We knew it was going to be exciting to see what readers had in their TBR piles this month. But we couldn’t help thinking about the authors themselves. When they weren’t busy writing amazing books to keep us entertained, what did they have in their own TBR piles that they were eager to read?
It was a question that kept us up at night. So we went and asked them. And here’s what they said…
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Perfect Gravity by Viven Jackson - I got this book at the RWA conference two years ago! I loved the first in the series, and I really want to hurry up so I can get to the third one as well, so I need to step up my game and get this sucker read!
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor - One of my all-time favorite authors. I've been waiting for a large stretch of time to read this so that I can sit in my feelings after she destroys me with the beauty of her prose.
Dancer's Flame by Jasmine Silvera - Another second book that I'm excited about since I adored the first in the series. I want to sink back into the delicious world of necromancers and godsdancers.
Song of Blood & Stone, Whispers of Shadow & Flame, and The Eternal Flame series
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I keep my TBR on the Google Keep app, which feels both very 21st century and like a great way of ignoring all the actual physical books that are cluttering up our flat. I tend to add to it randomly as I see interesting things come into the bookshop where I work, or when I see chatter online about something that sounds like my cup of tea. The TBR is currently at a modest 23 titles – here are some highlights: War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell (actually now on my ‘currently reading list’), Wych Elm by Tana French, one of my favourite crime writers, The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, and The Last Landlady by Laura Thompson, a non-fiction book about running a London pub – I put this on the list because my nan ran a pub in Old Bexley, and my uncle had one in Tunbridge Wells. Pubs are in the Williams’ blood.
The Copper Cat and Winnowing Flame trilogies
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I'm most excited about reading Faye Bird's YA thriller, My Secret Lies with You as I love her writing style - spare, haunting and lyrical. I'm also looking forward to rereading The Rebuilding of Tom Cooper by comedian Spencer Brown. I read it in manuscript form and it was the funniest book I've ever come across so I can't wait to dive into the finished version!
The Territory trilogy
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Now that summer is over and cold weather is (slowly) arriving, I’m excited to tuck into a lush fantasy. I’m starting with the English translation of VITA NOSTRA, and then I’ll probably read THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY. I’m also excited to read NOTTINGHAM! What better to go alongside fall leaves and chai tea than a book about Sherwood Forest?
Your Destination is on the Left and She’s the Worst.
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My TBR pile is constantly growing. I've still got some books that came out over the past few months that I haven't had a chance to dig into like Jade War by Fonda Lee. But the three books I'm most looking forward to over the fall are:
1) Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. This book takes place at Yale and has to do with their infamous secret societies and "dark magic and murder". As a Yalie myself I can neither confirm or deny my knowledge of secret societies, but I am all in for a creepy fictional take on this world!
2) The Deep by Rivers Solomon. This book is a collaboration with Daveed Diggs and his musical group Clipping. It's about Black mermaids, the descendants from the enslaved people thrown overboard during the Middle Passage, so I imagine this book will be emotional, challenging and incredibly timely.
3) Escaping Exodus by Nickey Drayden. Drayden has one of the best imaginations in the business. Her work is like nothing else and her worldbuilding is always great. This is her latest and I can’t wait to see what she's up to.
Trail of Lightning, Storm of Locusts, Race to the Sun, and the upcoming
Star Wars: Resistance Reborn
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I've just read Peter F Hamilton's SALVATION LOST and I can't wait for the third instalment, to find out how it all ends. I've also just ordered NOUMENON INFINITY by Marina Lostetter, which is also the middle part of a trilogy, and I'm looking forward to reading that.
Embers of War, Ragged Alice, Ack-Ack Macaque, About Writing, and others.
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I have so many books I want to read and never seem to have enough time to read them all. I am particularly excited to read Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. It was described to me as a black version of The Walking Dead with kick-ass black women. I was sold.
The upcoming The Last Girl on Sycamore Hill
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Three things on my TBR pile into which I cannot wait to get stuck - Elizabeth Buchan’s The Museum of Broken Promises, Chloë Turner’s Witches Sail in Eggshells, and Sophie Ward’s forthcoming Love and Other Thought Experiments.
