π Books I Read 2023
Below is a list of the books I have read in 2023, so far. They are organized in reverse chronological order. When I finish a book, it gets added to the top of the list. Five stars is the highest rating, one is the lowest.
Title | Author | Format | Genre | Subgenre | Rating | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Wager | David Grann | ebook | nonfiction | adventure | βββββ | |
The Hollow | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | |
Murder in the Mews and Other Stories | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | |
Five Little Pigs | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββ | The same recounting gets repeated over and over and over again. The ending is satisfying, but it's a slog to get to that point. |
The Murder at the Vicarage | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | I like Poirot as a character more than Marple, but the Marple mysteries tend to be more consistent than the Poirots. Poirot has higher highs, but lower lows. |
Light Bringer | Pierce Brown | ebook | fiction | fantasy | βββ | See my notes here. |
The Moving Finger | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | Quite the collection of characters. I was wrong about the killer. |
Crook Manifesto | Colson Whitehead | ebook | fiction | crime drama | ββββ | The sequel to Harlem Shuffle. Whitehead is a two-time Pulitzer winner. Well worth a read. |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Stieg Larsson | paperback | fiction | crime thriller | βββ | See my notes here. |
Moonflower Murders | Anthony Horowitz | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββββ | I guessed the PΓΌnd mystery, but not the Ryeland. Fantastic sequel. I want more books than just a trilogy. There are nine PΓΌnd "novels." There should be nine Ryeland novels as well. |
Magpie Murders | Anthony Horowitz | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | Consists of a story within a story, so you get two mysteries for the price of one. See my notes here. |
The Rithmatist | Brandon Sanderson | ebook | fiction | sci-fi/fantasy | βββ | A fun YA book. It's only the first in a forthcoming series, so it feels a bit incomplete. |
4:50 from Paddington | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | A Miss Marple. |
Whose Body? | Dorothy Sayers | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | Somewhat straightforward. At least Wimsey isn't boring. |
Cards on the Table | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | One of the few Poirots that is unsolvable to the reader. |
Evil Under the Sun | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | |
Gaudy Night | Dorothy Sayers | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | If Vane is indeed based on the author's self, then boy did Sayers have an ego. |
Dead Man's Folly | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | |
By the Pricking of My Thumbs | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | crime thriller | βββ | A Tommy and Tuppence. Weaker than the first two. |
Murder in Mesopotamia | Agatha Christie | audiobook | fiction | mystery | βββ | |
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | Benjamin Franklin | audiobook | nonfiction | biography | βββββ | So many lessons to take away. |
N or M? | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | crime thriller | ββββ | Another Tommy and Tuppence novel. |
Poirot Investigates | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | Excellent short stories. |
Pastoral Song | James Rebanks | audiobook | nonfiction | βββββ | Modern farming has gone too far, and we are starting to pay the price for it. | |
Hallowe'en Party | Agatha Christie | audiobook | fiction | mystery | βββ | |
The Secret Adversary | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | crime thriller | ββββ | A Tommy and Tuppence novel. |
The Mysterious Affair at Styles | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | The very first Poirot novel. |
The Sun Also Rises | Ernest Hemingway | ebook | fiction | literary | ββββ | |
Hercule Poirot's Christmas | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | Very little to do with Christmas. |
Death on the Nile | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββββ | |
The Murder on the Links | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | ββ | Hastings at his most annoying. |
The Illustrated Man | Ray Bradbury | ebook | fiction | sci-fi/fantasy | ββββ | Scary and accurate dystopian stories. |
Endurance | Alfred Lansing | ebook | nonfiction | adventure | βββββ | |
Peril at End House | Agatha Christie | ebook | ficiton | mystery | ββββ | Underrated and clever. |
The Library Book | Susan Orlean | ebook | ficiton | mystery | ββββ | |
The Big Four | Agatha Christie | ebook | ficiton | crime thriller | ββ | A major departure from the usual Poirot novel. More crime thriller than mystery. |
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow | Gabrielle Zevin | ebook | ficiton | literary | βββββ | A moving story with many lessons about life, loss, friendship, and creative collaboration. |
After the Funeral | Agatha Christie | ebook | ficiton | mystery | βββ | Clever but immediately solvable. |
The Body in the Library | Agatha Christie | ebook | ficiton | mystery | βββ | My first Miss Marple. |
The River of Doubt | Candace Millard | ebook | nonfiction | adventure | βββββ | So good. It's more about the expedition and the Amazon than Teddy Roosevelt. |
The Mystery of the Blue Train | Agatha Christie | ebook | fiction | mystery | βββ | Based on a short story, so the outcome was spoiled for me. |