Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!
This week’s prompt is: Planned to read in 2020.
WELL. Is this a direct attack on my person? Cos it feels like a direct attack on my person. LOL 😂
Kidding, of course… I’m sure we all had grand plans for our reads in 2020–I know I certainly did, and it went 1,000% in the opposite direction of what I expected for myself. Not necessarily in a bad way because I still managed to reach my Goodreads Reading goal and I read some great stories. I definitely didn’t expect to struggle as much as I did or rely on blog tours to keep myself motivated and actually reading throughout most of the year, but it is what it is and I’m not going to make myself feel bad for it! So…. Here are five of the books that I thought I’d be reading this year but didn’t end up getting to. Ah well, there’s always next year, right? 😉
JADE CITY
JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.
The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.
The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.
When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.
BEACH READ
A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
THE SURPRISING POWER OF A GOOD DUMPLING
Anna Chiu has her hands pretty full looking after her brother and sister and helping out at her dad’s restaurant, all while her mum stays in bed. Dad’s new delivery boy, Rory, is a welcome distraction and even though she knows that things aren’t right at home, she’s starting to feel like she could just be a normal teen.
But when Mum finally gets out of bed, things go from bad to worse. And as Mum’s condition worsens, Anna and her family question everything they understand about themselves and each other.
A nourishing tale about the crevices of culture, mental wellness and family, and the surprising power of a good dumpling.
EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU
Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.
So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos.
A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
November
December
07 Dec 2020 — Small Town14 Dec 2020 — Animals21 Dec 2020 — Winter Celebrations- 28 Dec 2020 — ‘Planned To Read In 2020’
Did you read most of what you set out to read in 2020 or did your reading plans go off the rails
dinipandareads 
Ha I definitely feel called out. In fact one of my top viewed posts for the year was a reading challenge that I haven’t read one book for 🙈😂. I’ve just finished Jade City and it was a great read, and you know how much I loved January so excited for you to get to them soon.
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HAHA which reading challenge was that? I was so close to finishing my second main reading challenge (the POPSUGAR) but I’ve just DNF’d a book for one of the prompts and I just… Can’t be bothered to push myself on for the sake of completing it, even though I’m really close. I know, I’m terrible! 😂 But I’m gonna give it another go in 2021. So glad you enjoyed Jade City! I did start it but it was at the start of the pandemic and not the best time. It was a lot denser than I expected but I did enjoy what I read. Keen to get back to it AND I’m gonna make January one of my first January reads 😜
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It was the TBR reading challenge! I think I highlighted around 15 books… and read none of them 🙈. I’m so bad at sticking to reading challenges so I’m not even going to try next year, I’m just going to hope and pray I get to some of my backlist titles 😂. Jade City is definitely a little dense in parts but once you get invested in the characters it flys by. And yay to January in January, I hope you love it ☺️
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Haha yeah, this year I attempted to do other reading challenges and it was just a big nup, no dice! 😂 I’m still determined to have the POPSUGAR be one that I complete (one day! Lol) and maybe 2021 will be the year for it?! I just hope we all continue to have a year of amazing reads in 2021 😍
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Great post, I also felt called out by this one. I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January when I read it, hope you enjoy it when you pick it up 💜
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I did start the audiobook but I want to have a proper sitdown and give my full attention to it because what I’ve listened to so far has been really amazing! I think I’m gonna make it one of my first reads of 2021! Can’t wait to continue it 🙂
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I’m listening to The Ten Thousand Doors of January right now and it is so good — and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t normally read this type of book.
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I started it when I was cleaning my shelves last month but I know that’s one that I really want to give all my focus to because I want to savour it. How great is the narrator?! I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying it, Deanna! 😊
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The narrator is very good. I like her.
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Jade City is one I want to read too!
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I hope you enjoy it, Joanna! I’m really keen to tackle it soon (maybe) LOL
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LOL! I could probably do a list of Top 50 books I meant to read in 2020 and didn’t. I hope you are able to get to all of these in 2021. Beach Read was one of my favorites from 2020 and I also really liked Ten Thousand Doors of January.
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Haha oh yeah, same here! Too many books to read, so little time (and also energy this year)! LOL Beach Read has made it onto so many peoples’ favourites lists for 2020 so I know I definitely missed out but hopefully it won’t be too long until I *do* pick it up!
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Hah! Yeah, there were a lot of books I wanted to get to in 2020 that just didn’t happen for one reason or another. I hope you check out Jade City, I’d be interested to see what you think of that one. 🙂
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I did start Jade City at the start of the year (it was you who read it this year, right?) but it definitely wasn’t the right time for me to pick it up. It ended up being so different from what I expected + the wrong mood = putting it down for a later date. I do want to get back to it soon though and maybe that’ll end up being one of my early 2021 reads!
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Yep, I read it back in March or April I think. I think I felt the same way, I want to read the sequel though! Maybe I’ll be in a better mood then.
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[…] IIIEnd of Year Book Survey: Part I#WWWWednesday: 30 December#TopTenTuesday: Favourite 2020 Reads!#5OnMyTBR: Planned to Read in 2020Goodreads Monday: The Fortunate Ones by Ed […]
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[…] the tail end of December, I made a list for the weekly meme, #5OnMyTBR, about five books I planned to read in 2020 but never got around to before the year ended. There are obviously a lot more than five, so […]
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