#December TBR 2020

[guardian-angle22]

10 Books to Read in 2024

Thank you @lemonlyman-dotcom for the tag! At this point you must know that I go overboard with these posts. I appreciate the enabling. 😂

#1 & 2: Book Club/Buddy Reads

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coats - This is one of the official Paul Strickland Approved Reads and it's been on my shelf for awhile now too. It's about time I sit down and read it!

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden - This book was chosen by one of my friends for our seasonal book club to be read for winter.

#3 & 4: Series to Complete/Continue

Light of Impossible Stars by Gareth L. Powell - This is the 3rd and final book in the Embers of War trilogy. I read the previous book back in 2020... so it's unclear if I will remember the plot enough for this. oops.

Saga Volume 9 by Fiona Staples & Brian K. Vaughan - I've had this volume on my shelf since 2018 when it was published but kept holding off on reading it because the authors had announced going on a break and I heard there was a cliffhanger. They've since come back and started releasing more volumes, so I gotta catch up!

#5 & 6: Series to Start

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin - Series are a big focus of my personal reading goals in 2024. I own the entire Broken Earth trilogy in physical copies, and they've been staring at me for awhile now and guilting me for buying a whole series without knowing if I like the first book.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee - I was smart enough with this one to at least purchase just the first book and not the entire Machineries of Empire series. However, I have owned this since 2018. Why haven't I read it yet???

#7 & 8: Indigenous Fiction

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko - I was in an online Indigenous Reading Book Club for a little bit and this was one of the books we were supposed to read for that. and I never did. Must fix my prior mistakes!

There There by Tommy Orange - I've heard great things about this book and Tommy Orange is releasing a second novel this year that I hear has ties to this one.

#9 & 10: Books that have been on my TBR for the longest

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I've had this on my digital TBR since August of 2009... 2 0 0 9! WTF!

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut - This one has been on there since December of 2010. Not much better at all. What have I been doing all these years??

I'm not sure which of my mutuals are big book readers tbh. Hit me up and let me know if you are! I'd love to know who to tag for these kinds of things in the future! 📚💜

[doitinanotherlanguage]

January 2023 Wrap-up: 1900s (+ pre-1900s)

The first month of the Reading Through the Decades challenge has blown past, and it’s time to wrap-up the first decade: 1900-1909 (+ the turn of the century in general).

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Gloriana; or, The Revolution of 1900 (1890), Florence Dixie -> A highly intelligent and enterprising young woman disguises herself as a man and becomes a Member of the British Parliament. She leads a revolutionary women’s movement, but encounters trouble when she’s falsely accused of murder. -> Apparently, there was a huge rage of utopias written in the late 1800s?? And no one told me??? I have about a half a dozen other ones on my TBR list now, but I decided to start with Gloriana because it’s written by a woman and it’s about women’s rights. And there is an epilogue set in 1999! (I love reading stuff that shows that “everyone thought like that back then” and “people back then just didn’t know better” are talking out of their ass. A multitude of values and opinions has always existed among people. From any era, you will find a person who spoke out against injustices of that time.) Anyway, Gloriana is a fascinating look at debates and themes that were topical during the early women’s movement. Although, to my liking, there’s a little bit too much emphasis on militarism (and imperialism).

📖 Emily of New Moon (1923), L.M. Montgomery -> The first book in the three-book Emily of New Moon series about a Canadian orphan girl growing up around the turn of the century and working towards her dream of becoming a successful author. -> Everyone seems to be all about Anne of Green Gables, but my childhood favourite was Emily of New Moon. I read it over and over again in Finnish when I was a kid, and for a while now I’ve wanted to come back to it in the original English. The reading experience definitely lived up to my memories. It’s always interesting to go back to childhood favourites and recognise the ways in which they have shaped you as a person.

📖 גאט פון נקמה (1907; God of Vengeance), Sholem Asch -> This is a play, originally written in Yiddish, about “a Jewish brothel owner who tries to become respectable by commissioning a Torah scroll to be written. Meanwhile, his daughter has a lesbian affair with one of his prostitutes downstairs.” -> A very interesting, short play that on the surface feels quite ordinary (thematising bourgeois aspirations and hypocrisies). Yet there’s also blasphemy and lesbianism (the love scene between the girls is very cute and romantic and features a kiss!), and definitely a lot to bite your teeth into if you’re interested in queer history. The cast of the first English-language production got arrested and sued for obscenity in 1923 (the verdict was overturned after a two-year battle).

📺 The Nevers (2021-), created by Joss Whedon -> An epic steampunk sci-fi drama about a group of people, mostly women, known as the Touched, who suddenly manifest unusual abilities (due to alien intervention). Set in London, 1899. -> I’m a huge fan of historical sci-fi and fantasy, and the first 6 episodes of this series are amazing! The series is women-led, the focus is on the marginalised of society, and it’s all just pure fun, excitement, and mystery. (Sadly, this show was cancelled last December, although apparently the second half of the season is already filmed and might be streamed on another platform. I do hope they find somewhere to release the rest of the episodes, because this is a delight to watch and I am so curious to see what would happen after the sixth episode.)

🎬 Сере́бряные коньки́ (2020; Silver Skates), dir. Michael Lockshin -> An epic period romantic adventure film set around Christmastime in 1899. Matvey, the fastest courier on the frozen canals of Saint Petersburg is recruited by a group of pickpockets working the winter markets. -> A charming love story, which I found surprisingly good, although the workers’ rights side-plot/theme kind of got sidelined in the end imo. A very beautiful, atmospheric film to watch during winter.

📺 Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) -> An Australian mystery romantic drama TV show. On Valentine's Day, 1900, three students and their governess from a school for young ladies mysteriously vanish. Their disappearance leaves a devastating impact on students, staff, their enigmatic and formidable headmistress and the township at large. Theories abound, secrets are exposed and hysteria sets in. -> Queer extravaganza and mystery. WOMEN. Natalie Dormer as the mysterious and morally questionable headmistress! This was definitely my favourite thing this month, and I am planning to pick up the 1960s book this is based on asap. I go feral over stories about women trapped in a restricting society, longing to be wild and free.

📖 The Complete Sherlock Holmes (1887-1927), Arthur Conan Doyle -> Short stories and novellas about the iconic “consulting detective” and his sidekick, set between the 1880s and 1914. -> The Complete Sherlock Holmes has been my forever project for the past five years. I started it in January 2018, and I finally finished it this month. It has definitely been fun to read it in bits and pieces, reading one story now and then before bed. If TV is more your cup of tea, I highly recommend Granada Holmes.

📖 Imre: A Memorandum (1906), Edward Prime-Stevenson -> “A little psychological romance" about two men who meet at a cafe in Budapest, Hungary. Oswald, a 30-something British aristocrat, and Imre, a 25-year-old Hungarian military officer, feel an immediate kinship and closeness and soon realise that the other is what they have been looking for their whole lives. (SPOILER: There’s a happy ending.) -> What a book! I love reading obscure, forgotten-by-the-general-public works from the past. This contains a lot of musings about being queer, and really pointedly affirms the existence and validity of queer people and queer feelings in the world and throughout history. There’s not much going on plot-wise, but this novel is simply wonderful.

📖 The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891), Oscar Wilde -> An essay in which Wilde expounds a libertarian socialist worldview and a critique of charity. -> I love The Picture or Dorian Gray and it has long been a goal of mine to read more of Wilde. This was a fascinating essay; a lot I agree with, a lot I disagree with. I whole-heartedly concur that a big problem is that people in a capitalist society do so much to treat the symptom but not the cause, and we can only get rid of stuff like poverty by reconstructing society, i.e. going to the root of the problem.

🎶 Claude Debussy: Clair de lune (1905) 🎶 James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson: Lift Every Voice and Sing (1900/1905)

[ryttu3k]

End of the year book asks! Which I'm just... going to fill out. Original post here.

1. How many books did you read this year?

As of posting this on December 15th, it's 36, with a note that I am including zines over 100 pages. Will update at the end of the year! Edit: 38!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Reread Gideon and Harrow the Ninth in preparation for Nona's release!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Okay. I am going to categorise.

Favourite novel: Tamsyn Muir - Nona the Ninth

Favourite novella: Becky Chambers - A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Favourite series: Seanan McGuire - Wayward Children

Favourite anthology: Xenocultivars - Stories of Queer Growth

Favourite zine: Archive of the Odd (available here, only read issue 1 so far but I have issue 2 purchased and ready to go!)

Favourite unexpected addition to my reading list: Bram Stoker - Dracula

Other favourites of note: Travis Baldree - Legends & Lattes, RoAnna Sylver - Stake Sauce 2 and Life Within Parole vol 2, Freydis Moon - Exodus 20:3

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

Read the Wayward Children series, would be quite happy to look into more of Seanan McGuire's writing!

5. What genre did you read the most of?

I am sitting comfortably in my SFF hole, thank you.

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

*laughs in excessively long TBR*

7. What was your average Goodreads Storygraph rating? Does it seem accurate?

4.32, which seems pretty solid!

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

I did, averaging three new reads a month!

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Is 'gothic horror that is actually all about The Power Of Friendship' a genre?

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

Nona the Ninth Nona the Ninth I cannot reiterate how much I goddamn adore Nona the Ninth. Sob.

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Dracula has been out for. A while lmao

12. Any books that disappointed you? 13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

Mm. I don't like naming names because I can totally see people enjoying it, but there was one novel in particular that I felt didn't quite stick the landing. I gave it a 6/10 rating.

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

I'd like to get in Where The Drowned Girls Go (the last Wayward Children book currently out, the next one is due in January!), which will be easy enough because it's a novella, and probably one other. Edit, 16th December: Done!

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year? What did you think of them?

I got into the Wayward Children series, most of those either won or were nominated for the Best Novella nebulas, and which won this year's Best Series. This Is How You Lose The Time War won that category for the Hugos, Nebulas, and Locus in 2020; Binti: Home and Night Masquerade were also nominated for Hugos.

Also I feel Dracula's probably won a few awards. Probably.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Oh, hm! I don't know, most felt like a suitable level of hype.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Dracula. Dracula. I expected to read it as like, a pivotal vampire/horror novel that I felt lowkey obligated to get through but I fucking loved it. At least part of that was the Dracula Daily experience but damn, I really liked that book.

18. How many books did you buy?

.......significantly more than I actually read. Awkward laughter at my Kobo account.

19. Did you use your library?

I did!

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Nona the Ninth, and it absolutely did. I knew I would be goddamn deceased after it and I very much!! was!!

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

No drama here!

22. What's the longest book you read?

The Harrow reread is the only one that tops 500 pages, although both the Gideon reread and Nona are in the 400s.

23. What's the fastest time it took you to read a book?

I mean I can knock out a novella in an hour?

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

Nope!

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

Read more novels. I read a lot of novellas and anthologies this year!

[amberreadsforpleasure]

December 2020 TBR and short Reading Introduction!

Hey everyone! I'm Amber and I love reading for pleasure. I love to write book reviews for fun and also run the Reading for Pleasure book club on Goodreads so if you are an adult 18 and over, be sure to check us out. I plan to get back to my ARC read for review requests from authors and Netgalley starting back in January. Just taking a short hiatus so I can complete my reading for pleasure challenge this year. My goal is 150 books and I'm only at 113 now.

Here's a Tentative December TBR of books I hope to get too starting December 1st. I'll post my book reviews here and on Goodreads of books I finish:

December 2020 TBR

1. Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake-This is the final book of the Anna Dressed in Blood YA Duoloy which is about a young boy named Case who is a ghost hunters who kills ghosts. I enjoyed the first installment so I look forward to finishing the series in December.

That's all I have planned for now but hope to finish more series and trilogies off my ebooks e-reader shelf of books I started reading a while ago. Definitely want to finish the Wolf Hall trilogy and the Young Samurai series by Chris Bradford which are ones I recently started but haven't finished yet.

At the end of the month I'll be posting my yearly wrap-up for my reading for pleasure challenge with the best reads of the year that I've read this year in 2020. Feel free to follow me and if you have any reading questions, let me know. My favorite author is Sherrilyn Kenyon aka Mcqueen and more. My favorite novels are The Eyes of the dragon by Stephen king, Thief of Always by Clive Barker, the Child Thief by Brom, Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon, the Devouring by Simon holt and more. I read horror, fantasy, Ya, middle grade, paranormal romance and more.

Happy reading and I'll have more reading posts up later.

Thanks!

Amber ☃️📚 🎄🎁

[auraseeingcoffeebean]

Braiding Sweetgrass is an incredible read! One of my favorites this year for sure! Its so beautiful. 🍁🌾🌿🌻🍃

[bookaddict24-7]

New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (December 15th 2020)

___

Note: Since so many release dates have been changed for various Young Adult novels, keep in mind that there might be some titles missing in this post.

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know! ___

New Standalones/First in a Series:

Coming Up For Air by Nicole B. Tyndall

This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano

New Sequels: 

For Better or Cursed (The Babysitter’s Cover #2) by Kate Williams

Oculta (A Forgery of Magic #2) by Maya Motayne

___

Happy reading!

[slaughter-books]

Day 1: JOMPBPC: December Goals

My immediate TBR for December, 2020! 💗

[jessread-s]

Young Adult Releases of December, 2020!

New Standalones:

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Becoming Human by Amy Michelle Carpenter

A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley 

Link by Link: An Anthology of Haunted Holidays by Elle Beaumont

The Bitterwine Oath by Hannah West

A Universe of Wishes by Dhonielle Clayton (Editor)

The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Escaping Eleven by Jerri Chisholm

What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini

New Year’s Kiss by Lee Matthews

Coming Up for Air by Nicole Tyndell

Admission by Julie Buxbaum

This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano

The Valley and the Flood by Rebecca Mahoney

The Beast of Bellvue by Grace Chen

The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley

Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz

The Dubious Gift of Dragon Blood by J. Marshall Freeman

Finding My Voice by Marie G. Lee

Just Our Luck by Julia Walton

Fall into Me by Mila Gray

It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

New Series:

Heiress Apparently (Daughters of the Dynasty, #1) by Diana Ma

The Notorious Virtues (The Notorious Virtues, #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

Lies The Guardians Tell (Lies The Guardians Tell, #1) by Herman Steurnagel

New Books within a Series:

A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes, #4) by Sabaa Tahir

Defending the Galaxy (Sentinels of the Galaxy, #3) by Maria V. Snyder

The Frozen Prince (The Beast Charmer, #2) by Maxym M. Martineau

Day One (Day Zero Duology, #2) by Kelly deVos

Oculata (A Forgery of Magic, #2) by Maya Motayne

For Better or Cursed (The Babysitters Coven, #2) by Kate Williams

Black Canary: Breaking Silence (DC Icons, #5) by Alexandra Monir

Warmaidens (Gravemaidens, #2) by Kelly Coon

✰ Which book are you most excited for? ✰

[magickallyfinn]

Hyped to start If We Were Villains today!!!

[thelivebookproject]

Expected Readings for December 2020

Last monthly TBR of the year!!!!! *runs around wildly*

I have almost all of my goals for the year completed, so this month’s TBR is basically me being self-indulgent and reading various rom-coms. In no particular order, here is my most ambitious TBR of the year: 12 books.

