Reading resolutions (and resolute reading)

It’s a new year and time for a new reading challenge. I’ve participated in the challenge on Goodreads for four years in a row now, and each year I’ve added to the number of books I’ve read. Last year I read sixty books, though I’d originally pledged to read fifty-five. To be on the safe side, I kept it to fifty-five this year too. I usually pick my reading based on how I feel, and it seems I’ve felt like reading quite a lot of urban fantasy and fantasy last year. You can check out here what I read last year.

This year, I decided to be more organised about my reading. So I made a list. I never make them, or if I do I don’t follow them, but a list of books to read has to be easy to stick to. Especially since I didn’t make any difficult promises, like reading classics in their original language.

My list has fifty-six books at the moment, so there’s some room for changes.  And it seems I’ll be reading a lot of urban fantasy (27) and fantasy (22) this year too, and quite a lot of it from authors I’ve read before. There are measly four sci-fi books and three crime books on my list. And oddest of all, I haven’t added a single romance, whether historical or contemporary. But there’s some wiggling room, so maybe I’ll re-read my favourite Georgette Heyer books.

I can’t help my bias – or favouritism. There are really good books coming out this year from my favourite authors, like the last book in Robin Hobb’s Fitz and Fool trilogy, Assassin’s Fate (May 5th), the latest Cassie Palmer book, Ride the Storm (August 1st) (the previous book came out ages ago), The Chosen, a new Black Dagger Brotherhood book (April 4th), and many more.

I did try to liven it up. I added a bunch of new authors, both traditionally and self-published, based on Amazon recommendations. That’s how the list got books like Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennet, and Demon Moon by Brad Magnarella.

There are also a couple of books I’ve meant to read, but haven’t had time, like Tom Pollock’s Our Lady of the Streets, which ends the excellent Skyscraper Throne trilogy. It came out ages ago and has been sitting on my shelf ever since. Also a couple of second and third books in series I’ve started but haven’t been so excited about that I’d immediately read them all, like Max Gladstone’s Two Serpents Rise, the second book in his Craft Sequence series.

All in all, I’m happy with my list. I’ll add it here in full, so you can check it up for your favourites. Recommendations are always welcome. If you like to know how I’m doing with it, my Goodreads Reading Challenge is here.

In other news, Tracy Hayes, Apprentice P.I., the first book in my new funny and fast-paced detective series, is out. You can find it on Amazon, iTunes and B&N, among others. Take a look.

Tracy Hayes, Apprentice P.I. by Susanna Shore

My Reading List for 2017

UF

Ben Aaronovitch: The Hanging Tree (Peter Grant 6)

Patricia Briggs: Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega)

                     Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson)

                     Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson) (March 7)

Gail Carriger: Romancing the Inventor

                  Romancing the Werewolf

Karen Chance: Dragon’s Claw (Dorina Barabas novella)

                    Lover’s Knot (Dorina Barabas novella)

                    Ride the Storm (Cassie Palmer) (August 1)

Darynda Jones: Eleventh Grave in the Moonlight (Charley Davidson) (January 24)

                     For I have Sinned (Charley Davidson novella)

Laurell K. Hamilton: Crimson Death

Benedict Jacka: Taken (Alex Verus 3)

                      Chosen (Alex Verus 4)

Stacia Kane: Made for Sin

Katie MacAlister: Dragon Unbound

Brad Magnarella: Demon Moon (Prof Croft Book 1)

Karen Marie Moning: Feverborn

                            Feversong (January 17)

Tom Pollock: Our Lady of the Streets (The Skyscraper Throne 3)

Diana Rowland: Vengeance of the Demon (Karen Gillian 7)

                      Legacy of the Demon (Karen Gillian 8)

                      White Trash Zombie Gone Wild

                      White Trash Zombie Unchained (June 6)

Nalini Singh: Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity) (June 15)

J.R. Ward: The Chosen (Black Dagger Brotherhood) (April 4)

Jaye Wells: Meridian Six

Fantasy 

Rachel Aaron: No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers 3)

C.J. Archer: The Watchmaker’s Daughter (Glass and Steele Book 1)

Victoria Aveyard: King’s Cage (Red Queen 3) (February 9)

Leigh Bardugo: Six of Crows

Robert Jackson Bennet: City of Stairs

Aliette de Bodard: The House of Binding Thorns (A Dominion of the Fallen 2) (April 6)

                         In Morningstar’s Shadow: Dominion of the Fallen Stories

Amanda Bouchet: A Promise of Fire

Trudi Canavan: Successor’s Promise (Millennium’s Rule 3) (September 19)

Genevieve Cogman: The Burning Page (The Invisible Library 3)

Paul Durham: Fork-Tongue Charmers (The Luck Uglies 2)

Max Gladstone: Two Serpents Rise (Craft Sequence 2)

                      Full Fathom Five (Craft Sequence 3)

Robin Hobb: Assassin’s Fate (Fitz and the Fool Trilogy 3) (May 9)

Bec McMaster: Mission: Improper (London Steampunk: The Blue Blood Conspiracy Book 1)

China Mièville: Last Days of New Paris

Daniel Polansky: Those Above (The Empty Throne 1)

                      Those Below (The Empty Throne 2)

V.A. Schwab: A Gathering of Shadows

                   A Conjuring of Light (February 21)

Maria Snyder: Dawn Study (January 31)

                   Scent of Magic (Healer Book 2)

                   Taste of Darkness (Healer Book 3)

Sci-fi

M. R. Carey: The Girl with All the Gifts

Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

Kameron Hurley: Stars are a Legion

Emily St. John Mandel: Station Eleven

Crime

Janet Evanovich: Curious Minds

                        The Scam

                        Turbo Twenty-three