I’m not sure I’ll be buying and reading as many books this year, as in 2022, but I will still be buying books. I need to set myself a monthly e-book budget…
Formats
I do most of my reading on my Kindle device. The majority are fiction, but a handful of non-fiction crept into last year’s ebook total.
The paperback and hardback books were mostly non-fiction, but half-a-dozen were second-hand novels- the e-book version wasn’t available at the time I looked.
I haven’t finished all of the non-fiction I bought, as some are reference works for future projects, and one is gardening related.
Stand-alone or Series?
I don’t have a preference, though toward the end of the year I moved from historical romance series into romantic suspense series.
December’s bout of Covid was responsible for a large number of romance (ebook) purchases.
Genres
Expanding my reading (beyond favourite authors, and others where I’ve read their previous books) was an ongoing aim.
A new-to-me author last year was Rachel Grant. I chose her 2022 book, Crash Site. (I’ve since read more of her books.)
Romantic suspense with varying heat levels accounted for around 40 % (this link gives a good breakdown if you’re unfamiliar with heat levels).
The rest was a mixture of historical romance: Sarah Maclean, Sabrina Jeffries, and the League of Rogues series, from Lauren Smith, filled my late autumn/early winter reading binge.
Also, there’s been a few cosy crime, writing books, a couple of rom-coms, social history, collections, and one or two classics.
I reread a dozen old paperbacks, and three ebooks- great way to see how accepted writing styles change across the years.
Any favourites?
I’m a fan of any book written by Jayne Ann Krentz- and her pseudonyms: Amanda Quick, and Jayne Castle. Some of her books are on my living room book shelves- those I have room for!
With the release of Sweetwater and The Witch in the summer, it was on my Kindle as soon as it became available in the UK.
How many books?
Okay, honesty time. The hardback and paperback totals are probably a few short, so they’re an estimate.
Hardback: 5
Paperback: 15
E-books: bought and not read yet, or have been started; 8
E-books: bought and read; 66
2022 wasn’t a good year for me with family health issues eating into my time, so reading was my main relaxation for stress-relief.
For 2023, I won’t be reading as many books, but I am going to keep a reading list this time.
Now it’s back to writing my novels, and reading very different books to what I’m working on…
Do you keep a record of the books you read each year? I’d enjoy hearing from you in the comments…
Carol Bevitt - Writer 
I read more books now which pleases me. I’ve always loved books. As a child reading was my main passion. My gran used to take me to the local library when she went, it has now closed due to cutbacks. That really fired my interest in books. Other interests as I got older meant not as much time for reading. During lockdown I really appreciated my Kindle which I hadn’t really used very often as I do prefer proper books.
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I used to go to the library in town every two weeks. It was in a large Victorian building, on the ground floor. Loved being in there, and getting the maximum number of books out at each visit. 🙂
During the first lockdown my old kindle finally wore out, and I had to wait six weeks for a new one, not the best time to be without a kindle.
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