The month that was… January 2026

There’s a prevailing view that January drags its heels, but I’ve not felt that this year – it’s been a quieter month than most, and cold wet weather aside, I’ve enjoyed having some downtime. That said, my OH and I were gifted a murder mystery dinner for Christmas and we had an entertaining evening trying to suss out whodunnit. It was a lot of fun, and we won! I’m not sure if that was beginner’s luck or the armchair sleuthing paying dividends, but I’ll soon get to find out, as the prize was two tickets to another murder mystery evening! 🕵️‍♀️

It feels like I should be talking about bookish resolutions and all that shizzle, but to be honest, I don’t really make them. I don’t set a target number of books to read – I know that I read eight or nine books a month depending what else is going on, and that doesn’t really change much. I do always set out to read all of my backlist titles each year, but that’s not so much a resolution as me not wanting to have books sat unread on the shelf for years. The number is a little higher than usual this year though, so that will prove more of a challenge this year than most. To help me keep track, I’m bringing back my summary of books in vs. books out, which you can see below.

Reading wise, it’s been a good month. I read eight books, and I’ve also been better at reviewing than in previous months. Let’s see how long it lasts!