TTT: 10 Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021

I’m not going to lie. I am only truly anticipating two releases for this entire year. The first is The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers. She’s my favourite author, and this will be her last book in the Wayfarers series. I’ve ordered it from the UK just so that I can get a signed first edition. I love that you can pick up any of the books in the series and get a complete story without feeling like you are missing out on anything, but if you read all of them her incredible universe becomes so much richer. I’ll be rereading all of the earlier books in the next couple of months to prep for this one. It’s my tradition whenever she releases a new book, and each time I learn something new.

Synopsis: With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.

At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.

When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.

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Next up we have Broken by Jenny Lawson. This is the first time that one of her books is going to be released and I won’t get to go to a signing. She’s such a wonderfully relatable person. I have been following her rise from simple blogger to acclaimed author to bookstore owner for years, and she continues to be someone who is completely authentic in her writing. She doesn’t shy away from the hard topics.

Synopsis: As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. In Broken, she explores her experimental treatment of transcranial magnetic stimulation with brutal honesty. But also with brutal humor. Jenny discusses the frustration of dealing with her insurance company in “An Open Letter to My Insurance Company,” which should be an anthem for anyone who has ever had to call their insurance company to try and get a claim covered. She tackles such timelessly debated questions as “How do dogs know they have penises?” We see how her vacuum cleaner almost set her house on fire, how she was attacked by three bears, business ideas she wants to pitch to Shark Tank, and why she can never go back to the post office. Of course, Jenny’s long-suffering husband Victor―the Ricky to Jenny’s Lucille Ball―is present throughout.

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Honourable Mentions

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What’s the one book that you are dying to read this year?

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a new Top Ten list for anyone to answer. Just add a link to them on your post, and add your name to the weekly linky!