It is that time of year again. One of my favourite points in the year for my blog. A STATS CHECK! I don’t know what it is about statistics but I love it! And before we get into it. I am doing even better in 2023 than I was in 2022. I am so shocked! The slump will hit me soon!

I am covering from January 1st all the way up until now. So for a quick recap my main hope was to:

1. Read 100 books
2. Read 12 sequels
3. Read 30 books from my physical TBR
4. Read 3 books from all of my monthly prompts
5. Read 12 short stories from Tor.com

For a more in-depth look at my goals for 2023, check it out here.

Goodreads Reading Challenge

So far this year, I have read 55 books. The most ever! This time last year, I had read 35 books. That’s 20 more books compared to last year. It literally baffles my mind how I have done it! I have narrowed it down to two things.

1. I moved house just before Christmas and its anywhere between 30mins – 1 hour on my morning and evening commute so that gives me plenty of time to read. I have read on average 70 pages a day minimum on my bus journey. Sometimes I read more on my lunch breaks or when I get home and sometimes the bus is so delayed, I finish the book!
2. I really focused on manga and graphic novels this year following on from 2022. I have stopped feeling guilty of counting them towards my goal as I think it’s ludicrous to say they don’t count when authors and illustrators work so hard to produce these pieces of work. I mean I dedicated the entire month of January to manga so I could boost my reading goal up in case I get hit with a slump later in the year.

2022 Sequels

So, a bit of a change for my sequel challenge this year. Normally I try to read all of them in a single year but I entered 2023 with 23 different series and I just knew, with the new book club I started and all these other bookish events that I am working on, that I was never going to be able to read all those 23 books. So, I planned to read 12 books. One for each month and so far, I have read 5 sequels this year. This is all on track for the end of the year which makes me super happy. I have enjoyed all of these books – they were all 4 star reads.

The sequels I have read include:

1. The Promised Neverland, Vol. 7 – Kaiu Shirai (I have since then read up to volume 14)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol.2 – Akira Himekawa
3. The Girl from the Other Side, Vol.2 – Nagabe
4. Moriarty the Patriot, Vol.2 – Kyosuke Takeuchi
5. Murder in Mesopotamia – Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #13)

Physical TBR

Now, I failed my Physical TBR challenge horrendously last year. Since working at the bookstore, I had obtained so many new books and I had been reading them instead of prioritising the books I already owned. I think I ended up reading 10 of my planned 30… not good. So I decided to keep my original goals from 2022 and read 30 books from my TBR. This year, I have read 18 books out of my planned 30! That is only 10% of the TBR I entered 2023 with but I am still happy with the progress.

The books I have read include:

1. The Ashes of London – Andrew Taylor
2. Children of the Whales, Vol.1 – Abi Umeda
3. Drifting Dragons, Vol.1 – Taku Kuwabara
4. Inuyasha, Vol.1 – Rumiko Takahashi
5. Legendborn – Tracy Deonn
6. Legends and Lattes – Travis Baldree
7. Night Train to the Stars – Kenji Miyazaki
8. Promise Boys – Nick Brooks
9. Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol.1 – Sorata Akiduki
10. The Faraway Paladin, Vol.1 – Kanata Yangino
11. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab (DNF)
12. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride – Roshani Chokshi
13. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels – Janice Hallett
14. The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books – Martin Edwards
15. The Trial of Lotta Rae – Siobhan McGowan
16. This is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (DNF)
17. Whose Body? – Dorothy L. Sayers
18. Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Vol.1 – Fujita

Monthly Prompts

So a new challenge for this year was my monthly prompts challenge. Another challenge to help me get through my tbr. Each month I chose a specific prompt of which I have to read 3 books that match it. This has allowed me to pick up books that have been sitting on my shelves for ages. So far I have completed my 4 prompts from Jan – Apr.

• January – Manga

  • The Promised Neverland Vol.7-11 – Kaiu Shirai
  • Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol.1 – Sorata Akiduki
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol.1 – Akira Himekawa
  • Drifting Dragons, Vol.1 – Taku Kuwabara
  • Children of the Whales, Vol.1 – Abi Umeda
  • The Faraway Paladin, Vol.1 – Kanata Yanagino
• February – Romance

  • The Last Tale of the Flower Bride – Roshani Chokshi
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
  • This is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
  • My Killer Vacation – Tessa Bailey
  • Inuyasha, Vol.1 – Rumiko Takahashi
  • Blood in the Thread – Cheri Kamei
  • Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku – Fujita
• March – Mystery

  • Tokyo Express – Seicho Matsumoto
  • Whose Body? – Dorothy L. Sayers
  • Usotoki Rhetoric, Vol.1 – Ritsu Miyako
  • Promise Boys – Nick Brooks
  • Murder in Mesopotamia – Agatha Christie
• April – Historical

  • The Ashes of London – Andrew Taylor
  • Moriarty the Patriot, Vol.2 – Ryosuke Takeuchi
  • Scarlet – Genevieve Cogman
  • Yona of the Dawn, Vol.1 – Mizuho Kusanagi

Tor.com Short Story

Another challenge and my final one for 2023. I noticed that tor.com host some amazing short stories/novelettes on their website and I wanted to read more of them. It also helps with the book count 😉 My plan is to read 12 and so far I have read 3. Here are the ones I have read:

• Fruiting Bodies – Kemi Ashing-Giwa
• Blood in the Thread – Cheri Kamei
• The Wonderful Stag, or the Courtship of Red Elsie – Kathleen Jennings