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The 40 Most Read Books of the 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge (So Far)
Time once again, gentle readers, for our midyear check-in on the Goodreads Reading Challenge, in which readers push themselves by pledging to read a set number of books for the year. Lots of activity this time around! Six million participants and more than 250 million books pledged?! Crazy numbers!
We’ve collected below the most popular books completed so far in this year’s Reading Challenge. That is to say, the books that people are marking "read" as part of this year's Challenge.
There are a few clear takeaways here at the halfway point. As is typical, the list tends to favor a few Very Popular Authors, each of whom has multiple individual books clocking in. For instance, Colleen Hoover, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Sarah J. Maas. Romance continues to be a popular genre in the Challenge, but you’ll find other specimens, too: domestic thrillers, inventive fantasy, giant octopi, this sort of thing. Not surprisingly, you’ll also find plenty of nominees and winners of past Goodreads Choice Awards.
Take a leisurely scroll through the images below, click through the cover images for more details, and feel free to add to your own Want to Read shelf.
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What are some of your favorite reads so far this year from your own 2023 Reading Challenge? Let us know in the comments!
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Susan
(last edited Jun 22, 2023 11:13AM)
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Jun 22, 2023 11:07AM
Wow, only TWO nonfiction books, and one is Harry's memoir? That's kind of sad.
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vivienne wrote: "this list is abysmal? do ppl not get tired of reading the same shit over n over again? how are 90% of the most read books this horrible."I know, people need to read better stuff!
Amber wrote: "Y’all need to read some non fiction like damn. And step away from the Colleen Hoover."Ha, I agree! Most of these books are nothing I would read.
Yess wrote: "That's a lot of Colleen Hoover, a little too much actually."Amen!!
21 Read and 17 on my TBR. Some of these of which I will not mention, there seems to be a lot of. Not my cup of tea but if you enjoyed it, that's all that matters.
None of these social-feel-good books appeal to me.
I highly recommend: Time Pieces by John Banville; Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen; The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak; Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. A few favourites of the 50 I've read so far. There are never "too many" books to read. And never apologize for your taste in reading!
Jessica wrote: "I DNF'ed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow at about 75 pages in... Didn't know where it was going and there wasn't ANYTHING happening imo... 😅😬"Ditto. nothing about the story was compelling enough to keep on...
Who is Colleen Hoover, the new Anne Rice or something?
Have read 5 and have no desire to read the other 35. Also, agree that there is a marked lack of non-fiction.
Dan wrote: "And that the majority of what is suggested for reading in this vein being over 90% written by female authors? "Why does the sex of the author matter? Bag on the genres and writing all you want, but this particular complaint makes you sound really bad.
Most of these GR lists are popularity contests and a majority of GR users are female. (And yes, I think that, at least these days, reading does tend to be more of a female pastime. One could speculate about ascribing this to the popularity of video games among adult men.) So these lists will skew toward literary genres that are more popular with women, specifically the kinds of women who are most likely to join a book-related online community. As it turns out, their tastes don't overlap much with mine, either. Not the first time I haven't been part of the "in" crowd. I'll wait for one of the more curated lists to find reading suggestions.
Hate Colleen hoover with a burning passion it’s a shame she’s on here so much but that being said I have read 14 of these books
I read Lessons in Chemistry last year - made it to my Book of the Year. The only other one on my list is Matt Haig's Midnight Library.If you like LiC, try The Physicist's Daughter and The Diamond Eye
Dana wrote: "I'm getting really tired of seeing these same titles everywhere, on booktok and bookstagram and displayed prominently in bookstores."Agreed! I’d like to see a list of great books that have been overlooked or authors to read you may not have heard of. We already know what the popular ones are, because everyone and their dog has them on their reading list.
I’ve read 19 of these and have 3 sitting on my bookshelf!! Was *not* a fan of the three Colleen Hoover books I read. But Taylor Jenkins Reid and Sarah J Maas are good, I also LOVED “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” and “Mad Honey” for books that aren’t by the popular authors.
