Goals 2023 - Reading and Otherwise

I'm feeling ambitious. I always get a little over enthusiastic about planning because planning is still just all good ideas. The actual achievement is in the doing and that's what gets tough. Part of it's time, but I think part of it is having sub-goals to break down the big thing. I set these big reading goals every year and often achieve them but I think part of that is because every book is a little goal step on the way. So instead of focusing on the big goal, I just focus on the step in my hands at the time. Those steps build up fast and before I know it, I'm at my goal. So that's what I'm going to do this year. I think this is actually all possible especially with support from Ryan and Thomas. Just one step at a time.

The goals:

• Beginning Grad School - This is pretty self explanatory but I'm going back to school. I've been putting it off mainly because I didn't know what to pursue. I've mulled over many things over the years, but I just couldn't settle. However, events this year have made it obvious that I am suited in many ways for leadership. Not having the degree is really the biggest thing standing in my way. So let's knock it out. I hope to start on the summer semester, or fall at the latest.
•  Applying to Kennesaw - the obvious sub-goal.
• Reading Challenges - It's going to be a busy year, so I need to scale back my challenge. I'm only aiming for 100 books this year. I love reading, but I've got to make space for other things in my time.
• The Backlog - I have thousands of unread books in the house filling bookcases and sitting in stacks on the floor. Some of them have been sitting around for over a decade. It's all very out of sight, out of mind. It's natural to gravitate to the new shiny books and there are always new shiny books. So I'm going to pull half my list every month randomly from the shelves and stacks. The goal is either to read them or decide I'm never going to and get rid of them.
• Writing - I want to go back to starting every day with writing. It doesn't have to be a lot, but writing does something for me. It's subtle. My brain works better, I have a easier time finding my words, and my moods are more stable. I'm just happier when I write. But it is subtle. If I miss a day, there is no observable effect. One day turns into another, and then it's been weeks. I need to write, it doesn't even matter what, but I'm out of the habit. So, goal - write every day.
• Book Journal - I got away from journaling my reads because I thought I was boring people. Let's face it, there are about four people who read my blog. I'm writing for myself; it's just an open journal. I need to journal the books to fix the details in my brain. They get fuzzy if I don't write about them. If I'm going to be writing every day anyway, I should go back to what works for me and use at least some of that time writing about books. I need to go back to writing something for everything that I read.
• A Clean House - there's a whole post coming on January 2nd about this but in brief, I'm tired of living in a sea of clutter. I want to have a home that I can breathe in and don't need to feel like I'm apologizing constantly for the clutter. I'm not looking for a perfect home. That's just not who we are. We are cluttered people who are busy and full of ideas. We start projects and they sit around sometimes in pieces. That's ok, but everything needs a home. The house should never be more than 2 hours away from clean enough for company. That's going to take some work and I don't just want it to look surface good. I want it to be good, which means attending to the spaces that aren't in the public eye. It's going to be . . . a thing. There will be updates.
• Board Games - We used to play board games. I don't know what happened. We used to fit them in on the weekends or meet up with other people to play. We always had a collection of games, but over the years we've accumulated more. Our dedicated board game bookshelf is overflowing and there is, yet another, stack on the floor. Some of them have never been played. Some of them are old favorites that haven't been played in years but they are just sitting around collecting dust because we haven't made the time (which does exist) to pick them up and play. So one game a week every week, and every game played at least once by the end of the year. That's the goal.
• Yarn Projects - When I started poking around in the basement I discovered bin after bin of half finished yarn projects. It's all really well organized. I packed up the half-finished work with the hook, yarn, and instructions to finish all in one place. I then forgot about them. I don't even remember packing them away. It's crazy. But they are sitting around and taking up space. I want to try finishing one per month. I'm not sure if it's a doable goal, but it's a starting place and if I manage it, it'll more than knock out the backlog. The big question will be what to do with the finished blankets.... maybe I'll have to give them away.
• The Great Kudzu Project - Progress has been made in the back yard. Last summer was mostly a holding pattern because of the big road trip. I have the sense that with a little concerted effort and some chemical help, we can probably finish knocking it out of the back yard. It won't be a lasting fix, we'll have to continually work to keep it out, but I think this year could be the real turning point.
• Run a 5k - I want to lose weight, of course. Who doesn't, but I realized recently that I really more want to be fit. After having Thomas, we got a little sedentary then just when we were turning it around the lock down happened. I've gotten locked into some bad habits and I got focused on the wrong things trying to fix it. I'm going to let my weight take care of itself for the time being. (I only get to check my weight once a month.) Instead, I'm going to focus on running a 5k. My goal is to be able to run the entire Big Pumpkin Run in October which is one of our school's big community events. That's about 10 months which should be very doable but I have to admit....it just feels big. So, I got to break it down. I'm not really sure what a training plan should look like or what my benchmarks should be but to start with:
• Run a mile by February 1st - as sedentary as I feel and am, I'm not a disaster. I'm a teacher so we're up on our feet a fair bit. I actually tend to lose weight during the week naturally and gain it back on the weekends. We have a treadmill and a recumbent stationary bike so let's start there. 20 - 30 minutes a day 6 days of the week. I'm betting if I do that, I'll be able to run a mile, albeit a slow one, by the end of January. It'll be a confidence booster if nothing else.

