Wow, January is finally over! Does anyone else ever feel like it lasts 84 years? So I didn’t finish or get to all of the books I had set out to read last month, which is fine, but I decided I’m still going to make a TBR to at least talk about the books I’m interested in reading and hopefully will get to.
As February is also Black History Month, I also want to be intentional with my choices and read books by black authors. This choice isn’t going to start and stop in February, though, as I will continue to read books by black authors throughout the year and beyond. This will continue for other months in which heritages and identities are recognized, as I want to continue to diversify my reading and broaden my horizons.
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang – This book is one from my TBR last month and is the book I’m currently reading, so I want to finish it before moving on to another book. I’m only about 80 pages into it, but it’s an interesting read so far! I’m excited to see where it goes.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – This was another book on my TBR last month, but as I didn’t get to it, I’m slotting it over into February. This book is an Arthurian retelling, which I’ve never read about before, and so I’m definitely intrigued to read about it and see how I like it.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – Now I’ve heard amazing things about Butler for a long time, but I’ve never picked up one of her books before. This one takes place in 2024, and it’s about climate change and the effects of how economic strife can be so harmful to everyone and everything around it.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jeminsin – This start to a fantasy trilogy has been on my shelf for years (well, the whole trilogy) and I haven’t started it, BUT I’m going to rectify that this year and actually do it! It’s a critically acclaimed and award winning book, so I’m a bit intimidated by that, however I hear fantastic things about it. Just reading the synopsis alone has me dying for more, so I can’t wait to get to this.
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed – I’m trying to bring in more contemporary reads into my life, as most of my focus is on fantasy, so I figured this would be a good one to add! It centers a young black girl in high school and protesting and riots after officers from the LAPD are acquitted after beating a black man half to death. It sounds very hard hitting, and very important, too.
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan – I’ve seen this pop up around TikTok a lot lately, and after reading the synopsis (and wanting more contemporary in my reading), I think this would be a fun, dramatic, and spicy read. It’s like a second chance romance between a once husband and wife pair, so I’m definitely interested to see how it plays out.
Now, will I get to all of these books? I hope so honestly. Trying to get back into reading after the hard time I’ve had with it for years is already a challenge, and I’m further challenging myself by listing all of these books that I’m interested in as part of my TBR. I do hope to get to all of them, though, but if I don’t I’ll probably do the same thing as last time and push one or two I’m interested in into the next month.
What’re you reading currently or planning to read this month? Any recommendations you have that you think I might like to try out for myself? Let me know!
Hello hello! I don’t usually do TBRs anymore because I’m very much a mood reader, however there are some books this month that I’d really like to get to, so this is going to be my loose TBR for the month.
Critical Role’s Vox Machina: Kith & Kin by Marieke Nijkamp – This was actually a roll over book from December. I had started it mid month and skipped reading for a week or so before I picked it back up again and finished on the 2nd, but I figured I’d include it here anyway. This book follows the twins, Vex and Vax, from the D&D hit show, Critical Role, during a time of their lives before the events of Vox Machina took place.
Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon – The second book in the Ice Planet Barbarians series, I discovered that I can read these books pretty quickly, and they provide fun entertainment and spice (and even some plot!), so this would be a quick and easy read for me for the month. (As of writing this post, I already finished it!)
The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story by M.L. Wang – This is a standalone fantasy novel that I have heard nothing but good things about. A story about family, love, war, relationships, the complexities of being a human and the grief, joy, sorrow, and happiness that comes with it. It also includes elemental magic, which I am definitely here for.
Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price – Now, I have this on my list because I wanted to join the History Sickos book club to at least give the history genre a chance, however it’s so far out of my comfort zone, and I only have a limited time with my library hold on it that I don’t know that I’ll actually get to the book at all. So this one is a tentative selection on my TBR, even though it fits one of my goals for the year to read a genre I don’t normally read bimonthly…
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid – I once again heard many good things about this book and so I wanted to give it a try myself. As two rivals are at odds about an author in which has passed and his works and estate yet to be settled, it twines them into a fate that they don’t expect.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – I’ve also heard good things about this book and so, once again, I’m giving it a go! It’s got magic, it’s got demons, it’s got secrets that are trying to be uncovered, and it sounds like a good time.
Freebies
These books are going to be “freebies,” or books that I might like reading as a palette cleanser or as something I know I can read quickly for the entertainment, the feels, the spice, or whatever it is I’m looking for!
Barbarian Lover by Ruby Dixon – Like the previous two installments, I know I can finish these books in a day if I really go ham with it. They’re fast paced and entertaining, and so I think this will just be fun to read sooner rather than later. Plus I’m very interested in reading about this pairing in particular.
