How's My 23 on 23 Challenge Going

An update to my 23 on 23 challenge and why I picked them

At the beginning of 2023 there was a challenge going on Bookstagram where you list 23 books you want to read in 2023. While I didn’t technically participate because I didn’t post, I made a list of my own. And while it’s not the end of 2023 yet, I don’t think I’ll be able to read any of the books on my list because I don’t have any of the remaining books in my physical TBR and I don’t plan to buy any more books this year. Also, I mostly shop second hand stores so what I read and what’s on my TBR is dependent on what’s available in the store and it’s not always what I plan. I also don’t read much during December because I spend all my free time with my nieces and I’m dead tired by evening that I don’t have any more energy to read.

So far, I was able to read 30% of my list. Here’s what I’ve been able to read and what I haven’t been able to read and my reasons for wanting to read them.

Books I’ve Read

✅The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - I reread Never Let Me Go in 2022 and it made me read more of Ishiguro’s works and so I added The Remains of the Day in my list. It’s one of those books with a unique tone of voice. 5 out of 5! Read my full review here.

✅Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura - I wanted to read this because of the beautiful title and the interesting premise. It’s a heartbreaking story that totally surprised me. It’s just plot twist after plot twist. 5 out 5. Here’s my full review.

✅The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami - I wanted to read more Murakami but this book made me stop reading Murakami for a while. I didn’t like this book and felt like I wasted my time. It was good, Murakami-style, but I feel like it didn’t have a point.

✅Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - I just wanted to read more classics and I was intrigued if a “classic thriller” will still surprise and boy it did. 5 out of 5 and totally meet my expectations. Full review here.

✅Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie - I was interested to know how reading a Booker of Bookers Prize Winner would feel like so I wanted to get my hands on this. I loved this book so much but it’s so heavy. I think I finished this book for two months because I kept on pausing.

✅Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - I read that this book was based on a real-life event and so, that got me interested. It definitely meet my expectations although it was a little slow plot-wise. I wrote a short review about it here.

Haven’t Read:

📖Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - This book was all over the internet so I was naturally curios but the premise of friends creating and developing a video game is what got really me interested. When I’m not reading or crocheting or watching something, I’m playing a video game. It’s just an awesome form of storytelling.

📖Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - I wanted to get started on Russian literature and this one’s always on the top of the list. Yes, I know it’s originally written in English.

📖Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - Same reason above and I also wanted to challenge myself with a mammoth book.

📖Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - I wanted to read this for the same reason as The Remains of the Day.

📖Emma by Jane Austen - I have never liked Pride and Prejudice. In fact, I’ve attempted to read it thrice now over the course of several years but end up DNF’ing it after a few chapters. I am told, however, that if you want to read Austen you should start with either Emma or Persuasion. I read Persuasion last year and loved it so that leaves us with Emma.

📖Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - I love Mandel’s writing that I plan to read all her books. Sea of Tranquility is her latest one but can’t find it in any of my local bookstores yet.

📖Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - This was all over the internet as well so naturally I have to find out if it’s as good as they say it is.

📖Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - A book where books are banned, who wouldn’t want to read it?

📖On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong - I hear this book is really beautiful and I really want to get started with Ocean Vuong.

📖Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - I just love the roll of it on my tongue. WIDE-SAR-GA-SSO-SEA. That’s all.

📖Insurrecto by Gina Apostol - I wanted to read more contemporary Filipino author and Apostol is one of the good ones. Plus, the story’s location is a town just two hours from my hometown. I almost never get to see and read the place where I grow up in literature.

📖Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin - I just wanted to read more classics and this one is always on the top of any list.

📖Letters of Van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh, edited by Ronald de Leeuw, and translated by Arnold J. Pomerans - I didn’t know much about Van Gogh’s life until I watched Loving Vincent. I learned that he was an underappreciated artist in his time and only became known towards the end of his life. I wanted to know more about him.

📖Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal - One of the most important works in Philippine history and literature. I read it for school in high school and I wanted to read it again this year for pleasure and not as a school requirement.

📖A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - I just heard that this was really good so I added it to this list. No deeper reason really.

📖Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson - same reason above :)

What was on your list of books to read in 2023? Were you able to check some on your list? Tell me all about yours.