I’ve attempted to give myself priority books to read in years past, but have struggled to actually read the books I choose to make a priority since I have a mostly digital library or TBR, since I can’t put them on a shelf exactly, without putting them on separate shelves within their respective reading apps. Some may be on Audible, and I actually still have some Audible books I haven’t listened to. I haven’t had an Audible subscription in probably like 4 years or longer, but I still have some books I haven’t listened to in the app. Shame on me. The other main reading apps I use for books I own are Google Books, Nook, and Kindle. I’m feeling pretty good about this challenge for 2024 since I’ve modified my reading tracker.
Willow Born by Shanna Miles
This is an eARC I received now several years ago. I keep seeing the cover and drooling over it for a bit and then I continue scrolling through my other books and end up reading something else. This is one I was interested in enough to request it from NetGalley, and was approved by the publisher. I need to read it.
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
I have this as an audiobook, and did start this previously as part of a readathon I think. I didn’t make it through the book though before the end of the readathon and then put it down to focus and finish some other books, then never went back to it. I will need to start over again, I was about halfway through, but it was many years ago now, and I don’t remember much.
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
I’ve made this book a priority I think for the last few years now and have never picked it up. I own the first two books of The Founders Trilogy, and if I like it could help with three of my 2024 reading challenges. I own it, so it counts as one of the 50 owned books I would read, if I continue the second book was gifted to me, so that would be one of the many gifted books I haven’t read yet, and that would leave just one more book for me to finish the trilogy, and one of 10 series in 2024. I don’t remember what this is about exactly, anymore. I think I started it and read a few pages in, then put it down and started or continued other books, and just never went back to it. This seems to be a theme of the books I read. I start them then put them down never to be picked up again, even though I was enjoying the book. Anyway, I remember enjoying what I had read and am excited to get back to this book.
This is My America by Kim Johnson
I don’t remember when I purchased this, but I did at some point. I have it as an audiobook in Google Books and haven’t listened to it yet. This is a story about racism in America from the viewpoint of a teenage woman. I’m excited because this looks like it’s a standalone. It’s nice to not have to worry about continuing in the cycle of reading the first or first two books of a series, and then getting caught up in a different series. I feel it’s hard to find standalones and would love to read more of them.
Bonds by Marie Anne Cope
This is a vampire story, and I love the simplicity of the cover. This also has to do with family and learning about the main character’s ancestors, or maybe one in particular, who did something that is now having an effect on the present. It is also said, if you like A Discovery of Witches, or The Vampire Chronicles – I have read neither – you will like this story and this series. This is book one of four in the Bonds series.
Wings Unseen by Rebecca Gomez Farrell
This also appears to be a standalone, so this will be nice to read and not worry about getting caught up in another series. I don’t remember how I came across this book anymore, but I requested and received it as a gift years ago. This will be another one towards reading all my unread gifted books.
Play It Away: A Workaholic’s Cure for Anxiety by Charlie Hoehn
I’ve been recommended this book many times now, and I’ve owned it before the first recommendation specifically to me came. This was probably one of the first Kindle books I purchased. If that doesn’t say how long I’ve had this, I don’t know what does. It is far past time I read Play It Away. This is a nonfiction book about working too hard.
Witch King by Martha Wells
I believe this is the first of a new series by Martha Wells called The Rising World. I did a quick perusal of Martha Wells’ website and didn’t see anything in the like two minutes I perused, about the next book or when the next book may be released. Witch King was published on May 30, 2023, so if this is an ongoing series, I would guess the next book to be released around May or June of this year. This means I may have another book I would need to quickly read to catch up and “finish” another series of the ten I am looking to finish in 2024.
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
This is the next book to be published in the Legends and Lattes series, but I believe this is meant as a prequel to Legends and Lattes. I received Bookshops and Bonedust as a gift for Christmas and will help with three reading challenges of 2024. The challenges this will help with are reading 50 owned books, finishing 10 series, and reading all gifted books. I loved Legends and Lattes which I listened to on Scribd which is now Everand, and gave the book 5 stars. If I were to predict my rating of this book, I would say this will be another 5-star read.
Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig
This is the last of what I now understand to be a duology, and is another book that can help with three of my 2024 reading challenges. It’s also another book I expect to be 5 stars. I loved the first book, One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig, and am dying to read this next book. We have magic cards that can give their holders power depending on what the card is. Each card is part of a deck, and the characters are all trying to put the deck together for different reasons.
These are the ten books I am making a priority in 2024. The last two on this list are almost cheats for me, since there is no way, either Bookshops and Bonedust or Two Twisted Crowns will go unread in 2024. I also figure I need some easy books to get to since a few of the challenges set for myself were set before knowing how many books I would need to read for them. I of course am mostly referring to my challenge to read all my gifted books, which I now know is about double the total number of books I read in 2023. But I also wasn’t great about tracking my reading in 2023, so we will see how this goes in 2024.