January 2021 has flown by and I hope that you have a good start to the year. Ariel and I gave some good thought to our reading practices, individually and together, and I am thrilled to say that this first month of the year has been a good one for us. In this post, we will share our updates for the month! Let’s get started.
Kriti’s Selection
The first of January was the start of many fantastic reads for me. I always try to take the last day of the year off and do something other than reading so it was a good exercise to look through my library holds and ARC commitments and figure out what I would do this month. Below are the books I completed.A slideshow of all my reviews and reading experiences can be found at the end of the list.
- Cress by Marissa Meyer – Science Fiction – Discussion with Meisha and Instagram
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah – Historical Fiction – Discussion with Charlie (first Peaches Book Club!) and review on Instagram
- Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano – Literary Fiction – Review on Armed with A Book and Instagram
- Dark Matter by Michelle Paver – Paranormal Realistic Fiction – Review on Armed with A Book and Instagram
- Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie – Historical Fiction – Discussion with Ariel and Instagram
- The Children’s Train by Viola Ardone – Historical Fiction – Review on Armed with A Book and Instagram
- The Swap by Robyn Harding – Thriller – Review coming on February 5th. Staged on Instagram with Fiona.
Summary:
I want to read more classics and longer, thought provoking books this year. Longer books mean more time spent reading which means it is important to use more than just a number to symbolize reading for the month. Here are some others I made significant progress on:
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas – This buddy read with Kelly has been super immersive so far. We are posting our discussions for each part and you can find the first one here.
- The Councillor by E J Beaton – This is my first time reading a Fantasy court drama and I am really enjoying it. Should have it done today, but review will be closer to publication date in early March.
- Winter by Marissa Meyer – The last of the Lunar Chronicles, Meisha and I started reading it but things happened and we have decided to regroup and start afresh.
Between all this, I am also proud to say that I posted every alternate day on the blog and it has been so much fun to bring reviews to such a variety of books to you all!
Number of library books: 4/7
Review copies: 1/7
Buddy Reads: 3/7
Owned Books: 1/7
February will fly by and I am looking forward to all the books I will read with friends and by myself.
Ariel’s Selection for January 2021
This month has been exciting to start off our buddy read, Midnight’s Children, along with our respective horrors for our Horror-a-Month challenge. I looked forward to our mini reading sprints to get through our spooky horrors, and that made the start of our reading challenge a lot of fun! That was definitely the highlight of my reading month.
General Stats:
Physical Books/Ebooks: 8
Audiobooks: 6
Graphic Novels: 1
Buddy reads: 3
Netgalley: 2
Storygraph Stats:
Most Common Mood: Reflective
Most Common Pace: Medium
Most Common Length: Between 300-500 pages
Average Rating: 4.38 stars
Summary:
I appreciate that Storygraph tells me what mood of the books are most frequent in my reading. Reflective is a really great way to put it: I read a couple memoirs (All Boys Aren’t Blue and Heartberries), a nonfiction essay collection (The Undocumented Americans), and some important and meaningful YA fiction (Concrete Rose and Felix Ever After). These books all challenged me to pause and reflect throughout my reading, making for an excellent month of reading.
What did you read in January 2021? Tell us some of your favorites so far!
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