Have I become a bookfluencer? Nope, not at all. I gave up quite quickly and just resumed it in December. I’m not good at producing nice content frequently. Neither in the blog, nor at instagram. I’m not good at creating cute pictures and since I read most of the stuff digitally, it’s even harder to make nice pics with an old Kindle đ I still want to participate, but I probably never will be more than an occasional commenter and I think I have to accept that.
Early this year, I made a list with 23 books I wanted to read in 2023. Most of them were ancient and on my TBR shelf for maaaany years. I managed to finish 13 out of those 23. Not great, but considering that I don’t care for quite a few of them, not a bad result.
- Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko 5/5 really loved it. It’s the sequel to Raybearer and an exciting YA fantasy adventure, based on West African culture and lore.
- Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn 4.5/5 A cute novella about a trans Cinderella, who can be herself with everything it includes. I continued immerdiately with the two other novellas “Mer Made“, and “Beauty’s Beast“. The series is called Black Trans Fairy Tales and they are very good.
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett 5/5 I loved the series and found a full cast audio production on Spotify, so I listened to it rather than reading it. And knowing the story certainly helps with audiobooks. I tune out easily and if I don’t know the story, I’m missing a lot of details, but this book is so close to the show, it was always easy to get back into the story.
- Vom groĂen und kleinen Winderstand by Heribert Prantl 4/5 A collection of newspaper columns, speeches and other short stories about politics and society. Not my regular genre, but interesting.
- Die Menschheit hat den Verstand verloren by Astrid Lindgren 4/5 A diary by a regular woman in the neutral sweden during WW2. So mundane entries, discussing the terrors of war from the position of someone who is not involved, other than suffering from food rationing and other household items. Always humble at how lucky her family is to have a warm house, usually enough food and a quiet nice life.
- Die Frau des Zeitreisenden (The Time Traveller’s Wife) by Aidrey Niffenegger 4/5 and that was kinde generous. It was ok, but I didn’t love it.
- Was weiĂe Menschen nicht ĂŒber Rassismus hören wollen by Alice Hesters and Hört auf zu fragen. Ich bin von hier! by Ferda Ataman 4/5 are both booky by foreign looking women in Germany, telling their stories with the day-to-day racismm and stupidity.
- Muh! by David Safier 3.5/5 A group of cows are escaping the slaughterhouse. A cheating bull, relationship drama and a happy end. Quite funny and silly
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman 4/5 The Gods are quite some assholes, to be honest! Not Gaiman’s fault, but I was quite pissed about the stories đ
- Die 1% Methode (Atomic Habits) by James Clear 4/5 Did not impress me much. Apparently, I liked it, but to be honest, I don’t remember a thing, so certainly not life-changing
- You’re never weird on the Internet (almost) by Felicia Day 4.5/5 I like her a lot and her story is quite impressive.
- Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams 3/5 To be fair, I think the book is not bad. Again, the day-to-day racism from the perspective of a Jamaican-British woman. But this is a novel and not a memoir kind of thing. And I absolutely hate contemporary fiction / romances, so I fought to finish this book. If you’re into that kind of genre, this is a pretty nice and honest book.
Iâm probably keeping that list and try to finish it in â24. I have a bit less than two shelves with unread physical books, but a few 100 collected free books on my Kindle. Iâm not reading all of them, because my taste has changed over the years, but Iâve joined a âtackle your unread Kindle freebiesâ challenge on Instagram đ Additionally, Iâve got a library card this year and have a looooong TBR there as well. Too many books and not enough timeâŠ
But Iâm quite happy with my progress overall. Iâve read quite a few old books, listened to 4 audiobooks and didnât collect too many new freebies.
How are you with your different TBRs?
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