2023 in Review

 2023 was a phenomenal year for reading. I nearly doubled 2022's total at 40 books read this year. 40 books! I read so many that I can't tell if I'm getting faster at reading or if I was reading more. Either way, I read some wild books. I wish I could review every single one of them here however,  no one has time for that. Instead, I'll settle for my top five favorite reads, and let me tell you it is a hard decision between some of them.

Now before I get started, if you'd like to see the full list of what I read in 2023, you can find it on my website mkbingman.com. I link every book to their respective Amazon page and every link is directly correlated to which version of the book I read (ebook, hardback, paperback, and audiobook).

Number five is a unique entry to this list. Every point after this one is some sort of fiction genre. Atomic Habits by James Clear was an outstanding read. I actually listened to it in one sitting. It's not a very long book, just like other self-help books, but there was something about this one. It was read by the author and it felt as if he was breaking down the topics like he had been teaching them for years. It was obvious he put a ton of thought into every chapter. He kept it entertaining, which is important in the self-help genre. After listening to it, I was inspired, so I'd say Clear attained his goal through his writing.

Number four was the first book that Brandon Sanderson released in his 'Year of Sanderson'. Tress of the Emerald Sea. This was my first peek into the Cosmere, and in 2024 I hope to read a good chunk of the rest of it, with The Stormlight Archives. Tress was a ride of elation, whips and turns that I didn't expect all told by the funniest character I have ever had the pleasure of reading (which I've been informed that he is also in the Stormlight Archives).

Our next entry on this list wasn't the first but the second book in the Wheel of Time series, The Great Hunt. This is the book that encouraged me to read more fantasy books this year. I was fascinated and enthralled with it. I plowed through it, wanting answers but never getting them. I will be reading more in this series in 2024, especially since they apparently get better and less annoying (The Dragon Reborn left me annoyed and dissatisfied).

Now we are getting into the really good stuff, the stuff I couldn't put down. Number two surprised me though. After reading Terry Goodkind's Wizard First Rule, I didn't want to read anything else by him. It had taken me almost 6 years to finish this one book, and then something clicked in the back of my head. "Read Death's Mistress," it said. I ignored it until I couldn't any longer. I read the first chapter, thinking nothing of it, I didn't plan to read any further than that and then blam. Seven days later I was finishing it with the second book in the series on order. This book is good, like really good. I had enough knowledge from Wizard's First Rule to establish the world, and I could easily tell what was going on, though I probably missed many easter eggs. It is a spin-off series of the Sword of Truth so you know typical Terry Goodkind.

And the final entry on my favorite books I've read this year is actually not one entry it is seven. Years ago I read the first Dexter book by Jeff Lindsay. I enjoyed it a lot, but I don't know why I never read the rest of the series. This year I did though. I listened to the audiobooks, all of them were narrated by Jeff Lindsay, himself and they were freaking amazing. Even the last one where you could tell he was tired of the character, was great entertainment. The show is an overwhelming disappointment when compared to the source material. I wish there were more, I'd probably still be listening to them now. 

Some honorable mentions include Defiant by Brandon Sanderson, Orbits by Jeremy Scott, The Graveyard Shift by D.M. Guay, and Look Out for the Little Guy by Scott Lang (a tie-in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

(I'm not going to include my own book, Gar the Great and the Forbidden Top Shelf Shiny, in this list, however, if you want to check it out and maybe add it to yours feel free to do so! Gar would deeply appreciate it.)