2023 Reading List

Personal
Written By Brandon J. Brown

A few years ago, I stopped watching TV and movies while editing because too much screen time was causing me to have optical migraines (I needed to get glasses, too, apparently). Since then, I have become an audiobook lover - and read about 101 audiobooks last year while editing, running, driving, or working around the house. I know a lot of people discount audiobooks as real reading - but I will say that I remember the stories pretty well and can switch back and forth between physical books, kindle, and audiobooks without personally feeling any different about the story.

This year, In addition to my preferred genre of Fantasy, I have found that romcoms also make for good listening and have made up a noticeable percentage of my list (mostly discovered because Lily Chu and Kristin Higgins were included in the freebies for Audible subscribers this year). If you are looking for some new books to jump into, hit me up, and I am happy to share ideas!

My 2023 Top Ten (not in order):

Brandon Sanderson: The Secret Projects

Alix E. Harrow: The Once and Future Witches

Andrea Steward: The Drowning Empire

Gabrielle Zevin: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Bonnie Garmus: Lessons in Chemistry

Lily Chu: The Stand in

Hannah Kaner: Godkiller

Leigh Bardugo: Six of Crows

Sue Lynn Tan: Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Rin Chupeco: The Bone Witch

Here is the list of what I read while editing your photos in 2023:

Brandon Sanderson:

  • Secret Project #1: Tress of the Emerald Sea

  • Secret Project #2: The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

  • Secret Project #3: Yuri and the Nightmare Painter

  • Secret Project #4: The Sunlit Man

  • Skyward Flight: Sunreach

  • Skyward Flight: ReDawn

  • Skyward Flight: Evershore

  • Skyward

  • Starsight

  • Cytonic

  • Defiant

N. K. Jemisin:

  • The World We Became

Jordon Ifueko:

  • Raybearer

  • Redemptor

Andrea Stewart:

  • Downing Empire #1: The Bone Shard Daughter

  • Downing Empire #2: The Bone Shard Emperor

  • Downing Empire #3: The Bone Shard War

Lawrence Watt-Evans:

  • The Misenchanted Sword

Melissa Blair:

  • A Broken Blade

C. L. Clark

  • The Unbroken

  • The Faithless

Gabrielle Zevin:

  • Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Carissa Broadbent:

  • Daughter of No Worlds

  • Children of Fallen Gods

  • Mother of Death & Dawn

Tracy Deonn:

  • Legendborn

  • Bloodmarked

Shannon Chakraborty:

  • The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

Samantha Shannon:

  • A Day of Fallen Night

  • The Bone Season (10th Anniversary Edition)

N. E. Davenport

  • The Blood Gift

Becky Chambers:

  • The Galaxy and the Ground Within

Madeline Miller:

  • The Song of Achilles

Nnedi Okorafor:

  • Akata Witch

  • Akata Warrior

  • Akata Woman

R. F. Kuang:

  • Yellow face

Genevieve Cogman:

  • The Invisible Library

  • The Masked City

  • The Burning Page

  • The Lost Plot

  • The Mortal Word

  • The Secret Chapter

  • The Dark Archive

  • The Untold Story

Tamsyn Muir:

  • Gideon the Ninth

Terry Pratchett:

  • Going Postal

  • Wintersmith

  • Snuff

Stuart Turton:

  • The Devil and the Dark Water

Bonnie Garmus:

  • Lessons in Chemistry

Emily Croy Barker:

  • The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic

Sue Lynn Tan:

  • Daughter of the Moon Goddess

  • Heart of the Sun Warrior

Leigh Bardugo:

  • Shadow and Bone

  • Siege and Storm

  • Ruin and Rising

  • Six of Crows

  • Crooked Kingdom

Ava Reid:

  • The Wolf and The Woodsman

  • Juniper & Thorn

Rebecca Yarros:

  • Fourth Wing

  • Iron Fire

Shelley Parker-Chan

  • He Who Drowned the World

Kristan Higgins:

  • If Only You Knew

  • On Second Thought

  • Now that You Mention it

  • Life and Other Inconveniences

  • Always the Last to Know

  • Fools rush in

Alix E. Harrow:

  • The Once and Future Witches

  • Patience & Not Forsaken

Alexis Henderson:

  • The Year of Witching

Erin Morgenstern:

  • The Night Circus

Naomi Novik:

  • A Deadly Education

  • The Last Graduate

  • The Golden Enclaves

Piers Anthony:

  • On a Pale Horse

  • Being a green mother

Sangu Mandanna:

  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Rin Chupeco:

  • The Bone Witch

  • The Heart Forger

  • The Shadow Glass

Tilly Wallace:

  • Dangerous Ruse

  • Shadow Schemes

Sarah J. Maas:

  • A Court of Thorns & Roses

  • A Court of Mist & Fury

  • A Court of Wings & Ruin

  • A Court of Frost & Starlight

Travis Baldree

  • Bookshops & Bonedust

Hannah Kaner:

  • Godkiller

Jennifer L. Armentrout:

  • Wicked

  • Torn

  • Brave

S. L. Huang:

  • The Water Outlaws

Lily Chu:

  • The Takedown

  • The Stand in

  • The Comeback

Lindsey Buroker:

  • Dragon Blood, Book 1 - Balanced on the Blade's Edge

  • Dragon Blood, Book 2 - Deathmaker

  • Dragon Blood, Book 3 - Blood Charged


Brandon J. Brown

Photographer + Storyteller

www.roostmke.com
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