Goodreads Reading Challenge 2023

Lurking at the edge of the Norwegian wood

I cower from my evil mother.

Manipulative, domineering, demeaning.

The years of her house rules seemed interminable.

How true; at the seaside nobody hears you scream.

Believe me, I tried!

Like many I learnt to merely exist

Learnt that in the shadows we breathe.

My escape was a winding road

No dash to a happy place

Rather the sheltering of my soul.

‘Life is like a bowl of cherries, Maggie,’

my one and only friend told me.

‘That’s the problem, we have no cherries,’

I snapped back.

Poor Amy, she’d tried. She nearly succeeded.

Books became my saviour.

The lilac notebook in the lost bookshop,

Filled with wise musings and inspiration was

a driving force for my escape.

Then came Leo.

I discovered him between maps and politics

A gentle invitation of coffee followed.

He saw me before I saw myself.

Never believe the lies we told, he said.

So many lies I told myself.

His friendship was a terrible kindness

One that crushed my world, the terrifying duality of my mother and I.

Did I tell you, she was evil?

The visit to the cafe was more than coffee, it was my freedom.

The vanishing of Margaret Small, the old me, was easy.

Learning to walk in someone else’s shoes as Maggie Stolz, finding my true self, was gruelling.

It was from here where the story starts, where my life truly began.

In the ensuing days, months and years, I abandoned the family tree.

I step out of the darkness of the trees and at last realise there is a light that never goes out – the light within me.

In the five years since meeting Leo I am at last celebrating this beautiful life!

The above story celebrates some of the 80 books I read in 2023 and it’s fun to create a short narrative featuring a few of the titles. The book titles included are in the list below.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
At The Seaside Nobody Hears You Scream by Janet Gogerty
The Shadows We Breathe by Sarah Brentyn
A Winding Road by Miriam Hurdle
Happy Place by Emily Henry
The Sheltering by Khaya Ronkainen
Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries by Sally Cronin
The Lilac Notebook by Carol Notebook
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
The Lies We Told by Diana Chamberlain
A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
More than Coffee by Lauren Scott
The Vanishing of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander
In Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes
Where The Story Starts by Imogen Clark
The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain
In The Five Years by Rebecca Serle
There is Light the Never Goes out by David M Barnett
This Beautiful Life by Katie Marsh

Below are images of all the books I’ve had the joy of reading last year! I just made it over the finishing line of the Goodreads Reading Challenge in 2023 and this year I am reducing my sights to 52 books!