reading update 01/12/2022

[penwalla]

First update of 2022! New year means new shortlist. In addition, I now have a library card again and a shiny new book spreadsheet with a shiny new list of new releases, so I'm going to start including those in my update posts.

Current TBR:

• The Councillor by E.J. Beaton
• Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
• The Lady or the Lion by Aamna Qureshi
• The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
• The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
• The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian

I'm trying really hard to include more books that aren't adult SF/F on my shortlist and in general because my brain gets tired if I have to absorb too many new worlds. I'm also trying (and failing) to avoid starting too many series. As always, my shortlist comes from all the books I already own (mostly ebooks) and I try to pull from the backlist, not just the 2021 releases I didn't get to.

As you will see, I have a lot of library books, so it's unlikely I'll make a huge dent in this list this month.
Current Library Haul:

• The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang
• The Red Threads of Destiny by JY Yang
• The Descent of Monsters by JY Yang
• The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Yeah, it's a lot of books! I had eight of them but I finished one today. I probably won't read all of these, I tend to overborrow whenever I hit the library. However, I have instituted a new rule: no putting stuff at the library on hold unless I've read at least half the books I have checked out! So maybe that will encourage me to finish them.New Releases I Wish To Read:

• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Books Read:

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

5/5. A stunning, unexpectedly tender book about demons and aliens, about found family and the power of loving both others and yourself, and about how art is inherent to the human condition. I loved it. It is very hard to write about music in a way that brings it to life on the page and Aoki succeeds magnificently.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

3/5. I feel pretty meh about this one and I don't think promoting it as a Jane Eyre retelling is doing it any favors. I do appreciate the originality of the setting and world--it's an Ethiopian-inspired fantasy, which is not something I have read before. That said, I didn't find the romance or the plot very engaging. It's well-written and I think a lot of readers will enjoy it more than I did.