Books I Can’t Wait to Read | 2018 TBR

Photo by Abby Chung from Pexels

This year, I really want to focus on reading from my own bookshelf before bringing more books in, so I’ve picked out 10 books to share with you that I can’t wait to get to this year.  

1. The Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
I was more than halfway through the audiobook when it was due back to the
library. I was late to the Harry Potter party and started reading them when I was in college after the final movie came out. I’ve really enjoyed working my way through the biggest part of the series this year. Reading them as an adult certainly hasn’t put a damper on the magic at all, but I’m ready to finish this series and see how it ends!

2. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Can’t wait. I love The Lord of the Rings movies, but have never read the books. This year, I will get to The Hobbit and work my way forward. I have a feeling my love for LoTR will be reignited.

3. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
The subtitle is self-explanatory, but it’s on my TBR because I’ve done research in the past on child soldiers and even interned for an organization that helps rehabilitate them. I’ve never read a full book about the issue, so this will be a good way to learn more. Helping former child soldiers is a cause that I really care about.

4. Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters / Seymour an Introduction by J. D. Salinger
I want to be able to say I’ve read all of Salinger’s work by the end of the year, and Roof Beams is the only collection I haven’t read. I would really like to tick this one off the list this year and be able to say I’ve read all of Salinger’s novels since he’s one of my favorite writers.  

5. I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son by Kent Russle
This was a Christmas gift several years ago, and I’m disappointed that I haven’t finished it yet. This is Kent Russle’s first essay collection. It explores masculinity and what it means to be a man in America. I plan on reading an essay from the collection here and there until I finish it.

6. If You Feel Too Much by Jamie Tworkowski
Jamie Tworkowski is the founder of To Write Love on Her Arms, and this book is a collection of essays about his work and life. Based on the blurb, I’m hoping this book will fuel my motivation to make change in the world and inspire me to keep going, but at the very least, it will be intriguing to read about the beginning of TWLOHA.

7. Love May Fail by Matthew Quick
A few summers ago, I read Every Exquisite Thing by Quick, and it resonated with me even more than I thought it would. Since then, I’ve read another of his books and really like the way he dealt with the topic of mental illness. This year, I’d like to also read Love May Fail since I already own it, and maybe even borrow and read his newest book, The Reason You’re Alive.

8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
If you can’t tell, I’m always late to the hype on books. I can never settle on one book to read next, and popular books, though they’re on my radar, don’t make it onto my TBR for quiet a while. I read half of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a little more than a year ago (a millennia after it came out) and by then the hype had fizzled out. I loved the story and Oskar as the main character, so I am bent on finishing the second half this year.

9. Ghostbread by Sonja Livingston
Sonja Livingston is a former professor of mine, and I love her writing. Basically, I want to read all of Sonja’s work, but finals got in the way and I only finished half of Ghostbread when I picked it up a few years ago. I’d like to start from the beginning and dive back into this one, and then maybe read her other two books, Queen of the Fall and Ladies Night at the Dreamland as well.
​
10. The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
Marina Keegan was a talented, young writer who died in a car accident shortly after her graduation from Yale in 2012. I read some of Keegan’s writing before buying the book, and I was not only intrigued by the premise of the title essay The Opposite of Loneliness, but also struck by the strength of her writing. I want to read it now so hopefully I can learn something from her craft and also to celebrate her life.
 
These are just a few of the books I’m dying to get to this year. The theme seems to be finishing what I start and going with my gut. I hope the new year finds you well and exited for the future too. Let me know what books you’re most excited to get to!