One thing I always love to hear about is initiatives to get people reading books. With all of the social media out there it’s pretty easy to forget that there are entire worlds forged by gifted crafters, and I would hate for people to miss out on that.

So tonight my attention was drawn to this literary treasure hunt taking place in Sudbury Ontario (and I couldn’t help but wish we had some sort of program like this taking place here in Ottawa) thanks to a post on CBC Books. Basically the library is releasing 100 books “into the wild” in the hopes that people find them, read them, review them, and re-release them for others to find. You can map where you found the book, and even leave details on where you’re going to leave the book so someone else can find it. The folks involved go on to say later in the article that technology is changing and that with it libraries also have to change. They mention specifically that libraries have a responsibility to get information out to people, and that they want to “bring these services to you” instead of you having to go to the library in the traditional sense.

I think this forward thinking is great and while it may seem like it’s not enough you have to keep in mind that if it encourages just a small handful of people to either read a new book, or visit their local library, or talk about it to someone else then the program has succeeded. Whether it is cost or time effective isn’t for me to decide, but I’m glad there are still people out there trying these things and inspiring people to read.

We all have our favorite types of entertainment, be they movies, a TV series, or books. I will be the first to admit that my patience is pretty much zip when it comes to waiting for a new book to read from a favorite author, and I know the authors must (at times) feel a bit pressured by their fans to put out the next publication. They’ll release when they’re ready, and I’m OK with that. So what am I most looking forward to this year?

The republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch is probably at the top of that list and yes, I’m impatient. I devoured the first two books in the Gentleman Bastard series and can hardly believe that there’s already a schedule up for seven total books. These books are comforting and familiar, an epic battle and good ‘ol fashioned fantasy with a twist of some Oceans 11 in there to keep it all up to date and relevant. I can’t wait.

Next on my looking forward to list has got to be Emperor of Thorns, also a third book in a series. This one is by Mark Lawrence, and while an initial glance at the book may put it out of my comfort zone, I just could not help but fall in love with the writing style. The characters are dark, the entire book is incredibly messed up – but in such a good way and written so well that it was one of those page turners that only come along maybe once or twice a year for me (and I do a lot of reading, so that is saying something). Highly recommended if you’ve never read the first two books.

Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb actually already released back in April of this year, but it was one I had been looking forward to for quite some time – although the book did fall short of my expectations it was still a great series, and I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s a traditional fantasy book with dragons and memorable characters (even though some of them are quite annoying).

My final book is The Daylight War by Beter V. Brett – and this book also released in February of this year but I haven’t found the time to get to it quite yet. It’s also another “3rd” in a series, what’s up with that? 2013 is apparently the year of the threes. Again this is a series with really memorable characters (for me at least) and fantastic world building, two key elements in any book that I enjoy a huge amount.

There are (of course) other books releasing that I’m looking forward to – however these books are not releasing in 2013 and so I’ve left them off of my list. They include books like The Doors of Stone by Patrick Rothfuss, and The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin (no release date yet, but estimating somewhere around 2015). At least it gives me something to look forward to though! What books are you most looking forward to? Let me know in comments!