What is #StartOnYourShelfathon?
#StartOnYourShelfathon is a 2020 star-themed readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of #StartOnYourShelfathon is to read as many unread books on your bookshelf as you can between December 13th 2019 and December 31st 2020.
#StartOnYourShelfathon isn’t an ordinary readathon too! The mascot of #StartOnYourShelfathon is Castor the Star Collector who is also a sloth friend of The Quiet Pond, who has lost all the stars he has collected over the years and needs your help to find them again.
For every book you read as part of #StartOnYourShelfathon, you collect a star you can add to your ‘star map’. Read books, collect stars, give yourself an amateur star-collector name, and create constellations! You can read Castor’s story and find information about and resources for the readathon here.
Lady NightSky’s #StartOnYourShelfathon Goals
I now present you with Lady NightSky (My Star Collector’s Name) 😉 who has, for the moment, the down-to-Earth goal of reading 20 physical fiction books, 10 Netgalley Arcs, 5 Audiobooks, 5 Library Books and 20 e-books.
It could happen that Lady surpasses this goal, but she doesn’t like being in a hurry while reading.
(And now let’s stop with the weird third-person writing.)
I will for now list only my physical book’s TBR here, otherwise this blog post would become way too long and I probably would only finish writing this in February.
When I read each of the planned books I will add one star to the map below and in December I’ll do a wrap-up for this challenge alone. I’m curious to see my own reaction to the books I buy myself, because if the way I’m choosing books isn’t working so well for me, then I will have to rethink my buying decisions in the future.
I think most of my TBR books will be a four star read for me, but let’s see, surprises do happen more often than not.
Many times I heard about the books for the first time on Youtube, aka Booktube, and I apologize if I forgot in some cases where specifically I heard about each book for the first time. I will add the Channel whenever I do remember tough.
Since this is the internet I have to write the disclaimer “My personal opinions on the following books/YouTube channels below are solely my personal opinions and they are not meant to be offensive to any YouTube Content Creator/Author/Reader or Writing Genre.”
My #StartOnYourShelfathon TBR
1. The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) by Genevieve Cogman
I have been hearing about this series for awhile now, so let’s start it.
2.The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I have been interested in reading more by this author, so when I heard about this historical fiction at Kalanadi’s Youtube Channel it seemed like a good place to start.
3.A Winter’s Promise (La Passe-Miroir #1) by Christelle Dabos, Hildegarde Serle (Translator)
I heard divided opinions about this book on Booktube, so I decided to check it out and make up my mind. The cover of this book is beautiful too, so this is a #covercrush case.
4.The Power by Naomi Alderman
I have been interested in reading this since it won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, so let’s make this happen.
5.Mind Games (Mind Games #1) by Kiersten White
This is one of my new favorite authors and the premise caught my attention for sure.
6.Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan
I heard on Daniel Greene’s Channel this is an awesome fantasy series, so let’s see if I like it too.
7. The Cloud Roads (The Books of the Raksura #1) by Martha Wells
Since I started reading the Murderbot Diaries series I have been interested in reading more by this author, so this fantasy series book is in my TBR.
8.The Song Rising (The Bone Season #3) by Samantha Shannon
This is one of my favorite series, which I plan to continue this year.
9. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Another book by this author I plan to read. This is 804 pages long, so it’s like planning to read a trilogy.
10. Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1) by Ashley Poston
I felt like reading this since I heard about it on Booktube a long time ago, and it has pirates in space, so I’m sold 🙂
11. Mage’s Blood (Moontide Quartet #1) by David Hair
I heard about this epic fantasy series for the first time at the Youtube Channel of Kitty G
12. The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renée Ahdieh
I got this book and its sequel, The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn #2) as gifts last Christmas, so let’s read them.
13. The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi
This book was very hyped on Booktube, and later that seemed to cool down considerably. I will wait next time to see if a new hyped book is a solid recommendation or if it’s only going through a wave of hype euphoria followed by wrap-ups where the book is rated three stars and the Booktuber says something like “I thought this was going to be five stars but it was meh”. I think I’ll enjoy it even though, but you never know.
14.The Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1)by Emily A. Duncan
This was the same case of hype followed by three star reviews. The premise seemed interesting, so I got it. I will read it, make up my mind, and wait a couple of months before I buy a hyped book in the future.
15.The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1) by Melissa Albert
The premise has “a menacing, mesmerizing world of dark fairy tales and hidden doors”. Ok, I’m sold! 🙂
16. Slow River by Nicola Griffith
This book was recommended in the Youtube Channel of Kalanadi, one of my favorite Booktubers, so I basically had to check it out.
17. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Last year I read and enjoyed “The Stars My Destination” by the same author, so I’m reading this in 2020.
18. Nyxia (The Nyxia Triad #1) by Scott Reintgen
I confess I bought this book without knowing much about it, except that the premise seemed interesting. Let’s see if I strike gold.
19.The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (The Physick Book #1) by Katherine Howe
This is historical fiction with witches, so it seemed interesting enough.
20. The “Wildcard” Book
This isn’t a book called Wildcard, but an empty space I’ll reserve to one of the last six physical books I didn’t mention in this list so far and which have equal chances of being read this year.
These books are:
Red Mars (Mars Trilogy #1) by Kim Stanley Robinson
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel #2) by Connie Willis
Cyteen (Cyteen #1-3) by C.J. Cherryh
The Thousandth Floor (The Thousandth Floor #1) by Katharine McGee
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1) by Scott Lynch
Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1) by Jay Kristoff
Any suggestions on what I should read first? Let me know in the comments.
What I reckon from writing this blog post is that I bought way too many Young Adult books the last couple of years. I do enjoy Young Adult books too, but I think that the actual ratio of Young Adult/Adult books is right now unbalanced when related to my reading taste.
One of my Goals for this year is to buy less books, so I’ll try a 95% book- buying ban on Young Adult and Paranormal Fantasy books, with the exception of the few series I want to finish.
I’ll start to ask myself if the new shiny book I want to buy is Adult Fantasy or Adult Science Fiction, and if not I’ll keep it in a list for future consideration. Let’s see how this new buying habit translates into my future TBR. Considerations apart, I’m happy about the TBR I set up for this year.
Join #StartOnYourShelfathon!
If you want to join #StartOnYourShelfathon, you can read more information in the readathon information post at The Quiet Pond.
The magic of unread books in your shelf is that one day you’ll find your way to them, in the same way Alice followed a white rabbit down the hole into a unknown new world. According to the story she fell down at seven and a half years old, which is the same age most start reading…
Food-for-though indeed.
My Reader's Journey 
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