Wow, it seems I have been neglecting this site. Such have been the distractions of 2023.
In the background however, away from this site and my YouTube channel, I have continued to use Notion daily, including using it to help me track my home library and reading goals for 2023.
Last year I managed to read 26 books which I was pleased with. Not breaking any records, but it felt a solid amount. This year I read 23 and that, believe me, is absolutely fine. Not everything has to be about numbers and target smashing. For me, I just wanted to read more than I was previously managing to make time for. I’m doing that, and I feel better for it. Notion, my trusty friend, has helped make that possible.
I find it satisfying (perhaps just me) to see a summary like this of all the books I’ve read. I can delve deeper and read my own reflections and thoughts on each one, perhaps as a reminder of their content or their significance. For those reads that really stand out, I can favourite them, highlighting them in their own special gallery view.
You can duplicate a copy of my library template, for free. Make it your own and start tracking your reading collection and reads in 2024. You will find it under my Top Uses For Notion section.
So, what did I read this year?
A mix, as was my intention. I like to try and balance fiction and non-fiction but this year leant a little more towards non-fiction.
Some fiction highlights of 2023:
I’ve really been enjoying Cormac McCarthy (who sadly died this year) and in 2023 read All The Pretty Horses. I absolutely love how McCarthy wrote his descriptions of horses – so visceral, you can tell the man spent time around them.
I read Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome to my young son at bedtime. We enjoyed the swashbuckling adventures during an English summer of a bygone age.
A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr was a welcome surprise. I have, now I am in middle-age, become rather preoccupied by nostalgia, as a concept and as an intrusive thought. Carr writes wonderfully about a man remembering a summer long ago and I enjoyed this little book very much.
In my non-fiction reading I like to try and cover my favourite topic areas – arts and medicine, nature writing, America, and philosophy.
I read Walden by Henry David Thoreau – a must read for any keen nature reader. I also very much enjoyed Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. His observations of the wilderness around him were profound.
I use Notion to note quotes as I read. This I find really valuable since I now have a magnificent resource of all the passages, phrases, and narratives that hooked, captivated, inspired, or moved me. You can duplicate, again for free, a copy of my Notion Quote Template and start building your own knowledge pool. Again, this can be found in my Top Uses For Notion templates. I explain more in the video below:
More reads and I have over the past few years been enjoying Michael Pollan and this year read The Botany of Desire. Pollan always has insightful reflections on the food we eat and how we grow or harvest it.
I read Michel de Montaigne’s The Essays: A Selection and was constantly in awe of his reflections and observations. Like a hand reaching through time.
Before I give you a rundown of the entire list for 2023, a word on audiobooks. For some, audiobooks are not books and should not count as reading. That’s fine, but know that I strongly disagree with you. I consume both audio and traditional printed books and this balance works a treat for me. It allows me to have multiple books on the go at once – a paper book for quiet time at home, and an audiobook to fit in while I’m on a walk or doing the housework. Both formats allow me to reflect on and quote from a text and this combination has allowed me to consume more books – a joyful win.
Right, the list of books I read in 2023. Disclosure: If you buy books linked to my site, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.
A Month in the Country, J. L. Carr
All The Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End, Atul Gawande
Desert Solitaire – A Season in the Wilderness, Edward Abbey
Essays of Today and Yesterday, G. K. Chesterton
Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding, George Monbiot
Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
How To Be Right in a World Gone Wrong, James O’Brien
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
No Apparent Distress, Rachel Pearson
Shackleton, Ranulph Fiennes
Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World, Michael Pollan
The Essays: A Selection, Michel de Montaigne
The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, Stephen Grosz
The Inklings, Humphrey Carpenter
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human, Siddhartha Mukherjee
Travels with Charley: In Search of America, John Steinbeck
Walden, Henry David Thoreau
Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman, Peter Korn
And there you have it. Can’t wait to get cracking with my reads for 2024. Happy reading!
Disclosure: If you buy books linked to my site, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.
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