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree – I read Legends & Lattes last month (review to come!) and really enjoyed it. Even though this book is a prequel and follows a younger Viv, I’m very interested to see her adventures when she was a bit younger before deciding to retire and open a coffee shop! Plus, my wife read this book and rated it EEEE/10 (very good lol).
One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (omnibus vol 1-3) – As a One Piece fan (we’re on episode 551), I would like to also read the manga to be able to compare what I’ve seen in the anime vs what’s written in the manga itself. I know it’s not a one-to-one, but I really love this show, and it holds a very special place in my heart, so I think this could be a fun one to get to if I feel up for it!
I feel like that may be all of the time I have for books in January. I don’t want to push myself too hard into getting back into reading, so I figure that some decently chunky books that sound intriguing to me will be a good start! And where I’m already ahead of my 25 books for the year goal? I think this will definitely be manageable.
What’re you reading currently or planning to read this month? Any recommendations you have that you think I might like to try out for myself? Let me know!
You know, I don’t know why I keep making TBRs because I never stick to them lol But they’re fun, so why not?
Hello everyone! Today I’m going to be talking about my TBR for Tome Topple, a… bi-annual? I’m actually not sure how often it happens because quarantine made everything weird, but it’s a readathon created and hosted by Sam of Thoughts and Tomes (as well as other co-hosts each round), where you try to read tomes (books over 500 pages) in two weeks time following the given prompts.
You can check out Sam’s video below:
Here’s the important information:
Dates: August 8th-21st (starts midnight in your timezone)
One book can be used for ONLY two prompts! So the minimum number of books is 4-5, and the max is 9.
Prompts:
The tome that’s been on your TBR the longest
A tome audiobook
The tome you’ve most recently acquired
A standalone tome
Read one (1) tome
A tome written by a Black author
Tome from a genre you don’t usually read
Tome on your TBR with the most pages
A tome you started during another round of Tome Topple
If you complete…
1-3 challenges: STUDENT
4-6 challenges: SCHOLAR
7-9 challenges: SAGE
The prompts are optional! This is a chill readathon where the main goal is to read at least ONE tome (a book over 500 pages). That’s the baseline. The prompts are there for inspiration and fun!
Now that we have all of the important information, let’s talk about the books I hope to read. I’m aiming for four books, but even I know I most likely won’t complete these, buuuuuut that’s okay! I’ll at least have tried.
Also, disclaimer for me: some of the books I’m picking are less than 500 pages, BUT they’re in the mid-high 400 page range, so I’m counting them for this challenge. I’m trying to pick books already on my shelves like a good doobie.
I’ll be combining a bunch of the prompts together, so…
1 . A tome written by a Black author / read one tome
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.
Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.
I’ve been wanting to read this series for yearrrrrs, but due to my incessant reading novels slump, it’s been hard for me to pick anything up. I did start reading it when I first bought it to see how I liked it and remember being hooked really quickly, so I’m hoping that this will be a read that I thoroughly enjoy and such. (The book itself is 468 pages, so not quite tome level, but it’s fine.)
2. A tome audiobook / a tome with the most pages on your TBR
According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms. And the Voidbringers followed…
They came against man ten thousand times. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won.
Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself – and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne.
On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes that blow through every few day a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn’t understand and doesn’t really want to fight.
What happened deep in mankind’s past?
Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?
After finishing the first book, I was left reeling with everything that had happened! The book left off on such pivotal moments that I know are going to send the characters into new journeys and such, and ahhhh I can’t wait to read it! I’ll be listening to the audiobook, which is 48 HOURS long. (Help.) The physical hardcover book itself is over 1,100 pages, which is probably the longest book on my TBR right now. So. Yeah.
(I listen to audiobooks on the 1x speed because I like to take every word and sentence in, allowing me to visualize everything in its entirety, so this is going to be a big endeavor if I’m going to complete each of these challenges, just saying.)
3. Tome that’s been on my TBR the longest / genre I don’t typically read from
Narnia…the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free.
Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don’t believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they’ve been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch’s sinister spell.
Yeah, I have the movie tie-in edition from a million years ago when Prince Caspian came out, so it’s a bind up of all of the novels in the series. Now each book itself is roughly 120-ish pages (more or less), but the bind-up itself is 766 pages. I’ve owned this edition since 2008, so it’s definitely my oldest tome on my TBR by far, and it’s also from a genre I rarely read ever: classic. It’s still fantasy, of course, and like many, I already know the story (at least of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), so it won’t be totally foreign to me, I hope. I just always struggle reading classics, but I hope to read one book in the series per day to break it down and such.
4. A tome I’ve most recently acquired / a standalone tome
Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.
