Let’s Talk About Books Some More

Hey all, Sam here.

All right. I’m at Gen Con and it’s been a lot of fun, and the panels at the Writer’s Symposium have been excellent this year, and it’s definitely gotten me very focused on books. And yes, that does include thinking about my own books too…so hopefully I’ll have a lot to talk about in next week’s WIP Wednesday post about that.

But, it’s also very tiring. We’ve gotten to our hotel each evening just feeling very drained, and in need of a long hot soak in the whirlpool tub followed by a nice long sleep. I didn’t quite get my originally planned post finished for today, so I had to whip up something else, so here we are.

Anyway, towards the end of May I did a post chatting about books. In particular it was about books I was eagerly anticipating reading. And I realize that I’ve actually read like 75% or so of those books….so why not do this again and talk about a few more books I’m really excited to read, and hope to get through in the next couple of months.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence, Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs, Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, Babel by R.F. Kuang, Star Bringer by Tracy Wolff and Nina Croft, My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar, The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, and The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu.

Okay, now some of these I have on my TBR and some I’ve just put off for longer than I would have liked. Godkiller will be out in September in the US, but has been out for months in the UK, which is why I have it on this portion of the post. My request is pending on NetGalley, so it’s possible I’ll still get to read it before release day, but if not, I do plan on picking it up as soon as I can.

I want to read The Art of Prophecy pretty soon because I was approved for the sequel, The Art of Destiny on NetGalley and I’d love to be able to read and review both books around the release date for the sequel. And of course, I still need to read Ashley Poston’s newest adult romance. It definitely gives me “The Lake House” vibes, and I’m excited to check it out.

But I’m sad that I haven’t read The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, Ink Blood Sister Scribe, or Babel yet. Hmm…maybe I should do a whole library theme in September, leading up to Banned Books Week (which is October 1-7 this year). I’ll definitely talk more about Banned Books Week in the upcoming weeks, because I’ve always felt that it’s important, and that’s even more true considering the state of the world these days.

And then there’s this relatively new release by Hannah Pick-Goslar, and I’m already sure that this book is going to make me cry. Hannah was a childhood friend of Anne Frank, and obviously they lost touch because the Franks went into hiding…but now we’re getting this story about Hannah’s experience through the Holocaust, including encountering Anne in the concentration camps that is said to give more insight into the conclusion of Anne’s story. I’m thinking I might re-read Diary of a Young Girl again first and then dive into this, but I don’t want to put it off too long.

And of course I’m going to include some of the upcoming releases I’ve been approved for by the publishers through NetGalley.

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft (Jan 30, 2024), Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (Jan 16, 2024), Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker (Oct 17, 2023), Our Divine Mischief by Hanna C. Howard (Oct 17, 2023), A Curse of Krakens by Kevin Hearne (Nov 7, 2023), Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (Nov 28, 2023), Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs (Oct 3, 2023), and The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon (Oct 3, 2023).

Yes, I realize most of these aren’t out for a little while, but I still just really want to read them, so if my reading schedule allows it and I can find the time to squeeze them in early, then I definitely will. Otherwise I’ll be trying to get my read-through done and a review posted around the publication date.

There are just a lot of really good books coming out this year and I’m hoping to find a lot of time to read as many of them as I can…even though I know I need to pull back on my reading time just a smidge so I can give a little more focus to my creative writing.

Anyway, that’s all there is from me for today. Tomorrow I have a book review coming for you, and it’ll probably be up around the time that we’re starting our long drive back home. I say long, but it’s basically five hours.

What books are you hoping to read soon? Anything I might want to add to my TBR?

Thank you all so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.