Musing on the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Locus Awards

16 May 2024 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

With the announcement of the finalists for the Locus Awards earlier this month, I thought I’d take some time to muse on why we pick out certain stories for recognition and to also relate some information on the awards that I follow (Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus).

I recently read some of the nominees for the Nebula Awards so that I could vote for these (my pick for short story was The Sound of Children Screaming, which can be found here). I’ve also been reading some of the short stories that won Hugos and/or Nebulas in the past couple of years (Rabbit Test, If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You).

So what’s with all these awards? What does each one mean? Who votes for them? And why does anyone care?

First of all, I think that it is important to provide recognition for outstanding talent and achievements in any field. The nomination and awards process also highlights a set of work and helps readers find stories that they might not have been otherwise aware of. Let’s go through each of these major awards and talk about the nomination process, categories, and other information about each one.

Hugo Awards.org media download site, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60413579

Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards have been awarded since 1953 and are named for Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the first classic magazine of science fiction, Amazing Stories. The current categories awarded include Best Novel (>40,000 words), Best Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words), Best Novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words), Best Short Story (<7500 words), Best Series, Best Related Work, Best Graphic Story, Best Dramatic Presentation (long and short forms), Best Semiprozine, Best Fanzine, Best Professional Editor, Best Professional Artist, Best Fan Artist, Best Fan Writer, Best Fancast, and Best Game or Interactive Work.

The Hugos are one of the most prestigious awards for the science fiction and fantasy genre. A list of nominees and winners can be found here. The Hugo Awards are presided over by the World Science Fiction Society. Attending and supporting members of the World Science Fiction Convention can nominate and vote on the awards. Even if you can’t attend the convention physically, you can purchase a supporting membership for voting privileges. The physical awards are announced and presented at that year’s World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which is held generally around September and moves to a different city each year (2024 = Glasgow).

The Hugo Awards have been associated with some recent controversies. The Sad Puppies ran a campaign to nominate slates of works in reaction to the recent success of BIPOC authors and overall diversification in the genre. This led to several nominated authors declining to have their works considered (when included on the Sad Puppy slate), and No Award being selected in several categories where the Sad Puppy nominees dominated. The World Science Fiction Society made changes to the nomination and voting process in 2017.

More recently, the 2023 Hugo Awards became the source of another controversy when the voting statistics from the recent Worldcon held in Chengdu, China were released (scroll down to page 20 on the linked .pdf). Authors whose work may have been considered too political for Chinese censorship laws had received nominating votes, but were declared ineligible. Other votes from Chinese citizens were thrown out because they were considered to be following a slate suggested by a magazine (despite the rules not permitting this). Going forward, the Hugo administration has vowed to improve transparency in the process. You can find more details about what happened here.

The logo is from the following website: http://www.sfwa.org/ Nebula Awards official website, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35826707

Nebula Awards

The Nebula Awards follow a similar process, with the main difference being that those who nominate and vote for these awards must be members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). This is the professional organization for authors, artists, and editors in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Categories for the Nebula Awards currently include Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette, Best Short Story, and Best Game Writing (same word count requirements as for the Hugos). Other awards that are not technically Nebula Awards are also included in the Nebula process. These recently have included the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction of Fantasy Book, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award (for lifetime achievement), Author Emeritus (awarded posthumously for lifetime achievement), the Kevin O’Donnell Award for service to SFWA, and the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award for significant impact on speculative fiction.

The Nebula Awards go through a similar round of nominations followed by voting, with the announcement and presentation of the winners at the SFWA Nebula Conference. This is usually in the spring and is held in the United States (2024 = Pasadena, California).

World Fantasy Awards

By Statuette design: Vincent Villafranca – Original publication: http://www.arctera.com/wfa/wfadmin-award-announcement.htmImmediate source: http://www.arctera.com/wfa/wfadmin-award-announcement.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53804878

The World Fantasy Awards are a favorite of mine, I think because I lean more toward fantasy in my reading overall. These are administered by the World Fantasy Convention, which occurs annually in a different location around the world (2024 = Niagara Falls, New York). While the World Science Fiction Convention is a larger event with plenty for fans of the genre, the World Fantasy Convention is a professional event for authors, artists, editors, agents, and publishers. It can be a great place to meet people in the field for an upcoming author.

