2023 in Books, Part 1

 Wow...I wrote exactly one post last year. I'll try to do better this year!

I managed to read 81 books this year. Hours on the bus for work helped a lot; with my job, I travel all over Edmonton and the surrounding area. The round trip from my house to Spruce Grove alone is good for about half a novel! The result of doing so much reading on the bus does mean that my fiction list largely outweighs nonfiction because "bus reading" is generally lighter; I'll need to keep a closer eye on that this year and be more intentional about mixing up my reading more.

To start, then, this year's top picks for fiction:

Historical Fiction:

The Daughter's Tale by Armando Lucas Correa: Trying to survive as a Jew in France in WWII.

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles: Trying to survive as a librarian in France in WWII.

Christmas Bells by Jennifer Chiaverini: A double story; one part takes place in the life of Wordsworth in the years leading up to and during the American Civil War, including him writing the poem "Christmas Bells", while the other looks at the stories of a group of people (wife, choir boy, choir girl, widow, priest, nun, music teacher, accompanist) and how their lives overlap in present-day Boston. It was one of my favourite stories this year.

The Flower of the Family by Elizabeth Prentiss: A lovely, older story about a girl and her family and her life; there's no great adventure, just life. (This could go under youth as well, or maybe young adult.)

Youth Fiction (there weren't many this year; these were both recommended by a friend):

The Heart of Arcrea by Nicole Sager: A story about a quest and the people who join on the way, and about trusting God. I'm currently reading the second in the trilogy and planning to start the third once I borrow it!

The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers: My previous blogpost (the only one of 2023) was a review and recommendation of this one.

Mysteries (I read a lot of them this year; they were excellent bus books)

The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman: Part of the Thursday Murder Club series; I enjoy the series and am happy that there's a new one out (I am currently number 72 in line at the library, but there are 51 copies, so I should have it soon enough).

Chocoholic Mysteries by JoAnna Carl: I read 5 of them; the main character works at her aunt's chocolate store.

The Highland Bookshop Mystery Series by Molly MacRae: I read all 5 of them and am waiting for another one; these are probably my favourites and they involve a group of ladies who run a bookshop/tea shop in Scotland.

The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes series by Leonard Goldberg: I read 6 of them; the main character is the daughter of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler, and she solves mysteries alongside elderly John Watson and his son, the younger John Watson.

Kate Shackleton Mysteries by Frances Brody; I read 10 of them; they take place in the 1920s and star a war widow who started by trying to track down any record of her husband after he was "missing and presumed dead" and from there began solving other mysteries as well.

My only problem with the mystery series that I enjoyed is that I've read all of them (or, in the case of the Chocoholic books, all that the library has). I'm going to have to find new books this year!