Hello everyone. Welcome to Bibliophilia Book Reviews and today I’m going to be talking about my End of the Year Series posts for 2023. In 2022, I divided these into four posts where I talked about my favorite books of the year, the most disappointing books I read, the books I DNF’d and finally the most surprising books of 2022. This year, however, is going to be a little different. This is due to the fact that I didn’t read as many books in 2023 as I did in 2022 and that I did my Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag back in July, so I decided to do an “End of the Year” version of the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag starting with the books I read in July onwards to avoid repeating books that I already mentioned in my previous update. But I will be doing one “End of the Year” book tag for fiction and another one for nonfiction. I will also mention all the books I read from July to December that fit the prompt/question I am answering.
This post is my “End of the Year” Book Freak Out Tag for fiction:
1. Best books
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Some people really love Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, others really hate it. One of those haters said after reading it that the train was the most notable character in the entire book. I loved it. I think that the brilliance of this novel lies in the way the author describes the ordinary lives of the characters therein. But what is more, his mastery of duality, exemplified mainly in the fall of Anna and the rise of Levin, in the portrayal of infidelity (both male and female) and in how Anna’s relationship with Vronsky deteriorates and leads Anna to her death versus the loving and healthy relationship between Levin and Kitty, is what made the novel stand out for me the most.
I highly recommend this book, but I also know that it is not for everyone. Like I said, some people find it boring and I see where they’re coming from and we’re all entitled to our opinion (although the comment about the train did disappoint me a bit), but I loved it. I hope you pick it up and love it as well.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre is the quintessential novel of love and fidelity. I first read it more than 20 years ago, and back then I was too young to see beyond the romance and understand the deep religiosity of the protagonist. This time, however, Jane’s determination to stay faithful and to do what is right according to her religious beliefs, her capacity to love wholeheartedly and to stay true to Mr. Rochester is what makes her such a beloved heroine in the genre.
I highly recommend this book and will probably read it again in the future again.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
This book criticizes the fact that marriage in 19th century England was more about finding someone with money than love; a transaction. Marianne’s doomed love affair with Willoughby brings this home after he abandons her to marry a woman with money. Lucy Steele is also an example of this when she leaves Edward to marry his brother Robert, who is now the heir to the Ferrars’ family fortune. John Dashwood, the half-brother of Marianne and Elinor, also loves money and is utterly and completely controlled by those who have money. Marianne marrying Colonel Brandon and Elinor marrying Edward at the end of the book opposes this set of mind and highlights the happiness of people who marry for love.
Emma by Jane Austen
This book is a reality check for someone who thinks too much about themselves and is proud of it. But just because you have money, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a nice person. And this is the lesson that Emma learns after she spends most of the book meddling in other people’s love lives and discriminating against those that belong to a lower social class than she in the process. I did not expect to like this book as much as I did, but Emma is a deeply flawed character and she grows up a lot by the end of the novel. I understand now why she was Jane Austen’s favorite.
2. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to
I want to read Of Blood and Fire by Ryan Cahill. This is a self-published author who has been making waves on BookTube recently and I just bought the first book of his series. Let’s see if I like it enough to buy the rest.
3. Most anticipated book for early 2024
Hera by Jennifer Saint. I read this author’s first novel, Ariadne, and want to read her second novel, Elektra, as well. But a novel about the Queen of the Gods and her love/hate relationship with Zeus is definitely up my alley. Hera is definitely a maligned woman/goddess often portrayed as the jealous wife in myth and ancient history, and I always thought she deserved more. As Poseidon said in The Iliad, the only difference between him and Zeus is that Zeus is the elder. They were both born from the same parents and are equals, so why not Hera and the other goddesses born from Cronos and Rhea? And more so because Hera is the eldest daughter of Cronos and Rhea’s children.
4. Biggest disappointments
The Burning by Jane Casey
You might know that I am not a big fan of mysteries or thrillers. But I read this one for one of my book clubs and it was okay. It isn’t one of my favorite reads of the year, and I appreciated that it’s one of the first books of this kind that I read with a female protagonist, but I didn’t love the world enough to continue on with the series.
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
This book is another mystery that I thought was refreshing at first because its protagonist is funny. He is also clueless, like us, about what is happening and the murder case he’s assigned to solve. He also has absolutely no idea how he’s going to solve it. But then I got past this and didn’t enjoy the plot as much as I thought I would. In fact, I put the book down for a couple weeks and didn’t remember anything about what was going on when I picked it up again. That should tell you something.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
This book is one of the most famous Christmas stories out there, and I picked it up to celebrate the Christmas season last year but I didn’t like it. Though I liked the plot, I thought it was too short for it to show us how Scrooges changes from a mean-spirted person who mocks those who love Christmas and what it represents to someone who loves others and gives to those in need. Maybe I need to read it again, I don’t know, but I thought that there was not enough time for us to believe Scrooge’s transformation and rebirth in the book’s novella format.
I also think that my not enjoying this book as much as I thought I would is because I have always had issues getting into Charles Dickens’ books. For some reason, I don’t like his writing style (this is the same problem I have with Alexandre Dumas) and I cannot finish his books. Things happen too fast.
5. Biggest surprises
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This book is one of those that got a lot of hype on BookTube for several years, and because of that I didn’t pick it up as quickly as I would otherwise. I liked it, but I also thought it was overhyped. I think that it’s worth reading, yes, and a good book to introduce young readers to the period of history it takes place in, but there are other books about WWII out there that I like more.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
This book is about friendship and the sacrifices one makes for the well-being of our friends. Though it is a classic of children’s literature, I hadn’t read this book until and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. This is a very nice story, and it touches upon values such as friendship, empathy, and love that all children should be exposed to. It also touches upon topics such as death and grief, which, too, is important for children to learn about.
The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
American literature is probably one of my least read types of literary traditions. This is ironic because I went to a school called Mark Twain Elementary School. And because I attended this school, I tried reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a young adult. I was not a fan, and to this day I still haven’t read them. In fact, I didn’t pick up a book from an American author in a very long time. But it wasn’t until I was older that I realized that in order to understand and like Mark Twain, I needed to be acquainted with the part of the US where his books are set, and I wasn’t. But my husband is, and he loves Mark Twain. I still don’t understand the humor. In 2022, I also picked up The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and I didn’t like it either. And then, I picked up The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck in September 2023 and I liked it. This surprised me, but what is more I put two of his other books on hold at my local library. Right now, I am reading East of Eden and loving it even more.
6. New favorite author(s)
I don’t particularly have a new favorite but I did read all of Jane Austen’s novels this year and enjoyed all of them, some more than others, true, but I still enjoyed all of them.
7. Newest fictional crush
I don’t think I have one. Though I did like Mr. Knightley and Colonel Brandon more than I did Edward Ferrars and Henry Tilney. But none of these stood out as a particular favorite.
8. Newest favorite character(s)
Mr. Rochester (from Jane Eyre) definitely.
9. Books that made you cry
None of the books I read in the second half of the year made me cry.
10. Book that makes you happy
Same applies here.
11. Most beautiful book I’ve read
The most beautiful book I read this year is nonfiction. I’ll be showing that one later.
12. What book do I need to finish
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I was reading the unabridged translation by Robin Buss, but I couldn’t finish it. Not because I didn’t like it but because I have precious little silence in my house right now and couldn’t find the quiet time to read it. If, however, there were an audiobook of this translation, I would’ve finished it. Now, I know that there are several audiobooks of this book out there but I didn’t like any of them. I looked, trust me.
13. Books I did not like
On A Pale Horse and Bearing an Hourglass by Piers Anthony
On a Pale Horse is definitely a book that has not aged well. It is sexist, and I am saying this of the first book in the series. The second one is worse. I kid you not, every time a new female character was introduced it was done so in terms of her physical attributes and how much the male protagonist was attracted to her and wanted to bed her. Yay. No, not continuing on with this series.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
This book started out fine, but then it got ridiculous. Diana is the epitome of a Mary Sue. She has every magical power you can think of. Every single one. And I hated that. And her relationship with Matthew isn’t exactly very healthy either. She completely loses her brains after she acknowledges that she’s in love with him. Matthew, on the other hand, is very controlling and possessive. The whole book reminded me of Twilight. No, not going to read the rest of the series.
14. Books I DNFed.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I had the same issue with this one as I did with A Christmas Carol. I couldn’t get past the writing style. This picture is not mine; it is borrowed from Goodreads.
Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck
I also had an issue with the writing on this one. It was convoluted and clunky. I couldn’t even finish the first chapter. This picture is also not mine. It is borrowed from Goodreads.
1776 by David McCullough
This one started out fine, but then it got boring. I couldn’t finish it.
And finally,
The Justice of Kings
This one is a real disappointment, because I was really looking for to reading it but I did not like it at all. I stopped reading at 13%. I’m coming to realize that grim dark fantasy is not for me. Again, this picture is not mine.
That’s it for now. Thank you for reading. Next, I’ll post the same tag for all the nonfiction books I read in 2023.
