Somehow this always ends up being one of my favorite posts, but it’s also one of my more involved. Though, I suppose it’s not more involved than Top Ten Tuesday since it includes only half the number of books. I’m already thinking about how to revamp this series for next year, primarily involving me working ahead of the game. I’m hoping for an a book a day type post, but we’ll see if I can accomplish that. Either way, I think the more I manage to schedule the better off this blog is going to be in the long run which is why this post is also scheduled!

The first book on this list is The Radical Element edited by Jessica Spotswood. I have a feeling that this book is going to make me immensely frustrated for the female population. To see a group of simply amazing women stand up to the mistreatment of people of color, women, and more and to realize the state that the world–though mainly the country–is currently in and how damn difficult progress is to fight for and the fact that if it even happens, it’s in the smallest of increments with ginormous steps backward every time some privileged jerk fights back is incredibly disheartening. And yet we press on, over and over again. And I guess the ultimate thing is that…I’m tired. And as much as I want to read this book, I think it might be a slow read for me because I know I’ll just get frustrated with the world again and again.

Oh my gosh, everything about Twelve Steps to Normal by Farrah Penn sounds amazing. I can’t help but feel deeply excited for this book to find its way into my hands because there’s something truly mesmerizing about our inherent desire to avoid change, to have things the way they used to be as though familiar somehow means better and to realize, at some point, that familiar is not necessarily better even if, at times, we feel more comfortable there. I can’t wait to see where this book goes!

I won In Sight of Stars by Gae Polisner in a Goodreads giveaway several months ago and, to my shame, have still yet to read it. I think I say this a lot, really, but I’m constantly swamped with books to read and I pretty much pick the ones I’m going to read at random. A lot of the time, this means that some books fall to the wayside and unfortunately this is one of them. On the bright side, I know I’m going to get to it eventually as I have a habit of making sure that I finish the books I own physical copies of faster. Though, that does depend on how many amazing ARCs I’ve managed to get approved for.

I very nearly missed out on an opportunity to add Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardener to my TBR list. When you first start reading the synopsis, it sounds somewhat run of the mill and unless you’re quite the cosplay fan–I like dressing up as characters, but I’ve never been dedicated–you’ll probably think that it’s likely to be one of those eh sort of books. But, lo and behold this book is anything but. There’s a lot of gender stereotypes and judgments that I picture being called out in this book and I simply cannot wait! I wont give it away, because frankly a part of me is kind of irked that the very end of the synopsis had what I would consider to be a spoiler–though I guess only reading the book fully will tell if that’s true or not–and I kind of wish I’d missed that last bit.

I kind of get the feeling that I’m not going to love Nothing Left to Burn by Heather Ezell. I added it because I’m from California and I’ve been to Orange County and I’ve spent a lot of time there and I’ve also been very intimately connected with the horrors of the wildfires that occur. But at the same time, it just doesn’t sound like the sort of book I would be especially interested in reading otherwise. I don’t know how much the character interests me, I don’t know if the plot is really going to be all that wonderful. But, at the same time, I really can’t pass up the opportunity to see what this book is about. So, I’m a little iffy on this one, but we’ll see how it goes.

And that’s all for this Wednesday. Let me know what you think of the books in the comments! Are they on your TBR? If not, are you thinking of adding them?

As always, I wish you all happy reading!

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