24 books i MUST read before i turn 24

Once again, feel free to place your bets on how many of these I'm actually going to read. Hello friends! How are we doing? I hope you're all doing good. Today we're going to be discussing the 24 books I must read before I turn 24. So I do two big kind of TBRs every year. I do a yearly TBR, so I did a 2023 TBR, and I do books I have to read before I turn that age. It's going to get out of control, like when I'm like 30 am I still going to be doing this? My birthday's at the end of January, so I try to do this a good amount of time after my year TBR that comes out in January, but also enough time for me to actually read the books. I think one year I did this in like September, and like that's just not, it's not realistic. It's not realistic. It's not realistic. It's just not realistic. So yeah, we're going to be discussing 24 books I have to read before I turn 24, but before we get into the video, I want to say the biggest thank you to the sponsor of the video, which is Serious Readers. 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You know, we buy a lot of books. Why not buy a light that makes reading those books better? I have the High Definition Light. Something I really like about mine is it has an adjustable dimmer, so I can adjust how strong the beam is, and I have the best code for you guys. The best code is SR310, and that will get you £100 off a purchase of a High Definition Light, and a £100 discount with that discount code. I cannot recommend it to you guys enough. I think it is such a good deal. That code also includes free international shipping, and all the lights are made here in the UK, but they can attach any kind of international plug that you might need, so go check them out down below. I can't recommend them enough. I love them, and I hope you guys do too. Okay, shall we get into the video? What should we start with? I've kind of separated them into genre, but like there's like two books per genre, but let's just go per genre. First, we have got some horror books, and if you know me, you know my flavour of horror is campy, not too scary, not... I can't deal with my my horror being clever, or trying to like say deep things with hidden meanings, because like I'm fighting for my life in the theatre eyes. So my first is My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. This wasn't originally on the TBR that I made, I made the list last night, and then I looked at this this morning, and I was like, hang on, you have to go on there, because I have a feeling I'm gonna be obsessed with this. I mean, it's time to stop being so obsessed with me. I feel like Mariah Carey. So I just know this is set like in the 80s, and we've got a girl who, she thinks her best friend is like a demon inside of her, and we're gonna exorcise her. I read my first Grady Hendrix last year, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't like a five star, but I feel like we have the potential, me and him, to get a five star, because I feel like he's my flavour of horror. Not too serious, over the top, ridiculous, campy. I have a feeling I'm gonna love his books that other people love, and even his books other people don't love. I'm so excited to just make my way through Grady Hendrix. I feel like I need to read all of his books. So I'm really hoping that I will get to this before I turn 24. By the way, turning 24, I actually thought I was still 22 the other day. Oh my gosh. Then we have The Drift by CJ Tudor. This is a release that's come out this year, and I think this does lean more horror. So on the description of this, it says, an overturned coach full of students, all of them are trapped. A stranded cable car full of strangers, one of them is dead. An isolated chalet full of friends, soon there'll be enemies. So we're in this snowstorm, and it says here, a locked room mystery, a dystopian thriller, a nail-shedding horror. So it's kind of, I guess, like a combination of all of them. But I've heard really good things about this. I've only read, I think, one CJ Tudor, and that was The Chalkman, which I did enjoy. But I'm really excited to see what I think of this one. And I love a good isolated book, you know, isolated in the snow. The added danger, the tension, the drama. She's giving me the drama. She's giving me the drama. I like drama. Drama drives me at times. I think without drama, what's the fun in life? So I'm super excited. I've heard such good things about that. And then one that I feel like a lot of people were reading, like, last year, and I'm a bit late to the party on, but I really want to get to, is Sleuthbert by Brom. I don't really know what this is about. I'm gonna be honest, Connecticut 1666, we've got, I think, like, a demon called Sleuthbert. And I think there's, like, there's, like, pictures in this. I've just heard so many good things about this. I'm very intrigued. I love the kind of vibe, the kind of atmosphere to this. And, oh my god, guys, I've, the past couple days, or, like, maybe the past week even, I haven't been excited to read. You know you go through fits and spurts of being like, oh my god, I'm loving reading right now? And you go through fits and spurts of being like, I don't