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What book(s) do you definitely want to read before the end of 2023?

To finish the challenges that I have and my local book club, I need to get these read:
Happiness Falls
Letters to Milena
My Sister, the Serial Killer
American War
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
The Island of Sea Women
Voices of the 21st Century: Women Transforming the World
The Last Brother
SHOULD be doable, if I get my act together...

I’m hoping to read at least 2 more classics. I just started Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring. I also put some more recent e-books on hold and 2 that will come in this year are Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov and Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis. I also put some physical books on hold yesterday so those will a surprise when they come in since I’ve already forgotten what they are. I’m looking forward to all of these books! 📚

Pam wrote: "I’m hoping to read at least 2 more classics. I just started Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring. I also put some more recent e-books on hold and 2 that will come in this year are Time Shelter by Georg..."

I just read Time Shelter. It's rather strange, and the problem for me was that I thought it was about time travel, and that's not true, though time is a major theme.

I don’t have any specific books to read by the end of the year. I do have a ton of books I’m waiting until next year to read.

The following are ARC's that are due to be published this year so I'm aiming to get them done:
*Encore: A Dark Gang Romance
*Down For The Word Count:
*Notes on a Murder
*Betting on You
* Aftermath by Cally Jackson (sequel to The Ripple Effect : Book 1
*A Different Kind of Gone
*The Hotel Room Mix-Up
*The Library on Love Heart Lane
*GOLD!

These ones publish January 2024 so I would like to get to them too:
*Not Here to Make Friends
*Love, Just In
* The Good Dog

And I have plenty on my list of want to read but my aim is to knock off the ARCs and then see if I have any time for others. All the ARCs are books I requested and want to read.

I’d like to read something about Asperger’s before Thanksgiving. (I’ll have a houseguest on the spectrum.). Any recommendations?

I want to read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow this year, plus In the Lives of Puppets and Yellowface for upcoming bookclubs.

I want to complete books for my centuries challenge. I still need the12th and 17th centuries. I have books for both. Girl in Hyacinth Blue fits 17th.

I’ll likely find a few more in my rejects challenge when I update it.

I've got 12 more books, plus the one I'm currently reading, for my AtY challenge, so I need to get a move on!

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence
The Stranger Times
Yes Man
The Sisters Brothers
Solitaire
The Book of Cold Cases
The Book Eaters
Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister
The Enemy
The Affair
The Wych Elm
The Rabbit Factor

and 76 pages of Purple Hibiscus

Between family coming for Thanksgiving and then leaving a few days later to go to my niece's wedding, I'm not really doing much planning ... other than to make sure I have sufficient Christmas Cowboy romances to see me through an otherwise stressful couple of weeks. LOL

A couple of audios I hope to finish are:
Ripley Under Ground (should be easy .. I've got only about an hour left to listen to)
Britt-Marie Was Here
The Daughters Of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War

.

I have a handful of AtY and PS prompts left to fill:
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens (recipe word)
Atomic Anna (geometric)
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (pet character)
Everyone knows You Go Home (holiday)
The Crane Husband (large animal)
Black Cake (AtY best books list)
Avi Cantor (2nd full name in title)
Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village (surprising title)

I finally finished ATY recently, but I have other challenges where I will be reading

Dragonflight
Shrines of Gaiety
Rock Island Line
We Ride Upon Sticks
Treasure Island
The Plover
The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton

I have finished ATY, but will be reading a lot during the last 2 months for other challenges and just for fun. I don't plan all of my books, but I definitely want to finish:
- The House of Doors
- River Spirit
- Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places
- A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, The Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent
- The End of Drum-Time
- Highfire
- The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History
- Dragon Seed

The books I have left to read this year are:


The Sealwoman's Gift (3 centuries - 17thC)
East of Eden (A book by an author with a first name popular in 1923)
The Historian �� or if this is too disturbing, Once Upon a River (A book that is dark)
Her Fearful Symmetry (A book with a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter)
Americanah (A book with the theme of returning home)
Th1rt3en (A book with a con, deception, or fake) �� currently reading
From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want (A book with one of the five "W" question words in the title)
This Magnificent Dappled Sea (A book with a body of water in the title)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (A book with a full name in the title)
The Rook (A book related to a chess piece)

Only 3 more of these are library books, so I should be able to access them all in time. In fact the only one that needs a hold is the oldest book in my entire year of reading �� East of Eden, originally published in 1952! I guess it has some staying power :)

I'm still hoping I'll have time to get through The Words of Kings and Prophets and a reread of Code Name Verity amid my end-of-year plans.

