 just gonna freaking read it myself because I don't have a physical book staring me in the face saying read me. I kind of hope I don't like this. It's a lot to commit to unless I hate the first book in which case. As you possibly probably maybe know, my TBR videos are just books that I regard as an obligation like there's a buddy read for it or read along for it. My patrons are making me read it. But there are several books that I really want to prioritize this year and these are books that I don't actually have any like reason to be reading in an obligation sense. So I want to sort of like create accountability by doing this video where I'm saying no, this is for sure a priority for me and also let you guys know about them because they're not gonna, at least right now, I can think of that reason why they would appear on a TBR video. So I just want to tell you about them and then you can keep me accountable for them. The first book I have is The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. I bought this book when it came out like I might have preordered it or if not I definitely bought it like right when it came out and I have not read it yet. And now there's an adaptation of it which I would very much like to watch but I can't watch that adaptation until I freaking read this book that I've owned forever. This is historical fiction not fantasy and it just sounds very much up my alley. Blurbs aren't really ever to be trusted but the first blurb says had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel I wonder if it could have surpassed The Essex Serpent. It was also blurbed by Jesse Burton, the author of The Miniatureist who said here is a writer who understands life. It just sounds very moody and dark. It's historical fiction. It sounds mysterious, contemplative. These are all things that I very much gravitated towards and I mean full disclosure I did buy this book for the cover. The adaptation of it looks really good too so I would really like to make it a priority to read this book and then watch the adaptation. Next up I have a book that this actually this book isn't actually a priority but it's the first book in a series that's a priority and that is The Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin. I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms a couple years ago now and then never finished The Inheritance Trilogy and I really want to finish The Inheritance Trilogy. There's no reason for me not to have done so and fortunately this is a series where like it is kind of like loosely connected rather than like a contiguous story so I might reread Hundred Thousand Kingdoms but I don't think that I would need to per se because I believe the next two books while taking place in the same universe and being kind of connected to this book they aren't like a direct sequel in the way that a series normally is. But in any event I loved this. I loved it was a favorite of the year, the year that I read it and I love NK Jemisin. I don't know why I haven't finished this year. I mean I know why it's because it hasn't been an obligation. I'm making it one now. Next up is a book that I have wanted to read forever. I keep putting it on Patreon polls hoping to like make it be an obligation and it never wins. I'm just gonna freaking read it myself and that is The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heap by H.G. Perry. I bought this like right after finishing The Shadow Histories by H.G. Perry that is the Declaration of the Rights of Magicians and the Radical Act of Free Magic which were favorites of the year for me when I read those in 2021 and then like because I loved those so much I wanted to see what else H.G. Perry had written and she hasn't written a ton. This certainly stood out to me. This is a standalone and I believe it's to do with like literary characters coming out of the books that they're in and causing havoc which is a premise that could be really corny and cheesy and I would be very dubious if it was written by anyone else but she did like she handled everything so well in The Shadow History is that I have great faith that you'll have handled this premise as well and because the title has Uriah Heap in it and given what the premise is supposed to be I'm guessing that the character of Uriah Heap from David Copperfield will be at least among the characters that cause problems and he's always been an interesting character. I'm very hopeful that this will be a new favorite as well. Next is a book that I've owned the audiobook for for years and years and years and now I bought a physical copy of it because it was really cheap and also because if I only own a digital copy of a book then I'm much less likely to read it because I just won't remember that I have it because I don't have a physical book staring me in the face saying read me and that is Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey which I believe is a name for a duo of authors one of which is Daniel Abraham which I do not bode well but this promise is to be the science fiction equivalent of a song of ice and fire so not even sci-fi can escape being the next game of thrones but in all seriousness everyone always raves about the series I have had the audiobook for forever and I feel like I would like this um maybe I won't but the way people hype it I have a lot of fomo about it I also would like to watch the tv show I have actually seen it a couple episodes of the tv show and I was like nope nope I'm gonna read the book maybe then I'll watch the tv show there's a lot of episodes though and there's a lot of books I kind of hope I don't like this it's a lot to commit to anyway I got the first three because they were quite cheaper on the holidays so here's hoping I like them next up is a book that I really thought that I would have read in 2022 I'm kind of glad that I didn't read it in 2022 uh because then it would be over and that is Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee once I finished this book that's it for the green bone saga I have the jade setter of Jan Lune but once I finish Jade Legacy that's it for the green bone saga I won't have any more in this story and this is also the kind of series where like it behooves one to not put too much time in between the books because there's so much like machinations and like stuff going on with the characters that you don't really want to forget that stuff I loved Jade War and Jade City favorites of the year for 2022 and everyone raves about Jade Legacy saying it's the best of a lot and even if I don't end up feeling like it's the best of the three I'm certain that I will very much enjoy it so I definitely want to prioritize this because I want to read it because I don't want to forget stuff from Jade War before I read