want to read. Like, I'm not excited to read. I'm not excited for the books I've got on my TBR. Like, I'm not feeling it. And holding this up and talking to you about it is making me excited to read. It's making me excited to read. I've heard such wonderful things about this. I feel like it's gonna give me the atmosphere, the drama that I want. Next, I have a few mysteries, and they happen to be probably the two longest mysteries on my TBR. I'm putting them on here to try and make me read them. First, we have Night Film by Marisha Pestle. This is, like, a classic. I feel like everyone and their mum has read this. This is one that I feel like a lot of people read when I wasn't really reading. But, I mean, it is long. I'm a bit intimidated. But I've heard always such wonderful things about this. It's mixed media! I love mixed media, guys. I love mixed media. I just feel like a mystery with a mixed media element. And I don't really know what this is about. Let's read this back together because it's quite short. On a damp October night, the body of beautiful Ashley Cordova is discovered in a Manhattan warehouse. Though her death is ruled a suicide, investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. The last time McGrath got too close to the Cordova dynasty, he lost his marriage and his career. This time he could lose his mind. So that already there's, like, web pages. What's here? Ooh, like, files and stuff. How exciting does this- oh my god, there's pictures! So yes, I feel like this is definitely one that I should get around to soon. See what I make of it. See what I think about what everyone else has been saying about it. And then another mystery that I really want to get around to is The Enigma of Room 622 by Joelle? Joel? Dicca? So this is set a luxury hotel. I do- I love a hotel as a setting. I can't lie. I love a hotel as a setting in a mystery. They're at this hotel and there's no room 622, and that's because an unsolved murder happened there. And I believe our main character kind of wants to solve what happened. And I feel like it's gonna be, like, a clever mystery. When I think of this, I think of something similar to, like, The Seven Deaths at Everland Hardcastle, which I didn't love, but, like, a clever murder mystery. A murder mystery that's gonna do something. It's gonna go somewhere. So again, it's long. That's why I put it on here, to try and get me to read it. Then we have a few sci-fi on the list. First, we have Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. I recently read Station Eleven and did enjoy it. There's something about Emily St. John Mandel's books that aren't ever, like, a five-star for me, although I'm hoping this could be because I've had such wonderful things. But they're always, like, they make me think more than many other books do. They kind of get in my head and, like, root around and, like, I don't know. I imagine them as, like, little bugs barring down my brain. I don't know. Oh, Jesus. Gross. I can never describe an Emily St. John Mandel plot to you, because I'm, like, reading this, it seems part of it's set in 1912, part of it's set two centuries later. We've got detectives. Girl, I don't know. Parallel Worlds. Girl. I can never give descriptions of Emily St. John Mandel's books, but I would love to get around to this soon and see what I make of it, because I've heard such wonderful things. And having read both The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven, the way that they were intertwined, I don't think this one's intertwined the same way that those were, but the way that they were intertwined and related to one another made me really intrigued just to read more from her. I can't really describe it. I could make a lot of links in how they were similar and different, and it made me want to see how this kind of applies to that as well. And then one that is wrapped up, I've got quite a few on this list that I wrapped up, actually. One that's wrapped up is Someone in Time, which is an anthology of time travel romances, which is pretty specific for all these books in this anthology to be, all these short stories, to be time travel romances. But this has a lot of authors that I love in it. I know Theodora Goss is in it, and after reading Snow White Learns Witchcraft, I just need more Theodora Goss in my life. She doesn't have any more novels. She has a few more, like, short stories that I haven't read, but there's not much out there, so I'm, like, grabbing any Theodora Goss-ness that I can get. I think Seanan McGuire may have a short story in this as well. I really want to read this. I just feel like it's- I haven't really had anyone speak about it. I don't read a ton of anthologies, but, I mean, it's more Theodora Goss. And just the idea of all these books being time travel romance, I'm really intrigued as to how all the different authors will kind of take that idea and make them different from one another. At least I'm hoping they will, because I feel like it's difficult to get- not make it one note, you know? So I'm intrigued. Next we have fantasies, and one fantasy I'd really like to get to is Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holberg. This is one of the only, like, cozy