2022 Retro-Spective

 I didn't make my goal of 150 books. That's ok, it was a stretch goal. I got close and this has been a year that tests a person. There was the planned massive cross-country road trip this summer that spanned almost 4 weeks and sucked down plenty of other logistical time. It was a wonderful experience that I'm sure I will think back on often. On the other side of things, there was the Fall semester of school. I often comment on how being a teacher is a demanding profession but this just wasn't the same.

Being the head of a department in a school is a position of leadership and responsibility, but that doesn't mean I necessarily have control. When we lost two English teachers over the summer, it wasn't a huge surprise. It's been a hairy few years and things have been brewing for a while. Neither of my teachers left in a good way, but I can't blame them for their choices and I wish them both well. One of their replacements is wonderfully competent. She's green but she's going to be wonderful. We hired her in May. The second position we didn't know we needed to fill until a week before pre-planning. Because of the situation, I didn't get to meet any of the candidates. 

To say it was a disaster is probably casting disasters under a bad light. When things don't work out with an employee, many different things can be at fault. I've seen bad fits and unhappy employees before. This was something else. Suffice it to say, it's probably a blessing on all sides that the situation only lasted 7 weeks, but when the new hire left, they left a mess and we had no replacement on hand. When this happen, it falls on the department head to fill in the gaps. I went from usual teacher busy to busy with double the workload. 50 hour weeks became70 and I did it for 7 weeks while I assessed the damage and helped the long term sub prep. I did all the grading for both my set and the open position's. Once we hired a replacement, it all shifted to training - still busy but more positive feeling. 

When I stop to consider it, it's actually a marvel that I got as close as I did to my goal. I also learned a lot about my own capabilities. I can work harder and longer for my students than I ever thought I was capable of. I can deal with a difficult situation and maintain a mostly impartial sense of judgement. I also learned that my capacity for forgiveness is uncommon. I let go of the anger almost immediately after it happened. I find myself more mystified, but that's not new; I've never really understood what makes other people tick. 

To sum up, crazy year. Tough year. Yet, still a good one. I don't think I could have gotten through it without my reading. A good book is like a band-aid for the brain. A story provides relief in the form of escapism. It provides context and perspective in the form of the trials and tribulations the main characters suffer through. Sometimes a good book can nudge the reader towards understanding or insight. Books can be a kind of haphazard therapy.

In a more subtle sense of success, I lent out and successfully recommended more books to more different people than any year prior. Finding a book for someone else is a tricky proposition because you need to not only understand the person you are recommending to, you have to have a sense of what kind of narrative appeals to them. It can be hard and it takes time and patience on both sides.

In terms of books - I've read 142 books this year (I might manage one more before the new year, maybe not). Here are my favorites:

Far From the Tree by Robert Benway - I keep handing this book to people. It's a story of three siblings who were put up for adoption at a young age. They are now all teens in different home situations. Grace didn't even know that she was adopted until her own unplanned pregnancy. Once she finds out, she wants to find her siblings. The novel covers that quest. It's a bittersweet read. While it all turns out in a kind of best case scenario, the story doesn't hide from the realities of an imperfect system. It had me crying from about page 20 on.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason - a kind of twisted recast fairy tale turned into a sci-fi intrigue. Rory Thorne is a princes with a fairy tale blessing at her naming complete with real fairies. When her father is assassinated, things go down hill and Rory finds herself in an arranged marriage to end an interstellar war. Unfortunately, when she gets to her new home, it isn't clear that her intended prince is even still alive. This is great and the sequel is good too.

