January 2026 Wrap-Up

Well, well, well, here we are with the first monthly wrap-up of the year! Of course my plans to get back into the blogging groove failed immediately but, oh well, we have another 11 months to keep trying lol. Let’s see how the 549208 days of January went, shall we?

What I read…

I am over the moon that I finally read The House in the Cerulean Sea! This book had been on my TBR literally for years, but I had always been a little bit scared in picking it up due to the hype that surrounds it. But I’m so happy to report that I needn’t have worried, because it was everything I could have hoped for. It was also the perfect book to keep me company while I was stuck in bed with the flu.

I also read my second Stephen King with Carrie, which had been highly recommended by my brother for years (if you’re reading, I hope you’re happy now!). I enjoyed it well enough – the man sure can write! – but I wouldn’t say I was blown away by it. I am curious to check out some of his other books as well at some point. If you’re a Stephen King fan, hit me up with recommendations!

I’m trying to include a few non-fiction books in my reading as well. This month’s choice was Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, which was recommended to me by another coach. I can’t say I was very impressed by this to be honest… yes, there are some interesting exercises and insights, but also a whole lot of pseudoscience that I just can’t get behind. So a very mixed bag as far as I’m concerned, and not necessarily a book I would recommend.

Last but not least, I read Hive, which had also been languishing on my shelf for months, in preparation for the blog tour for the sequel in February. I’m not usually a sci-fi fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I’ll have a fuller review come out nearer the blog tour, but I’m definitely looking forward to continuing the story with the next book.

What I added to my shelves…

Bought

Apeirogon by Colum McCann
Ventre Sepolto by Aliyeh Ataei
Il figlio del sottosuolo (The Underground) by Hamid Ismailov

For Review

Homebound by Portia Elan – publication expected May 2026
Trip to the Moon by John Yorke – published January 2026
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett – publication expected February 2026
Jump by D.L. Orton – published November 2025

What I’m reading…

I jumped straight into Jump as soon as I finished Hive. I love it when book mail with the second book in the series arrives just as I’m finishing the first one! I’m trying to be somewhat organised and get it read well ahead of my blog tour spot so I have plenty of time to write my review.

I’m also listening to David Copperfield on audiobook. I’d tried reading this once before and it had the honour of being one of the few books I ever DNF’d. But it was the first choice for an online book club I’m trying to follow, so I decided to give it another try. So far, I have to say that audiobook narration lends itself particularly well to this book and I’m enjoying it a bit more than last time. It’s super long though, so I foresee fatigue setting in at some point (quite possibly over the half-way mark like last time). We’ll see!