Final Standings and the Most Read Books for Last Year's Cannonball Read 15

By Mswas Sawsm | Books | February 2, 2024 |

By Mswas Sawsm | Books | February 2, 2024 |

Never in a million years as a kid would I have thought I’d be thanking my lucky stars for Dolly Parton. I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed by her gun-toting, wisecracking character in 9 to 5. But not being into country music led me to dismiss her from my own pop culture lens over the years. In looking back at another dumpster fire of a year, Dolly continues to be a delight and one of very few bright spots. Last year alone, she released an album, published her own book about her fashion over the years, and her Imagination Library reached the milestone of 218 million free books donated. You can’t beat numbers like that, and despite being focused on reading and writing, Cannonball Read loves numbers too. In 2023, CBR had 97 people write 3,798 reviews; and we donated $1,450 to the American Cancer Society. Those are the kinds of numbers I like.

In other numbers for 2023, I was pleased to see Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel remain at the top of our all-time most popular books. This postapocalyptic novel was our very first book club discussion on our group blog website back in 2015, and it was well-loved and a big hit. Stunningly we chose a reread of this very novel about a pandemic to focus on in March 2020. Look at our innocent little announcement in February 2020.

Cannonballers took part in 2 book club discussions last year. In June elisamaza hosted our ”Hot Fun in the Summertime” discussion featuring 3 romances and 1 cozy mystery. In October during Banned Books Week, faintingviolet ran our discussion about three banned graphic novels.

We had another fantastic Book Bingo Reading Challenge, with a gorgeous bingo card and color-your-own version designed by Pajiban yesknopemaybe. Our yearlong Passport Challenge was a new favorite with more than 250 books read. We also chatted about all kinds of things in our comment diversions, which are perfect for when you’re in a reading or writing slump. Join us today for our Groundhog Day-themed diversion about books we love to reread.

Our first to read and review a full Cannonball, 52 books last year was BlackRaven, who also topped out our leaderboard in 2023. We thank her and everyone who reviewed last year for your writing and dedication.

The 10 most read books of CBR15
1. Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (9 reviews)
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (8)
3. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (8)
4. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (7)
5. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (7)
6. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (6)
7. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert (6)
8. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (6)
9. Spare by Prince Harry (6)
10. A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers (5)

Top 10 authors of 2023
1. Stephen King (21)
2. Dr. Seuss (21)
3. Martha Wells (20)
4. Richard Osman (15)
5. T. Kingfisher (14)
6. Edith Wharton (14)
7. Becky Chambers (13)
8. Deborah Crombie (13)
9. John Scalzi (13)
10. Leigh Bardugo (13)

Most popular books of all time:
1. Station Eleven (65 reviews)
2. Ready Player One (55)
3. Gone Girl (51)
4. The Hunger Games (51)
5. Mockingjay (50)
6. The Night Circus (50)
7. Catching Fire (45)
8. The Fault in Our Stars (45)
9. Eleanor & Park (44)
10. Attachments (43)
11. The Handmaid’s Tale (41)
12. Bossypants (40)
13. The Girl on the Train (40)
14. The Hate U Give (39)
15. The Martian (38)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (37)
17. Room (36)
18. Divergent (34)
19. Fangirl (34)
20. Good Omens (34)

Most popular authors of all time:
1. Stephen King (541 reviews)
2. Neil Gaiman (339)
3. J.K. Rowling (279)
4. Agatha Christie (269)
5. Rainbow Rowell (262)
6. Terry Pratchett (214)
7. Margaret Atwood (187)
8. Brandon Sanderson (182)
9. Jim Butcher (176)
10. Ilona Andrews (170)

We’re so thankful for each and every review of the year and for each and every Cannonballer listed in our final standings below. Whether your review count was single or triple digits, your commitment to this project makes it all worthwhile.

Final Standings from Cannonball Read 15

If your name is not here, or your number is incorrect, please contact me. Registration for this year’s Cannonball Read is still open.

Septendecuple (17) Cannonball (884+ books)
BlackRaven 900 - an all-time record

Septuple (7) Cannonball (364+ books)
vel veeter 367

Triple Cannonball (156+ books)
Jake 183
narfna 160

Double Cannonball (104+ books)
Emmalita 106
Malin 104

Full Cannonball (52+) - 15 people
RevGirlUtena 99
Pooja 98
CoffeeShopReader 94
wicherwill 87
carmelpie 80
ASKReviews 65
ElCicco 65
Kit Moonstar 65
Owlizabeth 64
GentleRain 61
Sophia 58
booktrovert 57
jeverett15 54
thegirlwhogotoverit 54
kfishgirl 52

Half Cannonball (26+) - 15 people
jmsudar 46
Tracy 45
ardaigle 45
Halbs 41
elderberrywine 39
ingres77 37
Leedock 36
Scootchyknees 36
Carriejay 34
KimMiE" 33
Caesar’s Wife 31
faintingviolet 30
Nart 30
LittlePlat 26
Elizabeth 26

Quarter Cannonball (13+) - 18 people
teresaelectro 24
Merryn 21
reginadelmar 20
Flimflamingo 19
NatteringwPride 17
Travis_J_Smith 17
anana 16
Debcapsfan 16
drmllz 16
LB 16
Dome’Loki 15
Bothari43 14
Monty 14
cosbrarian 14
Sarah 13
Melina 13
finnyfinfinn 13
katie71483 13

And the 42* Cannonballers who wrote between one and twelve reviews, listed alphabetically:
krisbholland 11
Mobius_Walker 10
donttrustthe_bea 9
MegsDarcy 8
tiny_bookbot 8
jomidi 8
llamareadsbooks 7
acrackedkettle 6
yesknopemaybe 6
esme 5
jormis 4
elisamaza76 3
blauracke 3
chatelaine 3
MarkAbaddon 3
TylerDFC 3
Jaz 3
Ellesfena 2
KateMc 2
Michellers66 2
The Chancellor 2
LanierHgts 2
Jen K 2
malechai 2
kittenkong42 1
J 1
Sofi Keren 1
Ale 1
FyreHaar 1
meagmms 1
persnickety chick 1
kodama 1
dreadpiratekel 1
KatSings 1
Joe Grunenwald 1
Jenny S 1
Roslyn 1
NoNeinNyet 1
dsbs42 1
Bibliophile 1
NTE 1
postcardsandbooks 1

On to a Better Year
Again thanks to everyone above for a wonderful 2023. We’ve got a lot of fun stuff in the works for this year’s CBR16, like the Sixteen Sweet Books Challenge currently under way. Sign up today!

(*42: the same number of Cannonballers who wrote between one and twelve reviews last year. If you also know it’s the answer to a certain question, you really should sign up for this year’s Read.)