The World Fantasy Award nominees are partly selected by the attendees of the World Fantasy Convention, but also by a panel of judges who are professionals in the field. The categories for awards are Best Novel (>40,000 words), Best Novella (10,000 to 40,000 words), Best Short Fiction (<10,000 words), Best Collection (single author), Best Anthology (multiple authors), Best Artist, Special Award–Professional, Special Award–Non-Professional, Convention Award, and Life Achievement Award.

Controversy about the physical award arose in recent years. It had formerly been a bust of H.P. Lovecraft who has been criticized for his outspoken racism. The new award was changed to the one pictured in 2016.

Locus Awards

Designed by Francesca Myman, with art by Shaun Tan and presented by Locus Magazine. Source: Locus. – Original publication: Locus Magazine Immediate source: https://locusmag.com/2020/06/locus-awards-winners-2020/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68857244

The Locus Awards are put together by Locus Magazine, which is a monthly trade publication for the science fiction and fantasy genre. The awards are open for nomination by the public and the votes of subscribers to the magazine count twice. You can find the recent top 10 nominees here.

Categories for the Locus Awards include Best Science Fiction Novel, Best Fantasy Novel, Best Horror Novel, Best Young Adult Novel, Best First Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette, Best Short Story, Best Anthology, Best Collection, Best Magazine, Best Publisher, Best Editor, Best Artist, Best Non-Fiction, and Best Illustrated and Art Book.

The winners are announced during an awards presentation that is associated with a weekend of readings and panels held in Oakland, California this year.

This has turned out to be a longer post than I thought it would be, but I hope it was helpful to explain some of the honors awarded in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Have you voted for any of the awards? Which books have you read that won one of these awards? Let me know in the comments (above).

April 2024 Reading Wrap Up

01 May 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I thought that I was over my reading slump from March, but then I only managed to read 3 more books in April. However, for this month I felt like I made more steady progress. When I looked at some of the details, it turns out that I read 2,409 pages for the month, making this my second highest page count per month so far in 2024!

These are the books that I finished in April:

I reviewed The Skull Throne here and Dragonfly in Amber here. I only finished reading The Core, the final book in Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle yesterday, but I should have a review up later this week (paid links).

I also read some of the shorter works nominated for the Nebula Awards, so that took more time. However, I’m glad that I did delve back into reading some short fiction, and I have more of that planned in the upcoming months.

I am part of the way into the third book in the Outlander series, Voyager, and I also started book 5 of The Wheel of Time, The Fires of Heaven (paid links).

For the upcoming month of May, I’m hoping to finish a couple of books that I started, but that were larger projects than I originally envisioned. These would be The Anatomy of Story and the Utopia Science Fiction Magazine Five Year Anthology. I need to find a day where I have few distractions so that I can focus more on these kinds of books.

What else is ahead in May? I’ve bumped a couple of the books I had planned for April into this next month, but pushed others back further. I’m still planning to read the 5th book in the Dune series, Heretics of Dune. I’m continuing with several series with The Sandman: Book 3 by Neil Gaiman, Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and Jud by Michael Breen (paid links).

I also picked up a new book by one of my recent favorite authors – The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. Then I have Deep Freeze by Michael C. Grumley planned for a book club (paid links).

How is your reading going for the year? What book are you most excited to read next? Let me know in the comments (above).

March 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

02 Apr 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Help, help! I’m in a reading slump!

March wasn’t a very good month for me in terms of reading. I was distracted by other things in my life and I didn’t have as much time to devote to books, unfortunately. What did I actually finish reading in March? Just these two books:

I did review The Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin here. And I should have a review of The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten up soon (paid links).

I am still in the process of reading a few others which you can see here:

I didn’t make any further progress on The Anatomy of Story by John Truby, but I still plan to get back to this one. My audiobook listening habit also struggled, so I haven’t finished the second book in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. As of the time I’m writing this, I have a little under seven hours left to go. I started reading the Utopia Science Fiction anthology last week, but I was not in the right mood to read short stories and ended up finally starting The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett, which is book 4 in The Demon Cycle (paid links).

What’s ahead for April? And how do I break out of my reading slump?

I rearranged what I originally had on my April list, since I didn’t get to most of what I had planned to read for March. Here are the books that I now have on for this month:

I put them roughly in the order I think I might read them. The Core is the fifth and final book in The Demon Cycle, so I expect I’ll want to finish that series once I get through book 4. I think I’ll probably get back to The Sandman series of graphic novels for a quick read and then move on to book 5 of The Wheel of Time – The Fires of Heaven. I expect Iron Flame to be a quick read, and after that I don’t know if I’ll actually get to the other books during April. I should be able to at least start Voyager, the 3rd book in the Outlander series, but since each one is longer than the last, I don’t know if I’ll finish it this month (paid links).

On top of those goals, I have been debating whether I should read some of the fiction nominated for the Nebula Awards. That will be the topic of a post later this week, so I’ll leave my thoughts on that until then.

As far as getting over my reading slump, that’s hard because I do have some travel plans this month. One trip involves a long flight, so that usually gives me some free time to read, but otherwise the logistics of packing and planning always takes time.

What are you reading in April? How are your reading goals for the year going so far? Let me know in the comments (above).

February 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

28 Feb 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I love doing these end of the month/year types of posts and it’s time for another one – yay! However, February didn’t go as well for me in terms of reading. At the time that I’m writing this, I’ve only finished the first three books pictured below (Fourth Wing, God Emperor of Dune, Starling House). I still expect to get through Every Heart a Doorway and Color and Light by the end of the month (paid links).

Books that I read in February 2024

You can find my reviews for the ones that I’ve finished here:

I have been reading two other books that I don’t expect to finish by the end of the month. Those are The Anatomy of Story by John Truby, which is essentially a class on creating a blueprint of the plot and characters for your screenplay or novel. It is dense and I’m working through it slowly. The other book I’m partway through is the second in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber (paid links). I’m listening to the audiobook and I still have over 18 hours to go.

Books I have started, but haven’t finished yet.

Looking back at my January 2024 Reading Wrap-Up post here, I had also planned to read these books pictured below. I didn’t start either The Foxglove King (481 pages) or The Combat Codes (484 pages) because they were longer works and I had other novels that I needed to finish within a time frame for book club discussions (paid links). I also would like to read the Utopia Science Fiction Magazine anthology where my story (Selection Error) appears, so all three of these books will be pushed to the top of my reading list for March.

Books I had planned to read in February, but didn’t start yet.

If I look at my original reading list for March 2024, it contains the following 8 books:

Books I’m planning to read in March 2024

These are all parts of series! Additionally, I don’t think any of them are ones I’m reading for book clubs. I have put them in order of priority, with the series that I’ve already started listed higher. The last three on here, Scorpica by G. R. Macallister, Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff, and The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu are all by new authors to me, and are each the first books of a series (paid links).

I know that I won’t realistically get through all of these, but that never stops me from looking at more books and coveting them. I’ll continue to post reviews as I go, interspersed with reviews of books that I read last year.

How do you choose what to read next? Let me know in the comments (above).

January 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

31 Jan 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The first month of 2024 is nearly over and it’s time to look back at what I read, as well as what’s coming up next. Overall, January was a strong reading month for me, mostly because I was sick and stuck on the couch for more hours than usual which resulted in extra reading time. Here are the seven books that I finished in January:

I have already written reviews on some of these, which you can find here:

I had hoped to also finish Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, the second book in the Outlander series (paid links). However, it took me longer to finish the first book than I had thought it would, so the second one got pushed back to February.

I started the 4th book in the Dune series, God Emperor of Dune, in January, as well as The Anatomy of Story by John Truby, but these books were too dense to rush through and finish at the end of the month (paid links).

Looking ahead at February, here is what’s up next for my reading plans:

Hopefully I can read as much as I did in January (minus the illness though). What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments (above).

Books to Read in 2024

01 Jan 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

It is a little after midnight on New Year’s Day as I’m starting to write this post. I have been cramming books onto my 2024 to-be-read list in a mad rush, like there is some sort of rule that once the ball drops in Times Square, I won’t be allowed to add any more for the year. I mean, that’s not true at all, but part of me feels like I have to have a plan for the year finalized by January 1. Well, here is my (once again) very unrealistic list of 113 books I plan to read for 2024:

How did I come up with this list? There are several considerations that go into this (paid links below):

What else goes into my choices? Well, I am trying not to start any new series. But on the list above, I also have several new series… what can I say? I am inconsistent. To be fair, some of the series on here are ones where I read the first book many, many years ago but was unable to finish the series (because it hadn’t all been published yet or because I got distracted by other books).

In that vein, I’m going to continue on my read-through of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I’m also going to read Dune #4-6, which I had put aside after reading #1-3 in 2022 (paid links).

As the year goes on, I’ll add even more books to this list, perpetuating my never-ending pile and pushing more of these off to 2025. I need more hours in the day.

Of all these books, which ones are up first for the year? Well right now, I’m already reading the first of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series in audiobook format. I’m also about a third of the way through Not Like Us by Doc Honour, a writing critique partner (paid links). After that, here is what I have planned:

Let me go back to the numbers now. I have 113 books on my list for 2024. Even given that some are shorter novellas or graphic novels, that still comes out to about 9.5 books per month, or more than 2 books per week. And some of these books aren’t short, so what is realistically going to happen?

I usually end up reading somewhere between 40 and 50 books each year. I tend to read several books at once, so one goal I’m making for this year is to try to minimize how often I start a new book without finishing others. I feel like I’ll be more engaged in a book if I’m not splitting my attention between several of them. (However, I will still have an audiobook going while reading something in print).

Off to do some reading now…

How do you choose which books you’re going to read? What books are you most excited about reading in 2024? Let me know in the comments (above)!

2023 Wrap-Up and Best Reads

29 Dec 2023 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The year has almost come to an end and it’s time to look back at my reading for the year. This is one of my favorite types of posts to write, so let’s get to it! Here is my graphic of all the books I have finished so far in 2023, for a total of 46!

While I had set an unrealistic goal to read 100 books for the year back in this post, 50 is a more reasonable amount for me. As I’m writing this post, I have a few more days remaining in the month, with two more books that I should definitely be able to finish. I may grab a couple of graphic novels or a shorter novel and binge read to see if I can hit 50 by the end of the year.

How did my 2023 reading break down in terms of genre and formats?

  • 20 books were stand-alone fiction novels.
  • 18 were audiobooks.
  • I had one DNF (did-not-finish) book that actually doesn’t appear on this list.
  • 2 were non-fiction, and one of those I hope to finish in the next few days is as well.
  • 2 novels were not in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, and 1 was on the border of genre.
  • I finished (or kept up with) the books in 8 different series.
  • I started to read 5 new series.
  • 3 were graphic novels.

Here are my favorite books from the year with some comments and links to full reviews below:

Rule Of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
  • Fairy Tale by Stephen King was a wonderful stand-alone fantasy novel (paid link). You can find my review here.
  • I finished listening to The Witcher series (audiobooks) this year with The Lady of the Lake (paid link). While I’ve read that the ending is controversial, I thought it was appropriate to the series. You can read my review here.
  • The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip is an older book and was also a type of fairy tale story (paid link). You can find my review here.
  • In my ongoing read of Leigh Bardugo’s books, my favorites were the Six of Crows duology which I just reviewed here and here, as well as the next two books, Rule of Wolves and King of Scars, which I will be reviewing soon (paid links).
  • I also read Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, and while I thought that the ending fell a bit flat, the second book, The Last Graduate, was a harrowing read (paid link). My review is here.
  • Babel was a long stand-alone novel but its themes have inspired conversations about real-world events since I read it (paid link). This is a tragic story but was very well-done, and I highly recommend reading it. You can find my review here.
  • Elder Race is a novella that combined science fiction and fantasy into one story and was a nice introduction to this author’s work (paid link). I haven’t had a chance to review it here yet.
  • The two non-genre novels that I read, Where the Crawdads Sing and Horse were both very good, so if you’re looking for a break from sci-fi/fantasy, these are solid reading choices (paid links). My reviews are here and here.
  • Shannon Chakraborty won my reading heart with her Daevabad trilogy which I reviewed here, here, and here (paid links). So when she released the first book in a new series, I had to pick it up immediately. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi was such a fun adventure story, and I’ll be writing a full review soon. You could also read this as a stand-alone story.
  • The last book on this list is a dieselpunk adventure comic/graphic novel which I just finished this week. Skies of Fire (#1-4) was produced as a Kickstarter and I really enjoyed reading this. I’ll have a review up soon.

