I just started and finished (33m) my first book of 2023 titled “Fushigi na Toshokan” or “The Strange Library” by Haruki Murakami. A fantastical illustrated short novel about a boy imprisoned in a nightmarish library. The story of a lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plotting their escape from a nightmarish library, the book is like nothing else Murakami has written.

Although, at 96 pages with beautiful illustrations by Chip Kidd, I would consider this a short story, or micro fiction.