2023: My Year in Fiction

I’m celebrating the New Year by sharing my list of all the fiction books I read in 2023! As you can see, I read quite a lot of books from other countries, which was wonderful. These were some of my most memorable reads of the year and I can highly recommend most of them. I also managed a few in German or French, as I continue to plug away at my language skills.

I also enjoyed some other fiction, both historical and contemporary, some children’s books, some rereads, and a couple of themed projects. A new project I’ve just begun is the Ozathon — it will continue throughout 2024 and beyond. Don’t forget to visit The Book Stop for an introduction to this month’s book, The Marvelous Land of Oz.

I have highlighted a pick from each category, but there were many others I could have chosen. With the exception of a few disappointments, each and every book was memorable and worthwhile in some way. Click on the links to my StoryGraph review or blog post for more about each book.

World Fiction

• Cloudstreet – Australia
• Portrait of an Unknown Lady – Argentina
• All Quiet on the Western Front – Germany
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Japan
• Half of a Yellow Sun – Nigeria
• Haven – Ireland
• The Count of Monte Cristo – France
• When We Were Birds – Trinidad
• The Island of Missing Trees – Cyprus
• Sweet Bean Paste – Japan
• The Girl with the Louding Voice – Nigeria
• The Great Divide – Panama
• Three Apples Fell from the Sky – Armenia

Read in other languages

• Kindergeschichten
• Krabat
• Voyage au centre de la terre

Other new to me adult fiction

• The Half-Drowned King
• The Monsters We Defy
• Demon Copperhead
• Body and Soul
• The Fortnight in September
• Search
• Our Souls at Night
• The Violin Conspiracy
• The Warm Hands of Ghosts
• A Murder of Quality
• The Temple of Fortuna
• Far Afield
• Miss Mole

Lighter fare

• The Baker’s Daughter
• Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
• Footsteps in the Dark
• Death in the Stocks
• Behold, Here’s Poison
• A Tangled Web
• Aunty Lee’s Deadly Specials
• The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
• The Christmas Appeal
• Pyramids
• The Fair Miss Fortune

New to me children’s and YA

• Thomasina
• Once There Was
• The Story Girl
• The Golden Road

Rereads

• The Farthest Shore
• David Copperfield
• Unexpected Magic
• The Neverending Story
• Tehanu
• The Star of Kazan
• The Nonesuch

Reading the Theatre

• Ruddy Gore
• Ella of All-of-a-kind Family
• Death of a Hollow Man
• Death Ex Machina

LoveHain readalong

• Rocannon’s World
• Planet of Exile
• City of Illusions
• The Word for World Is Forest
• The Telling
• Five Ways to Forgiveness

Ozathon

• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus