12 Books I want to Read in 2020

I was hesitant to create another one of  these since I only read 5 from last year but I thought I would try anyway. Here are the 12 books I want to prioritize in the year 2020.

1. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
2. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
3. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (repeat from last year's list)
4. The Five by Hallie Rubenfold
5. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
6. You Will be Safe Here by Damien Barr
7. The Overstory by Richard Powers
8. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
9. Red Sister by Mark Lawerence
10. Columbine by Dave Cullen
11. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
12. Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Most of this will be stretching me. Lots of fantasy, more non-fiction, and some historical fiction. I'm really hoping most of these will be 4 or 5 star reads for me as well.

January Wrap Up 1

So far I've finished 4 books in January.

I've already summarized Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse in my previous post---3 stars.

The one I picked up after that was This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. This was a nonfiction diary type book of his experience working as a junior doctor (intern/resident) in the NHS system in the UK. Some of the stories were funny, a lot were very gross, and some were quite sad. A lot were focused on how understaffed they were and how he often had to give up his social plans and how this constant overworking led to some problems. However, abruptly, as he has reached the pinnacle and is about to become a senior doctor with a lot more flexibility, he tells a story in which a patient dies. He has a strong emotional reaction and decides he can no longer be a doctor. We knew from the start that he had quit being a doctor but the tonal shift from funny to depressing was very fast. I knew he wrote this book as a call to make changes in the NHS so I felt it is important for people living in the UK to read, but as an American, maybe less so for me. I gave the book 3.5 stars.

I then chose to read Strange Planet by Nathan Pyle. This is a collection of his comics that are told from an alien's perspective about normal everyday things humans do but are put in a comedic light. It was fun and light. I gave it 3 stars.

The last book I read was Me by Elton John. I have been a fan of Elton John's music since I was a teen so I was excited to pick up his autobiography and learn more about him. I want to admit, the beginning was quite slow. There was a lot of name-dropping of industry people I had never heard of and it was pretty boring. I was keeping my DNF-ing goal in mind and considering dropping it but the audiobook was so good I decided to keep going and I'm glad I did. It really started to pick up as he started discussing his drug addiction, his friendships with people I had heard of (like Rod Stewart, John Lennon, and Princess Diana), and his charity startup to help people with HIV/AIDS. He is not entirely likable in this book which I think is something people should know going in, but his story is fascinating and I really enjoyed reading about his life. (So much so that I then went and rented the movie Rocketman which is a musical based somewhat on his life.) I gave the book 4 stars, for being difficult to start.

Magical Readathon Wrap Up 2

So my Magical Readathon leaked into January a bit but this is how it finished.

My fourth week I received one prompt: to read a book with an author's surname that started with a "T', "M", or "R". I chose to read both volumes of manga of My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame. This manga is about a Japanese man who has a gay twin who moved to Canada and married a man. The twin died and the husband visits Japan to meet his brother-in-law and his niece. The adult brother-in-law is homophobic and very unaccepting but the girl has no preconceived notions and accepts him as a loving uncle that he is. She slowly brings her dad around and it is such a heart-warming story that I immediately felt the urge to pick up the second volume. I gave both volumes 5 stars.

The fifth and last week's prompt was to read a book with a sword on the cover. I chose to read the book Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. This was an urban fantasy story based on Native American folklore invoking gods and monsters. I really thought I would like it and I'm quite split. There is so much potential for interesting world-building and the characters could be very complex. But the ending became quite cliched, shoe-horning some romance in where it was unneeded, and trying to surprise us when we definitely had received enough clues to not really be surprised. The main character was a bad-ass female warrior in the beginning and became whiny and pathetic. In addition, the author would put the characters in tight spots, and then just create ways for them to get out without explaining the new powers or reasons they survived. There seemed to be a lot of plotholes and the author got very lazy in explaining why some characters survived when they really shouldn't have. Overall, I gave it 3 stars because they were so much potential. I will read the next book but if it doesn't improve, I will drop the series.

Overall, this was a fun additional to the Magical Readathon series. I do however like planning my readathons out ahead of time and am looking forward to the O.W.L.s in April when I will be able to do that.

January TBR

These are the books I'm hoping to read in January. I have some other books on hold at the library which might shuffle my priorities around a bit if they come in earlier than expected.

Wade in the Water by Tracy Smith

Me by Elton John

A Long Way to A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

2020 New Year's Resolutions

I like setting resolutions each year and have been pretty good at fulfilling them. I've decided to set 5 goals for this upcoming year.

1. Complete the 24 reading prompts for the Reading Woman Challenge.
2. Complete the 24 reading prompts for the Reading Harder Challenge.
3. Read at least 5 pre-2020 owned books each month (for a total of 60).
4. Re-read an average of 1 book a month (not including Harry Potter).
5. DNF books after 50-100 pages if I'm not enjoying them.

How I did on my 2019 Resolutions

Update on my 2019 Resolutions

Goal 1: Complete 40 books for the Popsugar Challenge- I've completed 40 out of 40 challenges.

Goal 2: Complete 24 books for the Read Harder Challenge- I've completed 24 out of the 24 challenges.

Goal 3: Accept, read, and review at least 6 ARCS- I've done 6. I've got 2 more accepted for next year.

Goal 4: Read at least 2 books from my owned TBR each month- I read 36

Goal 5: Read at least 5 translated books- Knocked this out of the park. I read 12.


The Top 12 Books I would like to read in 2019:

✔The Missing of Clairedelune by Christelle Dabos and translated by Hildegarde Serle
Outlander by Diana Galbaldon
✔Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
✔The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
✔A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White
✔Boy Erased by Garrard Conley

5 out of 12 is not great. I decided against reading The Name of the Wind until book 3 is out because I don't want to be waiting like the other fans. I'm not sure I'm still interested in The Secret History because I wasn't a huge fan of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I am going to prioritize what is left for 2020.

Magical Readathon Wrap Up Part 1

For my first week's prompt I was given: Read a contemporary or book set in a muggle world. I chose to read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This story has two timelines, one in 1942 and the other in 1986. The story focuses on a Chinese-American boy named Henry who is sent to a nearly all-white school. He is picked on due to his race. A Japanese-American girl starts attending and they become friends (even though Henry's parents are extremely racist towards any Japanese people.) He see the Japanese (including his friend) being sent away to internment camps and does everything to keep in touch with his young girlfriend. Time and interfering parents separate them. In the 1986 portion, we see older Henry as he searches for something he lost many years ago. It was very sweet but there were some definite errors in the book which distracted me. (For example, he suggests using the internet for an online grief support group when that wouldn't have been around.) Overall, I gave it 3 stars.

Week 2 I received two prompts. The first was "read an urban fantasy" for which I chose Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. The story follows Richard Mayhew and how he falls through the cracks and into a "London below" in his quest to help a girl find out who killed her family. The story is filled with all sorts of supernatural beings which was so much fun to read about. I loved the audiobook. Neil Gaiman stories are such a delight. I gave the book 4 stars.

The second prompt was "read a book club pick" and so I chose Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I really thought I'd enjoy this dystopian story which starts with a virus killing off 99% of the population and seeing the pockets of humanity that had survived. There's a traveling symphony and acting troupe and we follow them as they travel from community to community. The chapters alternate between the before and the after. The story felt very disorganized and I just couldn't get myself to care. There were multiple threads that seemed promising that ultimately led nowhere. I was disappointed and gave it 2.5 stars.

The third week I received only one prompt which was to read a book with a pink or purple cover. I stretched this a little and chose Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey which has the title written in hot pink. This is the start to an epic space opera series known as The Expanse. (which also has a t.v. adaptation on Amazon Prime) The book follows two main characters: Holden, an optimistic Earther working as a crew member on the Canterbury spaceship and Miller, a jaded cop living on a Belt space port. We see intricate politics, alien superviruses, and quirky interpersonal dynamics play through a nonstop action-driven book. It was amazing and I can't wait to pick up book 2. I gave it 4.5 stars only because some of it got a tiny bit unbelievable.