Still Life by Louise Penny - I'm not sure about the whole series, but this in one of the best mysteries I've read in a long time. It's set in Montreal, in a small village where someone dies. Inspector Gamache is sent to figure out what happened in the dead of a Montreal winter with a trainee detective with unclear motives.  

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - The whole series is wonderful. This is like a grown up scary version of Hogwarts run amok. Young magic users enter the Scholomance for training. There are no teachers and the school seems to be trying very hard to kill its students, but it's better than being out in the world where monsters hunt young magic users as a morning snack. If that's not enticing enough, the main character El has the capacity to be the most powerful sorceress in the world, but only if she's willing to give into her dark side which she flat out refuses to do.

Machine Man by Max Barry - a weird read that kind of lingers. Charlie Neumann is an engineer who loses a leg in an industrial accident. He becomes obsessed with his prosthetic and soon views it as an opportunity for an upgrade. But why stop at one leg? No one really understands what he's doing except his prosthetics expert Lola Shanks. Thus begins a very odd love story. 

The Cassidy Blake Series by Victoria Schwab - A YA ghost story. Cassidy Blake can see restless ghosts ever since she died and was brought back. Her best friend Jacob is a ghost in fact. However, when she goes with her parents to Edinburgh, she discovers that her ability comes with a price and a responsibility. The first book is set in Edinburgh, the second in Paris, and the final in New Orleans.

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry - Another Barry book and also odd. Start by imagining that every decision a person is presented with spawns a whole universe for each choice. Basic multiverse theory. Ok, so in this novel there is a very small group of people who have figured out how to jump between universes into the different versions of themselves. One of these jumpers is a serial killer and his victim type is a woman named Madison May. Now imagine you are a reporter who has to report on the grisly murder of a woman named Madison May. Your name is Felicity in this scenario, by the way. You bump into Madison's murder and the next thing you know you are in a different version of the world that is just a little different and Madison is still alive. What would you do? I would try to save her.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz - A YA that won almost all the awards. I tend to be a little leery of something with that much acclaim but it's really quite good. This is a coming of age novel mixed with a buddy story spiced with a hint of romance. Dante and Ari have very little in common, at least on the surface. Ari is guarded. He's a loner. He doubts himself and he thinks about his older brother in prison. Dante is articulate and loves poetry. He has a perfect family and somehow he's just the person to break down Ari's walls. It's a good story and not quite like anything I had read before. It's nice when something lives up to its press.

Quest for A Maid by Mary Hendry - I'm not sure where I picked this one up. It's been sitting on my stack forever and I finally got around to reading it. Historical fiction requires a deft balance between historical detail and story. Too much detail and the story is hard to follow, the pacing gets bogged down and it's all boring. Too little detail and the setting is lost. Hendry is a master. I now know so much more about Scottish history and culture, yet the story flowed just fine. It's about a girl named Meg who hears her sister plot the murder of the King of Scotland by witchcraft. The resulting power struggle pulls Meg into the world of European politics in a way that she's not ready for but will have to navigate. The book is intended for middle grade readers but I would have no hesitation handing it to an adult; it's that good.

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke - Traditional epistolary novels can be a bit of a drag, but digital communication has breathed new life into the form. Several People Are Typing is about a guy named Gerald who gets his consciousness stuck in the internal Slack channels of his public relations firm. He's lost connection to his body but his productivity is way up and his bosses are more than happy to let the situation continue. It's bizarre, it's nutty, it's absurd, and it's a lot of fun.

If you are interested in looking at a complete page of the my year's reads, you can find that here :-)

The Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey (part of the Dragon Riders of Pern)

 When I was in middle school, these were my favorite books (specifically the first two.) I read them over and over again. I think I identified strongly with Menolly, the main character of the first two books. Not the specifics of course, but more the sense of isolation that she felt. It's a common enough feeling for an adolescent but nevertheless the books really spoke to me. Ultimately, I think I can pin the idea I had to be a musician on these books too. 

