As year flicks over to 2024, I mark the changeover looking back at what kept me entertained throughout 2023 – starting today with the books I read.
I kept up with the IF-THEN reading flowchart I made in 2022, which I devised in order to help slim down my huge pile of To-Be-Reads…
I’d found myself reading the same thing book after book and not making any dent in other genres, so I set up a pattern for reading science fiction, thriller and non-fiction categories, plus a sub-category for tie-ins and a monthly free ‘wildcard’. I might try something different for 2024, though…
I blasted through my “one-book-a-week” reading goal with a full 72 titles, and as part of a catch-up, I completed my read of the Star Trek: Vanguard novels, a highly recommended classic era series full of action, adventure and political intrigue.
My top picks for 2023 were: Alan Meades’ Arcade Britannia: A Social History of the British Amusement Arcade, Simon Gervais’ The Blackbriar Genesis and The Queen’s Squadron by Rebecca Meluch.
Here’s the full list:
Poison River (Josh Reynolds), Target Down! (Julian Jay Savarin), The Snatch (Dennis Hooper), Top Gun Memos (Meredith Jordan), Fight Me! (Austin Grossman), A Game of Deceit (Tim Glister), SHADO Technical Operations Manual (Chris Thompson & Andrew Clements), Arcade Britannia (Alan Meades), Cold Fear (Brandon Webb & John David Mann), Canada (Mike Meyers), Gunpowder Moon (David Pedreira), The Old Woman with the Knife (Gu Byeong-mo), Why We Love Die Hard (Kim Taylor-Foster), Original Sin (Gavin G. Smith), Compromised (Thomas Parrott), Significant Zero (Walt Williams), Devil’s Road (Gary Gibson), The Treadstone Transgression (Joshua Hood), Space: 1999 – The Vault (Chris Bentley), Breaking Point (Nicholas Briggs & Jamie Anderson), Reap the Whirlwind (David Mack), Trial By Fire (Dayton Ward), The Red Arrows (David Montenegro), Tears in Rain (Rosa Montero), The Pirate Hunters (Mack Maloney), Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story (Thad Komorowski), Open Secrets (Ward), With A Mind To Kill (Anthony Horowitz), Guns for Hire: The Modern Adventure Thriller (Barry Forshaw), Moon Base (E.C. Tubb), The Blackbriar Genesis (Simon Gervais), Rand Unwrapped (Frank Catalano), Precipice (Mack), On His Majesty’s Secret Service (Charlie Higson), Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out (Robin Halstead), The Light Brigade (Kameron Hurley), Nowhere to Hide (Max Luther), Why We Love The Matrix (Taylor-Foster), Declassified (Mack, Marco Palmieri, Ward, Kevin Dilmore), The High Frontier 2 (Alison Winter, Katharine Armitage, Andrew Smith), Detonation Boulevard (Alaistair Reynolds), Kitty Language (Lili Chin), Cold Reboot (Robbie McNiven), The Queen’s Squadron (R.M. Meluch), Unknown Rider (Jack Stewart), Ghostwriting (Andrew Crofts), Knight Rider Legacy (Joe Huth IV & Richie F. Levine), What Judgments Come (Ward & Dilmore), Need For Speed (Brian Kelleher), Missile Commander (Tony Temple), Starter Villain (John Scalzi), Call to Kill (Billy Billingham), Storming Heaven (Mack), Boss Fight Books: Red Dead Redemption (Matt Margini), The Con Queen of Hollywood (Scott C. Johnson), White Fire (Adam Hamdy), The Descent of Anansi (Larry Niven & Stephen Barnes), Prepare to Meet Thy Doom (David Kushner), Black Vault (Alma Katsu), The Lightning Boys (Richard Pike), In Tempest’s Wake (Ward), Hunted (Parrott), Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker), Ion Curtain (Anya Ow), The Complete Wargames Handbook (James F. Dunnigan), Yellowface (R.F. Kuang), Harm’s Way (Mack), License Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond (various), Exploring Space: 1999 (John Kenneth Muir), The Paradox Hotel (Rob Hart), The Apollo Murders (Chris Hadfield), Burn It Down (Maureen Ryan), The High Country (John Jackson Miller).
