I’ve set a personal challenge to read more this year and one thing I’ve found helpful is setting a reading list.
Sure, I’ve had a to-read list on Goodreads for ages, but this is the first time I’ve sat down and selected a shortlist of books I want to read within the year.
Now, two months into 2022, I can safely say that having this curated list of books I’m super excited to read has been a game-changer. Wondering what to read next has become become a thing of the past. I always look forward to picking up a new book, and I don’t experience any long gaps between books. As soon as I finish one book, I move on to the next.
I compiled my reading list in a note-taking app, mostly using my Goodreads TBR list to find titles. Then, I acquired all the books on my Kindle so they’re ready to go.
The list isn’t set in stone. If I lose interest in a book, I remove it. If I hear about another book that excites me, I’ll add it. Spontaneity is welcome. I don’t have to stick to the list if I find another book I want to read, and the books do not have to be read in a particular order. If the reading list ended up taking the fun out of reading, it would defeat the entire purpose!
This list contains several genres, fiction and non-fiction, indie published and traditionally published. I write contemporary romance, but my reading tastes are diverse. I’d get bored if I stuck to one genre. Many of the books are first in series. If I like book one, I’ll continue the series, so even though this list is quite short, I don’t think I’ll run out of reading material anytime soon!
Fiction
Beach Read
Emily Henry
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
Why I want to read it: The concept sounds awesome. I’m a sucker for books about authors.
The Blue Castle
L.M. Montgomery
Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she finds her only consolation in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle--a place where all her dreams come true and she can be who she truly wants to be. After getting shocking news from the doctor, she rebels against her family and discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.
Why I want to read it: I’ve read this book before, and at the time, I considered it one of my favourite books. Now, it’s due a reread. This book is emotional, comforting, and uplifting. Perfect comfort food.
The Devotion of Suspect X
Keigo Higashino
Yasuko lives a quiet life, working in a Tokyo bento shop, a good mother to her only child. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered.
When Detective Kusanagi of the Tokyo Police tries to piece together the events of that day, he finds himself confronted by the most puzzling, mysterious circumstances he has ever investigated. Nothing quite makes sense, and it will take a genius to understand the genius behind this particular crime...
Why I want to read it: I like mystery novels, I like Japanese novels, so when I saw this book, it caught my attention right away. I’ve never read a Japanese mystery novel before, but it seems right up my alley.
My Dark Vanessa
Kate Elizabeth Russell
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.
2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?
Why I want to read it: I’ve always been drawn to the student-teacher relationship dynamic in fiction, whether its portrayed in a creepy way or as an actual romance. This one is definitely of the dark and disturbing variety!
Unsouled
Will Wight
Sacred artists follow a thousand Paths to power, using their souls to control the forces of the natural world.
Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan.
When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must defy his family's rules...and forge his own Path.
Why I want to read it: Will Wight is an indie author who has done incredibly well, even making it to number one in the entire Amazon Kindle store. Apparently, his Cradle series is like a shonen manga in novel form. Sold!
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Cho Nam-joo
In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A thirtysomething-year-old “millennial everywoman,” she has recently left her white-collar desk job—in order to care for her newborn daughter full-time—as so many Korean women are expected to do. But she quickly begins to exhibit strange symptoms that alarm her husband, parents, and in-laws: Jiyoung impersonates the voices of other women—alive and even dead, both known and unknown to her. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her discomfited husband sends her to a male psychiatrist.
In a chilling, eerily truncated third-person voice, Jiyoung’s entire life is recounted to the psychiatrist—a narrative infused with disparate elements of frustration, perseverance, and submission.
Why I want to read it: I love K-dramas, but I haven’t explored much Korean fiction yet. This novella has great reviews, so I’m looking forward to reading it.
Red Dragon
Thomas Harris
A second family has been massacred by the terrifying serial killer the press has christened "The Tooth Fairy." Special Agent Jack Crawford turns to the one man who can help restart a failed investigation: Will Graham. Graham is the greatest profiler the FBI ever had, but the physical and mental scars of capturing Hannibal Lecter have caused Graham to go into early retirement. Now, Graham must turn to Lecter for help.
