The Bookshelf 2023

Recapping the Wretched Bones Blog Tour X6 – Cover Reveal

The Bookshelf 2023

I usually start this now annual tradition with a disclaimer that goes something like: “I only managed to read seven books this year, but THIS ONE was really, like, sooooo long!”

It’s taken me aeons to own up to the fact that I’m just a slow reader, but there it is. Shoot me. I read for 30-60 minutes every night, and sometimes that just isn’t reflected in the numbers I put up. Anyway, I made a conscious effort in 2023 to move away from horror fiction and read a more varied selection of books, something I’ve managed largely thanks to the book club at work.

It was a drag at times, but Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 is something I will probably never forget reading. Some of the wordplay, and the conversations that go around in circles, were genius. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera is also worth a mention, even though the plot itself seemed almost secondary to the philosophical ideals the writer was determined to convey. Seeing the stage version of Noviolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names after reading the book was an unforgettable experience, and reading Animal House by James Brown was surreal because I know some of the people he talks about. I owe a lot to Loaded magazine. Without it, I probably wouldn’t even be here writing this.

Stephen King’s Billy Summers was ace. Probably his best in years. I was also pleasantly surprised by Christopher Fowler’s Full Dark House. It’s very English. Very London, to be exact. Only another twenty-odd books in the series to go!

Here are all the books I read cover-to-cover in 2023 (DNFs don’t count)

Final Winter by Iain Rob Wright (2011)

Extreme Survivors: 60 Epic Stories of Human Endurance (2019)

South by Southwest Wales by David Owain Hughes (2018)

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (2021)

Tougher then the Rest: The 100 Best Bruce Springsteen Songs by June Skinner Sawyers (2006)

Billy Summers by Stephen King (2021)

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo (2014)

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2013)

Animal House by James Brown (2022)

The Wild West by Robin May (1975)

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (1962)