Renay (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
renay) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ladybusiness2024-01-02 10:28 am
renay) wrote in ladybusiness2024-01-02 10:28 am
Entry tags:
Let’s Get Literate! 2021 Redux
It's 2024 and everyone's making their reading lists for the year. I'm excited for everyone's lists (I love lists).
The thing about looking forward to books is that I psych myself out of my excitement for the books I most want to read. I get massive anxiety over the fact that I A) might not be smart enough for the book's themes and B) might not enjoy them. Then I get hardcore FOMO as everyone reads them. Thus, overwhelmed by feelings, I never read them. "This seems bonkers," you say. Yes! It is! Welcome to Yet Another Late-ADHD-Diagnosis Discovery Moment, with me, your host, Person Who Didn't Realize They Had ADHD and Just Thought They Were a Big Weirdo.
However! That part of my brain isn't the boss of me anymore! I have coping skills for this problem now. To counter this thought process and habit, I decided that I would excuse myself from too many anticipated 2024 releases this year (stay tuned at Fangirl Happy Hour if you're invested, though). Instead, a novel approach: just enjoy new releases as I find them! But how to reduce the FOMO?
To replicate the anticipated book feeling without the stress I am going back in time to 2021. What books came out in 2021 that I wanted to read but never got to? What books were recommended to by pals that were released in 2021? What books did I never know about? What did all the various awards have to say about 2021? My reading in 2021 was…not great. That means I have a mostly blank slate! And so—
Some of these are sequels, which means I'll have to do a little refresher reading. I've already ordered a few books for this purpose and scoped out my library. The pleasure of putting this together and looking at all the options was immense and is a credit to the marginalized communities (readers, editors, agents, and authors) and their allies both in and outside of the publishing industry who fought for more diverse stories. 2008 me is impressed!
This doesn't include nonfiction or romance. If you have any 2021 recs in those categories, please let me know!
The thing about looking forward to books is that I psych myself out of my excitement for the books I most want to read. I get massive anxiety over the fact that I A) might not be smart enough for the book's themes and B) might not enjoy them. Then I get hardcore FOMO as everyone reads them. Thus, overwhelmed by feelings, I never read them. "This seems bonkers," you say. Yes! It is! Welcome to Yet Another Late-ADHD-Diagnosis Discovery Moment, with me, your host, Person Who Didn't Realize They Had ADHD and Just Thought They Were a Big Weirdo.
However! That part of my brain isn't the boss of me anymore! I have coping skills for this problem now. To counter this thought process and habit, I decided that I would excuse myself from too many anticipated 2024 releases this year (stay tuned at Fangirl Happy Hour if you're invested, though). Instead, a novel approach: just enjoy new releases as I find them! But how to reduce the FOMO?
To replicate the anticipated book feeling without the stress I am going back in time to 2021. What books came out in 2021 that I wanted to read but never got to? What books were recommended to by pals that were released in 2021? What books did I never know about? What did all the various awards have to say about 2021? My reading in 2021 was…not great. That means I have a mostly blank slate! And so—
2021 Anticipated Books
- The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
- The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He
- Dustborn by Erin Bowman
- A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair
- We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
- Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer
- The Cabinet by Un-su Kim with Sean Lin Halbert
- You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo
- We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen
- Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
- Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore
- The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick
- Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace
- Dead Space by Kali Wallace
- Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
- No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
- Noor by Nnedi Okorafor
- The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
- The Unbroken by C.L. Clark
- Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
- She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
- A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
- Iron Widow by by Xiran Jay Zhao
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
Some of these are sequels, which means I'll have to do a little refresher reading. I've already ordered a few books for this purpose and scoped out my library. The pleasure of putting this together and looking at all the options was immense and is a credit to the marginalized communities (readers, editors, agents, and authors) and their allies both in and outside of the publishing industry who fought for more diverse stories. 2008 me is impressed!
This doesn't include nonfiction or romance. If you have any 2021 recs in those categories, please let me know!