The Looking Forward Challenge
Last year I did a series of eight Looking Forward posts where I looked back at old reviews which I finished by saying something along the lines of “I’ll be looking forward to reading more of her work/this series/his books in the future” to see if I actually did read more and, if I did, did I like the ones I looked forward to as much as the ones that made me look forward to them. My success rate at following up on these authors was higher than I anticipated, but there were some that had slipped through the net completely or who still have books I haven’t read and would like to. In some cases I’d actually bought the relevant book or books and then left them lingering unread in the dark recesses of the TBR, sometimes for years.
It seems a bit pointless to do the Looking Forward posts unless it actually inspires me to finally fill those gaps, so over the last few months I’ve been trying to fit some of them into my reading schedule. However, since challenges always motivate me, I decided to create a little challenge to read a book from each of the remaining authors in 2023 – that is, those authors who featured on a Looking Forward post in 2022 as having slipped through the net and/or whose books are still stuck on my TBR.
Turns out there are fourteen of them, and I already have books from ten of them on my TBR. Here they are, in no particular order, with the books I’m planning to read. The links on the book titles will take you to Goodreads if you want to find out more about them…
Gillian White – Refuge
Jane Casey – The Close
Johan Theorin – The Darkest Room
Tom Vowler – Every Seventh Wave
RJ Ellory – City of Lies
Hari Kunzru – The Impressionist
Lexie Conyngham – A Knife in Darkness
Camilla Läckberg – The Preacher
Yrsa Sigurdardottir – Last Rituals
Douglas Watt – Death of a Chief
Colm Tóibín – The South
Ken Kalfus – 2 A.M. in Little America
Chris Grabenstein – Tilt-a-Whirl
Jude Morgan – The Taste of Sorrow
I’m planning to do more of the Looking Forward posts this year, so the challenge may turn into a cyclical thing where each year I try to catch up on the books I’ve reminded myself about the year before! Of course the problem is, if I enjoy these books I’ll probably finish my review by saying I’m looking forward to more…
#neverendingtreadmill #toomanybooks #firstworldproblems
Have you read any of the books on my list? Are there authors you’re looking forward to catching up on in 2023?
FictionFan's Book Reviews 
A never ending challenge FF! Sounds great 😀 I have The Impressionist buried in the TBR somewhere so I’m hoping you’ll inspire me to finally dig it out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, most of my challenges feel never-ending, so at least this one is being upfront about it! I have high hopes for The Impressionist – I’ve loved a couple of his later books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great idea for a challenge, FictionFan! And I really like your list. I’ve enjoyed the Grabenstein I’ve read, so I’m hopeful you will, too. Theorin’s another author I liked (quite a different sort of story from Grabenstein’s work, of course!), and I’m looking forward to how you feel about moving forward with his work. Yrsa Sigurðardóttir has done some excellent work, too. I think you’re in store for some good reading experiences!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve got the audiobook version of the Grabenstein – the narrator sounds good on the sample, and gets a lot of praise, so I’m hoping it’ll be fun. I’ve read a few of Theorin’s books and enjoyed them all so I’m feeling confident about that one. Sigurdardottir is more dubious – I think she’s a great writer but sometimes she gets way too gruesome for my taste. I’m hoping this one is at the milder end!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my, an ambitious challenge! I wish you the best of luck with that (and no, I don’t think I could do it).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you – I’ll need all the luck I can get! 😂
LikeLike
Great new idea for a challenge! I read The South last summer and loved it and vowed to read more Toibin and I’m going to with your recommendation of Norah Webster, thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it may have been you who put The South on my radar, and it might loosely tie in with my SCW challenge (even though it’s finished). Nora Webster is great – I hope you enjoy it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely had more of a ‘feel’ for The South through your SCW reviews!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The joy of book-blogging – we all learn from each other! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
This sounds great! I haven’t read any of these books – in fact I don’t think I’ve read anything by any of these authors – so I look forward to hearing which, if any, I should be adding to my TBR!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I went through a long spate of reading tons of new-to-me authors, which is fun but means I never really caught up with any of their back catalogues! My faves from this list are Jane Casey, Colm Toibin, Hari Kunzru and Ken Kalfus, although I’ve loved at least one book from all fourteen of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This sounds like a great idea – I should probably do something similar myself as there are so many authors I’ve been meaning to read more of and never have! Of the books on your list, I enjoyed The Darkest Room and The Taste of Sorrow but haven’t read any of the others.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got fed up typing “I’ll read more” at the end of every five-star review and then never doing it, so drastic action needed to be taken! 😉 I’m looking forward to both of those, but the joy of this challenge is that I’m actually looking forward to them all!