fantasy books I still have on my TBR that I haven't read. I've been burning through them quite fast. I don't know a ton about this one. I know it's set in 1846. I think there's something about this, like, house, this magical house, but I kind of don't want to know- I kind of don't want to know anything about it. I kind of want to go into it blind. I've heard really good things from people who have read this. I think I saw this on Lexi's channel. Oh my god, we've got a map, guys. We've got a map of the house. I love- Doctrines of Magic? Hmm, let me not look at too much. So yeah, this is just the next cozy fantasy on my list. I would love to get this in. We also have Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston. This is the sequel to Amari and the Knight Brothers, which I loved, and I would love to make progress in this series. I haven't put a ton of series stuff on here because I couldn't, like, I couldn't prioritize what I wanted to read. I'm finding it hard with series to prioritize what I'm going to get around to soon. I need to do a series wipeout video soon because I haven't been making progress for series this year yet. It's not good. But yeah, I loved Amari and the Knight Brothers. We're following Amari, whose brother goes missing in the first book, and she gets sucked into this, like, supernatural investigation bureau that he kind of worked at. It's this supernatural world she never knew existed, and she finds out that she has powers. And yeah, I'm super excited for this next one. They're just a lovely, like, comforting read. I love them. They're such a nice read. So I don't know if this is gonna be a trilogy or more in the series, but I'm really excited. Then two that are wrapped up that I would like to get to. First, we have Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Su Lin Tan. I feel like I need to get to this soon. This is one that literally I feel like everyone has loved who's read it. Everyone has loved. It is the most beautiful book that I own in existence. It is wrapped up. Maybe I'll get it soon and wrapped up. Who knows? But yeah, I just know we've got this venting along, isn't it? We've got the Daughter of the Moon Goddess, and her mother was exiled, and she's, like, trying to get back to her mother, something like that. But I just heard beautiful writing, gorgeous prose. I think the whole duology is- oh yeah, I have the whole duology. I have the second one. I bought the same Fairyloot edition of the second one before I even read the first, because I was just so determined to love this series. But it's a duology, which is, like, should be fairly easy if I start it to finish, she says. That doesn't always work out, but, like, she says. So yeah, hope I'm gonna love that one. And then we have Unraveler by Frances Harding. Now, I love Frances Harding. I read A Skin Full of Shadows last year, and it was, like, a favourite. I am obsessed with her writing and her style. I think it- is it- this is the problem when a book is wrapped up for ages. When I don't look at it, and I don't see it, I forget the plot. But I just love Frances Harding's writing. The first chapter of this, I remember I wasn't gonna buy it. I saw it in Waterstones, like, right when it came out, and I was like, I can wait to get it. I mean, I could have waited to get it, because I haven't read it, you know, quickly. I sat down and I read the first chapter of this, which was all told in this new, you know, what's that, second person terminology? Isn't my strong suit? I was, like, off school quite a lot as a kid, in primary school, and I feel like I missed the lesson where we learn about perspectives. Like, second person, first person, whatever. No, is it third person? I don't even know. I feel like I missed that lesson, and I've never been able to get it in my head, because I didn't get it in The Roots when I was, like, eight. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't lay the foundation for it, and so I've never been able to, like, remember the correct names for perspectives. But it was told in this really interesting way. It was like, if you ever come to this place, beware. Like, it was instructing you how to travel there, and it was just a really interesting perspective. I don't think the rest of the book is written like that, but it just had that magic. It gave me that drama, so. Then I have a few that I would class, I guess, as contemporaries, although maybe these, I don't know if these class, I think on Goodreads, their class is, like, contemporaries, but I don't know if any of them lean more thriller. For these two, we have All the Rage and Some Girls Are by Courteney Summers. These are the two back-fist Courteney Summers that I haven't got around to yet, and I'm really excited to try out both of them. Courteney Summers is one of my favourite authors, we know this. We've talked about this a lot recently. So yeah, I don't know too much about the plots. One, I think, is about a popular girl who starts getting, like, frozen out and accused of bullying, and, like, I don't know. Oh no, gets bullied. I don't know. And then I think this one is about a girl who is sexually assaulted by the sheriff's son, and it's about her speaking up for that, costing