Happy New Year to you all! I hope these first few weeks have brought you all lots of calm, quiet and happiness. And if you love a party, I hope you have also had lots of loud, musical connections.
In what seems to have become my signature style, I stopped blogging in August of 2023. Mostly it was because I only read 2 books from August through to December whereas I read 93 books in the first half of the year, many of which I have already written about. During my August – December months, I was overwhelmed with three contract jobs and I found myself unable to read or write (here or on any social media). Even my viewing was limited to reruns of old favourites and TikTok favourites. Now let me go back to my books for 2023. This is purely a list and it is devoid of extra commentary. I may not have written anything further about my fave books but I have hyperlinked them back to my original posts.
95 books
Fiction: 40 – Romance fiction: 34
Audiobooks: 16
Picture Books and Junior fiction: 9
Non-Fiction: 55. Memoirs, histories, narrative non-fiction, poetry 44 Design and travel 1, Academic 10
Graphic Novel – 3
Australian authors – 8
YA – 2
DNFd but counted: 8
My 5 star books for 2023
I’m not going to list all 25 books here as quite a few were the set readings for the subjects I teach (yes – I am that special level of nerdy). Instead, I have chosen my best of the best list.
Best of the Fiction books:
Kate Clayborn’s Georgie, All Along (Reading Note 61)
Emily Henry’s Booklovers (Reading Note 58)
Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (Reading Note 66)
Rachel Bailey’s The Lost Heir (Reading Note 67)
Madeleine Miller’s Galatea
Best of the Non-Fiction books:
Amanda Montell’s Cultish: The Language of Fanatacism (Reading Note 56)
Jeremiah Moss’s Feral City: On Finding Liberation in Lockdown New York (Reading Note 52)
Mark Mazower’s Mark Mazower’s Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950 (Reading Note 53)
Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad my Mom Died (Reading Note 70)
Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen’s The Library: A Fragile History (Reading Note 70)
Unlike last year, I do not have a Best What-The-Fuck-Did-I-Just-Read book though I certainly had several worst What-The-Fuck-Did-I-Just-Read books (I am looking at you Jimenez’s The Friend Zone, and you’re not that far behind Bellefleur’s Hang The Moon) . However, I did have a best of What-The-Fuck-Did_I-Just-Watch movie. The Barbie movie captured me so deeply and profoundly that I went and watched it at the movies three times in as many weeks. I have tried crafting a blog post to describe the movie several times but I keep floundering. Perhaps that will be my next post.
Meanwhile, my plan for 2024 is to read whatever comes my way that captures my attention and hopefully I will be motivated enough to blog about. I will again attempt to take part in SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge. I will watch all the reruns of shows that give me comfort, I hope I stay riveted to TikTok creators who give me such joy – dance, cooking, urban design, cute critters and academic TikTok (very little booktok for me!). I have no plans on becoming a creator at this point but I am convinced that it is the most engaging of social media platforms in the current time, and I am there as Shallowreader despite their dodgy data mining.
Wishing you all a safe and calm 2024.
Shallowreader 
So absolutely lovely to see you, Dr Vassíliki! (why, yes, so proud of you about that, forever) I’m sorry you didn’t get to read much the last third of the year, hopefully 2024 will be kinder to you.
As someone who hasn’t watched Barbie yet, and is very curious about it, I’d love to know your thoughts if you manage to corral them into a readable form.
Also, yay for giving SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge another whirl! (I just managed to do the whole twelve months myself for the first time–after eleven tries!)
Oh thank you! I deeply appreciate your warm words and how proud you are. It makes me tear up.
I can’t remember a year where I achieved every month of the TBR but I guess that is what makes it a challenge.
As for Barbie, I will try to pull some words together. Meanwhile, I hope you find a way to watch it, asI think it is no longer at the movies (at least here in Oz).
Happy, healthy new year to you and yours, my dear!! It’s sooooooo great to read a Shallow blog post again. I really miss them. No pressure, but there is an absence in the blogosphere when you’re not here.
I too have left SM and am not into watching TikTok or anything in the absence of Twitter (Moosky can call it whatever he likes). As a matter of fact, other than my blog and the few bloggers clinging to life who aren’t commercials for romances, this is all the screen time I tolerate these days.
Hmmm, Barbie, eh? (If I may throw a Canadianism in there.) Aesthetically, I have to say my eyes can’t take the pink, but I’m curious now that I know you were fascinated by it.
Long may you blogo-reign, Dr. Veros! And I hope the work-landscape is gentler with you in the year to come!
Oh thank you for your lovely words. I feel the absence of not putting out shallow blogs. I will try to increase my posting. I can promise you that they will stay shallow!
Commercials for the romances are painful. I avoid them! As for Tiktok, you would love it! Especially the recipes!
As for Barbie, it was the perfect movie for me. The unreality and the reality of it. I adore the colour pink so I was thrilled as it was resplendent on the screen. I think you too will find aspects of the storytelling compelling. For what it’s worth, it is resoundingly not a romance.
I was just thinking about you — so great to see a post! I’m glad you got some good reading in last year and have sensible and nurturing plans for this one.
Hello! Great to see you here! It has been a while since I slunked into analog life. I miss all my digital friendships and digital gatherings. Occasionally I lurk on the blogs but seem to be tongue-tied and don’t have much to say.
You’re always welcome back at romancelandia. We have some fun new people around.
It’s hard to get good blog conversations going these days. We’re just not used to the format anymore, or something.
Oh thank you! I think I will definitely consider it. Let me see how my next few months go in getting back into the teaching semester.
As for blogging not being big anymore, I think AI publishing systems using original content without attribution is a big issue for writers regardless of whether they are online, traditionally publishing, blogging etc. It is far from an enabler and I wouldn’t be surprised if people don’t want to make public their ideas due to its onerous stealing of all the stuff. :: angry emoji ::
Argh! Like it wasn’t bad enough getting my reviews stolen. 😦