Hello Fiction Dwellers!

The year is wrapping up so that means it is time for the obligatory end of the year book tag. I got a reminder on my timeline when I saw Celeste from Literary Escape posted her End of the Year Book Tag post, please pay a visit and comment on her posts.

Since I had a lot of fun doing the prompts last year and I thought now it’s good time to do it. Take this post as a reminder for you to do the End of the Year Book Tag.

Check out my The End of the Year Book Tag 2021 here.

Before I dive in into the prompts, this post is a tag that is created by the booktuber, Ariel Bissett. Here is the video if you want to watch it and prompts if you want to share your end of year goals.

1. Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

I recently moved a few books to “will finish later” category in my TBR. Right now there is only one book that I haven’t moved to that category, that book is Babel by R. F. Kuang.

Babel is one of the biggest books to be published this year. I was on the hype train along with my mutuals, but then I read 25%-ish of Babel. I have zero motivation to finish it. None of the characters are compelling. The plot seemed clear cut but the world building, magic, and the constant repetitive message that (to me) seem to rephrase words emphasizing the same points. I seriously do not care about the tower of Babel, Oxford, the revolution, and the act of translation is an act of betrayal thing. And yet… I will finish it. When? I do not know. Because I need to see if me and R. F. Kuang can still have a relationship.

For context, I gave The Poppy War 5 stars, I gave The Dragon Republic 2 stars, and DNF’d the whole series. Then I read R. F. Kuang’s literary fiction debut “Yellowface”, I did not like it and gave it 1 star. My relationship with R. F. Kuang books is a bit shaky, as you can see. I hope Babel will be better but I am not confident.

2. Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

Since moving to Canada I can finally experience the changing seasons. Though I think I don’t have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year. I don’t really gravitate towards a certain theme to fit a season.

3. Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

No. All of the books I have anticipated in 2022 are already released.

In 2022, I have cut down on my ARC (Advance Reader Copy) requesting on NetGalley. Even though I still have back end ARCs I haven’t read yet, I am absolutely fine with it. A lot of things happened in my life this year, not finishing my ARCs is the least of my problems.

4. What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

The prompts did ask to name three books but I wanted to add one more. Here are my top four books I want to read before the year ends. Though I can’t promise if I will actually get to them but it’s fun to set up goals and do my best.

• Furysong (The Aurelian Cycle #3) by Rosaria Munda
• Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin
• Good Girl by Anna Fitzpatrick
• The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

5. Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?

I think I have a few books in mind. All of them are books in my physical TBR. I think the strongest candidate that will shock me and become my favourite book of all time (not just the year) is The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez.

This book is the only book that I believe can blow me away, just as The Vanished Birds did in 2021. But I don’t know if I can conjure enough courage to finally pick it up though.

6. Have you already started making reading plans for next year?

For 2023, my reading plans involve series, either finishing a series or starting a series. I recently made a spreadsheet to track all the book series I’m in the middle of. After seeing all of them in one place I made three separate lists as a general goal.

Here are the list of top priority series to continue/catch up :

• The Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers
• The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein
• The Murderbot Series by Martha Wells
• The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir
• Fall of Magic Series by Val Neil – Dark Mind releasing in 2023
• Between Earth and Sky Series by Rebecca Roanhorse

Here is the list of top priority series to finish :

• The Drowning Empire Series by Andrea Stewart – The Bone Shard War releasing in 2023
• The Radiant Emperor Duology by Shelley Parker-Chan – He Who Drowned the World releasing in 2023
• The Burning Series by Evan Winter – Lord of Demons releasing in 2023 ??

Here is the list of series I want to start :

• Teixcalaan Duology by Arkady Martine
• The Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett

Thank you for reading!

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