The year is only so long and for true word nerds, you can never have too many books! But that also means that there are a lot of books that you can’t cross off your TBR (to-be-read list). Whether they are books you purchased or books you only heard about, you may have to wait until the upcoming year to get them read. The goal though, I should say my goal, is to make sure a book never stays on my TBR indefinitely.
That being said, there are some truly amazing books that I wanted to read this year and just never got around to it. Going through all of them would take too long and bore you to tears so I will only list five. These aren’t in any particular order nor do I have one from every genre, they are just five books I really wanted to read this year and a summary on each of them.
1.) A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
Think Alice in Wonderland. Now make Alice a young Black teen. Next, make Wonderland a dream state in which battles to the death are common and Alice has to win against the Nightmares, monsters of Wonderland. Lastly, Alice lives in Atlanta and has to battle in Wonderland while maintaining her GPA and balancing her overprotective mother and a best friend that doesn’t seem best friend material. And just for a bonus, Alice’s mentor is poisoned and she has to fight Nightmares alone and figure out what happened.
2.) My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
I have been wanting to read this ever since I saw a Goodreads giveaway about it. This book is pretty short so I have no excuse as to why I haven’t read it yet. The protagonist is a young woman named Korede who has always been the black sheep of her family. Her younger sister has always been the more beautiful, the loved one, the appreciated one. But her sister, Ayoola, tends to breakup with her boyfriends by murdering them. Add this to the fact that Korede wants a love life of her own but the object of her affection is more interested in her sister. Will she let her sister kill her crush? I really want to know!
3.) Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
I know it may be hard to believe but I have yet to start the Grisha Verse series. Gape at me all you want, I haven’t read it and only put it on my TBR a couple months ago. This is the first book in the series and it is a YA fantasy about a girl named Alina. Alina lives in turbulent times and when she saves her friends life she is torn away from her everyday and forced to train in order to serve someone (or some council, still not 100% sure on this point) named the Darkling.
4.) The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
This is a true story, a biography of a young boy born with ocular albinism. You read it right, his eyes had albinism which meant his pupils were read. I’m not sure how Dugoni came across this story or how much research he put into it but I can only imagine how a child had to deal with being so different. He was called “Satan Boy” and his only friends were “misfits” like him, people who didn’t fit into a small town, white, Christian society.
5.) If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar
This book of poetry is about how one navigates contemporary America as a Pakistani Muslim woman. What I thought was so unique about this book was that not only does she use her own stories but she apparently weaves in the histories of others, asking questions and figuring out how to navigate the world.
Have you read one of these books? If so, how did you like it? Let me know down in the comments because I love to hear from you guys. Also, if you don’t already, I would appreciate if you followed this blog and shared it with other book lovers! Be sure to check me out on Instagram as well.
Happy reading!
Chyina