51. A book published in 2023

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

This week we'll be reading a 2023 release. Do you typically try to read new books or do you wait for the reviews of friends?

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

This is always one of my favorite prompts, mostly because it gives me an excuse to read one of the many books I've bought throughout the year that I haven't read yet.

[dalex]

I really want to try to catch up on some older books next year but there are a few 2023 publications that I don't know I can wait until the following year to read!

Homecoming by Kate Morton
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin'
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
Witch King by Martha Wells

[NancyJ]

I prefer to wait a while, but these two will be among the first 2023 books I read:

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny. (This is the only series I keep up with.)

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

[Janice]

I'm thinking of reading Heartstopper: Volume Five by Alice Oseman

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I am always years behind finding good reads, but there are always a few books I get excited about and read as soon as they come out. Here's what I'm excited about right now for 2023.

Lost in the Moment and Found looks to be a new stand-alone book in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. A new book in this series comes out every January, and they will likely be my first reads in every year as long as they continue.

Unbreakable is a new magical girls novella by Mira Grant. March 2023.

The Salt Grows Heavy comes out in May. Cassandra Khaw's Nothing But Blackened Teeth was imperfect but really satisfying, and I'm really excited about her as an author. This will probably be my pick since I've already put most of my preorders elsewhere in the challenge.

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. A Southern Gothic by this author? Yes please! March 2023.

Witch King by Martha Wells. A new fantasy series. I have somehow escaped reading Wells even though I've had Murderbot and Raksura series both on my TBR for forever. I suspect this will be good though. May 2023.

Bliss by Jeff VanderMeer. This was supposed to publish this fall, but I'm thinking 2023 is more realistic at this point. A rock band goes on tour after a civil war. I'm hoping for more City of Saints and Madmen and less Finch with this.

[Misty]

The new Sarah J. Maas book should be released next year, and I will read it immediately. :) I am also hoping the next Namina Forna book will be released, and I will also read that one very quickly. So - I'll count one of them!

[Valerie]

I was going to read A World of Curiosities for this prompt but just happened to discover that it was published already in November 2023. Searching again. Not my favorite prompt.

[Hannah]

It always takes me sooooo long to hear about new releases/get excited enough about them to add them to my TBR. Case in point: I just looked at my 800-book-long TBR and only 13 books on it were published this year! AND, of those 13 books, I only just added 8 of them this past month! So I'm probably going to be in the same boat next year, filling this prompt at the very last minute, haha.

[Dana]

I usually read what I'm attracted for, so we shall see.

Here is my shelf of 2023 releases: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Joan]

I read Spare for this one. I don't read many new books but there are a few that I can't wait to read. This was one of them. I listened to it on audio and Harry narrated. I thought it was pretty good.

[Evelyn]

I read Drinking Games that was published on Jan 3. I only read new books if they are available.

[Lisa]

The Echo of Old Books is staring at me everytime I open my Kindle, so I'm thinking I won't be able to wait until March

[Joy D]

For this prompt, I read a book I received as an ARC from NetGalley - it will be published in June 2023:
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende - 3* - My Review

[Rebecca]

For this prompt I read The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. This is her debut book and I really liked it. It was a toss up as to which book I'd read, but this was the first one my library was able to get me from my hold list. And, I'm glad they did. The subject is India's caste system, mixed with humor as to how a village's women band together to combat this. Can't wait to read more from this new author!

[LeahS]

I read The Little Girl Who Could Not Cry by Lidia Maksymowicz. The English translation was published in 2023

The story of how the author, survived Auschwitz- Birkenau as one of the victims of Josef Mengele - she was three years old when she and her mother, who was a member of a Belarus resistance movement, were sent to the camp. After liberation, she was adopted by a Polish family, but eventually rediscovered her birth parents.

It is a simply told, compelling story, not graphic, but giving a good picture of the psychology of survival and adaptation afterwards, and the author's determination to tell her story to help prevent a new rise of fascism.

