As the title says: What is a book that you read this year that you’ve been wanting to read for a long time or that has been on your TBR shelf for whatever reason? How was it in the end?

I just had to post this question right now, because there’s a trending post about the beauty of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. For me, it was this exact book. I’m not proud of it but it’s been the better half of a decade since my friend gifted it to me. I’m actually surprised how well it delivered. The storytelling was so vivid and actually made me feel like I was part of it (one of the rêveurs!) I loved everything from the grand magic shows and the way the magicians were holding the circus together to the small hidden tricks. The many layers that neatly came together in the end.

I’m so glad I read it, but wow was I missing out for many years! I should stop postponing books for that long… I say and nervously glance at my shelf 💀

So, what book would that be for you?

  • ax0r@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I haven’t quite got to them yet, but I’m rapidly approaching the last four books of The Wheel of Time, which I’d never read before.

    I first started the series as a kid when Lord of Chaos (book 6) was just released (1994 I think). From there I read them as they were released, often re-reading the series to refresh my memory. By the time book 11 came out I was in medical school and no longer had time to read it straight away. When Robert Jordan died about two years later, I lost all enthusiasm, thinking the story would never be finished, so what was the point? Of course, Brandon Sanderson later took up the torch and finished the series, but I just never got around to going back to it.

    This year I’ve been listening to the audiobooks and I’m nearly at the end of book 10. The first half or more of the series was a great nostalgia trip, as I’d read them so many times and it really just felt comfortable. The further I go, the less I remember, as I only read those books the once. Now I’m nearly up to material that is entirely new to me and is also (apparently) when the story starts to pick up pace again after the glacial middle books. I can’t wait.