Ten Books I Need to Read This Year

Does anyone else keep only a small selection of physical books? I used to keep up with all the book boxes and special editions and had huge shelves of physical books, but I realized that I wasn’t ever actually reading the books on my shelves. While there are certain books I buy multiple editions of, I mostly just read ebooks and audiobooks and ignore physical books.

The physical books I do pick up now are ones I’m fairly confident I’m going to love or they are ones that are gifted to me. Still, I never make enough time to read the physical books I have. Here are ten physical books on my shelves that I’m really excited about and that I hope to get through this year!


  1. Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

I read my first Allison Saft book earlier this year (the fantastic A Fragile Enchantment) and immediately searched Saft’s backlist for all her previous books. Down Comes the Night quickly caught my eye with its gothic vibes, mystery subplot, and promise of a dark fantasy romance. This sounds incredible and I can’t wait to read it.

  1. The Lies of Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

I love fantasy novellas, so I picked this guy up from my local used bookstore. In the City of Lies, your tongue is cut out at the age of thirteen to appease the Ajungo Empire and so the Ajungo with give the City much-needed water. Days before he turns thirteen, Tutu goes on a quest outside the city for water to save his mother. This short novella has me a little bit scared, to be honest, but I hope to challenge myself with this read this year.

  1. Paper Girls, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

First of all, Paper Girls is just so dang colorful and beautiful to look at. Also, here’s the brief synopsis: “In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.” I might read this tomorrow, actually.

  1. Growing Things by Paul Tremblay

I randomly found an ARC of Growing Things, a 2019 anthology from Paul Tremblay, at Goodwill of all places. This was a Bram Stoker winner, a British Fantasy Award Nominee, and a Goodreads Award Nominee. I’m so stoked to read this horror anthology the next time I’m in an intense horror mood.

  1. Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle

Windhaven is the first fantasy book that George R.R. Martin ever wrote and he co-wrote it with Lisa Tuttle. It’s about a water world where special people use metal wings to fly from people group to people group and deliver news and stories. I have the graphic novel adaptation of the book, which looks beautiful.

  1. Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

How many times will I mention this book before I actually read it? Honestly, I don’t know too much about this book. It’s a gorgeous hardback tordotcom novella by Fonda Lee (who I have never actually read). I need to finally pick this one up so I can cross it off my list.

  1. The Season by Sarah MacLean

I’m a huge fan of Sarah MacLean’s adult historical romances, and I knew that she had previously published one young adult book called The Season. I believe it’s a romance, a mystery, and book about friendships. I’m so excited I found a hardcover copy of this one at my local used bookstore.

  1. Blood Mercy by Vela Roth

This is a MASSIVE fantasy romance series with absolutely gorgeous covers. I won my lovely floppy paperback from a FaRoFeb giveaway and I”m thrilled to try it out. I’ve heard people say this is one of their favorite Romantasy series.

  1. Company Town by Madeline Ashby

This book has probably been unread on my shelves the longest and that’s a shame because it sounds so, so good. It’s a dystopian, cyberpunk novel set on a Canadian city-sized oil-rig. It’s also a mystery with a potential serial killer. I mean, this sounds like my perfect book.

  1. A Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova

This is another book that was gifted to me in the huge FaRoFeb giveaway I won. I’m super excited about this one, since I’ve heard so much about Elise Kova’s books over the years. It’s enemies to lovers and a slow-burn fantasy romance. Sounds like fun to me!


Have you read any of these? I know some of these are a bit obscure, but I can’t wait to dig into them.

I’ve added this post to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Go check out her blog to see everyone’s posts!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!



12 responses to “Ten Books I Need to Read This Year”

  1. Yes! These days, I don’t love keeping a huge stock of books at home. After I read something, unless I absolutely love it and think I might read it again, it’s out the door. Hope you get to all of these this year and enjoy them!

  2. I listen to more audiobooks than read print books, too. I have a tbr for those book titles, too.

    Unread books on my actual shelves

  3. Before I started blogging, my physical pile was typically under ten books. Since then, it has exploded to over 100. This year, I’ve made the conscious decision to focus on the physical books and request fewer ARCs.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/ten-more-random-books-on-my-goodreads-tbr/

  4. Windhaven sounds good. Enjoy!

    Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.

  5. I am a library girlie and don’t buy a lot of books for myself anymore. (my son though, yes)

    Paper Girls looks really good!

  6. I have a pretty extensive personal library, mostly because I don’t have access to a library to borrow books! So all the books I read are ones I have to own (unless I read them on KU). 😂 I’ve read a couple of these but Untethered Sky is top tier though I’m biased because Lee is one of my favourite authors, lol. I hope you enjoy these books whenever you get around to them!

  7. I haven’t heard of any of these before but I have to admit, The Lies of Ajungo sounds really good, I should add that one to my TBR. I hope you find time to read these this year and enjoy them.

  8. I’m curious about Paper Girls, too.
    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.

  9. I’ve heard great things about Paper Girls. I hope you enjoy all these!

  10. I haven’t read the Paul Tremblay you have listed here (but it may go on my TBR pile). But I’ve read a few of his books and man, they are unnerving. I hope you enjoy this one and all the other books you have listed.

  11. I’ve been purging for years, but we still have a ton of physical books here. I often donate them to the library book sale. For reviews, I usually request e-books these days.

    Paper Girls sounds fabulous. Hope you get to read these soon.

  12. I love being surrounded by physical books! It just makes me happy 🙂 I have two huge bookshelves in my living room and a smaller one in the family room. My husband also has a wall of books in his home office. Believe it or not, we actually got rid of a ton of books when we moved a couple years ago, so this is the fewest number of physical books we’ve had on hand in a long time! I get your more minimalistic approach, though. I hope you enjoy all these when you read them.

    Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

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