When I discovered Mercedes Lackey, I practically forgot about Anne McCaffrey and as a result I hadn't reread them in about 25 years. I was over due and they really held up.

Dragonsong opens with Menolly leading the death singing for her mentor Harper Petiron. He was the only harper stationed at Half-Circle Seahold and the only person, aside from her older brother, who really got her. Menolly's dearest dream is to be a harper and study at Harper Hall. However, Half-Circle follows traditions and traditions say that girls can't be Harpers. Yet, with Petrion dead there's no one to take up the teaching of the hold's young and it could be months before a new harper arrives. So, tradition bows to necessity and Menolly undertakes the teaching songs and ballads while they wait for a replacement with a fierce injunction against "twiddling" (composing new tunes). Of course something goes wrong with disasterous consequences and before long she's living holdless and surviving on her own. 

Dragonsinger picks up Menolly's story after she arrives at Harper Hall. It should be a dream come true but all the other girls hate her and her obscene number of fire lizards set her apart and incites envy. All Menolly wants to do is immerse herself in music but a harper is more than just a musician. A harper is a politician, a spy, a teacher, and an influencer of public opinion. As such, a harper can wield an incredable amount of power. That's not what Menolly is concerned with though. Instead she finds herself concerned with the hostility of her peers and even some of the masters who object to her gender, her talent, and her luck.

Menolly is determined to live a life of music and that determination coupled with her talent paves her way to acceptance.

Dragondrums is a bit of a break from the previous two. It actually follows Piemur which first appears in Dragonsinger as one of Menolly's new friends. He's mischevious and a scamp - a troublemaker. He's also possessed of a transcendent soprano voice. That is he does, until his voice cracks in the middle of choral rehearsal for the upcoming festival. Piemur is devistated that his voice chose the worst of all times to change. 

He's slightly mollified, however, when he's selected by the Masterharper himself as his new apprentice provided that he can prove his discretion. Of course, he sets out to do just that despite the other apprentices that have it in for him and journeymen who expect the worst of him.

All these books are excellent for young readers. I don't think thats what McCaffrey intended when she wrote them, but they are each wonderful for middle school readers on up and I still enjoy them as an adult. 

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

 I was oddly hesitant to dive into this one, but I really should just trust my TBR recommender at this point. Back in September when the last round of recommendations was scheduled to come out, I was in a bit of a hectic bind. I knew some things were likely to come to a head at the school and that I needed comfort more than challenge in my reading, so that's what I asked for. Amanda, my recommender, delivered and this was one of that batch.

This is a silly book. Very silly, but also very sweet. It's a kind of paranormal romance centered around witches. In the world of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches all witches are orphans. Because of a miscast spell in the 1700's, all witches lose their parents soon after birth. As a result, modern witches all seem to be traumatized women living by a series of restrictive rules to avoid notice by the larger mundane world. 

Magic in this world is an almost living power that likes to gather around witches. The more witches present, the more magic that gathers, and the more unruly it is. As a result one, of the super restrictive rules is that witches cannot live with other witches and, outside of a few secret meetings per year, they shouldn't even have contact with each other. This is the world that Mika Moon was raised in and it left her with a deep sense of loneliness.

Mika doesn't like the rules. She wants something more out of life than a never ending secret and lonely existence. So, when an unexpected and mysterious message arrives in her inbox looking to hire a "witch" to tutor three young girls at Nowhere House, Mika is intrigued. What she discovers is three young witches being raised in the care of four normal human adults. It breaks all the rules, but maybe this is her chance to find a different way to be a witch. 

There is a fun little mystery running in the background of the story, but the story is really much more about relationships. The three girls are all just as isolated in their way as Mika was despite having each other, and the adults are a diverse and quirky bunch. There is, of course, a grumpy yet dashingly handsome romantic candidate for Mika to be distracted by.

It's a fun book and it looks like it's set up well to turn into a series. 

Planetary by Warren Ellis (Series)

 When I talk to people about graphic novels, I find that I have a tendency to get defensive. I like graphic novels and I think that they are, in their own way, every bit as worthwhile as any bit of fiction on a bestseller list. (More, in some cases) Yet, somehow I always end up almost apologetic for my obvious enjoyment. 

