Kiss, Marry or Kill: The 2023 wrap-up
The year of the audiobook! Plus two fixation meals, mouth and teeth stuff, MORE BED CONTENT, and a Marry lightning round (plus the only reality TV I will actually watch)
This is my weekly series for subscribers only, where I’ll share things that caught my eye this week in a fun and flirty way (kiss), a sustainable way (marry), or a not-so-good way (kill). And yes, this trendy game is technically “f***, marry, or kill” but we run a family-friendly-ish show around here.
This issue is special, though! Here, I’m going to wrap up all of my likes and loves from 2023, and a few things that I tried but didn’t love.
Kiss (things I really liked in 2023)
Audiobooks
If nothing else, 2023 was the year of the audiobook. I joined Audible in 2022, but didn’t start listening to books in earnest until May 2023, when I started running. It started with Samantha Irby’s Quietly Hostile, which I listened to all the way through once, then went back and repeated several chapters. (I laughed out loud on the trail more than once.) Then, I picked up How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis, and un-ironically listened to it while I cooked and cleaned. Next up was a random selection called The Housemaid, which I listened to start-to-finish on a solo road trip.
Which leads me to the main event—the series that solidified my attachment to audiobooks forever—Jack Carr’s The Terminal List series. I listened to all six books IN A ROW all summer long. I listened on runs, I listened in the car, I listened while brushing my teeth, I could not stop listening. Ray Porter’s voice became my security blanket, and when the series was over (I have book 7 on pre-order) I struggled on my runs because nobody else’s voice felt right.
I finally moved on to other books (I went on a Stephen King bender with Fairy Tale (10/10), The Outsider (11/10), The Institute (10/10), Under the Dome (9/10), 11-22-63 (7/10), The Mist (11/10 WTF), and currently Mr. Mercedes), with a few other random finds (like Starter Villain, 12/10) in between.
In total, between May and December 2023, I have listened to 13 days, 16 hours, and 41 minutes of audiobooks. To put that into context, between my birth and 2022, I had listened to 0 days, 0 hours, and 0 minutes of audiobooks. So what changed?
I stopped trying to listen to non-fiction. I don’t absorb information well through my ears—I need to SEE it on the page. But I kept trying to listen to my favorite non-fiction authors (like Malcolm Gladwell), and then I’d get frustrated when I’d find myself drifting off. When I switched to fiction, everything changed. You don’t have to “absorb” it, you can just listen and be entertained!
I discovered so many ways to listen. I thought audio books were just for road trips or maybe a long walk—I couldn’t imagine running to one. Then I tried, and I LOVED IT. So I started listening on walks (long and short), then at home while I was cleaning my office or folding laundry, then at night during my skincare routine, then IN THE SHOWER. Yes, I listen to a book during all of my Everything Showers now! I sneak time into listen throughout my day, and sometimes I get excited to clean because it means I can listen a little more.
That’s it! Those two small shifts have led to consuming more books than ever this year, and enjoying mundane tasks like errands, cleaning, and skincare so much more. Maybe this belonged in Marry?!
