January 2024 TBR
It is almost the end of 2023. Just a few days left. It's also almost the end of December, which means it's time for the January TBR!
I very carefully crafted this TBR from NetGalley books I need to read, books from my 10 oldest books list, and from the prompts on the reading challenge. With 52 prompts in that challenge I need to read at least 4 books each month. So here we go.
The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill - This is the next book by the author of The Woman In the Library that I read this fall. The blurb calls it "a literary thriller that turns the world of books and authors upside down and where a writer's voice is a thing to be controlled and weaponized, to the peril of everyone who loves a good story." At 400 pages, it's pretty long for a thriller. This is a NetGalley eARC that will be published March 19. Oh! Gentill is also an Australian author! Heck yeah! Number 24 on the reading challenge is to read an author from the Southern hemisphere.
The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales - This is a YA romance with a magical realism twist. Ivy writes fan fiction about her favorite male romance character. Somehow she managed to write him to life, except the things she loves about him in fiction, don't play out the same way in real life. I really like Sophie Gonzales, so I'm looking forward to a quick read here.
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides - This chonker will kill two birds with one stone. It is officially the oldest book on my TBR shelves, so it takes a book of that list, AND it was published in 2014. That is number 14 on the Booklist Queen's reading challenge.
Ok. Here is where it gets difficult. I have to pick at least 3 more books to stay up on the reading challenge and 3 more books from my shelves to stay current on that challenge. I am going to get a random number generator to give me prompt numbers for the reading challenge and choose a book.
Number 21. A 2023 bestseller. I have lots. Lets see what we can find.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett - Ok, this was definitely a 2023 bestseller. AND the sequel is coming out in January.
Number 28. Character who is an actor I'm so glad I kind of thought of options earlier.
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio - This is about a group of college actors who let their acting spill over into real life and somebody died. There. Actors.
Number 48. You own but haven't read. So that's a lot of books. I'm going to employ the random number generator again, but I'm going to get it to tell me the number of a book on my TBR. Goodreads gives them all numbers, so I can just find the one with the number that matches what the generator said. I hope.
Number 41 -
The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman - I added this to my TBR April of 2016. This is a dystopian novel that takes place after a plague that kills everyone by their 20th birthday. Ice Cream Star is searching for the cure because her bother has started showing symptoms. Very uplifting.
So that is 2 NetGalley books and 4 books from my shelves. It also manages to meet 5 challenge prompts. 6 books isn't a lot for me in a month, I hope, so if I have extra time, I might pick up:
The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez - I am super interested in this one. It is set in Panama around the building of the canal. Oo! This one would fit a challenge prompt about reading a book set during a historical event. Nice.
I got some great books for Christmas I might pic up, also.
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub - My husband was very proud of himself when I opened this book and had never heard of it. Obviously, it's right up my alley.
Ok. That's 8 books. It could be too many, it could be not enough. We shall see what the month brings us.