May 2023 MBR

Written By Solseit Enthusiast

In the greatest tradition of bookish content creators, I am dabbling in monthly reading lists. There is a selfish angle to this post, as I want to make myself accountable to (i) read what I plan to read, since I spend time and effort in compiling these lists; and (ii) make sure I am focusing my efforts in achieving the goals I set for myself in 2023.

Yet, there is a community aspect to this type of posts; I find a lot of value while reviewing other’s reading choices and curated reading lists. Therefore, I hope this post can offer you some inspiration and get you excited about your reading journey for the month of May!



One last preliminary note: as you can see from the title, this is not a to-be-read list but a might-be-read list. The choice is conscious: I struggle with being accountable from a TBR perspective, I find myself wondering all the time and trying to get out of a pre-set list.

Dominick from Dominish Books (link) was the first reader I saw taking this approach and I felt this helped me with my reading process. I am mostly an impulse reader and I need to put more structure in my reading life, to allow completion of series. Yet, I cannot do it in a pre-structured way only, otherwise I fail. So, MBR it is!



With all of this said, let’s get into the list; some of these are commitments I would like to keep, in order to advance my progress towards achieving my reading goals for 2023.





So what are my commitments?

To achieve my 2023 reading goals, I need to focus on these books:

  • Shadow of Self, book two in the Mistborn era 2 series, by Brandon Sanderson; I am very excited to resume this series, as we left a few open points and it seems that greater powers will come to play (eventually?);

  • The farthest shore, book three in the Earthsea Cycle, by Ursula K. Le Guin (while preparing this post, I understand that there is an Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction and this is a great inspiration for a future post on different prizes focusing on fantasy. Would you be interested in this type of content?); and

  • Daggerspell, book one in the Deverry Cycle series, by Katharine Kerr; this is a book that will allow me to continue explore 80s fantasy and I have been postponing reading this book for far too long now!

Furthermore, in order to continue series I am committed to (and they are complete):





Also, some of my reading buddies started a “pick it for me” thread and each month I curate a list for them to select a couple of books they pick for me and these are the May selections:






And, I also have a soft goal to read the new release by Mark Lawrence, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (and I decided to make an investment in a hardcover by The Broken Binding!), starting a new trilogy called The Library trilogy. Not only I enjoy everything that I read from Mark Lawrence but he is also a generous author who established a self-published fantasy books prize to allow indie authors to have much more visibility and this is a tremendous effort!






I have also an ongoing project to read A Dance with Dragons, book five in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R.R. Martin, although the goal is to start the book and continue to slowly make progress.






While this is already a pretty structured list of books I am planning to read, the reality is that I have a much longer list of books I would like to get to:

The Spider and The Cuckoo by Leo Carew to complete Under the Northern Sky series in May. If this is a genuine political fantasy (and they are pretty uncommon in fantasy, as it is a difficult topic to develop a whole series on) I think I will be compelled to know how it develops!

Shadow Knights trilogy by Michael Webb seems another wonderful choice. An orphan elevated to the last of his kind, trained to live up to his legacy and a villain coming over to destroy the kingdom’s way of living. This story hits a lot of the fantasy themes I like to explore, especially when it comes to highest stakes possible!






Another series that appeals to me is Saga of the Unknown Lands by Jacob Peppers; this is what inspires me “It is a grimdark epic fantasy tale of creatures out of myth and legend, magic, battles, and warriors pitted against each other in a deadly struggle to survive”. Just: yes, please!






I have also been intrigued by Blood of Kings by Duncan M. Hamilton, with The Squire and The Banneret (and possibly the series is not complete yet); this is a story of mercenaries and, while I have not read the OG, The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, I find myself intrigued by the idea of mercenaries and see how this is executed (this is actually something that might inspire a future post, focusing on mercenary stories I read this year and the potential is to have at least four of them!)






And talking about mercenaries, I also have The Pariah, book one in the Covenant of Steel, by Anthony Ryan; book three in this series will come out in July so I want to be ready to get through this wonderful reading experience (and Anthony Ryan is one of my favorite fantasy authors); this would be a re-read for me and I cannot wait to resume!

One more addition - as usual, almost last minute - and that is the series Elemental Blessings by Sharon Shinn. This is a four books series, starting with Troubled Waters. What interests me is the magic system based on elements, being water one of them. I am a sucker for magic that uses water effectively!






So far, I have talked only about fantasy and there are plenty of stories to explore here!

Yet I have also a few historical fiction and classics commitments that I want to share here.






On historical fiction, I have my eyes - and soft commitment - on a few books and different historical moments in history.

First and foremost, I have the Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel. I have been neglecting this series and I am frustrating myself with this lack of focus. If anything, I want to finish reading Wolf Hall. I truly “just” need to carve out the time and get on with it, especially since it is such a wonderful read. The challenge, which is a great aspect of the book, is that audio consumption is not sufficient to retain all the information of the story, so I want to focus on an immersion reading experience here.






I would also like to focus on two more books:

Essex Dogs, book one in the Essex Dogs series (book 2 now has a title, Wolves of Winter, although I am not sure when it will be published) by Dan Jones; we already discussed how Dan Jones is writer of historical non-fiction and his is his fictional debut. And it is set in the Hundred Year War between England and France; an event that shaped the future of the European continent for years to come; and






Gods and Generals, book one in The Civil War trilogy, by Jeff Shaara; it clearly focuses on the American Civil War and I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg a few years ago and that left an major impact on me; so I want to spend a few hours immersed in these historical events!






Last but not least, classics: I will also be reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, focusing the consumption in the evenings; a few chapters at a time. I am not in a rush to finish such a great read yet I need to be consistent to be able to progress on a daily basis!






What are your reading plans for the month of May? Do you have books that are particularly intriguing to you? What are the next reads that you must start sooner rather than later?

Solseit Enthusiast
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