[Marie (UK)]

i read Going Zero: A Novel

[Stacey]

A heart-stopper if there ever was one, I read the very recently released Lone Women by Victor LaValle. I love westerns, so the setting of frigid Big Sandy, Montana, 1915, really drew me in. The novel is billed as horror-spectulative fiction and the title offers a glimpse of the characters, but there's a lot more here than you think. Looking forward to enjoying more of Mr. LaValle's talented work in the future.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

I just finished a Net Galley ARC for Tom Lake- it was so good, the best summer book! It's out in August- I totally recommend spending a summer day spent enjoying the weather (a hammock would be perfect!) and just living in the book all day! It was a great book in cold Massachusetts spring evenings but it made me want summer! And I hate summer!

[Sherri]

I read The Writing Retreat. 1 star

[[deleted user]]

I read the prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, A Day of Fallen Night, for this one. Priory was my top read of 2022, and although I didn't enjoy this one quite as much, I still rated it 4.75 stars, and will be reading the next in this world.

[Severina]

I read The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. Loved the first two-thirds and then hated the last third. *sigh*

[Denise]

I read the Perfumer of Paris by Alma Joshi

[Pam]

I recently won a copy of Victory City by Salman Rushdie. I will likely use that one for this prompt. It sounds really interesting!

[Book Concierge]

I rarely read new titles but I managed to snag this one at my library the very week it came in ...
The Last Ride of the Pony Express: My 2,000-mile Horseback Journey into the Old West

Haven't written my review yet, but it's a 4-star book for me.

(Would probably fit #39 A western, too)

EDITED to add review:

The Last Ride of the Pony Express – Will Grant – 4****
Subtitle: My 2,000-mile Horseback Journey into the Old West. The Pony Express was a fast-paced horseback ride to carry the mail in the era before railroads had been completed linking the East and the West coasts of the USA. Grant decided to ride the same trail from St Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California to better understand the challenges and joys encountered by the pony express riders. I was completely fascinated by his account. And I learned a few things about the history … and myth … of the Pony Express.
LINK to my full review

[LeahS]

The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield.
Published 30/3/23.

A combination of myth, fantasy and history set in the Dark Ages. It shouldn't work, but it does!

[Misty]

Misty wrote: "The new Sarah J. Maas book should be released next year, and I will read it immediately. :) I am also hoping the next Namina Forna book will be released, and I will also read that one very quickly. So - I'll count one of them!"

So, as it turns out, neither of them are being released in 2023. Hmph. Maas is coming out in January and Forna in February. So, I read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and it was fantastic. I highly recommend it.

[Lizzy]

I was just given Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead. … this is the second in Whitehead’s mystery series set in Harlem in the 1970’s. Really looking forward to this one!

[Wendy]

I had started Emily Henry's newest book Happy Place (I've read all her others) but ended up dropping it because I'm just not a fan of certain featured tropes.

Now I've picked up Big Swiss. Just one chapter in, but it's weird and funny, so I'm going to stick with it for now.

Finding very new books to read can be challenging because often they are hyped up to the point that you can't actually tell if it's worth taking a chance on or not, where books that have been out a while have gone through a hype-backlash cycle, and it can be easier to determine what will meet your tastes.

[Samantha]

I read Have You Seen Her. It started out kind of slow but got better and better and the end was great.

[Dubhease]

I read Zero Days

[Wendy]

Well, I struck out again on Big Swiss (just not for me), so I've decided to veer completely away from romance for my next 2023 try. My dad leant me his copy of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann so I'm slotting that in. Third time's the charm (fingers crossed).

[Anne]

I am reading Friends and Traitors by Helen Peters. I don't typically read new books.

[Pam]

I had slotted Victory City in for this prompt but I moved it to another prompt. I’m planning to read the Booker Prize longlist. I’m starting with a book from the shortlist “This Other Eden” by Paul Harding.