Hello! So, several months ago I created a blog post called 'These Books will Self-Destruct in 12 Months | 2022'. The post is inspired by Becca and The Books, who originally started doing videos of this idea a few years ago (here are her 2021 and 2019 videos if you're interested!).
The basic idea is to pick 10 books that have been sitting on your shelves for a long time but that you never reach for. If you don't read them in 12 months then you have to unhaul them. I love this idea because there are definitely some books on my shelves that I never reach for even though I'm still quite interested in them. But I thought it was time we revisited that blog post to see if I read or unhauled the books on that list, and to create my new list for 2023.
So, without further ado, here are the books from 2022 and whether or not I read/unhauled them:
1. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North ★★★★.5
2. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (UNHAUL)
3. The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green (UNHAUL)
4. Contagion by Teri Terry ★★★
5. Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman ★★★.5
6. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews ★.5
7. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
8. Who Killed Ruby? by Camilla Way ★★★.5
9. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng ★★★★
10. Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King (UNHAUL)
Overall, I'm really glad I put these on my list because I ended up liking a couple more than I expected and it got me to unhaul the ones I didn't enjoy. If you want more in-depth thoughts on the books I read above, feel free to check out my Book Reviews page on my blog for more details! I didn't want to include them here because the post would end up far too long (and probably repetitive)!
So, for 2023, I'm focusing again on books I've had for a long time and need to decide whether I'm finally reading them or unhauling them. And here are the 10 books on my Self-Destruct list for 2023:
1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
For the past 7 years, I've heard so many good things about this book. I know it's the start of an adult historical fiction/mystery series, but that you can read the first book as a standalone. It's set in Barcelona, 1945, where a city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets - an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love. It sounds so intriguing overall, but something's been stopping me from picking it up, so I'm hoping adding it to this list will help.
2. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
I bought this Adult Magical Realism/Fantasy book when it first came out in 2019 and said I would read it immediately because I loved Erin Morgenstern's first book. However, I then saw that a lot of people disliked it or said it was a very slow-going book, so I just kept putting off reading it. I really think I will like it though, so I just need to finally pick it up. This book follows Zachary Rawlins, who stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library and it leads him on a quest unlike any other. Its pages entrance him with their tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a recollection from his own childhood. Determined to solve the puzzle of the book, Zachary follows the clues he finds on the cover – a bee, a key and a sword.
3. The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser
My brother actually got me this book for my birthday a couple of years ago. It's not one I've seen anyone read on booktube and it's not my usual genre, with it being literary fiction. However, it does sound interesting and I really want to give it a try in the next year. Set in Australia, France, and Sri Lanka, The Life to Come is about the stories we tell and don’t tell ourselves as individuals, as societies, and as nations. Driven by a vivid cast of characters, it explores necessary emigration, the art of fiction, and ethnic and class conflict.
Pippa is an Australian writer who longs for the success of her novelist teacher and eventually comes to fear that she “missed everything important.” In Paris, Celeste tries to convince herself that her feelings for her married lover are reciprocated. Ash makes strategic use of his childhood in Sri Lanka, but blots out the memory of a tragedy from that time and can’t commit to his trusting girlfriend, Cassie. Sri Lankan Christabel, who is generously offered a passage to Sydney by Bunty, an old acquaintance, endures her dull job and envisions a brighter future that “rose, glittered, and sank back,” while she neglects the love close at hand.
4. The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman
This is the second book in a YA paranormal duology, with the first book being The Devouring Gray. In the first book we follow Violet Saunders who is uprooted from the city, and doesn’t have much hope of fitting in at her new school in Four Paths, a town almost buried in the woodlands of rural New York. The fact that she’s descended from one of the town’s founders doesn’t help much, either—her new neighbours treat her with distant respect, and something very like fear. When she meets Justin, May, Isaac, and Harper, all children of founder families, and sees the otherworldly destruction they can wreak, she starts to wonder if the townsfolk are right to be afraid. When bodies start to appear in the woods, the locals become downright hostile. Can the teenagers solve the mystery of Four Paths, and their own part in it, before another calamity strikes? I read and enjoyed the first book a few years ago, but I just really want to finish this duology so I can decide whether or not to keep it on my shelves.
5. The Falconer by Elizabeth May
In all honesty, I know very little about this YA fantasy except that it's about fae. I'm not usually a big fan of fae, which is why it's taken me so long to pick this one up. However, it's so short and the premise sounds pretty interesting, so I want to give this a chance before I just unhaul it. Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title - and drop-dead beauty. But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady - she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean - the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans - and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them. Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.
6. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Crazy Rich Asians is and adult contemporary novel and I always though the premise of it sounded pretty good. It's been described as an outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season. When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. I've heard it's filled with family politics and is similar to Gossip Girl, so I'm hoping I'll enjoy it. I've only been put off by the length of the book because it's pretty chunky for a contemporary book.
7. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
I've read two Liane Moriarty books - one became one of my favourite thrillers of all time, and the other was a pretty meh, mid-level book. I'm hoping this will become another favourite, but I picked up a bunch of her books from a charity shop and I just haven't got around to them yet. In this one, nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be. Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer - or should she run while she still can? It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question. It sounds interesting, so I'm hoping I'll love it.
8. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
I got this book incredibly cheap when it was on offer because I'd heard really good things; however, I've been struggling to pick up YA fantasies recently so I've added this to the list to get me to finally read it. This book is set in the country of Arketta and follows five girls called the Good Luck Girls - they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen. When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta's most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe. It's going to take more than luck for them all to survive.
9. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Again, this is another YA fantasy, and this one was very popular on Booktube around 2013/14. I picke dit up cheaply, but still haven't picked it up. It follows seventeen-year-old Ismae, who escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany - where she finds herself woefully under prepared - not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart? It does sound like a mix of tropes from other YA fantasies I've read, but I'm hoping it does it well because I think it could be a favourite.
10. Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
This book was recommended to me by a family member years ago, but I've always been put off by the length of the series. This is an adult paranormal romance and the blurb has always really intrigued me: The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago. But when his most trusted fighter is killed - orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate - Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world. Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger one that threatens to consume them both.
So those are the books that will Self-Destruct in 12 Months if I don't read them in time! Keep an eye out for my post in the future where I wrap these up. Let me know what books would be on your list.
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