Is it too late to talk about something like this considering it’s already December? Maybe…
I was genuinely excited when I got all of these books more than a year ago and was hoping to make a post like this in the beginning of 2022, however life got in the way… Despite negative things that happened, I managed to read most of the books from this list and all of them were great. Thus, while the timing is not the best, it seemed like a good idea to show them all in one place before moving on to individual reviews I’m hoping to publish in the upcoming months.
Here is the list of all the books I bought:
1. The Winternight Trilogy – Katherine Arden
– The Bear and the Nightingale
– The Girl in the Tower
– The Winter of the Witch
The story is inspired by Russian folklore and it is apparently rather slow, focusing more on the atmosphere and mythology than the plot. Based on that description it seems like something I’m guaranteed to enjoy.
Also, can I take a moment to talk about how beautiful these editions are? They are gorgeous…
2. The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold – S. A. Chakraborty
(the second and the third book in the Daevabad Trilogy)
I have purchased the first book last year, but I haven’t read it yet so I decided to pick up the sequels and read the series as a whole.
The story is set in 18th century Cairo where a girl accidentally summons a djinn which marks the beginning of her adventure and leads her on a journey to the legendary city of brass.
I have never read a story inspired by Middle East. On top of that, this is suppose to be a good beginners fantasy and, while, I’m not new to the genre, somehow I still see it as a plus – I guess the books will not be too dark nor too hard to follow.
Also, just look at these covers! Oh my God… They are even more stunning in person.
3. Caraval – Stephanie Garber
This book follows two sisters who end up going to Caraval – the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, but the magical event is a lot more dangerous than they relized.
This is a first of three books so I decided to give it a try and we’ll see if I continue with the series or not.
4. The Grisha Trilogy – Leigh Bardugo
– Shadow and Bone
– Siege and Storm
– Ruin and Rising
Again, I have all three books here and the covers are fantastic. I know I say that a lot, but I simply can’t get over how beautiful all of these editions are.
Anyway, this story is also inspired by Russia. It centers around a girl who suddenly discovers magical powers and is forced to participate in a series of events she initially wanted nothing to do with.
I don’t know much about it, but it’s been described as a must-read modern fantasy. What’s more, it is apparently a good idea to read these first, before moving onto some other things Leigh Bardugo has written, like Six of Crows and King of Scars duologies.
So, this is basically my entry to Grishaverse and I can not be more excited.
5. Crooked house – Agatha Christie
After reading And Than There Were None last year, which completely blew me away, I naturally wanted to pick up another book by Agatha Christey. I chose this one in particular because I have been watching many TV shows based on her work recently and was looking for a story I’m completely unfamiliar with.
6. Fishes and Dragons – Undinė Radzevičiūtė
I don’t know much about this one. It apparently illustrates the difference between eastern and western philosophies through some kind of comedic situations. The only other thing I know is that it won some awards and is genuinely regarded as a great book. Also, I relly like the cover, purple and white – simple but it looks great.
7. Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire – Bettany Hughes
This is a non-fiction book focusing on the history of these two goddesses and contains pictures of famous paintings and sculptures related to them.
8. The Lie Tree – Frances Hardinge
This book follows a girl trying to solve a mystery of her father’s death. In order to do so she needs to find this tree, which blooms when you tell a lie to it. Although meant for a younger audience, it sounded interesting, thus, I decided to pick it up anyway.
9. The Snail on the Slope – Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
This book follows two different characters. One works in a surreal bureaucratic organization tasked with taking control of the mysterious forest near by. The other is in the forest itself, desperately looking for a way out.
The setup is extremely intriguing, but as it contains some dystopian elements, I’m a little worried the stroy could end up being a bit too dark for me.
10. 24 Hours in Ancient Egypt: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There – Donald P. Ryan
and
24 Hours in Ancient China: A Day in the Life of People Who Lived There – Yijie Zhuang
Non-fiction books following farmers, merchants, bakers and other ordinary people in hopes of giving the reader an idea of what daily life was like in these ancient civilizations.
11. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
An extract from this book was featured in one of my English textbooks years ago, which is how I first became interested in it. As I’m a huge mystery fan on top of that, this seems like a good fit.
12. Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
The story follows a boy living in a house with infinite rooms slowly uncovering its secrets. It’s a combination of mystery and fantasy and I simply couldn’t resist it.
13. Gavran i najbolje priče (The Raven and the best stories) – Edgar Allan Poe
This is a collection of short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe, presented alongside his famous poem The Raven. It was put together by a local publisher and the book is simply stunning.
Now, I’m a little unsure if it is for me or not considering Edfar Allan Poe is known for writing some pretty dark stories and I don’t typically handle such content very well, but he is widely regarded as one of the best writers of all time and I want to check out his work.
We did read one of his stories in school, but I don’t really remember anything about it.
Anyway, I might even end up having to DNF the book and go back to it in a few years when I’m hopefully going to be in a right headspace for it.
14. Little woman – Louisa May Alcott
I first heard of this book in 2019 I think, when it was adapted into a movie. It follows four sisters growing up during The American Civil War.
The story is very slow and that is exactly what I love so I expect to enjoy this book quite a bit.
These are all the books for this year. I have read most of them already, but I wanted to share my initial expectations and thoughts here before moving onto the individual reviews.