this. The next two I'll do together because they're kind of the same goal so in December I read Labelle Sauvage which is the first book in the book of dust kind of an anticipation of the read along on my Patreon for His Dark Materials which is a reread for me I have read His Dark Materials before so and I'd owned Labelle Sauvage for a long time and so I wanted to finally read it and I really really liked it and then I meant I was like going to go on and read Secret Commonwealth which is the second book in the book of dust and but then I was like oh that's right Secret Commonwealth takes place after His Dark Materials so I want to read the Secret Commonwealth but after we finish the read along for His Dark Materials I mean then we're still waiting for book three of Book of Dust and then the other Philip Pullman book I have which I've also owned for a long time is Damon Voices which I didn't realize was nonfiction I thought this was just kind of like world of stuff for His Dark Materials it's actually nonfiction it's about Philip Pullman's approach to writing approach to world building things like that and I've owned it for a long time but recently I saw a video essay where someone was talking about this book in particular and it even more so kind of like sparked interest in me where I was like oh I really should read that that sounds great so when when we finish the read along for His Dark Materials I'll read the Secret Commonwealth and then sometime this year I would very much like to read Damon Voices. Next up is a book that I can finally read and that is Ninth Rain by Jen Williams this is the first book in the Winnowing Flame trilogy I didn't really want to start reading this until I had all three I've been getting these beautiful editions from the book and binding broken binding not everyone but a lot of people were affected by a like poor first printing of the third book in the series so I've been waiting all this time to get the third book because I was like I don't want to start the series when I don't even have the whole series yet so I got an email recently saying hey we finally have the reprint of the third book you know please confirm your address it's still the same as it was you know million years ago so that should be coming in even now I actually still don't have it but like I feel safe to like be putting this on my radar to read soon because I will shortly have the third book and I can read the whole trilogy unless I hate the first book in which case uh oh I very much hope to like this um these are beautiful editions and they're very hyped by Elliott Brooks so I hope it lives up. Next up is a book that one of my I think one of my patrons very kindly sent to me and that is When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill this book got a lot of like hype last year it was because it came out last year and it sounded really intriguing to me that said if it's too on the nose about the seams I probably will hate it so I feel like I'm either going to really really love this or really really hate this there's not going to be any in between because the idea of it the concept of it sounds great to me but if it's like done too ham-fistedly then I will hate it and it was blurbed by Bonnie Garmas so the author of Lessons in Chemistry one of my worst reads of last year partly because her book is super on the nose so that does not vote well but bad authors blurb great books all the time hopefully it's fine I would really like to read this though it's it's despite the prevalence of purple this is quite a pretty book so I would like to like it. Next is a book slash series that there isn't like any like I'm on this forever or anything like that I just want to read it um that's Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel or Mantel I got a box set of all hard covers of this trilogy is the trilogy called the Wolf Hall trilogy I actually have no idea but it's like set in like King Henry the Eighth era and I hear nothing but praise for this series like that this is how historical fiction should be written and I love that era of history I have always like watched documentaries about it and adaptations about people from that era Shakespeare is like you know directly after King Henry the Eighth I've heard excellent things about the books and about the adaptation I haven't seen the adaptation so I just really want to read it and I have these stunning hard covers of it now and I'm just I'm really vibing this so I'm prioritizing it because I want to the last book I have is a book that I kind of need to just should or get off the pot for and that is Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon I got this book when it came out and I was really hyped for it because this cover I feel like is everything that a fantasy book should look like it's this chunky thick or innately illustrated orange which is a superior color book and I got it and I was so hyped to read it and I started reading it and I just kind of like accidentally DNF'd it because I was like ah it's not as great as I expected or hoped that's enough for now we kind of set it aside and then just never continue whoops and that was like in 2019 I think when it came out my bookmark is still in here from when I read it I've been looking for this bookmark I made it to page 148 which is not even the end of a chapter it's in the middle of a chapter yeah basically I it's been sitting there on my shelf now this whole time kind of because I'm like well I didn't DNF and I didn't hate it I would like to link it one of these days I'll give it a proper go um and there's a new one coming out because this was supposed to be a standalone and it's not clear to me if the new one is a sequel to a book that was originally supposed to be a standalone or if it's like in the same world as or whatever but it is also stunning but I'm not gonna get that book unless I like this one so I need to finally freaking read this book so I can decide if I like it or not and if I don't like it then I'm not buying that stunning new one that is the follow-up to this I really hope I like you I don't think I will though but you're so beautiful I've also heard the audiobook for it is pretty terrible so maybe I'll just read like a chapter a day for the whole year I don't know but I need to figure this out those are all the books that I am prioritizing in 2023 let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings about these books if you've read them if you haven't read them if you plan to read them if you would like to encourage me to definitely prioritize these or like if you want to be like no don't read them whatever you want to let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well definitely Saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you