Winter 2020-21 TBR

Hello! Today is Tuesday, and it’s also one of my favorite TTTs: the quarterly seasonal TBR. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and it gives us a chance to find out what books other people are interested in.

This week, we’re going to talk about what our reading plans are for this winter. Most of my choices on this TBR were picked from a list that I call the “TBR Lottery.” I make a list of books I’m interested in reading, and I use a random number generator to pick my books.

First, here’s what was on my Fall TBR. I had been doing terribly on my TBR this year, but for the first time since my Fall 2019 TBR, I read ALL the books on my list! They were:

• Skyhunter – Marie Lu
• Keeper – Kim Chance
• The First Hostage – Joel C. Rosenberg
• Mirror Gate – Jeff Wheeler
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
• A Sky Beyond the Storm – Sabaa Tahir
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
• The Red Scrolls of Magic – Cassandra Clare
• Talon – Julie Kagawa

I even read a couple other books on top of these!

Anyway, here is the list of books I hope to read this winter:

I’m so looking forward to Chain of Iron, the next book in The Last Hours Trilogy! This last week I’ve been writing Jordelia fics. I wrote one where Cordelia and James go for a walk and get stuck in a snowstorm. So there’s my Christmas story. For a little story, it took a lot of research! Then I wrote another one. Anyway, I did read the extended excerpt, but I can’t wait to reread the whole thing. Plus I’m reading Chain of Gold, but I’m not counting it here because it’s a reread.

According to my calculations, Chain of Iron takes place at the end of 1903 and into 1904. This next book goes forward a little in time. 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents sounds interesting. I first heard about it a long time ago and then forgot the title. But then I remembered the title and it ended up on my TBR lottery.

Although the title An Affair of Poisons isn’t really my favorite, the plot looks interesting. I also like historical novels, and this one has a bit of magic as well. This was another winner of the TBR lottery this season.

I’ve been interested in reading Switchback since I was not approved for the ARC on Netgalley. When I drew this book in the TBR lottery, I realized that my library didn’t have this. So I requested them to buy it, and they agreed! I had been looking for this book to go on sale on the Kindle, but it hasn’t yet.

I bought the entire Lunar Chronicles series for $2.99 each two years ago on Cyber Monday. Even though I’ve repeatedly said I wanted to read this book, I never got around to it. Fortunately, I drew its number and I’m reading Cinder in the next few months.

The Language of Thorns is a collection of short stories set in the Grishaverse. It sounds like a lot of fun. My library has several copies. Right now they’re only available for curbside pickup, so like Switchback, I’ll have to plan ahead and request this one about a week ahead of time so it’ll be ready when I can read it.

Everything that Burns (AKA Liberté) was supposed to come out on Bastille day this year (which would have been awesomely symbolic), but got pushed back to this winter. I was lucky enough to get an ARC for this. I’m currently reading Enchantée again before reading this. I’m loving this magical book all over again and am excited for its sequel!

Every once in a while, I start collecting books from an author I’ve never read. That’s the case with Kristin Hannah. I got The Great Alone on sale a couple years ago (who can pass up a $1.99 book if it looks like something they’d want to read?) and then I needed to use my Audible credits before I cancelled my membership for a while, so I pre-ordered The Four Winds. It’s set during the Great Depression, and sounds so interesting. Which makes me think that maybe I should write a fictional story (very) loosely based on my grandma’s life.

Six of the books on this list today have been on the TBR lottery since I first put it together more than a year ago (I’ve read about half of the original list). I’ve been interested in The Boy and His Ribbon for a while, and finally I picked it. Sure, I could just pick it, but there’s tons of other books I want to read as well. There’s 72 books on the TBR lottery right now, although 11 of them are either on today’s list or I read them after finishing my Fall TBR. It’s so hard to choose!

Three Dark Crowns is another book that’s been on my TBR forever and I finally picked it. Then I’ll just have to read the other four books in this series. Hopefully, if I can keep up a decent reading pace, it won’t take me another full year to get to the second book in this series.

So there’s my list. What books do you hope to read this winter? Do you like making seasonal TBRs? Has your reading been down this year too?

Next week, we’re supposed to talk about “Books I Hope Santa Brings.” I probably won’t get any books for Christmas since, after joining the book community, I’ve started pre-ordering almost all my must-have books, but I’ll probably get some gift cards (which is how I purchase almost all my books). So I’ll probably tweak the topic some. See you then!