The season of reading goals – and books to read next are always foremost on my mind!
One of the best things I did last year was to take a serious look at my TBR lists and piles and think about what I wanted to make sure I read over the year before new titles kept me from ever getting to important titles on my list. Last year I had 20 must read titles. This year it is 30. Of course, I plan to read many more books over the year but this list ensures I don’t miss books that are real priorities.
Last year my focus was on some specific genres: fantasy, historical fiction and books set in other places. This year I have some more realistic fiction on the list. These titles just sort of organized themselves in this way. I went through my To Read Shelf on Goodreads, various book stacks around the house, my library holds and then checked out my children’s bookshelves. (Often I suggest book titles for them from Grandmas and Aunties that I want to read too!)
In no particular order . . .
Sequels, next in a series – titles I can’t miss and am eagerly waiting for!
1. Jinx’s Magic by Sage Blackwood (Read June 22nd, 2014)
2. The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Read March 31st, 2014)
3. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle 3) by Maggie Stiefvater Had to share this gorgeous cover here – had been impatiently waiting for release of this title, cover and official publication date (October 28th, 2014) (Read December 27th, 2014)
4. Rose Under Fire by Elisabeth Wein (Read December 28th, 2014)
5. Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Read March 23rd, 2014)
6. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer (Read July 5th, 2014)
Titles by authors I have loved
7. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Read January 3rd, 2014)
8. Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo (Read February 15th, 2014)
9. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (Read December 22nd, 2014)
10. The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner (Read July 15th, 2014)
11. Threatened by Eliot Schrefer (Read April 18th, 2014)
Realistic Fiction/Potential emotional reads
12. Boy 21 by Matthew Quick (Read January 11th, 2014)
13. Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
14. Forgive me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick (Read January 25th, 2014)
15. The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech (Read March 20th, 2014)
16. We were Liars by E. Lockhart (Read July 15th, 2014)
Thieving (borrowing) 🙂 from my children’s book shelves
17. Small Medium at Large by Joanne Levy (Read March 6th, 2014)
18. Listening for Lucca by Suzanne Lafleur (Read February 23rd, 2014)
19. After Iris by Natasha Farrant (Read October13th, 2014)
20. Wake up Missing by Kate Messner (Read December 30th, 2014)
21. The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
22. Every Day After by Laura Golden (Read March 6th, 2014)
Other titles based on persuasive recommendations from the #IMWAYR community and book loving friends:
23. More than This by Patrick Ness
24. Witchlanders by Lena Coakley
25. Prisoner 88 by Leah Peleggi
26. Legend by Marie Lu (Read January 7th, 2014)
27. The Living by Matt de la Pena (Read January 31st, 2014)
28. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Read April 20th, 2014)
29. Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle (Read March 19th, 2014)
30. Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee (Read May 15th, 2014)
Anyone else out there have must-read titles in their huge To Be Read pile? Please share!
To learn more about #MustReadin2014 – read here.
There's a Book for That 
Carrie! This is exactly what I mean about our new reading challenge (CORL – Check Off Your Reading List 2014)! You should join us! 🙂
I will come to your blog and check it out! Sounds fun. I would love to join. I will link up!
I’m joining Myra’s challenge, too, Carrie. I’ll post soon!
Yippee! It’s so much fun to cheer each other on and of course we all know it leads to . . . adding to the TBR list! 🙂
Love this idea Carrie! So many are on my list as well, starting with The Shadow Throne!
Thanks Gigi! Make a list! We are all in this wonderful reading journey together!!
I love this idea of coming up with a Must Read list from your huge pile of To-Read books. I may have to try it out! 2014 looks to be another great year of books!
Please do! It’s a great way to tame an unruly TBR list! 🙂
Quite a list, Carrie! In fact, I plan to pluck a few because your list is female writer-heavy while mine is male-writer heavy. I like to keep that somewhat even, just as try to read an even mix of girl only-friendly, boy-only friendly, and everybody-friendly YA titles. I realize EVERY book should be everybody-friendly, but the world turns on the axis of its choosing….
You know I didn’t realize how this list is overwhelmingly female author heavy – and then I counted – and yes indeed! Funny that there was a discussion recently about picture books and being very male author/illustrator heavy when it comes to award winners. All interesting . . .
Great list! Many of these are already favorites, and others will be on my list as well. I’ve wanted to read Jinx for a while and just snagged a 1.99 ebook… I think it’s still on sale!
I saw Sage Blackwood tweeting that! I loved Jinx so much I bought for my son for Christmas – he started reading it last night! It’s a really fun read. Lots of intrigue and very interesting, at times, scary magic!
This is something I NEED to do. Goodness, my goodreads TBR list is crazy long. YES, I will join, but it might take me the next couple of days to go through my list and write up a post about it!
How did you put your picture book covers together like that? An app?
Shannon
http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com
I used picmonkey – it’s free for most things and easy to manipulate once you get used to it. Easy to use! Excited you are going to join! I did this again this year because my list was so crazy – was worried I was going to forget titles.
I’m excited about doing this. Maybe it will give me somewhat of a focus. Of course, I do like to just read what I want to read at that given time, but I NEED to have a focus. I will never catch up however! 🙂
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Great list, Carrie! Some of the books you’ve included are my favorites (Boy 21, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Legend). Good luck this year! 🙂
Thanks Sarah! I’m very excited about this list! I even made a new shelf in my house to host the books here that I own or that I’ve “borrowed” from my children’s shelves or that come to visit from the library. A shelf of honour 🙂
Great list. We share some common titles. My favorite on your list is Every Day After. I really connected with that character.. Looking forward to the second Jinx book. I am not a big fan of fantasy but I did like this book. Fantasy is a gap I want narrow this year. thanks for you part in creating this new community. Look forward to reading days ahead!
Thanks Leigh Anne. I really worked on reading more fantasy last year and found myself enjoying it a lot more. My children LOVE fantasy so it is a genre I often share with them. We have recently enjoyed Rump and the first two books in The Emerald Atlas series. Lots of fun! So happy you have joined us!
I’ve decided to participate in this and even narrowed my TBR list to 5 titles I absolutely must read in 2014! http://thechroniclesofachildrensbookwriter.wordpress.com/reading-challenges/
Awesome Earl! I’m going to check out your blog right now! So much fun to see what is on everyone’s lists!
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I love your list! I just made mine and will join your challenge. 🙂 http://hollymueller.blogspot.com/2014/01/mustreadin2014.html
Hurray! Going to your blog to check out your list now.
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