Reading
What I read in January
I know I’m a bit late to the party with these, because January is finally over after 743 days, but hey, who wouldn’t like some book recommendations no matter the season?
Over the years I’ve come to despise this ‘New year, New me’ mindset. Why wait for the new year to come in order to change something? We spend so much time of our lives waiting anyway (waiting for the popcorn to pop, waiting for that cake to cool before digging in, waiting for the new season of your favourite TV series, ugh…), so why don’t we just dive into the new? Why wait?
Still, one thing I’ve decided to change is to stop postponing things. Just get to whatever needs to be done immediately or at least as soon as possible, so that you don’t think about it any longer. Why am I telling you all of this, you ask. What does it have to do with what I read in the first month of 2021? Well, for starters, I’ve decided to finally go through my never-ending list of TBR titles and read each and every one of them before buying new books.
I know. Tempting and challenging. Every booklover’s dream and goal. Why is this so hard to achieve though? Why don’t we know of anyone who has ever read their entire pile of TBR books? It’s because there’s so much choice, so many new books published every month, every day, that we are just over saturated with published content (imagine all the newspapers and magazines included) that we need to tackle. According to the latest study from the International Publishers Association (IPA), UK released 188,000 titles both from the trade and the educational sector. This equates to 2,836 titles per million inhabitants! And that’s the figure for only one year, not to mention all the classics that have been around for more. How can anyone read all these books?! There’s no time to loose! Let’s get started.
So without further ado, that’s what I was reading in January. It is not a lot, as I’m a slow reader and because I was working on my blog all day, every day. Also, considering the length of the books I couldn’t sneak more in, but it was a good start of the year anyway.
The Abyss Within: the horror anthology published by SmashBear Publishing that I reviewed on my blog a few days ago. I’m always up for a spooky read, so I was very grateful to be included in their book tour. You can read my whole review here.
The Bookseller’s Tale: this one was a bit challenging at times because of all the names and all the information included, but I still liked it. It is nothing like the charming and heart-warming books about bookshops which became so popular in the recent years, it felt a bit more pretentious because of the way of writing. It’s more like a collection of all things bookish: booksellers, bookshops, readers, writers and shows a little bit of history, some cultural insights and most of all, a love for books.
The Little Book of Hygge: this one I finished in a day or so, it was a nice distraction and an informative read (if not a bit repetitive maybe?). I’m a big fan of winter, cake, candles (extra points if homemade) and blankets… Wait. Did I just describe the perfect setting for a hyggeligt night in? I think I did. Yeah, it was a cosy little read describing the essence of one of the cosiest concepts.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January: some parts were great and I wanted to read on and see what happens but other chapters were dragging too much. The ending was nice and my final verdict is that it’s a good read overall.
Where the Crawdads Sing: I finally managed to read it after sooo many recommendations literally everywhere, across all my social media channels. But it is worth the hype, 100%. It is a beautifully written story, very painful at times but also incredibly inspiring. I enjoyed every second of it.
I will be posting full-length reviews for each book in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.
What did you read in January and did you like it? Let me know in the comments section below.
In case you need me… #owlbeereading!
