![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renay posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ladybusiness2020 did a number on my reading, and by association, my interest in being excited about books. It's been a hot minute since I talked about books I'm looking forward to reading, so, behold: an anticipated reading list.
This isn't only upcoming books. I keep saving books that sound good coming out later in 2021, so one or two might sneak in, but this is a list representative of what I've been seeing discussed and reviewed. Also present: books that have been recommended to me directly that sounded neat.
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall — I said, "Hey, what can I read that's good?" and multiple people recced me this, so I saved it, and here it is. I'm hit or miss with Hall's work—it can sometimes be too emotionally fraught for me—but I was assured that although this is emotional it's not like, rip your heart out and fling it into the sun emotional? We'll see.
The Conductors by Nicole Glover — I picked this book up at the library because the cover was neat and saved it to look up later on my phone (I do the showcasing thing in libraries instead of bookstores). I read this: "Introducing Hetty Rhodes, a magic-user and former conductor on the Underground Railroad who now solves crimes in post–Civil War Philadelphia." SIGN ME UP. (I should have picked it up to keep because when I convinced myself to check it out and I went back and it was gone.)
Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse — This landed on my TBR list because of a book I read earlier this year, The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. Her book anchored itself around the historical record of white people privatizing or draining public pools rather than integrating them as a metaphor for the systemic racism in the U.S. and how it hurts everyone. I'm fascinated to explore this specific origin of her research.
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta — When books get compared to Pacific Rim I'm always intensely dubious because for me, sometimes film can do things books can't and that is true of several things in Pacific Rim, but luckily this seems to be more of a "giant robots" comparison than a "drift compatible" comparison. Also, enemies-to-lovers and taking down corrupt systems. LFG!
The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke — After the terrible snowstorm in Texas and the failure of the electrical grid there, I realized I knew very little about the shape of the grid in Texas, or anywhere else, for that matter. When I saw![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
JacksonHignite mention this book I was stoked to see there was a way to easily learn. Thank you, nonfiction writers.
Machinehood by S.B. Divya — I really liked Divya's Runtime, both the characters and the subtle shade at sick systems, but my biggest complaint was that it was too short (woe). Machinehood is a novel and it looks super cool: politics, modification so humans can compete with AI (no way that could ever go wrong), supply shortages, and a messed up labor system! I can't wait to see what this author does with a whole novel's worth of space to play around with.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers — I will try any new series from Becky Chambers because I love her work so much. It's so warm and rejuvenating even in tiny bites and given some of the blurbs and online commentary this novella is no exception.
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr — This book flew onto my reading list and up to the top because Jenny read it and talked about it on Twitter. She joked that it would be all she talked about and I plan to hold her to that when I finish it because I am sure I will have thoughts. I hope you're ready for several DMs about it, Jenny!
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab — My therapist and I have been talking about boundaries a lot lately. Part of those discussions have been me teaching myself how to set personal boundaries, how to enforce them, and to allow myself to remove people from my life who violate those boundaries. But we ran into a wall because she thinks my boundaries with myself are also...nonexistent? We talked about it a bunch (and are still talking about it) and she recced me this book because this author is on a lot of the podcasts re: mental health she listens to and has good things to say about internal boundaries. We shall see!
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson — This is a combination Jenny/Maureen book where Jenny did some heavy advocacy and I was like, "Maybe….?" and then Maureen's review tipped me over the edge. This title is about a world where there are multiverses but you can only visit another world if your counterpart in that world is dead. Everyone makes it sound very cool.
Witchshadow by Susan Dennard — Yes, I'm still reading this YA fantasy series that I was mad at for not being queer when there was every opportunity. I've grown as a person because I really like one of the characters. I was very put out when it got pushed back, I'm assuming because of the pandemic (in which case: legit). This book's main focus is on my favorite character, Iseult, and I am beyond ready.
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid — I forget where I heard about this book, but I'm going to assume it was Twitter because I just spent a few hours cleaning out my Twitter bookmarks a few weeks ago and deciding whether to save the many, many, many bookmarks featuring reviews, upcoming books, covers, book announcements, book yelling, and those screenshots of Publisher's Lunch (I think). This book jumped out for me because it seems to involve a team up, enemies to friends (or more?), a disgraced prince, and politics.
