Today’s Top Ten Tuesday asks about the books we meant to get to in 2016 but didn’t. Happily, I actually managed to get through my entire 2016 book priorities list, either reading, culling, or forwarding to 2017 (in the case of changed release dates) every single book. Having a list of priorities actually worked really well for me last year, and so I thought I’d do the same thing this year. This list, compiled at the end of December, includes the handful of unread books on my physical/virtual shelves, some books scheduled for release this year, my waiting Audible queue, and a handful of books I have earmarked to investigate.
- My Unscripted Life – Lauren Morrill*
- Shadows for Silence (collection) – Brandon Sanderson*
- Arcanum Unbounded – Brandon Sanderson*
- The Goodbye Year – Kaira Rouda
- Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho
- Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
- After You – Jojo Moyes
- The Book of the Unnamed Midwife – Meg Elison
- Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
- The Elephant Whisperer – Laurence Anthony
- Nim’s Island – Wendy Orr
- Twelve Angry Men – Reginald Rose
- Flicker and Mist – Mary Thompson
- The Young Elites – Marie Lu
- Leaving Atlanta – Tayari Jones
- Sandlands – Rosy Thornton*
- Phantom of the Opera (unabridged version) – Gaston Leroux*
- Wires and Nerve – Marissa Meyer (Jan)
- The Scarecrow Queen – Melinda Salisbury (March)*
- Strange the Dreamer – Laini Taylor (March)
- The Savage Dawn – Melissa Grey (July)*
- Wonder Woman: Warbringer – Leigh Bardugo (Aug)
- Oathbringer – Brandon Sanderson (Nov)*
- The Gatlin School for Vigilantes – Marissa Meyer (Nov)
- The Empty Grave – Jonathan Stroud (TBD)*
- The Elusive Elixer – Gigi Pandian (TBD)*
- untitled (Gold Seer) – Rae Carson (TBD)*
- untitled (Cormoran Strike) – Robert Galbraith (TBD)*
That sounds like a reasonable list to me, about the same as 2016’s list in size and balance. Wish me luck, and if you have any recommendations or reservations about the above books, definitely let me know!
*guaranteed reads
The Zen Leaf 
Looks like a great list! I also made a list, but I suck at following lists normally, so we will see how that goes. lol One thing I really need to do is read more Brandon Sanderson in general. I still have a bunch of unread books by him.
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I seemed to do okay at my list last year, especially since I had the option of culling books from it. 😀
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So, I noticed the asterisk by The Phantom of the Opera. What makes this a guaranteed read? Inquiring minds want to know! 😉
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Well, this is a long history, so kind of a long story, my apologies!
My favorite band references a lot of old books and movies in their songs, and in one that centers primarily around The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, there are references to the 1920s silent version of Phantom of the Opera. I didn’t know that before 2007 when I met the band in person and was interviewed as part of a band documentary that never actually came to pass. I was there with two other friends/fans of the band, and during one of their interview questions, one of them mentioned the last line of the song (“And in my hand I hold…nothing”) as a reference to the climax of Phantom, when the Phantom is being mobbed and he holds up his hand as if he has a weapon, giving them pause, but opens it to show he has no weapon. (This, btw, is not a book spoiler as this doesn’t even come close to happening in the book.)
From my friend’s description, I felt sorry for the Phantom, thinking his action at the end was defiant and self-sacrificing (“I don’t have a weapon but you think I’m a bad guy anyway”). I watched the movie and was disappointed to find that my assumptions were patently untrue. So I read the book, loved it at first, hated the second half. So I wrote my own short story based on what I’d expected from my friend’s description. Then in 2008, I heard Music of the Night for the first time through David Cook’s performance on American Idol. I loved the song, and it started me obsessing over Phantom again, thinking I’d just missed something. I reread the book and watched many film adaptations, listened to the musical and eventually went to see the musical live in 2010. I used the book and musical as a theme in one of my novels. And still, every time I came back to it, something felt wrong.
At one point, I was trying to get fluent enough in reading French to be able to read the original, but that never happened, and during my attempts, I discovered that the book commonly read in English is an incomplete translation, with parts cut and parts changed to fit a different audience. Recently there was a new unabridged translation, and I finally managed to get my hands on it a few months ago. I’m hoping that with the unabridged translation, my weird, dissatisfied, love-hate relationship with the book will be put to peace!
How’s that for history? 😀
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I totally get it. I had no idea the version I read so long ago was abridged. Now I am curious too what those cuts were and how reading the whole work changes the story.
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The only book on here that I’ve read besides Phantom in high school is Sorcerer to the Crown and I loved it. Maybe I’ll add it to my mental reread list for the year!
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I am LOVING Sorcerer to the Crown! Listening to the audio, and I’m having trouble deciding if it reminds me of DWJ because of the way she writes or because it’s Jenny Sterlin reading (since she read Howl too). Ha! Either way, totally enjoying the book. It was a random audible grab and I’m happy to have a winner!
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