Sadie’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

41,626

pages read

176

books read

Sadie Hartmann

4 likes Like

Shortest Book

pages

Longest Book

640

pages

Average book length in 2023

236

pages

Most Shelved

1,480,430

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Least Shelved

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Sadie’s average rating for 2023

4.9

The Light of a Black Star by C.S. Humble

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.77 average

Sadie’s first review of the year

it was amazing

THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain (debut novel)
Release Date: January 4th, 2022 (damn near a year ago and I heard she has a new book in 2023!)
General genre: Domestic Thriller/Female-Centered/Family Drama/Psychological horror
**Themes (triggers don't read if you don't want **spoilers)mothers & daughters, generational behavioral disorders, motherhood, marriage, paranoia, trauma, child abuse, neglect, suicide, miscarriage, child death
Writing Style: alternati THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain (debut novel)
Release Date: January 4th, 2022 (damn near a year ago and I heard she has a new book in 2023!)
General genre: Domestic Thriller/Female-Centered/Family Drama/Psychological horror
**Themes (triggers don't read if you don't want **spoilers)mothers & daughters, generational behavioral disorders, motherhood, marriage, paranoia, trauma, child abuse, neglect, suicide, miscarriage, child death
Writing Style: alternating timelines/narratives/POVs

What you need to know: I love how this book begins from a different vantage point in the story and then circles back around to catch the reader up on everything that transpired during the course of a tumultuous twenty-year marriage. There are also two past narratives, Blythe's childhood memories of a difficult relationship with her mother as well as flashbacks to the sixties with Blythe's mother's childhood memories of her abusive mother. So three generations of motherhood.

My reading experience: Reading this book reminded me of everything I love about horror. Sure, we could say this is a domestic thriller but really, this is psychological warfare. This book fucked with me and tapped some pretty serious fears.
Blythe's psyche during pregnancy, early motherhood, and later, parenting a difficult child is painfully vulnerable. Her deepest, darkest fears and anxieties are laid bare for us to pick over and judge. Sometimes I could relate, sometimes Blythe freaked me out and other times, I was scared for her; sad for her; concerned. There were times when she makes these huge leaps in rationality. She assumes so much about her husband's motives. I was constantly fluctuating between frustration and empathy. Is Fox being insensitive about his wife's struggles? Is he ignoring her concerns? Is he gaslighting her? Is this ROSEMARY'S BABY again??
But then other times, especially after reading one of the flashbacks to her childhood, or her mother's childhood, I'd wonder about Blythe. Can we trust her perception of reality?
It was sublime. Utter reading bliss. I read this on a holiday weekend with zero plans and it was the perfect binge-read. My mind was in a constant race to know how this was all going to end.

My final recommendation: If you enjoy a good psychological thriller-horror mash-up, reliving those horrible motherhood anxieties all over again, the entertainment of observing a good marriage that goes off the rails, a twisty-page-turning story with believable characters, and that dark thing horror does when it holds up a mirror to reflect back to you all your worst nightmares as a parent coming true, this is the book for you.

Comps: Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage, the black and white film, The Bad Seed (1956), the (1993) film The Good Son with Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (I haven't read that, seems too much for me) ...more

SADIE’S 2023 BOOKS

it was amazing

Classic Monsters Unleashed by James Aquilone

The Least of My Scars by Stephen Graham Jones

This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

it was amazing

The Backbone of the World by Stephen Graham Jones

The Tiger Came to the Mountains by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

They Were Here Before Us by Eric LaRocca

The Survival of Margaret Thomas by Del Howison

it was amazing

Always Listen to Her Hurt by Kenzie Jennings

The Clown Brigade by Stephen Graham Jones

it was amazing

We Travel the Spaceways by Victor LaValle

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

it was amazing

it was amazing

The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World by Brian Allen Carr

Your Body is Not Your Body by Alex Woodroe

The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due

it was amazing

Whatever Remains Of Us In The End by Brandon Baker

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman

The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree

The Massacre at Yellow Hill by C.S. Humble

it was amazing

The Shoemaker's Magician by Cynthia Pelayo

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

it was amazing

After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones

The Secret Life of Insects and Other Stories by Bernardo Esquinca

it was amazing

101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered by Sadie Hartmann

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

it was amazing

Have You Decided on Your Question by Lyndsey Croal

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Sadie’s last review of the year

it was amazing

Wow! Very, very unexpected and had a unique twist on the obsession theme. I loved how this one unraveled, keeping the reader invested, emotionally, and looking in one direction that we neglect to see the author building layers...complexity.
This didn't feel like 40 pages. There is enough depth of character to feel like a complete tale from beginning to end without feeling shortchanged on plot or development. Very well crafted.
...more

2023 READING
CHALLENGE

Sadie Hartmann read 176 out of 150 books.

117%

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