At any given time I’ve got about 250 books waiting for me. A handful1 of these are on my shelves shaming me with their as yet uncracked spines2, a few dozen live as preview copies on my ancient ipad mini3, fifty4 reside in my library queue and the rest live on my library’s virtual For Later shelf, anxiously anticipating the day they are promoted into the main queue5. Currently this shelf has 142 titles.
I’ve had a stupidly stupendous time curating this newsletter this year and assembling good reads into whatever categories and themes strike my fancy. Most of the rolling ladder shelf subjects have propelled me to follow my curiosity further so today I’m sharing a few of the titles from my various tbr6 piles that were inspired by my own posts7. What follows is but a tiny sampling of books that may show up recommended on a future shelf or maybe in the ‘misshelved’ section or perhaps not make it into the newsletter at all if they commit the sin of mediocrity.
Take a look at your library queue, Goodreads list, indie bookstore virtual cart or canvas tote bag and share your selections with the group. Do any of these titles, themes or authors score a spot on your tbr list?
Drawing on Maggie O'Farrell's long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, Hamnet is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.
I’ve enjoyed a few of O’Farrell’s books and this has rave reviews, though its subject matter is quite the downer… will be mood specific I think.
Finding seeds of inspiration in the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into utterly original stories of seekers--characters on the hunt for love, connection, revenge, or their own sense of purpose.
Recommended on this newsletter by
, this sounds right up my alley: pretzeling age old tropes into new shapes.
Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed?
My witchy post this year awakened my fascination with understanding and redeeming the archetypal witch8 so I’ve got a bunch of books in my queue along these lines. Carmen Maria Machado wrote the forewrd here so with her endorsement I feel fairly confident I’ll enjoy this one.
Claudia Lin—mystery novel superfan and, until recently, clichéd underemployed English major—has scored her dream co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency whose mission is to determine if chronically online New Yorkers are telling the truth about themselves to their prospective partners. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues—tech wizard Squirrel, and the beautiful and intimidating Becks—have uncovered a nefarious AI conspiracy.
To my delight, a sequel to The Verifiers came out this year and I’m very much looking forward to some more Claudia Lin shenanigans.
In this enthralling, kaleidoscopic exploration of wolves both real and symbolic, Erica Berry weaves historic and scientific findings alongside criticism, journalism, and memoir to illuminate the strands of our cultural constructions of predator and prey, and what it means to navigate a world in which we can be both.
I’m mildly irritated that I didn’t come across this book9 until after my wolf themed post came out since it seems to discuss exactly what I’m interested in re: wolves. Luckily I can always do a part 2.
Apparently I read the second of this series like 10 years ago, but I have no memory of it. There was a short span where this author’s name kept coming up in my various online haunts so I decided it was time to explore some of the works of this very celebrated writer.
A backstage look at the making of Nora Ephron's revered trilogy--When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle--which brought romantic comedies back to the fore, and an intimate portrait of the beloved writer/director who inspired a generation of Hollywood women, from Mindy Kaling to Lena Dunham.
Because You’ve Got Mail is the best romantic comedy and I’ve only grown more fascinated with Nora Ephron since my post, this jumped onto my queue itself.
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other Bunny, and seem to move and speak as one.
I’m always on the lookout for a good-weird dark academia novel and this one seems to have punk, neon gothic vibes a la Saltburn perhaps?
A mansion haunted by the ghost of a cool, charismatic first wife. A second bride from a small Southern town who may be in over her head. A brooding billionaire who grows icier the more his new wife questions him about the past.
Love a gothic. Love a descent into madness. Love when the beats of a classic like Rebecca are shaped into something playful, suspenseful and new.
Part myth retelling, part character study, this sharp, visceral debut poetry collection reimagines Helen of Troy from Homer’s Iliad as a disgruntled housewife in 1990s Tennessee.
I’m sort of poetry averse10 but I’m a sucker for a reimagination of a classic11 and I love the idea of ‘blurring the line between mythology and modernity’ so onto my queue it goes!
What books are you excited to get into next year? Any specific curiosities or themes that you’re following down the rabbit hole?
Any more titles you think I should add to my never ending list? Do the books you own, but have not read yet, guilt you from their shelves too?
don’t have a lot of shelf space so I don’t own that many books
i know i’m not alone here, back me up readers
this is twelve years old and its only function is for reading arcs (advance reader copies). this is what i bring when i travel and i live in perpetual fear that it will die.
the limit
‘to be read’ in bookspeak
i inspire myself apparently
perfectly aligned with wicked pt 1’s release i gotta say. though i don’t know what happens next so no spoilers!
just noticed its spine peeking out in a random book influencer’s coffee table photo and i was like, uhhh whats this now?
though I’m thinking about considering working on that…
i guess i’m pretty predictable by now
I decided this is the year of Sanderson for me. I’ve been intimidated by the high high fantasy and page counts for awhile, but have been longing for some intricate stories, so the goal is to do as many of his books as possible.
I also told myself I need to read at least one weird-ass wtf romance this year, because the one I did last year was a ridiculous delight. I’m keeping my eye out. I’ve heard Forked is up there.
Lastly, more from your newsletters! I have SO many saved in my tbr from these that I want to work through and only made it through like 5?? last year because I was so caught up in keeping up with the booksta hype.
Also really hoping Deep End has the Ali Hazelwood writing of yore.