January is out month of making lists of books that we want to read this year (to put on our “to be read” TBR lists). I love checking out the end of year “best books lists” that pop up everywhere! And here are 3 books from those lists, that I added to my TBR.
You Like It Darker, Stephen King
Why have I not read this book yet?! I pre-ordered it and got it soon after it’s release day in May 2024! Then it becomes the 2024 Goodreads Award Winner for Horror AND is on the NY Times The Best Horror Fiction of 2024! Say it with me … I must read You Like It Darker ASAP.
“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal.
The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley
As a mood reader, I know all too well that I can switch what I want to read from week to week. And I’ve said before that I only love certain sub-genres of science fiction – mainly dystopian and apocalyptic. Well, I’ve started out the year reading science fiction books that are not in those sub-genres, and this one right here – a time travel scifi epic – I haven’t been able to stop thinking about reading since last year. And then it pops up on at least 12 “Best Books of 2024” lists according to LitHub Ultimate Best Books of 2024 List. So yes, The Ministry of Time is a must read for this year.
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible – for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.
The God of the Woods, Liz Moore
This was THE book last summer, and I still haven’t gotten to read it, despite getting it in my hands from the library. A travesty and a tragedy that it had to go back unread.
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
I’m stopping my little list at 3 books, because, as I mentioned before, I’m a mood reader, so having a long list of books to read is not something that works out well for me. I have to go by the feels. What are some popular, or lauded, or books that won awards last year and you didn’t read, that you plan on reading this year?
