"We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch..."

Maybe "The Ghost Map" by Steven Johnson, about cholera and public health in mid-19th-century London?

Seconding "The Scar." It's technically a sequel to "Perdido Street Station," but it's not necessary to read one, in order to follow the plot of the other.

Few hundred books, I'm not sure exactly. The biggest category is science/nature, but I've got a decent sized collection of genre fiction (mystery, fantasy) and some "classics" that I probably won't reread but like to keep handy.

My only definite resolution for 2023 is to get through some of the unread book-hoard piled on my desk at home >_>

For Western mysteries, I like Tony Hillerman and Craig Johnson better than C.J. Box. (There's also the Arapaho mysteries by Margaret Coel, but I've only read the first book and I thought it was middle-of-the-pack.)

Johnson's first book, "The Cold Dish," is really good, although it goes to some dark places. For Hillerman, I'd recommend starting with "Dance Hall of the Dead."

"The Children of Hurin" and "The Fall of Gondolin" are expanded versions of shorter stories within the Silmarillion. I would definitely recommend "Hurin," but "Gondolin" is a little disjointed because Tolkien wrote several versions of different length and style, and Christopher wasn't able to make them into a unified whole before he died.

Also, if you find the Silmarillion to be a slog (the early chapters definitely are), there's a read-along series on the Tor website that clarifies a lot of things. (Tons of spoilers in those articles, obviously.)

Copper Sun (Sharon Draper)

Agreed :)