Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Fall 2022 TBR

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

Look at me, teasing you with a singular post in my promised Summer Wrap Up, and then immediately turning around and compiling a list of the books I'm actually looking forward to reading this Fall. To be fair, I'm going to be very much grappling with the resolving of my feelings for the season past, at a minimum, until October 1st - what did I even do for the last three months, other than hide from the roofers for a week, venture off to Oregon twice, and do my best to get out of every camping trip I could? - so those other two promised posts are still forthcoming. However, "Top Ten Tuesday" waits for no emotionally-beleaguered late-twenty-something, so it's about time to get with the times! 

Before I begin this post, I would also like to state, I almost never actually manage to follow through on my TBRs: for starters, I am a notoriously fickle mood reader - which is something that drives my reads-one-Brandon-Sanderson-book-after-the-other brother absolutely batty - and furthermore, I seem to constantly assess my personal reading levels at a rate that is much more consistent than how I was ten years ago than I am now. 

For instance, take everything I say I'm going to read in November with a significant sprinkle of salt: as much as I'd like to pretend that NaNoWriMo isn't so much a compulsion as a particularly gratifying and personally challenging pastime, I'm not exactly known for the idea that "I can stop any time that I want," either. In fact, I'm more of a "If I write 1,000 more words in the next hour, I can get well on my way for hitting tomorrow's chapter goal, and also maybe make it to bed at 1am" kind of gal. I will always be a high-strung straight-A kid at heart; meeting my daily word count is the only thing that brings the emotional high of nailing school projects in my English classes back into tangible reach again. Unsurprisingly, I read almost nothing during November. 

But enough about all of these back-to-school-themed feelings. Let's take a look at some of these seriously aspirational TBR reads: 

september: sewing up summer mid-finishes

using the remainder of the month to complete the remaining pages 

of some of Summer's halfway-theres

1. The Blacktongue Thief, Christopher Beuhlman

A man is compelled by his debts within the Taker's Guild to follow along with a mysterious fighter on a mission, combating strange enemies far from the land he knows, tangling with magic and beasts he has only heard of in legend. 

I got about halfway into this fun, creative Fantasy during the summer, mostly while stuck on a camping trip. Even though I was absolutely loving what I was reading - the majority of the main cast beyond our protagonist is female, for instance, and there are lots of made-up Fantasy swear words, which I love just as much as regular swearing - and while I fully intended to finish the novel, I just got caught up in other things, and never quite made it to the end. However, my resolve is still firmly in completing this novel before the end of the year.

2. Tempests and Slaughter (The Numair Chronicles #1), Tamora Pierce 

Long ago, the boy who would become mythical Tortallan mage Numair Salmalin was simply Arram Draper, a promising student within the Imperial University of Carthak. There, he befriends Ozorne, powerful burgeoning heir to the throne, and Varice, a social butterfly with more cleverness than meets the eye. 

This was technically my final read of the Summer, if we're playing by Summer Book Bingo rules, but I never actually managed to make it across the finish line of the last page. Again, I'm stuck somewhere around halfway through, where it just felt like things might have been lagging a bit. However, this is another that I am bound and determined to see to its completion, so it's only a matter of time. 

3. The Best Cook in the World: Tales from my Momma's Table, Rick Bragg

From stolen ham hocks to backyard squirrel meat and seriously just so many biscuits, Bragg's heartfelt and enthralling narrative of his family's cooking journey is told through humorous anecdotes about rural living and how a sparse kitchen can still make a feast. 

Despite the fact that this book lived on my coffee table with the rest of my TBR all through Summer, I never actually got around to finishing this cooking-and-family inspired memoir, which is absolutely wild, because Cooking Memoirs are one of my absolute favorite things to read. Again, I had really been loving the whole thing, but got stuck somewhere around the middle, due to various environmental factors and a general lack of reading motivation (I had a massive Slump this Spring, remember?). I know it's good, which is why I'll get back to it eventually... hopefully sooner rather than later. 

october: creepin' it real

embracing the spooky season by getting in tune 

with some atmospheric and bone-chilling reads

 

4. finishing Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice 

The iconic and enthralling adventures of Louis, a recently turned vampire, and Lestat, the mysterious and enrapturing vamp who turned him, told better than any '90s Brad Pitt movie. 

