, so here is my “Things I Bought” and my “Best Books” 2-for-1 post for 2023.

First of all, what did I do differently this year? In short, I made fewer rules for myself.

Part 1: Best Books

From 2016 until last year, I did the Goodreads Reading Challenge. It started as a way to motivate myself to read more and I liked having a goal to work towards, but I was curious what would happen if I didn’t set a goal for myself. Would I read just as much? Would I choose different books? I have definitely had moments in previous years when I wanted to read something but hesitated, thinking “That is a very long read and I am already behind on my goal for this year, so I better leave that one for now.”

I decided this year I would not set a goal at all and see what happened. Because I still record what I’ve read (and have no plans to stop doing that) it’s easy to go on Goodreads and manually count the books I finished in 2023. The difference is that now when I log on there is no reminder that I’m 6 books behind schedule or whatever the number is at that moment.

Currently, I’ve read 38 books and based on my holiday plans, I will probably end the year at about 42 or 43. For comparison, that is about 8 or so books less than I’ve read the last few years, which is not a huge difference, but I’m pretty sure it was in large part due to not having that external pressure hanging over me. So, that’s decided: no more reading challenges for me.

I am still trying to make a point of reading books from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of topics, but I’m not setting any specific parameters for myself.

Here are the books I enjoyed the most this year:

The Night Circus

When Women Were Dragons

Don’t You Forget About Me

Mad Honey

The Change

Part 2: Things I Bought

Starting in 2019 I gave myself various challenges about what I would try not to buy throughout the year, all along the lines of avoiding unnecessary consumer goods and focusing my spending more on experiences and things that were directly related to activities I enjoy. Each year I had slightly different guidelines that I followed and adjusted from the previous year based on what I’d learned.

At this point, I know that it’s not hard for me to avoid buying a lot of things, but I still like to keep myself accountable by making a list of all the things I buy each year so I can review at the end.

This year I made 11 purchases, which is pretty average for me. Some of them included more than one item but surprisingly the majority of the items were clothing, and only a couple were souvenirs… Unless you count clothing bought on vacation in that category, which was kind of another surprise. It definitely seems like I am more likely to buy things while I’m away.

Looking at the list*, I am pretty happy overall. Most items are being well-used, and for the few that aren’t, I have been invited to a clothing swap later this month, so maybe I can find a better home for them in exchange for something I will get more wear out of.

I plan to continue to track my purchases next year, but again, I’m not making any detailed rules around what goes on the list and what doesn’t count. If it’s a ‘thing’ and it is just for me, it goes on the list.

*I did write out a detailed list along with this but it’s just so boring I can’t stand to post it.

There’s still a couple of weeks left in the year, but I plan to leave the house only to go dancing from now on, so I don’t think I’m in much danger of seriously upsetting the total at this point.

During the first half of 2022, I was feeling like this was not a great year for books for me. I read a lot of mediocre stuff and I was starting to wonder if I had lost my love of reading, but every so often a really good one did come along to remind me that they are out there.

I set my reading challenge at 50 books for the year and I ended up reading 52, but I have decided not to do a reading challenge in 2023. I’ve found that it sometimes affects what I decide to read if I am feeling pressured to stay on track and I would rather just read for enjoyment and choose what interests me regardless of how long it will take.

Here are this year’s 5 Star books:

Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

This book is a fictional account of five different Indigenous characters who attended residential school in BC as children. It follows them after they have aged out of the system and are attempting to make lives for themselves in Vancouver.

It is a tough topic but the author does a great job of keeping you engaged with the characters and their stories, even though it can be pretty dark at times. It also has a lot of optimism and humour to even things out.

Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter

I found this book hilarious and relatable, even though the main character was single, living in the UK and broke. That was actually the main point of the book, I think, that we are all in different situations and no one has any idea what they’re doing. From the outside it might seem like everyone else has it all together and we’re the only ones that are a mess, but actually, no one knows what they’re doing.*

Even though it was pretty transparent from the beginning how the book was going to end, I still enjoyed the story all the way through.

*Or as the author of Four Thousand Weeks (see below) said “Everyone is winging it, all the time.”

True Biz by Sara Novic

This book was so interesting! The setting is a school for the deaf and the story centres on the headmistress of the school, who is hearing but was brought up by deaf parents and is fluent in ASL and deaf culture, and a handful of the students at the school. I had really never thought much about sign language or deaf culture and was completely unaware of the political issues and controversies surrounding deaf education.

I learned a lot from reading this book, but it was also an enjoyable read and it didn’t feel like educating the reader was the main purpose of the story, even though it very well might have been. There was no indication that there would be a sequel, but I am hoping the author decides to write one because I would love to follow the characters further in their lives.

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

It’s kind of a grim premise, but still a feel-good book: This YA novel takes place in a world where you are alerted on the day you are going to die. All you know is that you have less than 24 hours left, and now it’s up to you to make the most of your time. The two main characters in the story are teenagers that meet up through the app, Last Friend, because they are looking for someone to spend their End Day with.

It’s commonly advised to live each day to the fullest and don’t put things off, etc. but it starts to sound cliché when you’ve heard those things million times. Reading this book and experiencing the last day of the two main characters and how they work through their own feelings and also deal with everyone else’s reactions puts a bit of a different spin on the idea and is actually very thought provoking.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

This book is about the friendship between an elderly woman who works at an aquarium, and the octopus that is one of the exhibits. Some of the chapters are written from the octopus’s point of view and they are wonderful.

It is a bit of a mystery, as well as a feel-good story and the characters are reminiscent of a Fredrik Backman novel, which might be why it appealed to me so much. It also takes place in the Pacific Northwest, which I always enjoy.

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

This is a typical Elin Hilderbrand beach read and it is possible that I gave it 5 stars because I read it almost all in one day this month while it snowed heavily outside. It was kind of magical, so that might have influenced my opinion.

The story is about a new hotel and all the characters that work at it during the debut season. It is light and easy to read, and the characters are interesting and fun to follow.

I’m also including a few 4 Star books that were memorable or otherwise important to include:

 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This was a very entertaining read about the life of a famous actress throughout her career, as she told all her secrets to a writer hired to publish her biography. It had a lot of complex, flawed characters and was an interesting look at how complicated it is to have a private life and a public life that conflict with each other.

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe

I didn’t make any notes on this one when I finished it, so all the details are gone from my head now, but it is one that everyone should read. It’s not a slog and, as the title suggests, it’s not depressing.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

This one was not what I was expecting when I started it. I thought it would be along the lines of other time management books, but it was more philosophical. The author’s point of view is that it’s useless to try to organize yourself into being completely efficient because it’s impossible to do everything all the time. What we really need to do is figure out what’s important and focus on that instead of trying to cram more and more into a finite amount of time.

It also spends a lot of time on the idea that we are trained to always look ahead to the next thing and how we’ll get to that, instead of enjoying where we are now and living in the present. A lot of the ideas aligned with other books I have read in the past few years, reinforcing that it’s important to spent time on activities and interests that don’t have an end goal.

Pathless Path by Paul Millerd

This book is also about designing your life to be what you want rather than following the default path. I have read a lot of books similar to this one, so I didn’t give it 5 stars because it covered ground I was already familiar with, but it did have a lot of good info in it.

I enjoyed the author’s views on doing mini-experiments to test out different ways of living, creating your own culture by identifying and assessing the assumptions you make in your approach to life, and surrounding yourself with other people on unconventional paths. I am planning to do (or continue doing) all of these things in the coming year.