Winter 2019-20 Reading List

Just as before in September, I’m starting off my winter reading list with five books. If I had my way (read: if I’d had more money) I would have twice, if not three times, this amount. But I was traveling and that severely limited the number of books that I could accumulate (read: hoard.) 

Of course, I have more books than just these five that I want to read, but I count my “reading list” as the physical books that I have in my possession that I intend to read. As a publishing student, most of these books have been published within the last year. I dub this trend “reading recent” so that I can stay on top of publishing trends, watch for debut novels, and keep up-to-date on prize winners.

The first book on this list is Waste Tide. Though I started reading during Chen Qiufan’s book before the winter season, I’m finishing it in December (probably before this post is published) thus I’m including it in my winter reading list. It’s an incredibly interesting book translated from Chinese by Ken Liu. Waste Tide is a contemporary fiction/science fiction novel and creates a world in which the dominant industry is technological waste management and processing. Qiufan blends Chinese motifs and topolects with technological futurism to create this debut novel.

The other books on my list I’ve mentioned previously, and are as follows:

• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

After returning home from travelling, I also found a book that I’d left behind and hadn’t gotten to read yet. It’s a Greek historical fiction novel: Ithaca by Patrick Dillon. It’s older than any of the above books (originally published in 2016) so I’m not surprised that past-me left it on the shelf. I’d like to read it (Greek historical fiction is one of my favorite sub-genres) but I’m going to get through more recent reads first.

Out of all of these books, I’m most looking forward to Children of Blood and Bone. It’s the first book in Adeyemi’s new Legacy of Orïsha series and the second book was released on December 3rd. Though the first book is a year old (which doesn’t seem that old, but in the world of publishing, is a bit on the older end) with this second book fresh as a bouquet of flowers, I’m eager to read the first so I can move on to the second.

I have no doubts that this list will grow, as all of my previous lists have. Both my summer and fall reading lists expanded from their initial cohorts as I expect my winter one will. One book that I already have on my radar (but not yet in my possession) is Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. I saw it on a friend’s Instagram story, and I trust most of what my well-read friends have to recommend.

There are dozens of books to be released this month, and I’m already on the lookout for new titles. Here’s looking forward to the new reading season!