You'll maybe have noticed a bit of a trend with me by now, but you'll never guess where my bookmark is still stuck in this particular paperback. That's right, the middle! I had been really enjoying this particular spooky read this past year, when the clock ran out on the end of October without me having reached the end. I ended up getting subsumed with thoughts of NaNo, and it accidentally dropped out of my hands until I had time again in December... which is no time to be reading about vampires. I've been "saving" it - mentally, at least - until we came around to October again this year! (And just in time, too, as the trailer for the new television series just dropped!) 

5. Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A heartfelt plea from a newlywed family member sends a young woman to the Mexican countryside, where an imposing old house's even older lineage promises darker mysteries than she had bargained for. 

This has been a much-hyped title since its initial release in June 2020, and quickly thereafter found its way as an impulse purchase onto my Kindle after its price temporarily dipped below two dollars last year. I feel like the fervor has subsided enough that I can actually try my hand at reading it myself, without anyone else's opinion getting mixed up into it. 

6. Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners #3), Libba Bray

The Diviners face new enemies and old evils in a battle for not just the soul of New York City, but an America on the brink of change, while exploring the secrets of an asylum that houses more than just patients... 

I think this was the original series that taught my brother the lesson "When Savannah says 'soon,' she doesn't mean 'within three to five business days,' but really, 'eventually, hopefully before the sun burns out." He's been well and truly done with this series since the final installment - King of Crows (#4) - was released two years ago, and has since managed to even finish the Great and Terrible Beauty series beyond that, but I've been taking my sweet time enjoying these spooky installments. Besides, some of this stuff gets heavy, for YA. I'm just enjoying the ride. 

7. If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio

A passel of Shakespearean students find their off-stage dramatics overtaking their on-stage personas, in a play that leads to death. Ten years later, one of them is released from prison, serving time for a murder they may not have committed. 

I was recommended this novel by a fellow Shakespeare nerd back when it was released in 2017, and picked up a hardcover within the year. And then... promptly relegated it to the back of my shelf. I don't know if its the imposingness of its hardcover status or size or genre (I'm not a big fan of thrillers), or if its just its collegiate setting, but something about it has always felt easy to put off 'til the following Fall. Maybe I can break the cycle, and just tackle it this year? 

november: getting cozy with lit

a warm fireplace, hot chocolate, and throw blankets make 

for the ideal environment on a blustery November day

8. The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin

Four siblings seek out a woman in their neighborhood who is rumored to predict when you will die, and over the next five decades, navigate their ways around fate and family while seeking their own fortunes. 

I picked this book up two years ago after hearing its praise on more than a few of my favorite bookstagram accounts, but still haven't managed to find a good time for it. Maybe it's the theme of family, or the Thanksgiving-welcome shades of brown on the cover, but this might be a really good one to get to this Fall. 

9. The Coward (Quest for Heroes #1), Stephen Aryan

Ten years after his heroic actions saved the land, a young hero is tired of hearing his name proclaimed in song. Even more unwelcome, however, is the new evil threatening the kingdom again, especially when it prompts the calls for him to return to the fray... and because he knows he only got lucky the first time. 

I picked this title up on a Barnes and Noble run with my brother over the Summer, and we were both drawn to the plot immediately for its sideways sort of description for its hero. I called dibs first, though, which means he's relegated to waiting for me to finish - the age-old story - before he can pick it up for himself. Or he'll just check out the audiobook from the library... that's a pretty common occurrence, too. 

10. Gingerbread, Helen Oyeyemi

A young woman struggles to untangle the mysteries of her gingerbread-loving mother - like her strange country of origin, and her enigmatic best friend - neither of which show any sign of existing any longer. 

I'm a huge fan of Oyeyemi's magical realism, especially books like Boy, Snow, Bird that serve the elements of adaptations from some of those folklore and fairy tale inspirations that still have a grip on our public consciousness. I've had this hardcover on my shelf for a while, which not only makes it a welcome cozy read, but a great way to get another book off of my TBR shelves.

What's in YOUR Top Ten? Let me know, in the comments below!