Wow. So, I sat down and went through the ebook selections for books released this week, and as of today, there are way more than I had expected to choose. My ‘Library Book Bag’ is now 43 books longer. It would have been 44 if my NetGalley request was denied for the 2023 ARC of For Lamb by Lesa Cline Ransome.
It has taken me some time to decide how I want to share my digital ‘Library Book Bag.’ Because the length of this post can vary and quickly become pic and link-heavy, for easy navigation I will format the post as such:
Blog Post Navigation
Intro (lengthy and important, but feel free to skip if you want to get straight to the eye candy AKA beautiful book covers)
Nerdy Tingz – Trends and Observations About My Selections (Stats, Charts, and Graphs)
The Rundown
I utilize my library for most of the books I read and regularly check for title availability or coming soon to the existing catalog. Every week, usually on Tuesdays, I review the new eBook additions and sort them according to their release date. Regularly, I update my Goodreads shelves as I watch Booktube videos, scroll through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, or listen to podcasts with book-related content. Outside of the additions to my Goodreads shelves from those sources is yet to be discovered. Reviewing new additions from the library keeps me aware of those outliers.
Setting aside this time to curate my ‘To Be Read’ (TBR) list via the library helps me retain holds on new releases I want to prioritize reading before the waitlist is six months plus, add to my ‘Wish List’ the books I’m interested in, and saves me money. Most notable is the saving part of engaging in this activity. Consumerism is a thing. I understand the concept, but I’m trying to minimize my spending where I can. Why? Because of bills. They are just as bad as roaches. Do they ever really go away? This is the next best thing to retail therapy for me and I happily participate.
Library Book Bag Categories
How and Why I Choose Which Books to Add to My Library Wish List
My preference is to choose books blindly, with minimal expectations. I respect the craft of writing and good storytelling too much to spoil myself by knowing too much about a book I may want to read. It changes the reading experience. If you know, you know. Each set of books in this post are categorized and selected for the following reasons:
- Cover Selections, aka ‘Look at You/Cute for Now’ – The books in this category either have a cover that’s aesthetically pleasing to me or an eye-catching title and what I’ve seen of the book’s details is enough for me to add to my ‘Wish List’ to revisit or reconsider picking up at a later time.
- Anticipated Releases, aka ‘It’s Been A Long Time Coming’ – These are books that have been hyped up a year or more in advance and have been on my radar for just as long.
- Word of Mouth, aka ‘You’ve Got to Read This’ – These are books that have been mentioned an obscene number of times across all the social media platforms I lurk on and I’m convinced I should see what the hype is about.
- Repeat Author Selections aka ‘Zero Lies Detected’ – I have read a book from this author before and I know I can choose whatever they’ve written with little to no hesitation.
- Gut Feeling Good Reads, aka ‘Please Do Not Deceive Me’ – 4.5 to 5-star prediction based on the reception of the people in the Bookish Community with whom I have similar reading tastes.
Notion Database and Book Cover Gallery
Click the button below to access my Library Book Bag – Notion Database for the books I’ve selected and categorized for the week of January 8, 2023. There you will find descriptions and other details about the books i.e. Genres, Subjects, Page Count.
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*** AFFILIATE LINKS BELOW***
Bookshop.org
Click the picture to head over to the Reading Beyond the Book Cover Bookshop.org Shop page. There you will find all books listed according to their ‘Library Book Bag’ categories.
Amazon and Book Depository
Book Title with Author First and Last Name | Link to Purchase from Amazon | Link to Purchase from Book Depository |
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham | Amazon | Book Depository |
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns | Amazon | Book Depository |
Black Women Writers at Work by Claudia Tate | Amazon | Book Depository |
Brighter Than the Moon by David Valdes | Amazon | Book Depository |
Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley | Amazon | Book Depository |
Cool. Awkward. Black. by Karen Strong | Amazon | Book Depository |
Country Place by Ann Petry | Amazon | Book Depository |
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett | Amazon | Book Depository |
Exes and O’s by Amy Lea | Amazon | Book Depository |
For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome | Amazon | Book Depository |
Friday I’m in Love by Camryn Garrett | Amazon | Book Depository |
Ghost Music by An Yu | Amazon | Book Depository |
Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas | Amazon | Book Depository |
Head Cleaner by David James Keaton | Amazon | Book Depository |
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo | Amazon | Book Depository |
In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas | Amazon | Book Depository |
Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica | Amazon | Book Depository |
Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong | Amazon | Book Depository |
Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire | Amazon | Book Depository |
Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen | Amazon | Book Depository |
Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry | Amazon | Book Depository |
Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks | Amazon | Book Depository |
Phaedra by Laura Shepperson | Amazon | Book Depository |
Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce | Amazon | Book Depository |
Regrets Only by Kieran Scott | Amazon | Book Depository |
Small World by Laura Zigman | Amazon | Book Depository |
Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukkaran | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Dream Builders by Oindrila Mukherjee | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Everlasting Road by Wab Kinew | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption by Shannon Gibney | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Hunter by Jennifer Herrera | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Narrows by Ann Petry | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Nightmare Man by J. H. Markert | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley | Amazon | Book Depository |
The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent | Amazon | Book Depository |
Theseus, His New Life by Camille de Toledo | Amazon | Book Depository |
We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride | Amazon | Book Depository |
What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski | Amazon | Book Depository |
Who Owns the Clouds? by Mario Brassard | Amazon | Book Depository |
You Must Remember This by Kat Rosenfield | Amazon | Book Depository |