Why I want to read it: I’ve wanted to read this ever since I watched the first season of the Hannibal TV series starring Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen, and now I’m finally going to dive in. I don’t usually read horror, but I think I’ll be able to handle it if I picture Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal! I also love The Silence of The Lambs movie.
Kulti
Mariana Zapata
When the man you worshipped as a kid becomes your coach, it’s supposed to be the greatest thing in the world. Keywords: supposed to.
It didn't take a week for 27-year-old Sal Casillas to wonder what she'd seen in the international soccer icon - why she'd ever had his posters on her wall or ever envisioned marrying him and having super-playing soccer babies.
Sal had long ago gotten over the worst non-break-up in the history of imaginary relationships with a man who hadn't known she'd existed. So she isn't prepared for this version of Reiner Kulti who shows up to her team's season: a quiet, reclusive shadow of the explosive, passionate man he'd once been.
Why I want to read it: I added this to my list because I saw someone call Mariana Zapata the queen of slow burn romance, and good slow burn is hard to find! While I don’t usually read sports romance, this seems to be her most popular book.
Vision in White
Nora Roberts
With bridal magazine covers to her credit, Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is most at home behind the camera—ready to capture the happy moments she never experienced while growing up. Her father replaced his first family with a second, and now her mother, moving on to yet another man, begs Mac for attention and money. Mac's foundation is jostled again moments before an important wedding planning meeting when she bumps into the bride-to-be's brother...an encounter that has them both seeing stars.
Carter Maguire is definitely not her type: he's stable, and he's safe. He's even an English teacher at their high school alma mater. There's something about him that makes Mac think a casual fling is just what she needs to take her mind off dealing with bridezillas and screening her mother's phone calls. But a casual fling can turn into something more when you least expect it. And with the help of her three best friends—and business partners—Mac must learn how to make her own happy memories.
Why I want to read it: I’m a romance writer, and I’ve never read a book by Nora Roberts. Well, that’s all about to change. I heard this series is a good place to start.
Mexican Gothic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemí’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
Why I want to read it: Gothic fiction is a genre which piques my interest, but I haven’t read it much. I’ve heard good things about this book, so I’ll gladly give it a go.
Still Life
Louise Penny
The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines - a place so free from crime it doesn't even have its own police force.
But Gamache knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets...
Why I want to read it: It’s a well-written cozy mystery set in Quebec. Just the kind of book to curl up with while drinking a cup of tea.
Non-fiction
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami
While training for the New York City Marathon, Haruki Murakami decided to keep a journal of his progress. The result is a memoir about his intertwined obsessions with running and writing, full of vivid recollections and insights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, here is a rich and revelatory work that elevates the human need for motion to an art form.
Why I want to read it: I have read several of Murakami’s novels and really enjoyed them. I’ve also seen him speak live at a writers’ festival, and I own a signed copy of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I’m not into running. At all. But I do enjoy reading about the lives and routines of successful authors. I hope it will be as inspiring as his talk.
Drama High
Michael Sokolove
Why would the multimillionaire producer of Cats, Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon take his limo from Manhattan to the struggling former steel town of Levittown, Pennsylvania, to see a high school production of Les Misérables? To see the show performed by the astoundingly successful theater company at Harry S Truman High School, run by its legendary director, Lou Volpe. Broadway turns to Truman High when trying out controversial shows like Rent and Spring Awakening before they move on to high school theater programs across the nation. Volpe’s students from this blue-collar town go on to become Emmy-winning producers, entertainment executives, newscasters, and community-theater founders. Michael Sokolove, a Levittown native and former student of Volpe’s, chronicles the drama director’s last school years and follows a group of student actors as they work through riveting dramas both on and off the stage. This is a story of an economically depressed but proud town finding hope in a gifted teacher and the magic of theater.
Why I want to read it: I have fond memories of high school drama and productions. I loved performing so much back when I was a teen. This book sounds super inspiring.