The Ship
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I have soooo many books in my TBR pile it’s not funny. One of the more recent ones I’ve added to it, however, has been calling to me. Aussie writer Jack Heath has released the second novel in his Timothy Blake series, called Hunter. Now, I haven’t read the first one, Hangman, but I met Jack on a recent Supanova tour and he assures me that I can start at second book, without any problems. So, enticed by the story of an FBI agent who also happens to be a cannibal (say what?), I just had to buy the book, and lucky me, Jack also signed it. So, as soon as I finish my current read, I’m tucking in. Pardon the pun!
The Aurora series, The Time of the Stripes, and The Subjugate
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I can't wait to dig into Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island by Jennifer Thermes. And also Keep Still by Eleanor Taylor Bland. Bland was an African-American mystery novelist; her books are out of print and I've been tracking them down one by one.
I'm waiting for Trees in Anglo-Saxon England to arrive from the UK. Moondrop to Gascony is another British import on my stack. And I'm hoping someone will send me an ARC of Burn Cycle, the sequel to Cry Pilot by Joel Dane, but so far no luck…
TheJinx trilogy and Miss Ellicott’s School for the Magically Minded
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I always fill my Autumn stack with a variety of spooky reads and usually a royal romance or two to balance it out. This year I’m rereading NEEDFUL THINGS and so excited to start DREADFUL YOUNG LADIES AND OTHER STORIES and SMALL SPACES. I’m currently in the middle of RUTHLESS GODS and looking forward to RED, WHITE, AND ROYAL BLUE, and THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR.
House of Salt and Sorrows
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My TBR pile is an ever-growing monster that eats every genre and never seems to shrink. Right now, the books I'm most excited about tackling are THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller, MISFITS by Jen Calonita, RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston, and CRASHING THE A-LIST by Summer Heacock. I also have a few manuscripts by some of my best writer friends queued up, but the names of those are a secret - for now.
The Simon Thorn/Animox series, Goddess Test series, and Pawn series
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I had quite a healthy TBR pile built up from books I'd purchased on my Kindle and my Audible account, but I'd managed to keep my stack of tangible TBR books to a respectable level ... until WorldCon. I met so many amazing authors there and during my time in London that I had to purchase several new books and get them signed. Still others I purchased as ebooks just to show instant support of authors I met whom I really respected or admired. So now I have books that I wanted to read because of general buzz (some recent, some from long ago), books I'm interested in because I know the author (if only in some fleeting yet positive encounter), and books I've added to my three TBR piles simply because they looked interesting to me.
Of those, the books I am most excited to get to are the tangible ones written by my new friends. This is in part because I haven't allowed myself the pleasure of reading a real tangible book in almost a decade because I've convinced myself I should be writing instead. I've stuck mostly to audiobooks for this reason, but for OcTBR I plan to dive into my physical book collection (and possibly even my Kindle library). At the top of that list is an ARC for Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell, the entire Godblind Trilogy by Anna Stephens, The Paternus Trilogy by Dyrk Ashton, Heart of Stone and Chasing Graves by Ben Galley, and Writing Wonder by David Farland. I should also add three other books by authors I don't personally know but whom I'd like to start reading because I've heard good things (and because I bought their books), specifically City of Lies by Sam Hawke, The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding, and One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence. I also have a physical ARC for A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie (whose books I've read and whom I've met in person) ... so yeah, that's a big list. If I include the audiobooks at the top of my Audible TBR pile (which I'll listen to when I'm doing chores), then I'll probably also read Priest of Bones and Priest of Lies by Peter McLean and Cold Iron by Miles Cameron. OcTBR should be fun.
Master of Sorrows
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Thank you for asking me about my TBR! Here’s my list: 1) Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (YA) 2) Lady Killer by Joelle Jones (graphic novel) 3) Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty (adult).
Kick the Moon and I am Thunder
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A HUGE thank you to these wonderful authors for taking the time to let us know what they have in their OcTBR piles!
AND, as if that wasn’t enough, we couldn't leave here without adding the amazing Joanne Harris(!!), who popped into our Twitter feed to say she was doing the challenge and to let us know what books she was reading:
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