January is my least favourite month of the year and I’m so glad that it’s over. While it’s no longer than many other months, it always feels like it to me. It is at least a month for hiding indoors (preferably with books!), away from the cold and dreary weather and the long nights. I’m now starting to notice a gradual lightening in the evenings which I always take as a positive sign and something which immediately starts to improve my mood.
I read eight books this month. This is a little lower than usual for me, although it did include a couple of chunkier volumes and was about average in terms of the number of pages read. Despite my best intentions, blogging has taken something of a backseat again as life keeps rudely interrupting. Nothing serious, just demands on my time that mean that I haven’t been able to review or post as frequently as I would like. Hopefully, I can start to pick up the pace a little in February.
Books Read and Reviewed
- Read in January:
- Death’s End by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu)
- Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
- Babel by R. F. Kuang
- The Ancient Guide to Modern Life by Natalie Haynes
- The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Ghost by Robert Harris
- Saha by Cho Nam-Joo (translated by Jamie Chang)
My Favourite Books This Month
Other Blog Posts
I also posted by round up of 2022, and some of the books that I’m particularly looking forward to in January to March this year.
Books Acquired
I made the (surprisingly difficult) decision at the end of last year to move away from blog tours so that I can focus on my own books and being able to read without the pressure of reading and reviewing a book by a certain date. As such, I expect that I’ll receive far fewer ARCs that I used to.
Having said that, Atlantic Books invited me to read Kala by Colin Walsh via Netgalley, and I couldn’t resist!
I also purchased an extremely modest six titles:
TBR Watch
Progress! 😂
- Books out = 8 read + 1 DNF* = 9
- Books in = 1 ARC + 6 purchases = 7
- Gives a reduction of 2 in my TBR!
*I may come back to the DNF at a later date, but for now it has been removed from my TBR.
Jo's Book Blog 
Looks like a good month Jo! I’m so glad you enjoyed The Ghost. x
Thanks, Nicki x
Looks like you had good reading month. I also wish I pick up pace Feb. I wish to get Babel someday.
Thanks, Yesha. After various reading slumps last year, it felt nice to get off to a good start! And Babel is superb – highly recommend making the time for it if you can x