her everything. I guess it's, like, a small town, maybe, where, like, everyone turns on her for saying that. So yes, I really am excited to read more Courteney Summers. Then I also put on this list As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow, which, by the way, guys, I think this is, like, one of the highest rated books I've ever seen on Goodreads. It's got such a high rating, especially for a fiction book. Sometimes you get non-fiction that's rated high, but this is, like, I don't even know, I think it's, like, ridiculously high. So we're following Salama, who lives in Syria. She is a pharmacy student. As war breaks out, it's about her and her family, and, I guess, the people around her, and just the human stories of what's happening. I have just heard such wonderful things about this. I think it's going to be heartbreaking, emotional, but I'm really excited to read it and see what I think. I have two categories left. We have non-fiction, which is a pretty big category, and then I also have a few 2023 releases that haven't come out yet or I haven't got my hands on yet. So let's get into the non-fiction first because we have quite a few. First we have In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, which is another book I have just heard wonderful things about. I think it is, like, a semi-autobiographical book about the protagonist's abusive relationship she was in with another woman, and I think it's, like, told through mini essays or, kind of, mini chapters imagining this relationship through different lenses. And this is just another book that I have heard nothing but wonderful things about. It's another, like, super highly rated book, but I've heard it is also, kind of, a difficult read. So it'll be one that I read at the right moment, but I feel like it's one that I need to get around to. Then we have two book of the month books that I haven't gotten around to yet that I really want to. We have Bittersweet, How Sorrow and Longing Makes Us Whole by Susan Cain, and Tell Me Everything, The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krauss. I don't consume a ton of true crime. I don't want you guys to think that. I don't really consume podcasts about true crime, but I'm interested in looking at true crime from, like, an ethical perspective, and I feel like books about true crime often are. So this one, I guess, is, kind of, part memoir and part, kind of, literary true crime. I'm not sure where those divisions blur, but it's about this woman's life as a private investigator, and it's just one that I've been meaning to get around to for ages. It came out about a year ago, so I'm hoping to get around to that, and then also came out about a year ago is Bittersweet. I would just be interested in learning more about this. It's not really a perspective I've ever read a non-fiction about. I know she has another book that was maybe more popular. Yeah, Quiet. I'm really interested in the idea of, like, having space for sadness in your life and the importance of that to then feel happy and, like, appreciate the happy moments. So yeah, really intrigued to read both of those. Then we have Reach for the Stars by Michael Craig. This is, like, it looks like a hefty boy, but, I mean, the font is pretty big and it's, like, all interviews, so I feel like it'll read fairly quickly. This was an archives very kindly sent, and this is all about noughties, nineties and noughties pop, uh, in the UK. You're following Spice Girls, I don't even know, Five, S Club Seven, like, all of these sugar babes. It's camp! It's camp! I don't know what to tell you! He's interviewed all these people who are pretty key, like, managers, artists, from this time, and I just think, like, if you, like, brick pop, oh my god, iconic Girls Aloud. Were Girls Aloud this era? They might have been a bit later than 2006. Oh, Steps, we've got Steps! So yes, I am so intrigued. I've never seen a book about this topic and I would love to learn more, so definitely excited for that. And then my final one is Agatha Christie, A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley. I did a video, which is one of my favourite videos I've ever done, and it's, like, noughties, so if you want to go watch it, I did a video about when Agatha Christie disappeared and the true story behind what happened. It's one of my favourite videos I've ever done, so I'll leave a link down below, please check it out if you haven't seen it already. But I consulted this book a lot, I read the chapters about, like, leading up to and about her disappearance, and it was so helpful. I think Lucy Worsley is an incredible historian and I feel like she really gets to the heart of who Agatha is, and I was reading about how a lot of Agatha's biographers before this are men, and I don't think they always had the most sympathetic lens to certain things, and I don't know, I just love the way this is written. It was written so, um, that's what I'm looking for. Like, it's so accessible, you know? It wasn't, like, highbrow, but it was really getting to the meat of what truly happened and the truth behind Agatha's relationships and feelings, and I just loved it. I was obsessed with the little chunk that I read, I may have