Midyear Freakout Book Tag

It's already the middle of the month of the middle of 2020. So this is the time to celebrate and bring attention to a few aspects of the books encountered this year.

This is not an original tag, I have seen many creators use it and by now I am not sure who to give the credit for. But thank you to those very imaginative minds who are providing the prompts that I can use today.

For the selections rereads are not going to be eligible. Let's start:

Questions:

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2020 

This is difficult I have read very good books and books I had been anticipating for such a long time especially in Fantasy.  So just like mentioned in my ranking of books read I did a few weeks ago the crown is still so far with Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. (Rank Every 5 and 4-star rating)

We follow a few people, in the outskirts of Elantris a city that was the home to powerful people who were considered Gods. A decade ago something changed Elantrians became monsters, instead of a blessing those who become Elantrians become something different, an abomination of nature. 

There is a war brewing in the door of their kingdom, there is the mystery of the curse in Elantris, there are political struggles, religious persecution and huge discrimination. This is a story where our main characters struggle with everything around them and you are expectant and biting your nails because it does not seem very hopeful.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2020 

The well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson the second in the Mistborn trilogy.

We follow Vin, she is a bit better in her self esteem and yet now she has new fears. We see a few struggles that annoy you, but Vin is still a young woman. 

There is a power struggle, armies are trying to conquer them, the people are losing hope, in isolates from everyone even from her "partner". Both of them have a lot to learn about a relationship. 

People not only Vin have several self-discovery paths and mysteries of unknown threats lurks on the edge but not many even believe they have to be alert for another mystic sanger.

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to. 

*The guest list by Lucy Foley it's a mystery/thriller. It takes place in an island where a wedding is taking place and someone dies. The mystery is two-part, you do not know who did it and initially not even who was the victim. This is very similar to the Agatha Christie I have been consuming this year.

* Burning by Megha Majumdar this is a fiction book. Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall.

I have heard recently of this book and I am anticipating reading it soon.

*The Vanishing half by Brit Bennet another fiction book touching in racial aspects. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. 

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year. 

Confessions by Lisa Unger. This comes in autumn, sometime in October. I had intended to read another book by her but lost my chance when my access to audios in Scribd forced me to wait until next month and I never return to it. This is a mystery/thriller.

Selena Murphy is commuting home from her job in the city when the train stalls out on the tracks. She strikes up a conversation with a beautiful stranger in the next seat, and their connection is fast and easy. The woman introduces herself as Martha and confesses that she’s been stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, in turn, confesses that she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. When the train arrives at Selena’s station, the two women part ways, presumably never to meet again.
But days later, Selena’s nanny disappears.
Soon Selena finds her once-perfect life upended. As she is pulled into the mystery of the missing nanny, and as the fractures in her marriage grow deeper, Selena begins to wonder, who was Martha really? But she is hardly prepared for what she’ll discover.

5. Biggest disappointment. 

The quiet mind by John E. Cole a nonfiction about meditation and spiritual search of peaceful and stress-free lifestyle. This was definitely not for me. It is a retelling of a man who is jumping from one theory to another culture, to another belief, but he does not really explain them to us, he simply tells us what he didn't agree with. Maybe it was simply not for me.

6. Biggest surprise. 

Sister outsider: essays and speeches by Audre Lorde. This is a very powerful work that inspires and worries. It touches concerns about ways of increasing empowerment among minority women writers and the absolute necessity to explicate the concept of difference—difference according to sex, race, and economic status. It calls out to not be quiet about any type of diminishing people in any way be it due to sexual identity, race, religious relief and it is a very powerful word.

7. Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you) 

I have gotten to know several new authors that I really want to explore more of:

*Audre Lorde https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18486.Audre_Lorde  A winter who focuses inequality for LGBT+, black women and other discriminated communities

*Robin Hobb https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25307.Robin_Hobb a fantasy writer whose trilogies are something I am yearning to get to soon.

*Jesmyb Ward https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1676417.Jesmyn_Ward?from_search=true&from_srp=true fiction books that touch racial empowerment and equality in a way. Really worth it.

8. Newest fictional crush. 

So far though I have not found one, wow that is surprising.

9. Newest favorite character. 

Vin from Mistborn. A very strong young woman who is still feminine at the same time.

10. Book that made you cry. 

I am apparently an ice block, so far none. I have been thoroughly loved, I have experienced deep grief, I have been forced to stop reading, I have lost the ability to speak as I feel so much rage that my throat contracts... But so far no crying.

11. Book that made you happy. 

Oz complete collection by L Frank Baum an absurd fantasy children story. We follow Dorothy as she explores fairly lands and continues to find new friends on each trip.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received) 

I have found my favorite classic collection, Word Cloud. My new goal is to continue to buy more of this collection. 

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I have still many that I have to read by the end of the year. I really want to read at least the second book of The games of thrones by George RR Martin, finish the first law by Joe Abercrombie, and Walking dead by Robert Kirkman.