Welcome to 12 Months of Reading! Each month in 2024, I will host a different reading challenge category. These categories are broad, and, chances are, whatever you’re reading may fit in them.
Before you latch on to the word “fantastic” and think you have to choose a fantasy book, you don’t.
For this final month of 2024, I want you to dig deep and think what makes a book fantastic … to YOU! Perhaps it takes dragons for you to use that word, but perhaps not. What is it about a book that makes you clutch it to your chest, lingering on its whispers, after you close the back cover?
I’m sharing four recommendations that reside on my heart’s bookshelf because they are too fantastic to let go.
First up: my favorite book of all time by my favorite author of all time is The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fall headfirst into the genius of Tolkien’s mind as he presents a history of all the peoples and lands of Middle Earth in this masterpiece of world-building. Choose from paperback, hardcover or this stunning illustrated edition, all from bookshop.org.
Get swept away to the early days of Christianity in this tragic story of love, faith and hope. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz is a classic that every fan of historical fiction—Christian or not—should read. Buy this beautiful copy from bookshop.org.
Follow the hearts of the characters in The Beauty Thief by my dear friend Rachael Ritchey in an adventure for the ages that will transform your view of what beauty truly is. Begin her Chronicles of the Twelve Realms series with this first book from bookshop.org. Or, get this gorgeous illustrated and abridged picture book version to share with younger readers in your life.
Believe in the magic of a mystical island surrounded by man-eating horses and root for your favorite rider in The Scorpio Races by the incredibly talented Maggie Stiefvater. You will never begin the eleventh month the same after reading her chilling opening line, “It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.” Find your personal copy on bookshop.org.
Whether you read one of my recommendations or come up with your own, I’d love to hear about it! Drop a comment below to let me know what you’re reading. Mark your calendar for December 5 and plan to join my virtual LAM Book Club to share your choice with fellow readers.
(If you use the bookshop.org links above to order, I receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me and independent bookstores by using them for your online bookstore purchases!)
Tap the image above to download each month’s graphic. Share on your social media with #ShareTheRead and #12MonthsOfReading and tag @joyerancatore!
Tap the graphic above to join LAM Book Club for an extra way to #ShareTheRead with fellow readers! No set book. Meet virtually once a month. Share what you’re reading or ask for recommendations.