It's probably me just showing my age but somehow I just can't shake the attitude that there is something frivolous about graphic novels and comics. Certainly, there was a time when many comic book plot lines were more than a little silly, but that isn't generally the case any more.

Something happened in the 80's and 90's. Comic books became something more complex. The stories became more involved, the characters became more complex and interesting. When someone asks me why I like graphic novels, I have a handful of favorites that I can hand them, but maybe the best example I can give that shows the validity of the form without having to downplay the shortcomings is Planetary by Warren Ellis. 

I'm a big fan of Ellis in general (he has a couple novels which are quite good too.) The original 4 volume run of planetary though takes the idea of a super hero and elevates it. If you stop to think about it, super-heroes are really just the inheritors of the epic hero architype. Looking at super heroes can tell you a lot about the culture that enjoys them. They speak to what we value and what we worry about or fear just as the old epic heros did. Because comics and graphic novels are marketed at a younger audience, it can be a good indicator of how the culture is shifting and developing. 

Coming out originally in the 90's, Planetary speaks very much to my generation. The super-heroes follow the older forms like comic book versions of Victorian hero explorers. A whole batch of them were born specifically on January 1st, 1900. They are century babies which makes sense as my generation felt the millenium hurtling towards us. These heros  (and villians) are all in some way confronting the rapidly changing world represented by the idea of a multiverse controlled and influence by large corporations running out of control. A generation raised venerating classical values confronting rapid change - yeah that's my generation in a nutshell.

So if you're curious what the graphic novel craze is all about, I recommend giving Planetary a try.

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

 It's a sad reality that cover art has a lot to do with a book's success. It's awful when a book with enticing cover art doesn't live up to the promise of its wrapper, but then, why should it? It's not like anyone is going to deliberately put a bad design around a book as a quality statement. Generally, if it gets published than somebody must of thought it was a worthwhile read. 

This is a little off point. I bring up cover art because Bardugo's books have excellent cover art and long before the Netflix show I was enticed to pick up some book in the series over and over again. I'd read the back and note the price and put it back down. I put it down because even used the prices tended to be up over $10 which certainly indicates an enduring demand. As a general rule, I try to keep my book purchases under $10. With a reading habit like mine, it can add up quick and I don't tend to splurge on a book unless I have a compelling reason to suspect that I will like it.

It wasn't until Netflix release their adaptation that I finally relented and bought them. I'm glad I did. The whole trilogy is excellent.

Most fantasy worlds are built around a vaguely European model, usually quasi British to be specific. The Grishaverse is interesting partly because it's built around a Russian base. The rulers are modeled after the tsars and tsarinas and the religion is reminiscent of the Eastern Orthodox church with it's saints and icons. There's even a crazy political mystic that is vaguely reminiscent of Rasputin in the character of the Apparat. 

The story follows Alina Starkov, a mousey military cartographer in the Ravkan first army. She discovers in book one that she's a grisha, specifically a Sun Summoner. Grisha all have magic-type powers. Some of them have elemental abilities, some can affect the human body, and some can manipulate materials. There are many grisha and their powers are uncommon but not rare. Except for the darkling who can summon shadows and the sun summoner who can summon the light - in each case there's only theoretically one of each of those which makes Alina very, very special.

Additionally, Ravka is divided into two by the fold, a magical accident that cuts across the entire country. It's a magical darkness inhabited by the nightmare volcra that prey on humans who venture into the darkness. The only way to cross is on a sand skiff powered by Squallers (grisha who control air currents).

In Shadow and Bone, Alina's power is discovered while crossing the fold. She's whisked away to the small palace for training where the story quickly turns into a court intrigue. Alina pines for her childhood friend Mal, and she struggles to access her power. The most powerful grisha in Ravka, the Darkling, seems to be making overtures. Something is wrong however, and Alina is not destined for a romance.

By the Siege and Storm, the second book, Alina and Mal are on the run. All they want is a simple life away from the politics of the Ravkan court and Second Army (the Grisha army). The Darkling can't let Alina's power go though and when he finds her, she is forced back into the fray. 