If you've read any of these I'd love to hear what you thought! Ah, books. I've missed y'all.
This isn't only upcoming books. I keep saving books that sound good coming out later in 2021, so one or two might sneak in, but this is a list representative of what I've been seeing discussed and reviewed. Also present: books that have been recommended to me directly that sounded neat.
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall — I said, "Hey, what can I read that's good?" and multiple people recced me this, so I saved it, and here it is. I'm hit or miss with Hall's work—it can sometimes be too emotionally fraught for me—but I was assured that although this is emotional it's not like, rip your heart out and fling it into the sun emotional? We'll see.
The Conductors by Nicole Glover — I picked this book up at the library because the cover was neat and saved it to look up later on my phone (I do the showcasing thing in libraries instead of bookstores). I read this: "Introducing Hetty Rhodes, a magic-user and former conductor on the Underground Railroad who now solves crimes in post–Civil War Philadelphia." SIGN ME UP. (I should have picked it up to keep because when I convinced myself to check it out and I went back and it was gone.)
Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse — This landed on my TBR list because of a book I read earlier this year, The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. Her book anchored itself around the historical record of white people privatizing or draining public pools rather than integrating them as a metaphor for the systemic racism in the U.S. and how it hurts everyone. I'm fascinated to explore this specific origin of her research.
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta — When books get compared to Pacific Rim I'm always intensely dubious because for me, sometimes film can do things books can't and that is true of several things in Pacific Rim, but luckily this seems to be more of a "giant robots" comparison than a "drift compatible" comparison. Also, enemies-to-lovers and taking down corrupt systems. LFG!
The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke — After the terrible snowstorm in Texas and the failure of the electrical grid there, I realized I knew very little about the shape of the grid in Texas, or anywhere else, for that matter. When I saw
Machinehood by S.B. Divya — I really liked Divya's Runtime, both the characters and the subtle shade at sick systems, but my biggest complaint was that it was too short (woe). Machinehood is a novel and it looks super cool: politics, modification so humans can compete with AI (no way that could ever go wrong), supply shortages, and a messed up labor system! I can't wait to see what this author does with a whole novel's worth of space to play around with.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers — I will try any new series from Becky Chambers because I love her work so much. It's so warm and rejuvenating even in tiny bites and given some of the blurbs and online commentary this novella is no exception.
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr — This book flew onto my reading list and up to the top because Jenny read it and talked about it on Twitter. She joked that it would be all she talked about and I plan to hold her to that when I finish it because I am sure I will have thoughts. I hope you're ready for several DMs about it, Jenny!
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab — My therapist and I have been talking about boundaries a lot lately. Part of those discussions have been me teaching myself how to set personal boundaries, how to enforce them, and to allow myself to remove people from my life who violate those boundaries. But we ran into a wall because she thinks my boundaries with myself are also...nonexistent? We talked about it a bunch (and are still talking about it) and she recced me this book because this author is on a lot of the podcasts re: mental health she listens to and has good things to say about internal boundaries. We shall see!
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson — This is a combination Jenny/Maureen book where Jenny did some heavy advocacy and I was like, "Maybe….?" and then Maureen's review tipped me over the edge. This title is about a world where there are multiverses but you can only visit another world if your counterpart in that world is dead. Everyone makes it sound very cool.
Witchshadow by Susan Dennard — Yes, I'm still reading this YA fantasy series that I was mad at for not being queer when there was every opportunity. I've grown as a person because I really like one of the characters. I was very put out when it got pushed back, I'm assuming because of the pandemic (in which case: legit). This book's main focus is on my favorite character, Iseult, and I am beyond ready.
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid — I forget where I heard about this book, but I'm going to assume it was Twitter because I just spent a few hours cleaning out my Twitter bookmarks a few weeks ago and deciding whether to save the many, many, many bookmarks featuring reviews, upcoming books, covers, book announcements, book yelling, and those screenshots of Publisher's Lunch (I think). This book jumped out for me because it seems to involve a team up, enemies to friends (or more?), a disgraced prince, and politics.
If you've read any of these I'd love to hear what you thought! Ah, books. I've missed y'all.
