2023 on Goodreads

Well that wraps up 2023 the reading year.
As usual, some made up categories, and my favourite book for each, then some statistics, and my list of 5 star books from 2022.
Thanks all those who read and comment on my reviews, keeps me motivated to keep writing them. Happy 2024 everyone.

So first to the “Best of the Year” books I have read:

Best Travel - High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China, by Erika Fatland
Second in this esteemed category: The Places in Between, by Rory Stewart

Best Military - Batavia's Graveyard - The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny, by Mike Dash

Best Military - Mud Beneath My Boots : A Poignant Memoir of the Effects of War on a Young New Zealander, by Allan Marriott

Best Biography - Gweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood, by Martin Booth

Best Nautical - Fabulous Voyage, by A. Fleming MacLiesh & Martin L. Krieger

Best Mountaineering - Snow on the Equator, by H.W. Tilman

Best Desert - - Libyan sands: travel in a dead world, by Ralph Alger Bagnold

Best Polar - Shackleton's Argonauts: The Epic Tale of Shackleton's Voyage to Antarctica in 1915, by Frank Hurley

Best Published by The Travel Book Club - Land of Tempest, by Eric Shipton

Best New Zealand Authored - South Sea Vagabonds, by J.W. Wray (also a contended in best nautical and best biography!

Best Non-fiction Short Story Collection - A Person from England & Other Travellers to Turkestan, by Fitzroy Maclean

Best Fiction - The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, by David Ireland
Second in this esteemed category: All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy

Best digital read - The Gold Hunters' Adventures Or, Life in Australia, by William Henry Thomes

And downer of the year:

Biggest Disappointment - Chicago Loop, by Paul Theroux

Some Statistics - Read 111 books this year, at a touch over 31,000 pages. This is one more book than last year, but 5000 pages more, so some longer books in there. This is the most books in a year since 2020, and the most pages I have read in a year since 2017, so that was a surprise.

My average rating for books is a healthy 3.8 stars. (I remain pretty consistent in this over the years)

Longest book: Inside Africa, by John Gunther at 960 pages.

Of the 111 Books I rated:
20 books 5 stars
55 books 4 stars
27 books 3 stars
8 books 2 stars
1 book 1 star

Given the 3.8 average rating, and the high proportion of 4 stared books, 4 stars for the year it seems is most appropriate, once again.

Links to my reviews of my five star reads of 2023.
Snow on the Equator, by H.W. Tilman
Qataban and Sheba: Exploring the Ancient Kingdoms on the Biblical Spice Routes of Arabia, by Wendell Phillips
In Crocodile Land, by Ion Idriess
Gweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood, by Martin Booth
Motoring With Mohammed, by Eric Hansen
The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, by David Ireland
Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk
South Sea Vagabonds, by J.W. Wray
My Life and Travels, by Wilfred Thesiger
Shackleton's Argonauts: The Epic Tale of Shackleton's Voyage to Antarctica in 1915, by Frank Hurley
The Gold Hunters' Adventures Or, Life in Australia, by William Henry Thomes
The Places in Between, by Rory Stewart
New Worlds to Conquer, by Richard Halliburton
All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
Fabulous Voyage, by A. Fleming MacLiesh & Martin L. Krieger
Libyan sands: travel in a dead world, by Ralph Alger Bagnold
A South Sea Diary, by S.W. Powell
High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China, by Erika Fatland
A Person from England & Other Travellers to Turkestan, by Fitzroy Maclean
Ten Thousand Miles on Elephants, by Olive Smythies


Target reading list from during the year in spoiler
2023Arabia FelixLoseby - A Boy of ChinaHW Tilman x1Dashiell Hammett - Red HarvestCloudstreet - Tim WintonGweilo - Martin BoothBorderlines - Charles NichollNew Worlds to Conquer - HalliburtonWhite Nile - Alan MooreheadTurkestan Solo - Ella MaillartCandy machine - Tom FeilingFlashman #3Flashman #4Laurie Lee #2South with Mawson - LaseronShackleton's Argonauts - Frank HurleyNothing Venture Nothing Win - Hillary#4 Professor ChallengerUnknown Industrial Prisoner - David Ireland1x Hopkirk1x named 'Russia' - SixsmithNaguib Mahfouz - MiramarInside Africa - GuntherThesiger - my life and travelsBorder Trilogy book 1 - All the Pretty HorsesIsland of Dr Moreau - HG Wells1x G Geene - The Human FactorRe-reads: Slumdog MillionaireRedmond O'Hanlon - Into the Heart of Borneoscience x2 <1> Colour, Cod1x Penguin Orange - Mutuwhenua1x Penguin Cerise - A South Sea Diary2x P60s < 0 >3x Idriess < 3 >2x Clune < 3 >3 on Circumnavigator books < 3 >12 TBC < 13 > 12 From Travel shelf < 12 >Read if desperate for a good book!Peter Pinney -Dirt on my ShoesSea People - Christina ThompsonFight ClubCarried over from 20221x Asne SeierstadCarried over from 2021* Simon Winchester - Outposts - can't locate it in my shelves... Found it 2023