Everyone in this comment section is such a snob. Let people read what they want to read???? Reading should be for pleasure and if you're so upset about it why don't you suggest some new books in the comment instead of shitting your pants about seeing these books everywhere.
I have read 7, and I have 14 on my TBR. 🤪 Having an infant, I haven’t had as much time to read.
I've only read the Spare. And i didn't even like that very much, lol
15/40 read and 11 more on my want to read list
I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and would like the time I spent reading it back, please. No real interest in any of the other books. Possibly best thing I read this year is Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz or Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
I’ve read 13 of them and have one on my tbr.
I've read 0 (zero, NONE) of the books on this list!! 🤣And 97% of the books on the list aren't even on my TBR! 😉
I’ve read 17 of these books. I guess we know where I get my recommendations from. 😬
Amber wrote: "Y’all need to read some non fiction like damn. And step away from the Colleen Hoover."I agree completely
We need a list of the least-read 2023 books so we can show them some love!!
Colleen Hoover?? Let's get some more range in our reading choices people!!!
From this reading challengeRead: 12
Want to read: 6
Currently reading: 1
Amber wrote: "Y’all need to read some non fiction like damn. And step away from the Colleen Hoover."so true!!
Only read one from this list... The Midnight Library... The rest look so tempting, although I'm restricting myself to the Evelyn Hugo, The Silent Patient, and the Guide to Murder books for this year... Doesn't anybody feel like there are too many books out there, and so many keep coming every week?
In addition to a couple of books on the list, some of my favorites from this year are: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Horse by Geraldine Brooks, and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
I've read 9 of 40; no plans to read the Colleen Hoover books...so that leaves 27. Guess I'm making a trip to the library this morning...here's hoping that a few of them are available.
Everyone is complaining about Colleen Hoover having 6 on the list, but Taylor Jenkins Reid has 5 and no one's complaining. How about we just let people enjoy what they want to read? It's literally not hurting anyone. Also, when people like a book, they tend to want more of the same author so let's just celebrate reading and not judge people. Crikey some of you people sound terrible to be around.
Jessica wrote: "I DNF'ed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow at about 75 pages in... Didn't know where it was going and there wasn't ANYTHING happening imo... 😅😬"I did the audio and it is one of the most overrated books I have ever read. Hands down. There some moving parts but overall, I have no idea why it got so many accolades.
For a group of people who consider themselves too highbrow for this collection of books, many of you are expressing a glaring logical fallacy in the assumption that the people who are reading these books are also not ever reading anything more substantive (per you.)This is simply a list of the books that the most number of people have read so far this year, which implies nothing about ratings of these books or about individual readers' other selections. Yes - Colleen Hoover fans are probably reading a lot of other Colleen Hoover and romance, generally. But a book being popular at this scale likely means it's reaching a broader audience than its expected target. Meaning, it's extremely likely that someone who reads romance only occasionally, or even someone who almost entirely reads outside the genre might have ended up picking up a Colleen Hoover this year and read it because it was popular and came recommended to them. Maybe that's the last Colleen Hoover they'll ever read, but their having read it means it counted toward this list.
I see Fourth Wing and Crescent City 1 and 2 being added to this list before the year is over! I thoroughly enjoyed both and anxiously waiting for the next installments to be released!
Deen wrote: "I've only read two books on here. I guess I've got a lot of catching up to do."Don't. Read something better. Most of these are utter pulp.
Law wrote: "None of those books are on my TBR yet, but they do sound interesting, especially The Song of Achilles."Hear hear. Recommending... East West Street by Philippe Sands
I have read precisely 1 of these and plan to keep it that way. Very few, if any, of these are worth spending time reading, even for unwinding.
vivienne wrote: "this list is abysmal? do ppl not get tired of reading the same shit over n over again? how are 90% of the most read books this horrible."They didn't list the best books, just the most commonly read ones, so some trash was inevitable but I was quite surprised at the %, I'd put it at 98+
Read one and none of the others are on my to be read list, lol... I adored the Inheritance games...
