My Winter 2017/18 Reading List

I love making these quarterly to-read list posts. It's always fun to think about what I feel like reading, and see what new books are due out, and browse my very long Goodreads TBR -- even if I don't end up following it completely (I do try!).

I had a pretty topsy-turvy reading year in 2017, due in large part, I think, to focusing on new releases. So for the first couple months of 2018, I'm going to read predominantly backlist. That shouldn't be a problem -- there are approximately 10 zillion older books on my to-read list.

I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish to share my list for Top Ten Tuesday.

1. Illustrated Harry Potter books 1-3

I just had to have the first two books on their release days -- and then they wound up sitting neglected on my shelves! I guess I was sort of saving them? For what, I'm not sure. But I recently bought the illustrated "Prisoner of Azkaban" and I decided the time has finally come to do a HP re-read and savor all three.

2. A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell #3)

This is the one winter release that I absolutely must read, despite my commitment to backlist. I love this historical mystery series!

3. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #1)

I've been in a major fantasy/sci-fi mood lately and this is the first of a few books in that category on my list. I've had this one on my TBR for quite a while; I'm fairly new to the fantasy genre, but I'm pretty sure it's time for me to finally read some Brandon Sanderson!

4. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (Farseer #1)Another fantasy series I've been dying to start!

5. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #1)

This sci-fi series is a fairly new discovery for me, and it immediately went on my to-read list!

6. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

My Broke and Bookish Secret Santa gave me this well-loved WWII novel last year, and I never got around to reading it! It's time.

7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

A Broke and Bookish Secret Santa gift from two years ago. Sensing a trend... (though if you read the blog regularly, you'll know I'm horrible about reading my own books).

8. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Ahem. See #6-7.

9. A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

I have heard only good things about this book and I'm so excited to read it!

10. Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Anderson

I've been wanting to read this comic collection forever, but my library in Hawaii didn't have it. I just checked again recently, and it turns out they finally got in this book and the second in the series, which came out in 2017. Yay!

10 Books I'd Want My (Hypothetical) Kids To Read

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is books I'd want my kids to read, if I ever have any. Boy, was I tempted to choose all picture books -- I have some favorites from my childhood, and I see adorable ones at work every day. Plus there are tons of great picture books that help explain important issues (like "And Tango Makes Three"), teach positive behaviors (like sharing, friendship and understanding feelings, as in the fabulous "Bear" books by Karma Wilson -- my go-to baby shower gift!), and make scary things less frightening ("The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor" was one I loved as a kid).

But I decided to think about what I'd want my "kids" to read as they got a little older, and this is what I came up with:

 
1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: You might have noticed that I'm a pretty big HP fan, and if we ever have kids I will do my darndest to insure they love Harry Potter too! There are so many life lessons to be taken from these books, plus I want my kids to be able to escape into this magical world and enjoy all the fun of the fandom.

2. Wonder by R.J. Palacio: This is a charming, sweet book that reminds everyone -- not just kids -- to be compassionate and kind.

3. Bunnicula by James Howe: I was obsessed with rabbits as a kid, so of course I loved this story about a vampire bunny. I'm always excited when kids check it out at the library, and obviously I'd foist it on my own children!

4. Magic School Bus series by Joanna Cole: There are so many books in this series, and they really make non-fiction fun and interesting! The one above, with the popcorn-filled stomach, was my favorite when I was little.

5. March graphic novel trilogy by John Lewis: Now we're getting into some high school-level books, and I think "March" would make excellent required reading, but if that doesn't happen I'd read it with my kids anyway. It's a fresh way of educating people about the American Civil Rights Movement, and it hit home much more than anything I'd read or learned about it previously.

6. Maus graphic novels by Art Spiegelman: In the same vein as "March," "Maus" brings the Holocaust to life. I read the books in college and it wasn't until then that the full atrocity of it all sunk in; the narrative non-fiction and graphic novel formats give a face and a name to the horror in a way a dry textbook never can.

7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: I didn't read this book until I was around 30, but I think high school is a great time to explore the harms of censorship. Plus this is a highly readable classic! And if my "kids" are anything like me, they'll largely shy away from the classics genre, so it'll be gratifying to find one they'll (presumably) enjoy.

8. 1984 by George Orwell: This book goes hand-in-hand with "Fahrenheit 451." Everyone needs to know where the phrase "big brother" came from!

9. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: This is another book I didn't read until recently that I'd want my hypothetical teenager to read. What adolescent wouldn't relate to angsty Holden Caulfield?

10. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: The earth is wrecked and everyone escapes from their miserable lives in a virtual reality universe -- sounds like something that could happen in our not-too-distant future! But the main reason I'd want my "kids" to read this book is so they can get a feel for the decade during which their parents were born! (Plus, kids these days probably have no idea about half the stuff in there -- cassette tapes? Arcades?)

Ten Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want To Read A Book

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is the opposite of last week's, where we discussed things that'll instantly make us want to read a book. Now we're talking about things that turn us off. Below are 10 things that'll instantly cool my interest in a book:

1. An ugly cover. For instance, Elena Ferrante's series. The covers are so absolutely horrific that I just can't bring myself to muster any interest in the books.

2. I can be into a premise until I read those death knell words: short story. I've never read a short story collection that I've enjoyed anywhere near as much as a novel.

3. Writing that's described in a blurb or review as "poetic" is usually a turnoff for me, as is 4. "lyrical." The irony is that I myself have used those words positively in reviews of my own... but too often they really just mean the writing is going to be pretentious.

5. After finally coming to terms with the fact that YA and I just don't get along most of the time, I avoid it like the plague. I've often been disappointed when I'm really intrigued by a blurb or cover, only to look the book up and discover that it's young adult.

6. If a book catches my interest and then I see it's over 500 pages, I'm a lot less likely to add it to my to-read list. There are some exceptions to the rule, to be sure, but unless it's a book I was already dying to read, I tend to avoid chunksters.

7. Christian fiction. I'm not religious, so I avoid most books advertised with the words like "faith" and "inspirational."

8. Dysfunctional families have turned out to really not be my jam -- at least when the characters are dysfunctional to the point where they're impossible for me to connect with. (See "Dead Letters.")

9. I like paranormal books to a degree (I love Anne Bishop's The Others series!), but I don't really care for stories that feature psychics or characters who can communicate with the dead. I just had a nasty surprise when it turned out that a book I'd been looking forward to, "A Bridge Across the Ocean" by Susan Meissner, featured just that -- and it was never even alluded to in the description. The times I've encountered these types of characters, they've just feel hokey.

10. I do read and enjoy them from time to time, but for the most part I avoid coming-of-age stories. Too much like YA -- I guess I want to leave my teen angst in my past!

Bonus! Some random phrases that've turned me off lately:
"minimalist and unsentimental"
"an engrossing meditation on grief and survival"
"poetic liberties"
"battered idealism and resistant hope"
a triumph of language and allegory"
"ambitious novel about grief and tragedy"
"hallucinatory prose...raw poetic talent...wild, plangent and revealing" (WTF does "plangent" even mean? I shouldn't have to pull up my dictionary app just for the blurb!)

Playing Catch-Up: My Winter 2017 Reading List

It's 2017! Happy New Year, fellow bookworms. I have lots of bookish goals for the year, and two of them I'm going to start right away: get caught up on series, and get caught up on advance-read review books. What will you be reading to start off 2017?

P.S. I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for Top Ten Tuesday, but I decided to skip this week's topic of 2017 debuts -- though some of my ARCs do fall into that category! (You can see a list of more 2017 releases I'm excited about here.)

1. Morning Star by Pierce Brown
(Red Rising #3)
2. A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander
(Lady Emily #11)
3. Finders Keepers by Stephen King
(Bill Hodges #2)
4. A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn
(Veronica Speedwell #2)
5. Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
(The Others #2)
6. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
(Inspector Gamache #3)
7. O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King
(Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #5)
8. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
(Broken Earth #2)
9. The Likeness by Tana French
(Dublin Murder Squad #2)
10. Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
(Joe Goldberg #2)

1. The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers (Jan. 10)
2. The Fire by Night by Teresa Messineo (Jan. 17)
3. All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai (Feb. 7)
4. The Young Widower's Handbook by Tom McAllister (Feb. 7)
5. The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill (Feb. 7)
6. Gilded Cage by Vic James (Feb. 14)
7. I See You by Clare Mackintosh (Feb. 21)
8. Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach (Feb. 28)
9. A Bridge Across Oceans by Susan Meissner (March 7)
10. Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen (April 11)