LikeLike
Oops, I started reading an Yrsa Sigurdardóttir book, not realising it was the last in her Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series beginning with your listed title! Ho hum. Anyway, good luck with your nominated works, it all looks very, er, worthy but I hope also enjoyable. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, I started with her by reading a later one in the series too, and said I’d backtrack to the beginning – that was about eight years ago! Thank you – in theory it should be enjoyable, since I’ve loved at least one book from all these authors in the past. In theory…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your gif game is particularly strong in this post 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m pretty sure my desire to use the Rocky Horror gif is a major part of why I decided to do this challenge… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good luck! I have read six of these authors, although only three of the books on your list.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! The good thing about this challenge is that I’ve loved at least one book from each of these authors in the past, so in theory I should love all these too. In theory… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that you not only created your own challenge, but you made a banner for it, too! I did my own challenge one year, but didn’t think to do anything like that!
Love the Rocky Horror gif. 😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for noticing my banner! I always do a banner for my challenges and no one ever notices them! 😂 I did think of using the Rocky Horror image as my banner, but the gif is so much more fun!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You do like to make life difficultt 😉 Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha, but in theory I should love all these! In theory… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course I wish you luck! I haven’t read any of the books on this list, so I’ll be interested in reading your reviews. It’s nice you’ve set the bar so high….
LikeLike
I haven’t read any of them! I looked at my Amazon list and didn’t see any pre-orders of books for 2023, I thought I had some. Will have to check again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been trying to look ahead a bit more this year to try to find some good new releases, so I have a few on my pre-order list. Might have gone off them by the time they come out though! 😉
LikeLike
What a great idea for a challenge! I dread to think how many I would come up with…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, I know! I’ve only scratched the surface – I think these are all from my first year of blogging back in 2013. There’s probably hundreds more since then… 😂
LikeLike
Nope, haven‘t read any of them. Fingers crossed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! In theory I should love them all since I’ve loved at least one book from each of these authors in the past! In theory… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve read Knife in Darkness and Last Rituals and also books by a number of the other authors. I have Every Seventh Wave already highlighted on my list after reading What Lies Within a few years back on your recommendation, and also have The Impressionist and 2A.M. in Little America waiting (I did finally read, and appreciate, Equilateral!). Of the unfamiliar authors, I’m particularly interested in Death of a Chief and Taste of Sorrow. Happy reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s crazy that I haven’t read the Kalfus and the Kunzru since I love both authors, and loads of the others appeal more to me than a lot of the random new releases I spend time on. So glad to hear you enjoyed Equilateral! I was thinking I might need to do a re-reading challenge of some kind, and it would be high on the list! Not sure I can cope with another challenge though… 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I’ve read ‘The Preacher'(?) and other books from three other authors on your list, but not the specific book you’ll be reading. I was wondering last year if you were going to circle back to follow-ups you’d missed out on…🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some of these are the author’s first or least well-known, because I’ve already read their most recent ones. Ha, yes, I soon realised that it was a bit pointless reminding myself of all these authors if it didn’t make me finally read their books! In theory the fact that I’ve previously liked them should mean this challenge produces a high success rate…
LikeLike
I haven’t read any of these! Feeling woefully behind in my own reading. Kudos to you and your aspirations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s an impossible task really to keep up with all the authors we’ve enjoyed in the past, but at least this challenge should make a dent in my list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello FictionFan,
I will definitely wish you good luck!
And for instance The Taste of Sorrow piqued
my curiosity.
Raven
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Raven! I loved Jude Morgan’s novel about Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway – such a lovely writer! So I have high hopes for The Taste of Sorrow, and several bloggers I trust have recommended it. 😀
LikeLike
Great idea for a challenge! I have faith in you. Just be sure to get well stocked up on chocolate! 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, after all these challenges it’s quite likely they’ll be declaring a national chocolate famine in Scotland – I think I’ve bought it all! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent idea! Good luck!
LikeLike
Hmm Camilla Lackberg sounds familiar, although I seem to recall you hating one of her books, so maybe I’m wrong about this? I think I had The Gilded Cage on my bookshelf by her for awhile, but I never ended up getting around to it so I gave it away. This is a long rambling way of saying – I’m curious if you enjoy her next book that you read! Very good idea for a challenge too…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, I did indeed, and it was The Gilded Cage I hated! Soft porn, basically! However, her earlier crime novels were good and I had this one already long before I tried to read The Gilded Cage. I’d be very hesitant about acquiring any of her new books though…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow, I’m impressed I remembered that! haha glad I gave away that book now…
LikeLiked by 1 person
A very wise decision! 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A great idea to hold yourself to account! I have a habit of saying “I’d read the next book by this author” but I choose to ignore that! Have fun …
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was actually surprised to find that I had followed up on a lot of the authors – more than I expected, anyway! But plenty more had slipped through the net, so this challenge should help to put them back on my radar!
LikeLike