January 2021 TBR
Let's begin by mentioning the books I will be reading for my year-long Reading challenges:
Buzzwordathon
Duration 1-7
Hosted by Keyla from BoosandLala you can find the full description for each month's challenge here https://www.booksandlala.com/blog/buzzword-readathon-reading-challenge.
This can be seen in several ways, you can use the vibe of the Busswordathon and read several books in that week that have the word in the title or series name. It can be done each month or only the specific month you actually have words that can be used depending on the prompt. The second choice is to do a year-long challenge and use a single book to complete the prompt each month. I am going to be doing the year-long challenge, at the end of the year I would have read 12 books for this. I will try to first use books I already have on my bookshelf to try to lower my unread TBR pile.
Prompt: Dream
For this one, we will pick the first book in the Dreamer Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater- Call down the hawk. I have read only the audiobook this time I would like to read the physical copy of the book. This story picks up right after the Raven Cycle, it follows mainly Ronan but we see the introduction of other people. There are a group of people who have the same ability as Ronan to create or bring forth things from their dreams. But along with that knowledge comes even more weird stuff. There is a secret government agency working with their own psychics in order to locate and eliminate the Dreamers. The reason is unknown and Ronan is dragged into it. This will follow their fight against these people that want to kill them. I am excited to get to the second book so in preparation, I'll reread the first one and be ready for the sequel.
2021 Read your bookshelf challenge
Create by Chantel, you can find the full details of this challenge here: https://anintentionallife.me/2021-read-your-bookshelf/
We have a specific prompt for each month so I am planning on picking a single book to read for each one. Again my first choice will be from books already in my owned TBR.
Duration: Month-long.
Prompt: A "home-ish" word in the title. Up for interpretation for example words such as door, window, mirror, home, house, cabin, etc. This has a very loose interpretation as long as you make it work.
I am going to regret this; the first book that came to mind is Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson. I have been meaning t start the series and the intention is to get through with as much of it as I can this year. It does include the correct word for this challenge I am just not sure I can finish it in a single month. I will try it. If by the last week of the month I can't, I will allow myself the opportunity to replace the book.
As many people know this is a highly acclaimed epic Fantasy story. According to Amazon:
The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze. However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand.
It does sound very interesting. Is this the type of book that can be read for the first time in audio format? If anyone has read this series please do let me know what format they find more approachable?
#AYearathon
This has been going on for a while all the information can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/message/show/334613172
The creator and links listed in their multiple pages found in GoodReads. I am not able to remember the names or the links for the creator and I can't access them right now. So unprepared, oh gosh.
Just throwing it out there it might not be relevant once this post is published but I am trying to set up this post for the first of January and as I am trying to add the links I had to save well that is fine. But I am unable to open GoodReads or Storygraph, both pages give me errors GR gives me the very lain message GoodReads is overcapacity, and StoryGraph simply does not load. I assume a lot of people are setting up their 2021 Reading challenges. That's what I get for leaving everything until the last minute.
Moving on. (Thank goodness I had saved the prompts at least).
Duration: 11-17
Prompt: Underrated/non hyped books
For this, it was a bit hard because sometimes you're not sure if you have simply not heard much about a book or the hype is lower because they're older titles. But I picked one f the books I have been trying to squeeze in my TBR for a few months Saphire blue by Kerstin Gier this is the second book in a fantastical story about a girl who inherits the ability to time travel. She is the classic underdog, she had a very easy childhood always in the shadow of her cousin, as she was believed to be the one who would inherit the ability to time travel. Her cousin spent her entire childhood learning etiquette for a lady of all ages and times so she could be ready when the time came and our MC would always be in the outskirts, nothing much was expected of her. But to everyone's surprise, the wrong girl time travels when the time comes. Now she must face the turbulent power struggle and find a way to adapt to the time periods she is traveling to but with very little training.
I read the first book and it was ok, but I really need to start picking up books a bit more consistently. Having tons of bok pending is not helpful when I have so many series I am in the middle of.
There are also a few challenges I have set for myself that will go on for the whole year.
Reading author's Backlist (in publication date):
Agatha Christie
The ABC murders or the alphabet murders
Murder in Mesopotamia. The publication date for both 1935. Both of them are mystery thrillers with a similar vibe, she is the queen of who-done-it over-the-top conclusions and yet it works.
Jonh Grisham
This is the start of the road for Mr. Grisham so we're going to kick off with his first few novels. A time to kill published in 1989. This is the first novel in the Jake Brigance series.
The life of a ten-year-old black girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless white men. The mostly white town of Clanton in Ford County, Mississippi, reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime—until the girl’s father acquires an assault rifle and takes justice into his own hands.
For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client’s life—and then his own.
I am expecting a very emotional and frustrating read with this.
Stephen King
Cycle of the Werewolf
The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf’s fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker’s Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure. When the full moon rises, a paralyzing fear sweeps through Tarker's Mills. For snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind. And all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated
Pet Sematary
When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow's tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed's beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing...as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there--one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better.
For centuries, gleemen have told the tales of The Great Hunt of the Horn. So many tales about each of the Hunters, and so many Hunters to tell of...
Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.
And it is stolen.
In pursuit of the thieves, Rand al’Thor is determined to keep the Horn out of the grasp of The Dark One. But he has also learned that he is The Dragon Reborn—the Champion of Light destined to stand against the Shadow time and again. It is a duty and a destiny that requires Rand to uncover and master magical capabilities he never imagined he possessed.
This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time.
It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.
This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
Corban wants nothing more than to be a warrior under King Brenin's rule -- to protect and serve. But that day will come all too soon. And the price he pays will be in blood.
Evnis has sacrificed -- too much it seems. But what he wants -- the power to rule -- will soon be in his grasp. And nothing will stop him once he has started on his path.
Veradis is the newest member of the warband for the High Prince, Nathair. He is one of the most skilled swordsman to come out of his homeland, yet he is always under the shadow of his older brother.
Nathair has ideas -- and a lot of plans. Many of them don't involve his father, the High King Aquilus. Nor does he agree with his father's idea to summon his fellow kings to council.
The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Now, the stones weep red and giant wyrms stir, and those who can still read the signs see a danger far worse than all that has come before.
A would-be mage with no magic of his own has to defeat powerful enemies with only cunning and deception in the first book of an exciting adventure fantasy series
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