Time for my annual Best Books I Read Over The Last 12 Months report!

I read 40 books in total in 2023, down quite a bit from my 2022 numbers, but there were a few very big books in among the mix, which goes some way to explaining the dip! Still, my message to myself going forward must be to read more during the reading time I set aside most nights before going to bed, rather than spending a large chunk of it playing Scrabble on my phone!!!

Anyway, while it wasn't vintage year for quantity, 2022 was a very good year for quality reads, and I gave no fewer than 5 books the full 5 star treatment in my ratings on Goodreads! In the order read, they were...

THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, by Walter Tevis.

THE HUSTLER, by Walter Tevis.

THE ANOMALY, by Herve Le Tellier.

THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, by Walter Tevis.

SHADOWPLAY, by Joseph O'Connor.

It's pretty unheard of for me to give 5 stars to three books by the same author! But even though I'd seen films based on Walter Tevis' books, and of coure the TV show of The Queen's Gambit, I'd somehow managed not to read any of his work before this year. A mistake I won't be repeating -- I absolutely love his writing!! I already have the rest of his books lined up on my Kindle, to space out over the next year or two.

Oh, and I'm still reading Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene, so there's a chance I might be adding one more 5 star book to the haul, depending on how it pans out...

To see the ratings I gave to ALL the books I read in 2022, and indeed in every year back to when I first started marking books as a teenager, click here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4643841-darren-shan