By the Ruin and Rising, the people are calling Alina a saint. It's not how she views herself, but she'll do just about anything to consolidate her power and confront the Darkling. The price will be high though. Everyone has an agenda, everyone wants to make use of the Living Saint. 

I don't want to give too many spoilers so the reviews are skimpy but its a fascinating, richly imagined world and I'll looking forward to hunting down the spin-off duology. (They also have really compelling cover art :-P )

December List

 November went by too quickly. While the amount of my reading was about average, my enjoyment was up. I need 25 books in December to meet my goal and I don't really think that I will make it, however, there's no use giving up so I'm going to plow on forward with a continuation of last month. I managed to finish off 5 series last month and finished 5 off of my urgent list. This month's list is primarily the same. I'm only adding in two series. The first is a graphic novel series that has been lingering for a while which I'm adding with an eye to getting my numbers up. The second is really just a continuation of one from last month. I'm putting on the next three Pern books by Ann McCaffrey. Ultimately, there are 16 of the books to read, but the beginning of the series falls into two neat little trilogies. 

1. Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (Series YA)
1. Ruin and Rising (Finished 12/3/2022)
2. The Inheritance Games Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
1. The Inheritance Games 
2. The Hawthorne Legacy
3. The Final Gambit
3. Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley
1. A Red Herring Without Mustard
2. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
3. Speaking from Among the Bones
4. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
5. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
6. Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd
7. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
8. The Golden Tresses of the Dead
4. The Bone Witch Series by Rin Chupeco (YA)
1. The Heart Forger (Finished 12/20/2022)
2. The Shadowglass (Finished 12/27/2022)
5. Remembrance of Earth's Past Series by Liu Cixin
1. The Dark Forest
2. Death's End
6. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Abaddon's Gate
2. Cibola Burn
3. Nemesis Games
4. Babylon's Ashes
5. Persepolis Rising
6. Tiamat's Wrath
7. Leviathan Falls
7. The Ropemaker Series by Peter Dickinson (YA)
1. The Rope Maker
2. Angel Isle
8. Planetary by Warren Ellis 
1. All Over the World and Other Stories (Finished 12/3/2022)
2. The Fourth Man (Finished 12/3/2022)
3. Leaving the 20th Century (Finished 12/4/2022)
4. Spacetime Archaeology (Finished 12/4/2022)
5. Crossing Worlds (Finished 12/5/2022)
9. Kingsbridge by Ken Follett
1. The Pillars of the Earth
2. World Without End
3. A Column of Fire
10. The Silver Arrow Series by Lev Grossman (YA)
1. The Silver Arrow 
2. The Golden Swift
11. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
12. Harpers of Pern by Ann McCaffery
1. Dragonsong (Finished 12/6/2022)
2. Dragonsinger (Finished 12/7/2022)
3. Dragondrums (Finished 12/11/2022)
13. Ghost Roads by Seanan McGuire (YA)
1. Sparrow Hill Road
2. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown
3. Angel of the Overpass
14. Dragonwatch Series by Brandon Mull (YA)
1. Dragonwatch
2. Wrath of the Dragon King
3. Master of the Phantom Isle
4. Champion of the Titan Games
5. Return of the Dragon Slayers
15. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers (Finished 12/16/2022)
2. The Borrowers Afield (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
3. The Borrowers Afloat (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
4. The Borrowers Aloft (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
5. The Borrowers Avenged (Dropped - Keeping books for Thomas)
16. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series by Louise Penny
1. The Cruelest Month
2. A Rule Against Murder
3. The Brutal Telling
4. Bury Your Dead
5. A Trick of the Light
6. The Beautiful Mystery
7. How the Light Gets In
8. The Long Way Home
17. Villians by V.E. Schwab
1. Vicious 
2. Vengeful 
18. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are

The Urgent List:

1. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
2. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed from Dad)
3. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick, because he really wants me to read it)
4. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (Classic, finishing up)
5. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (Finished 12/12/2022)
6. Monstrous Devices by Damien Love (Finished 12/15/2022)
7. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (Finished 12/9/2022)
8. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (Finished 12/31/2022))
9. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA, borrowed from Amanda)
10. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
11. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (old TBR)
12. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (borrowed from Stephanie)
13. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (Because I am insanely curious)
14. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF, finishing it up)