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (Dash & Lily #1) - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) - Philip Pullman

Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson

Beach Read - Emily Henry

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet - Bernie Su & Kate Rorick [Reread]

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite - Edited by Zoraida Córdova

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air #3.5) - Holly Black

The Lost Estate - Alain Fournier

Well Played (Well Met #2) - Jen DeLuca

The Court of Miracles (Court of Miracles #1) - Kester Grant

The Roommate - Rosie Danan

Olvidado rey Gudú - Ana María Matute [Not translated]

What will you read this month?

[cassiesbookishcorner]

December 1, 2020 December TBR + The Goddess in the Machine • Are you going to try to fit as many books as you can in your TBR this month or take it easy? I hope that the last book you read will be a 5 star and/or a new favorite. I think everyone needs a good ending to this year. • Let’s start this month off by playing a game of Would you Rather? Would you rather own a library or own a bookstore? 📚 #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookworm #bookish #decembertbr #tbr #wanttoread #toberead #pokemon #beautyandthebeast #shelfie #bookshelf #december #2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/CIQmNxkAfS9/?igshid=3nlxd0bxaj2q

[kattra]

What I’m Reading

BOOKS OF DECEMBER Bungo Stray Dogs: Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exam by Kafka Asagiri Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce* ** Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce* ** Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce* ** The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce* ** The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum (NF) **  By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho Crush by Richard Siken (P)* ** To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers ** The Cousins by Karen M. McManus ** Four Past Midnight by Stephen King  The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman ** Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho The Cruel Prince by Holly Black ** The Wicked King by Holly Black ** The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black **  Tales From High Hallack Volume Three by Andre Norton (SS)   The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman* **  Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood (P) Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden  Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis **

Graphic Novels: Book Love by Debbie Tung  Monstress Vol.5 (Warchild) by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda  Heartstopper Vol.1 by Alice Oseman ** Demon Love Spell Vol.1-6 by Mayu Shinjo  Isola Vol.1*-2 by Brenden Fletcher & Karl Kerschl Rat Queens Vol.7 (The Once and Future King) — Ferrier/Petraites/Lesko

(200 books read / 200 books goal)

currently reading:  Hunger Moon by Traci Skuce (SS) Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems by Mary Oliver (NF/P) Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles 

* - re-read // ** - 4+ star-rating on my goodreads  GN - graphic novel // NF - non-fiction // P - poetry SS - short story collection // AB - audiobook 

TBR: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak* ** A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire  Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane Three Sisters by Bi Feiyu  Bleach Vol.1-74 by Tite Kubo (GN)

WHAT ARE YOU READING? :D

[nikihawkes]

Tackling the TBR [65]: January 2021

Tackling the TBR [65]: January 2021

[kittyreading]

HEY!! I’m doing Vlogmas this year and it’ll be lots of book and art content with some other stuff sprinkled in, please check it out I’m working really hard on these and I would love for them to get a few views. What books are you reading this December? Let me know either here or on the video!!

[lesbienneanarchiste]

I should probably read Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion this month but considering I can barely get myself to open something simple, I have a hard time believing I'll manage well with something I'll need brain cells for

[bookaddict24-7]

Happy December! What are you planning to read this month? And what did you read in November?🤔📖

Day 1 of my December Bookish Challenge is my TBR for December! So, as you may or may not have noticed, I’ve become a HUGE audiobook listener this year. With work being insanely busy and me noticing a decline in my physical reading speed, I took matters into my own hands. Audiobooks have helped me catch up on my TBR! 🤗

But I digress! These are the books y’all voted for all those days ago. I want to try and finish at least some of these before 2020 is over! Do you see any you want to read or have already read? Let me know!

In the next pic, I’ve posted a physical stack of my November wrap up! I read 37 books in November. Here’s the break down:

•19 Audiobooks (some of which I listened along with a good chunk of the books pictured)

•4 ebooks (my number went way down this month because I wanted to read some of my physical books!)

•11 Manga (I found my love of Manga again!)

•3 Physical Books (this might seem like small beans to you, but I’m really proud of this number. Like I said, my reading attention span of physical books has been waning a lot these past couple of years!)

IG: @daylafm