On my list for the rest of the year:

Bag of Bones and Rose Madder by Stephen King
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems and An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by Winona LaDuke
Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I'd love to finish all the books I'm currently reading and all the books I have out from the library, but I know that's not realistic!
Beyond those, I'm eager to read Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, but first my library has to get a copy. I put in a request today, so hopefully they get on it!

This is a tough question, mostly because I've finished my challenges for the year and now I'm just... picking books all willy nilly!

I'm currently reading:
Finding Me by Viola Davis
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok (possibly DNF?)

My book club is reading:
November - The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
December - Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

This is what I have checked out from the library:
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Unfortunates by J.K. Chukwu
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane
(I know, there's so many...)

So... taking suggestions on where to even start with this list... and if any of these are better with audiobooks, I'd appreciate knowing that!

Robin P wrote: "I finally finished ATY recently, but I have other challenges where I will be reading

Dragonflight


I hope you enjoy Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight #1 Robin. Have your read McCaffery before?

NancyJ wrote: "I’d like to read something about Asperger’s before Thanksgiving. (I’ll have a houseguest on the spectrum.). Any recommendations?

I want to read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

I loved Girl in Hyacinth Blue, i hope you too

The ones I know for sure I will be reading:

Nerilka's Story
Highfire
When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm
The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific
Sharpe's Tiger

And finishing up:

The Winds of War
A Curious Beginning

For ATY, I have two prompts left, but only know what I'm reading for 1 (Tom Lake for body of water in title. Just hope it comes from the library in time!). For book from a best book of the month's thread, I have so many choices. Should pick one of the ones where I actually have a copy of the book, but I keep being tempted by others.

For Popsugar, I still need to read The Rage of Dragons (bought from an independent bookstore), The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (recommended by a friend), Legends & Lattes (NaNoWriMo - again, hoping the library will get it to me), Remy's Dilemma (Self-published), Joseph and His Brothers (longest on my TBR), and Norse Mythology (based on Norse mythology, from a mini challenge).

I also have out from the library Soulstar, The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction, and The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race.

Each of my book clubs has one more pick for the year to go too.

Ooof, writing it all out like that makes me nervous about getting the challenges finished for the first time!

Emily wrote: "So... taking suggestions on where to even start with this list... and if any of these are better with audiobooks, I'd appreciate knowing that!.."

Two I have read and enjoyed are:
Birnam Wood and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. I have not read any of the others on your list.

Definitely want to read (and almost certainly will):

The Lord I Left
A Killing in November

Definitely want to read (a bit more of a longshot with my schedule):

Stone Heart

Joanne wrote: "Robin P wrote: "I finally finished ATY recently, but I have other challenges where I will be reading

Dragonflight


I hope you enjoy Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight #1 Rob..."

I don't think I have read her at all.

I'm challenge free until the winter challenge starts. Books to read just for fun:

Currently: Euphoria

On loan from a friend:

The Maid

Sunlight on a Broken Column

I am on the hold list for The Fraud and hope there are slow readers in front of me as it's one of my 2024 reads....

I only have two ATY prompts left for 2023. I am currently listening to the audiobook of When Stars Rain Down for prompt A book with ONE of the five “W�� question words in the title. Then the only one I have left is A book with a tropical setting. I am thinking of reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau for that prompt.

I also have several on hold at the library. I am really looking forward to the following:
My Murder
The End of Drum-Time
The Wren, the Wren

My Murder was so good! If you've read The Echo Wife, it felt very similar... I enjoyed it.

Joanne wrote: "The ones I know for sure I will be reading:
When McKinsey Comes to Town
."

Joanne, When McKinsey Comes to Town was one of my favorite books last year. The reporting is excellent and it is an important story for everyone to hear. They have had a hand in many of our society’s biggest ills, including the opioid epidemic. They secretly work with both government agencies and their clients, which is a horrible conflict of interest. The book covers many important topics, so if one chapter gets boring, I would skip to the next. I wish I could send a summary of the book to every management student I ever had.

