My main goal for this year is not only to read more, but to read more of the kind of books I enjoy. That is: fun, adventurous fantasy. On top of that, I’d also like to broaden my horizon and read from a diverse array of authors.
To assemble my own list, I rifled through the 2015 year-end best of lists for fantasy and diverse authors, tacked on a few I’d been interested in from earlier years, and came up with the following 21 definitely-gonna-read books (in no particular order):
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (YA)
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
- A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (YA)
- Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M Lee
- The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
- The Accidental Terrorist by William Shunn
- The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
- Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
- The Sons of Thesian by ME Vaughan
- Too Like the Lightning Ada Palmer
- The Shadowed Sun by NK Jemisin
- Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (YA)
- The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
- Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
- The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi
- Prophecy by Ellen Oh
- The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
- Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz
- On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyviss (YA – 2016)
My total book goal for the year is 50, so this gives me some wiggle room. I have a tendency to just pick books up randomly and on a whim as I come across them online or in the world. This way, I have the ability to still do that, but also a core reading list that will help me a) stay up to date with recent fantasy, b) diversify my reading, and c) be a ton of fun to read through.
Do you have a reading goal for 2016?
Looks like a good list! I’m kind of trying to do the same thing this yearββI feel like I keep getting distracted by new books and neglecting books that I’ve been meaning to read (or re-read) for a long time. So in 2016 I hope to finish a bunch of series I haven’t finished yet, re-read some favorite books/series, etc. I also want to read a bit outside my “comfort zone” and try some more graphic novels and non-fiction. π
That’s exactly why I needed a list. New books are so shiny!
Good luck on your 2016 goals!
Wouldn’t it be nice to snuggle up with some coffee or tea and read for a few hours together? π
Yesss!! We will make it so.