A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and each other, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
I had gotten this book around the time of its release, and, well, I had a hard time getting into it. The writing is kind of what puts me off from it, but I’m going to give it a go as it’s the only standalone tome (at 496 pages) that I have that’s newer. I hope I can get into it, but with all of these other books I hope to read, I don’t know that I’ll get to it.
I don’t have a book for the prompt for a tome from a previous round of tome topple, so those are all of the books on my TBR! I hope to read just one of these, which I think will be a major accomplishment in itself.
Are you joining in? What’s your biggest tome on your TBR? Which tome have you had the longest? Tell me all the things!
What’s this? What’s this? There’s books waiting to be read~ What’s this? It’s this month’s TBR!
Okay, corny song aside, I haven’t done one of these in… years. Since 2015, to be exact (at least for monthly TBRs. I’ve since made challenge TBRs). I stopped because I often found myself not actually reading the books in said TBR because I’m such a mood reader, but this year I want to try to set a goal and actually achieve it.
So, the other day I posted my list for the POPSUGAR 2020 Reading Challenge, and I’m definitely going to stick to that list for most of my reading. There are some books I want to read that aren’t on my list, but are on my shelves, so yeah.
Since there’s roughly four weeks per month, I want to aim to read one book per week, so these TBRs will have (at least) four books listed for me to read. This isn’t including all of the webcomics and other stories I keep up with online, mind you, but just novels/manga/comics that I hope to read.
I’m going to attempt to read three books from the main list for the challenge, and then one book from the advanced list each month.
I’ve also included a bonus book in each month because there are books that I’ve been reading for way too long and just need to finish, or I started last year and still need to finish.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues — a bee, a key, and a sword — that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library, hidden far below the surface of the earth.
What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians — it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also those who are intent on its destruction.
Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly-soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose–in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
Remembrance by Rita Woods – Challenge prompt: A book that’s published in 2020
Remembrance…It’s a rumor, a whisper passed in the fields and veiled behind sheets of laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a safe haven protected by more than secrecy…if you can make it there.
Ohio, present day. An elderly woman who is more than she seems warns against rising racism as a young woman grapples with her life.
Haiti, 1791, on the brink of revolution. When the slave Abigail is forced from her children to take her mistress to safety, she discovers New Orleans has its own powers.
1857 New Orleans—a city of unrest: Following tragedy, house girl Margot is sold just before her 18th birthday and her promised freedom. Desperate, she escapes and chases a whisper…. Remembrance.
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar – Challenge prompt: A book written by a trans or non-binary author
The story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker.
It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour’s mother once knew is changing, and it isn’t long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour’s house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour’s idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without.
More than eight hundred years earlier, Rawiya, sixteen and a widow’s daughter, knows she must do something to help her impoverished mother. Restless and longing to see the world, she leaves home to seek her fortune. Disguising herself as a boy named Rami, she becomes an apprentice to al-Idrisi, who has been commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily to create a map of the world. In his employ, Rawiya embarks on an epic journey across the Middle East and the north of Africa where she encounters ferocious mythical beasts, epic battles, and real historical figures.
Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship–like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor–April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world–from Beijing to Buenos Aires–and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.
Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – Advanced challenge prompt: A book written by an author in their 20s.
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
That’s all I have for this month! I’m excited to see what this month of reading brings and to see how these challenges push me to read books I never would have thought to pick up otherwise (probably).
Let’s chat!
What are your reading goals for this month? Any book in particular you’re excited to read? Anything on my list catch your eye? Let me know!
So each team has a total of five books to read (this is including the group book for their specific team), and each group has a special ability granted to them by one of the characters in their movie!
Here’s the prompts and how many points they’re worth:
Jasmine: a book that features royalty – 10 points
Aladdin: a book that includes romance – 10 points
Magic Carpet: a fantasy book – 10 points
Jafar: a book that sucks you in as if you’re in a trance, and one you must read only at night/in the dark – 25 points
Abu: this is the group book: The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell – 50 points
Our special ability is granted by, you guessed it, Genie! Our special ability allows us to DNF a book if we’re not liking it and keep our points for that specific prompt, excluding the group book.
I’m pretty excited because for my TBR I picked books that I think are going to be really fun to read – and they’re all ebooks, which makes me feel like I’m reading faster, even though I’m probably not lol
Here’s my TBR!
Jasmine: Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Aladdin: The Risk by Elle Kennedy
The Magic Carpet: We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
Jafar: The Wicked King by Holly Black
Abu: The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
I’m going to take it easy this month and only participate in this readathon. Last month kind of overwhelmed me, haha!
Let’s Chat!
Can you keep one jump ahead of the bread line? One swing ahead of the sword? Or are you going to be swept under by the Cave of Wonders? (If you’re participating in this readathon, let me know and tell me what team you’re on!) Which book are you most excited to read in August?
Reader Rayna 