Lastly, did I read the books that I had planned to read on my post from the beginning of 2023? The answer to this is always, NO, but where did I go off track? Here are some thoughts on that:

  • I had meant to read more of the Sandman series of graphic novels, but only got through one more in 2023.
  • I also had meant to continue my read-through of The Wheel of Time, but only read book #4 in 2023.
  • I didn’t get to read any more of the Dune books, but there was also a natural end-point after Dune Messiah.
  • There were several series on my list that I’ve been meaning to finish for several years. I still didn’t make any progress on these.
  • I didn’t read any classics in 2023, even though I had a few on my list.

Here is a visual of some of those books that I didn’t get to, but still plan to read soon:

That’s my recap of my reading year for 2023! How did you do in your own goals? What were your favorite books for the year? Let me know in the comments (above).

10 Authors I Haven’t Read Yet

20 Nov 2023 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I had the idea for this post from another book blog that I follow and I thought it would be an interesting topic in regard to my own reading. My goal in creating this list was to think of ten authors that I am dying to read, but haven’t had time to get to yet. I started with a longer list and then pared it down to just these ten:

  1. Iain M. Banks – I have read the blurb for the first book in this author’s Culture series (paid link) and I honestly can’t tell what it’s about other than something with a sprawling intergalactic story which is something I generally love. This is a series with 9 books so far.
  1. Pierce Brown – this author is best known for the Red Rising Saga (paid link) which started out as a trilogy and has now grown to six books. Caste warfare on a dystopian Mars????? Yes, please!
  1. P. Djeli Clark is an author that I was not terribly aware of until I listened to him talk in a writing class sponsored by Orbit Books. He spoke about scene structure and sounds like an author who writes diverse and compelling stories (paid link).
  1. James S. A. Corey is a pen name for authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck who are best known for The Expanse series (paid link). This science fiction epic was the basis for the television series on Amazon Prime of the same name which is currently in my queue to finish. I plan to read the books once I’ve finished the show.
  1. Diana Gabaldon is best known for writing the Outlander series of historical time-travel romance novels (paid link). I watched the first season of the television show and loved it (but then got distracted – I don’t stick with tv very well). My mother is a huge fan of both the books and the show and if I don’t read this series soon she’ll probably disown me. It currently sits at nine books and is supposed to be complete with the tenth volume.
  1. Ann Leckie wrote the Imperial Radch trilogy of science fiction novels (paid link) that won the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards and was also recommended to me by friends. I picked up the first book but haven’t had the time to start it yet. So many books, so little time…
  1. Sarah J. Maas – I’m torn on this one because I’ve heard mixed reviews of her writing. I first heard of her Throne of Glass series, and now the author’s more recent series (A Court of Thorns and Roses) (paid links) has been added to the list of banned books in some conservative parts of the country – which makes it crucial to read it, right?!?! These are fantasy romance with faeries and probably some magic and swords. As long as the writing isn’t too painful, I’ll probably at least have fun with these.
  1. Seanan McGuire has written a ton of books. Her series include the October Daye, Wayward Children, and Alchemical Journeys books (paid links). The good news is that I’m planning to read Every Heart a Doorway for a book club discussion in the next few months. This series involves children and portals.
  1. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has written several stand-alone novels. Many appear to have a more gothic flavor to them, which is something that I have not read a lot of. I don’t know if I’d like these, but she has received awards and acclaim, so I’m open to taking a look. I already picked up Gods of Jade and Shadow a few years ago and haven’t had time to read it (paid link).
  1. V.E. Schwab is the last author on my list. She has written the Shades of Magic trilogy which explores parallel Londons in a threatened multiverse. Her more recent book, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue looks like a stand-alone novel about a woman who wins immortality but, in exchange, is forgotten by everyone she meets (paid links).

Have you read any of the authors on my list? Which one should I read first? What authors would be on your list? Let me know in the comments (above).

What to Read Next?

27 Oct 2023 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

As the year approaches its end, I find myself looking back at the books I’ve read in 2023 and wondering how I became so distracted from my plan for the year.

