New year, new me! Apparently. Or at least that is the notion my reading list for this month is representing. January, for me, will be all about motivational non-fiction, interspersed with the ebooks that have been lingering on my Kindle for the past few months, and some hyped YA series I need to get on board with!
This month I will be attempting to complete a total of 31 books:
- 18 by a male author
- 12 by a female author
- 1 thriller
- 5 science fiction
- 15 fantasy
- 1 contemporary
- 1 historical fiction
- 6 non-fiction
- 2 poetry collections
- 21 are a pre-2016 release
- 8 are a 2016 release
- 2 are 2017 release advanced reader’s copy
- 11 are ebooks
- 13 are paperbacks
- 7 are hardbacks
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Penned by the best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love this guide to living a creative and fulfilling life had been a top priority read of mine, for some time now.
Blogging for Writers: How Authors & Writers Build Successful Blogs by Robin Houghton
Seeing as I am already blogging about wanting to read a book about wanting to blog, this seems a bit like booking yourself in for driving lessons after already passing your driving test.
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2017
This is to be flipped through, rather than read cover-to-cover. It is a yearly updated source of publisher’s contacts, literary festivals, short story competitions etc. and should be the Bible for any wannabe writer.
The True You by Emma J. Bell
Anything on my shelves that claims to boost my well-being and aims to help me be my best self, I horde until this time of year!
The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley
Because new year, new me!
Spark! by Dr. John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman
2017 is when I will become a dedicated member of the #fitfam but my inner-geek doesn’t just want me to exercise, it wants me to know why to exercise.
Graceling, Fire and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Almost a decade since the first book in this series was published and it is still collecting crazy hype! It seems about time I jumped on the bandwagon and see whether this young adult, high fantasy lives up to my highly-placed expectations.
Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
The Grisha trilogy is yet another hype train I didn’t get to board with everyone else. With the 2016 release of Crooked Kingdom, the second book in the companion duology set in the same world, it seems like the time is nigh to finally read this trilogy!
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
This classic collection of children’s fantasy stories is another series I am woefully behind on reading and hope to rectify this month. I have owned these beautiful hardback editions since early childhood but, apart from dusting them off to admire them, they have set on my bookshelves ever since.
The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney 
This is pegged as being the most anticipated thriller of 2017 and I was, therefore, delighted to be awarded an early reader’s copy. I read a portion of this book in a pre-release sampler (something I never do!) and was hooked. This has a premise unlike any other and, if the first 50 pages I have already read are anything to go by, this is sure to be a 5-star read of the month!
Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard
Barnard’s debut novel became an instant bestseller in 2016 and with her second novel, A Quiet Kind of Thunder, released this month it is time to see what the already-acclaimed author is all about. And besides, how could a book with such a photographic cover not be good!?
Falling Awake by Alice Oswald
Penned as the Ted Hughes of our time, I thought it was high-time I discovered the magic of Oswald’s poetry and attempted to fulfil my resolution of reading one poem a day for all of 2017. The beautifully minimalist cover stole my attention and the collection inside is described as “engaged in the natural world” and the “sense that all matter is unstable in the face of mortality.”
Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest 
With an Alice in Wonderland inspired title, a Shakespearean surname and a book cover to die for, there was no way this long poem was not making my reading list!
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
One of my most anticipated 2017 releases is published on the 12th January. This historical fiction has the most gorgeous cover, the most intriguing title and I know exactly nothing about it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOVU5y5ASJu/?taken-by=dannii.elle.reads
Shadow of a Storm and Vengeance of a Storm by Anthony Lavisher
After reading the first book in this series, Whispers of a Storm, in early December last year it became my favourite book of the month and one of my top ten reads of the year. These are the two books I am probably most excited about reading, this month.
The Calling, Sky Key, Endgame: The Complete Training Diaries and Endgame: The Complete Zero Line Chronicles by James Frey
Prolific but polarising author, James Frey, has garnered rave reviews online with his Endgame series. With the final novella bind up released last year and the third book in the original trilogy released in 2017, now seems like the perfect time to immerse myself in this world.
So this is a pretty intimidating list featuring some bulky, fantasy tomes. Think I can do it, bookworms? Let me know your reading lists for this month in the comment section, down below.