read maybe 60 pages of it already, so I'll leave it a little while, and then I will read the whole book. Um, but yeah, I'm excited to learn more about the whole of Agatha's life, because I don't know a ton about it. And then let's quickly chat about the 2023 releases that I either don't own yet, or haven't got my hands on yet. Uh, we have, we have five here. We have The Once and Future Sex by, I can't, I didn't write the authors down for any of these, Eleanor someone? You'll see it here. Uh, this is all about women in medieval history. Women. And the truth behind women in medieval history, and about how a lot of our perceptions of what women's roles were at this time, and famous women from this historical period, don't match up. A lot of the that we know were like strong, headstrong, cutthroat, ruthless, and the idea of women for that time period doesn't necessarily match up with that. So I'm really intrigued to read this, I love the cover, this is definitely one of the non-fictions I want to get my hands on most. Then I only wrote Vera Wong's Unsolicited. Is it advice for murderers? I can't remember, but it's... I have seen a lot of people reading this lately, I need to get my hands on it. The paperback, it's only out in paperback in the UK, it's like five pounds, so like I need to just get it. Like, how often do you spend five pound without thinking about it? I need to just get it. But yeah, I've heard such good things, I think on Goodreads, I mean it's only just come out but it's got like a 4.5 average rating, it's got like a high average rating. And we're following this grandma who discovers a body in her restaurant, I believe she like walks in and there's like a dead body in her restaurant that's been murdered, and I think she decided to like, instead of like calling the police, investigate it for herself. So I decided to go and investigate it. So yes, super excited for this one. Then we have Death of a Bookseller. This is, I think, kind of like a thriller about these two people who work in this bookshop and I believe it's like these tensions and insidiousness between them and one of them starts acting weird and maybe like wants to kill the other one, I don't know. I've heard this one is a bit more like literary than other thrillers, you know, it's a bit more of like a highbrow thriller. But I've heard good things from people who have read it and I think it's a very different book and it's one that I think is getting a big push here in the UK in terms of publishing. So I'm intrigued to see what I think of this one. We also have The Golden Spoon, which all I'm going to tell you is that that it is Great British Bake Off meets Madder Mystery. This one hasn't had the best reviews, it's got like a 3.5 average rating already. I don't think it's going to be highbrow, but I did just place an order for this. It doesn't come out in the UK until like September, so I just placed an order on Book Depository, RIP, and before it, you know, goes extinct, to get this. So I just have ordered this one. This is Great British Bake Off meets Madder Mystery. I'm getting excited just thinking about it. Like, listen, it's not- I'm not expecting highbrow from this, I'm expecting camp, fun, silly. That's what I want from it, that's what we're hoping for. So yeah, it hasn't had the best reviews, but I feel like I might love it. And then finally, on I guess a similar note, we have Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. Ali Hazelwood is my favourite romance author to ever exist. I love her. Yeah, this is her next book that's coming out this year, and I just- I'm gonna read it. I'm gonna read it. I love Ali Hazelwood. I love her. Again, like, I recognise her books aren't the best written romance ever. They're fan fiction, I say this every time, and I loved fan fiction when I was a kid. You know, I read- I grew up reading fan fiction, and so that's what I want. That's what I want, it seems. This is another fake dating one, which surprises me that she's doing that so soon after Love Hypothesis, but maybe she wants to kind of recapture the success of Love Hypothesis? I don't know. But, um, let me act as if I can see, like, the inner motivations for Ali Hazelwood. But I don't need to know the plot. I just know Ali Hazelwood romance. There's the cover. Doesn't it look cute? That's all we need to know. So there we have it. That is the 24 books I'm hoping to read before I turn 24 at the end of January next year. I always feel like when I make this list, I'm absolutely gonna do this. Like, I'm absolutely gonna read all of them. Like, how could I not? And then I proceed to not. Like I say, always hoping for at least half. If we get over half, it's a win. It's a dub if we get over half. So let me know how you think I'm gonna do, how many of these you think I'm gonna read down below. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you got to the end of the video, comment, is there a spoon emoji? I don't know why there would be, but if there is, I'll look it up. But if I've left this in it because there is a spoon emoji. If you got to the end, comment a spoon emoji down below for the golden spoon. Thank you guys so much for watching, and I'll see you very soon in another video.