“One former McKinsey consultant wrote anonymously, ¨To those convinced that a secretive cabal controls the world, the usual suspect are Illuminati, Lizard People, or ´globalists.' They are wrong, naturally. There is no secret society shaping every major decision and determining the direction of human history. There is, however, McKinsey & Company.��
�� Walt Bogdanich, When McKinsey Comes to Town

Well, here's what I have on my nightstand:

The Innocent Sleep (My birthday present that finally arrived today)��
The City of Brass (In Progress)
The Kingdom of Copper (Mine)
The Empire of Gold (Borrowed)
The River of Silver (Borrowed)
Mrs. Mike (Borrowed)
The Brothers Hawthorne (���ǰ����Ƿɱ��)��
A Cup of Silver Linings (���ǰ����Ƿɱ��)��
The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove (Borrowed) (In Progress)��

And here's what I hope to read still this year:

System Collapse (Pub. Nov. 14th) (In Progress)��
Monstress, Vol. 8: Inferno (Pub. Nov. 28th)
Check & Mate (Pub. Nov. 7th)��
Heartstopper: Volume Five (Pub. Dec. 7th)
Bookshops & Bonedust (Nov. Popsugar BotM) (Borrowed)
He's So Fine (Lucky Harbor 11)��
One in a Million (Lucky Harbor 12)��
The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Edited to reflect how I'm doing.

I haven’t planned December reads yet, but there are six on my November TBR, at least half of which will apply to either the ATY or PS challenge.

* Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
* Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
* The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
* The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
* The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
* Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I have a collection of short stories in progress that I may finish as well. I usually average 8-10 books a month.

Kendra wrote: "Well, here's what I have on my nightstand:

The Innocent Sleep (My birthday present that finally arrived today)
The City of Brass (In Progress)
[book:The Kingdom of..."

Thanks for the reminder, I am waiting for System Collapse but didn't know there was a new Heartstopper coming out. I would never have read that series if not for a challenge in another group to read a graphic novel, and I had to read them all - plus watch the TV series.

Robin P wrote: "I would never have read that series if not for a challenge in another group to read a graphic novel, and I had to read them all - plus watch the TV series"

If you loved Heartstopper: Volume One, you should try Fence, Vol. 1.

Here's my list to finish this year:

In Progress:
Snow Country (Nobel Prize)
The Shell House Detectives (Fall Reading Challenge - one last summer read)
The Glass-Blowers (ATY Rejects - set during a revolution)
The City Baker's Guide to Country Living (for fun)
Curtain (reading with my husband)
Ficciones (Never to Late to Read Classics)

Coming up:
Green Mansions (Never to Late to Read Classics)
The Spoilt City: The Balkan Trilogy 2 (Never to Late to Read Classics)
Friends And Heroes: The Balkan Trilogy 3 (Never to Late to Read Classics)
Missing Joseph (ATY Rejects - set in winter)
The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight (Book Club)
Waiting for Godot (Never to Late to Read Classics)
My Several Worlds (Never to Late to Read Classics)
Delta Wedding (Never to Late to Read Classics)
The Town (Back to the Classics)
Jenny Wren (Back to the Classics)
Alice Adams (Back to the Classics)
Furia (Fall Reading Challenge - athlete)

Luckily half of these are on audio or I wouldn't get them finished!

I am in too many book clubs. For those, I will finish:
Hamnet (will be using for a recipe ingredient)
Hello Beautiful
A Single Man
Yellowface (second book/fave prompt)
Before We Were Yours

To complete ATY I will also read:
Parable of the Sower (3rd of the multiple centuries prompt)
The Pleasure of My Company (light)

To complete another challenge I need 4 books:
Before Your Memory Fades
Before We Say Goodbye
Conversations with Friends
These Happy Golden Years

It's 11 books but I can do it. Almost done with 4

I started the challenges late and plugged in books I already read, next year I will try harder to overlap the two challenges

I will probably finish ATY doing one book a week, but I am not so sure about PS or my other groups challenges.

Some books that have been on my lists year after year that I would like to read finally are:

The Last of the Mohicans (owned)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Firekeeper's Daughter
The Orphan Master's Son
Beartown
The Absent One
Suite Francaise (previously started but couldn't do a WW book at that time)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

NancyJ wrote: "Joanne wrote: "The ones I know for sure I will be reading:
When McKinsey Comes to Town



Good to hear Nancy, I have been looking forward to it all year.

Since I have finished this year's challenge, I am just reading to please myself and whatever appeals. I am thinking that I should always be reading to please myself...even the challenge books. I have also begun to eliminate books on my TBR list that no longer resonate. If they have been there for 5 years, I probably won't be reading them.

I finished this year's ATY challenge a couple of weeks ago, but I still have a couple of other challenges to wrap up. I usually read Lord of the Rings every December but might have to bump it up to January this time around.

Currently reading: Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman
Reading an entry every day of 2023 so won't finish until 12/31: Wonderland: A Year of Britain's Wildlife, Day by Day
To read before the end of 2023:
Miss Chopsticks
The Once and Future King
Bleak House
Heat and Light
Shades of Grey
The Schopenhauer Cure
Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive