 Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're good. And today we're gonna be chatting about the 21 books I wanna read in 2021. Now, last year I did do a series I wanna read that year. And it didn't go that well. I didn't finish all that series. We don't need to talk about it. Why bring it up now? Why bring it up now? I thought it would be more realistic this year to just chat about the books in general that I wanna read, the 21 books I wanna read. I have actually got a video coming up to react to that I did a couple of months ago of the 21 books I wanna read before I turn 21 at the end of January. But I don't think that's gonna go that well. I lost our home today, I'm here. I don't think I'm gonna have read them all because I think in that video, like I put books on there to challenge myself. I don't think I wanna do that anymore, you know? Like I don't wanna put like five classics on there because I won't get to them. I like I won't, it just won't happen. So in this video, I've tried to be much more realistic and just choose the books that I think I'm actually gonna get to. So the first category I have is series that I want to start. These are not series I expect on finishing. I just wanna make a start on what I own so far. So first is the Raven Cycle. I wanna read both the Raven Boys and the Dream Thieves this year. I have plans to read this. I think in about February March time for a video, I have owned these for so long. These are some of like now the oldest books on my TBR. I should have just read it by now and I think it's a series I should enjoy. So in this, we are following Blue who has been told that the first boy she falls in love with if she kisses him, he'll die. She's told that by kind of like the women in her family who are kind of like witchy vibes. And then we have four boys who are known as the Raven, is it four? I think it is. Four boys who are known as the Raven Boys who like have this weird obsession with lay lines. I still don't really understand what's going on there. Me trying to understand what lay lines are. I just think it's high time that I start this series and at least get the first two books in because I've owned them for long enough. And then the other series I wanna make sure I start this year is an Ember and the Ashes by Sabr to here. I do own this but it's Wrapped Up for my Wrapped Up series where I unwrap books and I read them. I don't know too much about this. I know it's this fantastical series but I have just heard a lot of people speak really highly about it. I think Mina from Mina Reads has spoken highly about it. I am just kind of in the mood for that kind of fantasy, that kind of epic fantasy. I've listened to some podcasts with Sabr to here on lately and just the way that she speaks about the book and how high the stakes are and how people die. I like it in fantasy when not everything's a short. I think I hate in fantasy when you know people are gonna survive whereas that doesn't seem to be the case in this book which I very much enjoy. I know that's right. Ha ha ha ha ha. What I really know about it is that family plays a big role. It's this fantasy dystopian and the stakes are high and that's enough to get me interested in it. Now the next couple of books are all a nonfiction. I definitely wanna read more nonfiction this year. That is another one of my reading goals that I mentioned in my 2021 reading goals video. The first of which, I don't know how many people will be interested in but I wanna read Save the Cat writes a novel by Jessica Brody. This is one that I'm hoping I'm gonna start soon but I will probably read it quite slowly. I'll probably read it in little chunks over the next month or two. And this is just telling me how to write because I am scared. Ha ha ha. No. A picture fight. Ha ha. A picture fight. Ha ha. I really wanna write but I just feel like I need to consume some like books on writing and videos and stuff before I dive into it because I'm a bit terrified. I know the best way to learn is just to write but like my brain isn't quite ready for that. So I just wanna prepare myself a bit and come up with a ton of ideas. Basically Save the Cat was originally a screenwriting method but this tells you how to structure a novel in it and I've heard a lot of people recommend this highly so I'm really excited to get to it and hopefully this year I can maybe write a bit. I like I wanna write maybe like 30,000 words. Like that's not even a book. That's not even half a book but I just wanna try and get something down. So that's kind of my rough goal for the year and linked to this I actually wanna take a moment to thank the sponsor for today's video, Skillshare. I just can't stop smiling whenever I speak about this because this is my first ever sponsorship and I just feel so lucky that it's with a brand that I have loved, that I have used in the past and so I can actually properly recommend it to you guys. This is something that I have paid my own money for in the past and I've used a lot. So if you don't know, Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of helpful and inspiring classes for creative people. There's literally so many new skills on there for you to try and learn from illustration, film and video if you want to maybe start booktube and as I've been speaking about this, the one I'm actually most excited for is their creative writing courses. So as well as reading books like this, as I said I like to learn before I jump in so I really want to do a ton of their writing courses whilst learning to write. They have ones from Roxanne Gaye, Daniel Jose Older is on there as well. I mean, Roxanne Gaye was one of my favorite authors of last year so it's just absolutely mind-boggling that I can learn from her and the course I've actually started with is writing authentic fiction, how to build a believable character by Stabber to hear who obviously is the author of An Emperor in the Ashes which is a book I really want to read. One thing I've really enjoyed from that course so far is the idea of having an interview with your characters so she takes you through how to create an interview that you then do with your characters and you make up the answers as your character and it just really helps you to get to know them quicker. Skillshare is curated for learning so there's absolutely no ads and once your free trial ends it's really, really affordable at under $10 per month. Very excitingly the first thousand of you to click the link down below will get a free trial of the premium membership. So I'd really recommend you go check out the link down below and check out Skillshare. Okay, on to the next book. Another non-fiction I want to make sure I get to this year is Disfigured on Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space by Amanda Ladook. I picked this up on Kayla from Books and Lullas Recommendation. A lot of books I pick up are on her recommendation. I trust her a lot. Do you know how I feel about you? If there was any hope that I could actually be more someone I aspire to, you know you're the one. And this is non-fiction about disability particularly in fairy tales and stuff like Disney, how underrepresented disability is, how often disability is framed as a trait for villains. And I'm just very excited for this. Disability is something I definitely want to read about more and learn about more. I can't wait to dive into this. I'm hoping this will be one that I pick up really, really soon. And then the final non-fiction book I want to make sure I get to this year is Forgotten Women, The Writers by Xing Sheng. I've spoken about this series quite a lot on my channel. I really, really love it. I love learning about Forgotten Women throughout history. And this just tells you about all the women that the male-ass white-ass history has erased. I hate it here. This is beautifully illustrated throughout and you just have like a page or two on each woman talking about their lives. What I love about this is how diverse it is. They are women from all cultures, all countries, all time periods. And I think we need more stuff like this. I love podcasts like this that teach us about the women that history has forgotten because they are women. And there's just so many interesting stories to be told and to learn. So I'm really excited to get to this. I can't wait to eventually make my way through the whole series. And yeah, I just love it very much. Next, let's quickly talk about this series I want to finish this year. There's only three I've put on here. The first series I want to finish is The Femus Files by Sylvain Neuvel. This is Waking Gods and Only Human. I need to read to finish this. And this is basically very much like the Illuminae Files if you've read that. Is sci-fi told through a series of interviews, files, documents, stuff like that. It's not like multimedia like Illuminae. Like it's pretty much just interviews with our characters but it's still really, really interesting. It's about these robots but not robots, like beings that have been found dotted around the earth. Like their arm is in America, their leg is in Europe. These scientists are trying to piece them back together and it's going to be some kind of like war machine in a way. I don't really have to describe it. I really love the audiobooks, please. I will be listening to the audiobooks and reading physically along because it's a full cast and it's so engaging. Like the actors are so good, so funny but I don't read a lot of sci-fi so I definitely want to finish this series. Then I'm going to finally get to after promising it for so long. I'm finally going to get to Six of Crows and Cooker Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. I love Ninth House. I'll say it forever. I love Ninth House but I didn't really love the Shadow and Bone trilogy. However, I hold high hopes for this. I'm going to love it. I'm going to love it. I'm going to love it. Naysayers, dispute that. Thank you, darling. Thank you. If you don't know, this is set in the Grishaverse and we're following Kaz Brucker and his friends as they kind of do like this heist thing. I don't really know. I know it's set in like a fake Amsterdam. They go, no mortars, no funerals. That's all I really know. I did mention thinking about doing a read-along for this. However, I don't think it needs to be a massive thing because it's one of the most read books series out there. Like everyone has read this. It doesn't need me hyping it up. However, I am going to be reading this in the first week of March from like the first to the seventh. If you wanted to join me and read it then, I'll probably do like one live show with some reading sprints along that time. It's going to be super low key but if you wanted to join in, I'm going to be reading this the first week of March if you wanted to read it with me. Hopefully I'll give them both five stars. I feel like it's got the potential. So hopefully it's going to happen. And then the last series I want to finish this year is, oh my God, The Dragon Republic and The Burning God by R.F. Quang. I'm terrified. I'm so scared. I'm ready. No, you ain't. These are books two and three of The Poppy Ball. They're big. They're scary. I really loved book one. It was up there as one of my favorite books that I read last year. I think I'm going to like read them both in a week. I think I'm going to read them one after the other just to like get through there. And hopefully I'll be super engrossed in this story. I won't have to remind myself of anything cause some parts of it are quite complex I think. This is about Rin who comes from a very impoverished background but she works her way up through the military. There's a war going on that Rin has to fight in and it's about good and evil. It's about the power of God's really morally gray characters. It's about war. It's a really vivid fantasy inspired by Chinese history. I think I'm going to love them but I am scared. Like I'm really scared. And then let's get into other general books that I want to read. One is Legend Born by Tracy Dion. I got this recently in an Aluma Crate box and I have just heard so many people rating this like five out of five lately. Like everyone who I see reading this gives it five out of five. This is an Arthurian legend retelling our protagonist's mum dies and she goes to this like special high school I think. Meets these descendants of King Arthur's knights and it's like this fantasy and everyone loves it. This font, I'm pretty sure it's the same font that the Luna Chronicles uses by Marissa Mayer. So we're just like, that font is so nostalgic to me and fantasy and YA fantasy. Yeah, I don't know too much about the plot. Obviously I have done an awful job of explaining it. The level of unprofessionalism far too much. But I am very, very excited to get to this soon. And then next is Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia. I am so hyped to read this. I think I've mentioned before, I've got a set video idea for this book but there's no other book on the video and I need to just figure out what they are so I can read this quickly. This is a horror where our protagonist receives a phone call from I think her cousin who says like, the family I've married into, they're not shit. Like I'm scared, they're gonna kill me or something. So our protagonist goes to live with them and spooky shit goes on. All I know about this other than that is that like there's some dodgy stuff with mushrooms. That's what you said. And you know what? What was that? Okay, James. This is a book I think about all the time, like all the time. I'm constantly thinking about how excited I am to finally get around to this. And the next book is Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire. This is the latest in the Wayward Children series. The next one does come out in a couple of months but I still haven't read this one yet. So the Wayward Children series is about these kids who go into these special worlds that are perfect for them, that are like their perfect world, how they would love to live. And they come back out and they struggle to readjust to life. Some books are set in the portal worlds and some books are set at Eleanor West School for Wayward Children, which is where the kids can go when they're back in this world. It's super short novellas and I love them. They are so, so, so good. It is brilliant American literature. And I don't care what anybody, it is. It's lit, it should be taught in schools. And this one we're following, Jack and Jill who are twins who we have followed in multiple books already. They are partly in book one and then book two is entirely focused on them. So I'm excited to be back with them and yeah, super excited. And then the last general book I do own, but again, it's wrapped up somewhere and it is The Sanatorium by Sarah Pierce. Now, technically this should be in my next category, which is upcoming releases because it doesn't come out until mid-February, but I do own an arc. Very likely I was sent an arc by the publisher. I'm just intrigued by this. It's like a mystery. I think it may be a murder mystery or maybe just a thriller set at this old sanatorium. It's like a hotel. It's a hotel that's been made out of an old sanatorium, which like, why? Me to whatever hotel developer thought that would be a good idea. Why would you wanna go stay there? Why would you? That's not a good idea. And it's about women going missing. I think her brother's fiance goes missing and another woman goes missing. Sorry, I didn't say who. Like our protagonist, her brother fiance goes missing. It seems very intriguing, the cover. Like it's so imposing. It's so isolated. You know, I love isolated thrillers and murder mysteries. So I'm just really, really excited to get this. I'm gonna hopefully read it around the time or maybe just before it comes out. And I'm really excited. And then like I said, my last category, it's upcoming releases. If you watch my 2021 reading goals, you know that a big goal of mine is to read more new releases as they come out. And so I thought because of that, it would be good to chat about the ones I am most excited for. Next Thursday, I'm gonna be giving you a full list of my most anticipated 20,000... Next Thursday, I'm gonna be giving you a full list of my most anticipated 2021 releases, like loads of them. This is just five that I'm really looking forward to reading and think I'll definitely get around to this year. The first is Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson. I, firstly, I just love the cover for this. Like I'm just obsessed. And I love Renee Watson so much. I've read Watch Us Rise, which she co-wrote, but I loved the parts that she wrote. Like that was the bits I like. And I've read Piecing Me Together. So I am so excited for this. I'm so excited. I don't even know the plot. I don't need to. I have no idea what the plot is. I, that is not, not required. Like no need. All I need to know is that it's Renee Watson. And I love her. Next is The Project by Courtney Summers. Courtney Summers is the author of Sadie, which is like a super hyped up young adult book. This I think is like about a cult. And I don't read enough cult books. I don't think I've ever read one. Again, that's all I need to know. Let me tell you, before I press play, I like the song. I'm in love with the song. All of like the cover for this, the promo that's been being done, I'm very intrigued. And I really loved Sadie by Courtney Summers. So I'm super excited to get to this. Next is Darling by Kay Ancrum. Kay Ancrum is an author I've really loved this year. I have read The Wicker King and I do have the weight of the stars to read. This will be one that I read this year. Darling, again, don't know too much, but I know it's a Peter Pan retelling. Are we gagged? Are we gagged? So we all gag nation on this. A Peter Pan retelling. How exciting. Kay Ancrum's writing is like beautiful and weird and like a bit unhinged. And I'm just so excited for this. I will be doing more research into the plots of these for the video that's going up next Thursday. I just wanted to give you a bit of a taste. A bit of flavor. Then next is Survive the Night by Riley Sager. Riley Sager is a super popular thriller author on here. I have read his two most recent books and really enjoyed them. It's about, I think, a woman who is trapped in a car with someone who she thinks is a mass murderer, like on this long drive in the night. So she just has to survive the night. And it's a really interesting premise for me, a book that is just set in this car and the tension that's building in it. I think that's gonna be really hard to write and to pull off. I just love throwing it. So I'm super excited for this one. And then lastly, I'm gonna read this the day it comes out, Hearts to Pervolume 4 by Alice Osement. I can't believe that. I actually can't believe that. If you know me, you know that my favorite graphic novel series is Heartstopper. This is the story of Nick and Charlie meeting and falling in love and it's just their romance together. I'm so excited for Volume 4. The cover is beautiful. It's the penultimate one. I'm terrified. I'm so scared. I don't wanna leave them. I love them so much. Nick and Charlie are just the best cinnamon roll characters ever. If you wanna get into graphic novels, I'd really recommend picking this up. And yeah, I'm so excited for Volume 4. So there we have it. That is the 21 books I wanna read in 2021. I think when I react to this at the end of the year or the start of next year, I will have read them all. Like I'm pretty sure I will have read them all. I don't see a world where that doesn't happen in all honesty. Let me know which of these you're most excited to read and your 2021 TBR as well, books you wanna read in 2021. If you've gotten to the end, comment. Just comment the book, Sakamoji. I think that's an easy one. Just comment the book, Sakamoji, if you've gotten to the end. Again, make sure you use the link down below to get the free trial of the Premium Membership of Skillshare. I'd really recommend it. I love it so much. And I will see you very soon in another video. Bye.