The End of the Year Book Tag 2021

“The girls were never present for the entrance interviews.”

First line in Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

It’s time for The End of the Year Book Tag! It’s one of those that people just do without being tagged for it, but I’ve actually never done it before because I always forget that it isn’t actually supposed to be done at “the end of the year” but… now. So here we are. It was originally created by Ariel Bisset on YouTube, so let’s just jump into the questions.

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Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

No, I’m not in the habit of putting a book down to read it at another time, so to make this answer just slightly more interesting, I thought I’d mention some series that I need to finish this year. I would really like to have completed The Onyx Court by Marie Brennan, Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce, and The Winnowing Flame Trilogy by Jen Williams (I have one book left in all three). I think that’s doable and if I’m really on a roll, I’ll complete Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb too but that’s more of a long shot because that last book is massive.

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Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

I feel that The Haunting Season is the perfect book for this question. It just came out, and it’s an anthology with spooky wintery stories that honestly sound like the most atmospheric thing ever. It’s one I imagine I will read a story from once in a while during the next two months to get me in the proper seasonal mood. And it’s so pretty!

Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

There aren’t that many books being released this time of year, so I actually don’t. Can I stretch it eleven days into the new year just to mention something? Because on January 11, Hanya Yanagihara (A Little Life) finally has a new book out called To Paradise, and I would basically sell my soul to have that book in my hands right now.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Besides the series from above and my fall TBR, I might be able to squeeze a few more books in before the end of the year. One I really want to get to is The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri. Another is Loveless by Alice Oseman and finally Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

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Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

Well, it’s looking tough because The Betrayals and The Assassin’s Apprentice are already strong candidates for my favorite book of the year, but I do have a promising one in Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It even sounds like it has a similar vibe as The Betrayals, so who knows, maybe it’s better.

Have you already started making reading plans for 2021?

Not really, which is actually very odd for me. It’s on purpose, though, because I’ve found that deciding on a ton of books I want to read within a year is a bit stressful for me. When I reach the end of the year, I’m reading books because I said I would read them, not because I really want to at the time. I know it doesn’t matter because I can barely remember what was on that list so why would any of you, but my brain says I need to read a book because I said I would. Make sense? No, so we’re going to stop with the year-long planning. The only thing I’ve really thought about is the re-reads I want to do because I usually don’t do more than five or six of those a year. My top priority is Winternight Trilogy by Kathrine Arden which I want to do early in the year so that it’s still cold outside (but I’m in Denmark so that could still last a while). I’m thinking I want to write a post of some kind but I haven’t had that creative idea yet, so I’m also waiting for that to arrive. I’ve also been eyeing my Hunger Games books recently, so there’s another re-read opportunity.

I hope you enjoyed this because it was definitely fun to do. If you’ve already done this tag, feel free to link it so I can check it out. Otherwise, you can tell me if there is a book that could still surprise you and become your favorite of the year. Happy reading everyone!