Belonging
Toko-pa Turner
The world has never been more connected, yet people are lonelier than ever. Whether we feel unworthy, alienated, or anxious about our place in the world the absence of belonging is the great silent wound of our times.
Most people think of belonging as a mythical place, and they spend a lifetime searching for it in vain. But what if belonging isn't a place at all? What if it's a skill that has been lost or forgotten?
With her signature depth and eloquence, Toko-pa maps a path to Belonging from the inside out. Drawing on myth, stories and dreams, she takes us into the origins of our estrangement, reframing exile as a necessary initiation into authenticity. Then she shares the competencies of belonging: a set of ancestral practices to heal our wounds and restore true belonging to our lives and to the world.
Why I want to read it: Toko-pa Turner is an indie author and I have heard so many great things about this book.
A World Without Email
Cal Newport
Modern knowledge workers communicate constantly. Their days are defined by a relentless barrage of incoming messages and back-and-forth digital conversations--a state of constant, anxious chatter in which nobody can disconnect, and so nobody has the cognitive bandwidth to perform substantive work. There was a time when tools like email felt cutting edge, but a thorough review of current evidence reveals that the hyperactive hive mind workflow they helped create has become a productivity disaster, reducing profitability and perhaps even slowing overall economic growth. Equally worrisome, it makes us miserable. Humans are simply not wired for constant digital communication.
We have become so used to an inbox-driven workday that it's hard to imagine alternatives. But they do exist. Drawing on years of investigative reporting, author and computer science professor Cal Newport makes the case that our current approach to work is broken, then lays out a series of principles and concrete instructions for fixing it.
Why I want to read it: I have been reading Cal’s blog, Study Hacks, since back in the day when it was actually about studying tips. These day, he writes about focus and productivity in a more general sense. I loved his books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism, so I am definitely looking forward to reading A World Without Email.
The Pursuit of Perfection
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
In this WMG Writer's Guide, international bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses the destructive ways peer workshops and the quest for perfection derail many writers' careers. Listening to critics and academics - amateur and professional - often strips out the joy of writing. And a failure to recognize writing as a business furthers the potential damage. But Rusch offers hope for writers who have suffered at the hands of critique - external and internal - and outlines a path to healing.
Why I want to read it: Kris’s blog is a must-read for all authors. I never miss a Business Musings post from her. I was inspired to read The Pursuit of Perfection thanks to this talk Kris gave at the 20Books Vegas 2019 conference. Her belief that critique harms writers resonates with me.
Dear Writer, You Need to Quit
Becca Syme
If you're here, you've likely read more than one book about writing process and productivity before and yet, you're still looking for the "real truth" or the "next big thing." If you've tried other programs, and nothing has worked for you, have you ever wondered why?
This book can help explain the "why."
What this book is not: It is not a list of tips and tricks to get "more productive" or "be a better writer". There are a thousand of those out there and you've read them all.
What this book is: a mindset shift book. If you want to stay in this industry, there are some things you need to quit. And I'm not going to tell you "how", but I am going to tell you why.
Why I want to read it: I watched this presentation by Becca Syme and it blew me away. Finally, someone calling out such myths as “There’s no such thing as writer’s block,” “You can’t edit a blank page,” and “Anyone can write a book in a month.” Naturally, I have to read her book.
The Right to Write
Julia Cameron
What if everything we have been taught about learning to write was wrong? In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron's most revolutionary book, the author of the bestselling self-help guide The Artist's Way, asserts that conventional writing wisdom would have you believe in a false doctrine that stifles creativity. With the techniques and anecdotes in The Right to Write, readers learn to make writing a natural, intensely personal part of life. Cameron's instruction and examples include the details of the writing processes she uses to create her own bestselling books. She makes writing a playful and realistic as well as a reflective event. Anyone jumping into the writing life for the first time and those already living it will discover the art of writing is never the same after reading The Right to Write.
Why I want to read it: Sometimes I need to read a book like this as a pick-me-up for my writing life.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals
Oliver Burkeman
The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.
Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks.
Why I want to read it: The concept of this book is so refreshing. I’m intrigued to read what Burkeman proposes as a solution to the busyness of our daily lives.