Every year I keep track of the books I’ve read, the films I’ve watched, and the TV I’ve binged. This year I also kept track of games. Here’s my “input” for this year.
This year, I have switched from my previous 3 star rating system, to a 5 star rating system:
| ⭐️ | Terrible! Avoid this. |
| ⭐️⭐️ | Skip. Not recommended. |
| ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Okay. Partially recommended. |
| ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Great! Highly recommended. |
| ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | All time classic. |
Books
In 2023 I read 23 books. It was a year for listening – 78% of my reads were Audiobooks. I also read 3 paperbacks, 1 eBook, and 1 work of interactive fiction.
My book of the year was undoubtedly Aleph by Paulo Coelho.
So much of this book spoke to me. It left me emotional, reflective, and my favourite trait in any work of fiction: left with more questions than answers.
As for a runner up, I’m awarding that to the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, which made up nearly half of all the books I read. While it can’t beat Coelho on big ideas and deep thoughts, following Sharpe around Europe this year was a lot of fun. This series has become my favourite of all time.
Film
I saw 35 films this year, mostly (54%) on the Television. I visited the cinema 11 times, and the others I watched on my phone or on a plane.
I heavily favoured recent films this year, with 65% recent releases, and 77% released in the last 3 years.
My film of the year award is limited to new releases. This year it goes to Barbie. I’ve been a big Greta Gerwig fan ever since Francis Ha, and 2001: A Space Odyssey is my all time favourite film, and this film combined the two.
Oppenheimer was a close second, but since it won all those awards, I’m actually more incline to hand my runner up award to The Whale, which was captivating and very moving.
Television
I watched 30 seasons of television this year, over 275 episodes! If you assign a rough average runtime of 45 minutes, that’s over 206 hours of TV, or 8 ½ days!
One season of television stood out from among the rest: Ted Lasso season 3. What a perfect ending. How rare and warm it feels to have a show end, wrap up all its story lines, and provide a real sense of closure to the viewer.
The runner up season this year was The Crowded Room, also on Apple TV+.
Overall, it was a TV heavy year, with not quite as much reading as I would have liked – I heavy decline from my 52 books last year. That was a tough goal to meet, though – next year I’d like to up my book count just a little, maybe shoot for one every two weeks.