Actually–this happens every year.

I start out with a shiny perfect to-be-read list that, while it might be overly ambitious, is orderly and logical. Then sometime around February I add books to the list. These might be a novel for one of my book clubs, a new release by a favorite author, or a book that was gifted to me. Other times I might read a description of a book that really grabs me and–wham! That’s another addition to the list.

A portion of the books I had planned to read for 2023.

Thinking about my book chaos made me wonder how I decide which book I’m going to read next. Sometimes it’s a deadline – like for book club or a review that I want to coincide with a particular date. Often I’m just excited about delving into a particular story. Or I’ve been staring at a book that I left out on a table or desk.

I also have a dilemma when it comes to what format to read. I’m usually reading a physical book, an e-book, and an audiobook all at once. If I finish the audiobook, then I need another audiobook after that. And if I already have that book in another format, I’m not going to also buy it as an audiobook. Or for books that are part of a series, I try to keep with the same format for the whole thing, especially if I started it as an audiobook and really liked the narrator.

Books on my October to-be-read list.

I will try to control the chaos by breaking my gigantic to-be-read list down into smaller pieces by each month. Above is an example of those books sitting on my October list, none of which I have started and it is nearly the end of October. I do have to start On Fragile Waves for a book club meeting so that one will have priority over the others. Oh – and I should go back to look at the four books from my September list that I didn’t start yet.

As an aside, I did some work updating this blog last week and now you can see what I’m currently reading in the Goodreads widget in the sidebar on the right (scroll up from here).

How do you decide what to read next? Do you have an organized list? Do you stick to that? Let me know in the comments (above).

Returning to Blogging and Reviews

03 Oct 2023 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I’m not sure what happened this year.

Everything was going well and then I just stopped writing posts and book reviews here. I guess I got busy with other priorities, but I don’t remember a specific event that occurred. Whatever it was, it is time to get back to writing posts and book reviews!

While I often feel like I haven’t been reading enough, when I look at my numbers on Goodreads, I have been steadily working through my to-be-read list for the year, despite the lack of posts about any of it.

I had set an unreasonable goal to read 100 books this year when I usually fall somewhere between 40 to 50 books read per year. My current number stands at 32, so that puts me on track for my usual numbers. I would like to think that I’ll have time to read 2 books per week through the end of the year (giving me about 26 more), but that is likely wishful thinking. In any case, here is a peek at what I’ve already read this year:

Paid links help to support this blog.

Some standouts to me included The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows and Alex Stern series, Babel by R.F. Kuang, and Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Stand out reads so far from 2023

I’m currently reading Where the Crawdads Sing (physical book) by Delia Owens (not genre, I know) and The Fated Sky (audiobook) by Mary Robinette Kowal, the second book in the Lady Astronaut series.

Other books that I’m planning to read by the end of the year include The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, Horse by Geraldine Brooks, Scorpica by G.R. Macallister, On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu, and The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis.

Upcoming reads for the end of the year

I also wanted to comment briefly on some series that I have been reading. It took me a LONG time to get through book 4 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I’m planning to get back to that series, but I needed a break from it. I may start book 5, The Fires of Heaven, by the end of the year.

Another project that I have had was to read all of the original six Dune novels by Frank Herbert. I had finished the first three, but struggled to get into God Emperor of Dune. I’m going to try again, but also not until at least the end of the year.

The last ongoing series that I’ve been plodding through is the Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett, but I can’t figure out why I keep putting this one off. I have really liked these books so far. I have the final two in the series, as well as another related work. Maybe I’m afraid to find out how it ends?

Next up in some long series

In 2023 we also got to see the release of Brandon Sanderson’s four “secret project” novels that he wrote during the lockdown portion of the pandemic. He broke the record for the most-funded Kickstarter in 2022, topping $41.7 million for the campaign.

I have mixed feelings about Sanderson’s writing (I liked one book but hated another series). But I appreciate his work ethic and his efforts to help other writers, so I contributed toward the Kickstarter and found myself with four more novels on my to-be-read list. I do intend to read them, but haven’t had time yet.

Brandon Sanderson’s secret project novels

There are so many other books that I need to read and write about, but I’m going to stop now and get back to reading! How is your year of reading going? Let me know in the comments (above).

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