Oh hi, it’s February 5th, and I still can’t stop thinking about all the wonderful books I read in January. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get January right — it’s the first month of the year, a way to kick off my new reading goals, and I always have some books I wanted to read in the previous year but I decide to push them off a bit to guarantee starting January off on the right foot.
This January was no exception. I managed to finish 10 books, which is pretty impressive in pandemic times. I flew through a (really amazing!) series that was 1800+ pages long, and I’m still thinking about it. Plus, my last book of January is a strong contender for adult fiction of the year because, oh man, I may never stop thinking of this cast of characters.
Anyway, scroll down and see what goodness I started my year with, and stay tuned for February and Black History Month.
Books are listed in the order they were read. For more mini-reviews, check out my What I Read tag.
Monthly Stats
- Total Books Read in January: 10 Books
- Total Authors Read in January: 8 Authors
- Total Pages Read: 3,389 Pages
- Total Hours Listened: 24.5 Hours
- Total Books Quit: 0 Books
- Average Days Per Book: 3 Days per Book
- Average Pages Per Day: 109.3 Pages per Day
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Premise: Nora wants to die. But when she takes matters into her own hands, she ends up in a library that is not death but is also not living, and this place gives her the opportunity to fix her past regrets.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: I always have such high expectations for the first book of the new year, and with all the buzz I’ve been hearing about this novel, I expected it to blow me away. What I got instead was a good, slow, thoughtful book about life and death and regret and heartache, and while it got a bit preachy and/or pretentious sometimes, there were some bright moments and I kept reading and dreaming about it all day.
The main problem is that Nora is not super likable or sympathetic, and so it was hard to hope for her. But once she started moving through her lives and doing some growing and evolving, the book got more interesting and, while I think the ending is pretty obvious, I was intrigued and wanted to see how she would get to that end point. A solid start to my year, and one that I think will sit with me for a while.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who has some regrets in their lives. Anyone that enjoys character-driven novels. Anyone looking for a bit of magic.
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Premise: Nahri is doing whatever it takes to survive in Egypt. She works as a healer, although most of her income comes from thievery and conning the masses. Something goes wrong, however, during one of her ceremonies, and she discovers she may not be as… human… as she expected.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Thoughts: I knew January would be a fantasy-filled month, so after finishing my last (more philosophical) book, I wanted to dive into something a bit less heavy and more action-packed. And this book delivered. Once I got the hang of who was what (in large part thanks to the glossary in the back of the book), I absolutely devoured this book. I sat through two high school basketball games and read the whole time.
The best part of this book, the VERY BEST PART, were the two main characters we get to see. Nahri and Ali are two very different people, and it was so intriguing to watch them interact with each other (from each perspective), and getting to see how others felt about them versus we we see in them from their points of view. There were a few times where I was wondering if they were unreliable narrators… if I should believe what I hear from other characters rather than what I saw from their perspective.
From here the rest of the series just keeps getting better and better, with new perspectives and some surprising twists I didn’t see coming. We dive further into the backgrounds of these characters and see their motivations, and man. This series will be one that sticks with me for a long while.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who likes unique, engaging characters. Anyone looking for a beautifully written YA fantasy novel. Anyone who likes intrigue and political movements and spies and magic.
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
Premise: Leena is put on sabbatical from her job for two months to get her life together. She’s devastated, but decides to visit her grandmother, who lives in the country alone after Leena’s grandfather left her. While Leena is visiting, they come up with a crazy plan — to switch lives for the next two months.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: Let me set the record straight on this one… it is not a romance. I guess you could categorize it as women’s fiction, or contemporary fiction, because romance is not the center of this book; personal growth is. It wasn’t until a coworker (who is also listening to this book) pointed it out to me that I realized it, and I think that was why I couldn’t get into it at first — my expectations were different from what I was getting. Once I adjusted my frame for this story, I was sucked right in and began to really enjoy it.
Leena is definitely an enneagram 3 (anyone else type all of the characters they read?). She’s dedicated to work, devastated when she is put on paid leave (#cantrelate), and is determined to always have a project. And her grandmother, who is the true star of the show, is just as focused and engaged. There were points that I audibly laughed out loud, usually because Eileen was being ridiculous and also lovely. She’s definitely a firebrand, and watching their switched lives unfold was just so fun and soothing.
Who Should Read It: Anyone looking for a lighthearted read. Anyone who likes sassy elderly characters. Anyone who wants a happy ending.
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
Premise: Hedy has been a lot of things in her life… but the role she was least expecting was the role she was forced to play out of caution for her Jewish family. She never intended on marrying an older man, and certainly not an arms dealer on the cusp of WWII, but here we are.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Thoughts: Oops I read this in a day. Truly didn’t intend on sitting in my red chair and reading for 12 hours today, but it looks like that’s how my Sunday went. When I tell you this book moves… it moves! The chapters are short and quick, and there was plenty of intrigue and suspense when it came to the plot that I was quite hooked. It does help that I haven’t read a historical fiction novel (WWII, anyway) in a minute, so it sucked me right in.
This book covers a big portion of Hedy’s life, so occasionally the chapters jumped 6 months to a year between check ins. There were sometimes flashbacks to show me how she got out of a particular situation, but more often than not, I was swept along for the ride. It was definitely a different style of book, and one I had to get used to. I thought it may just be that way in the beginning, leading into the main plot line, but no, it continued jumping through her life for the entirety of the book. It was a quick read, and one I was clearly in the mood for, but I’m not sure if I loved that style of storytelling.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who enjoys historical fiction and WWII books. Anyone interested in a unique setting (Austria) and character (Hedy Lamarr, famous 1940s actress, don’t look up her Wikipedia if you plan on reading this book).
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Premise: Piranesi lives in the House with the Statues. He’s mapped the Halls meticulously, and he knows exactly when the tides will be coming in. But when the Other mentions that there may be another person in the House, it sets off a chain reaction that makes Piranesi feel like all may not be what it seems.
Rating: 4 Stars
Thoughts: To be fair, I had a stomach bug for the first few days of reading this, so it was really hard for me to fall into. Well, that, and the use of capitalization like an angry mom on Facebook. Does everything need to be a proper noun, Susanna? It also took a minute to orient myself in this new world. What are Halls? What’s the purpose of the Statues? Who is the Other?
But today (because I read the final 60% of this book in one day), something clicked and the book started moving. There were Revelations and Surprises (see, now I’m doing it…). I’m really fascinated by the role of the House in Piranesi’s life, and I’m also really excited that this was our book for book club this month because I have some Thoughts on how this novel presented reality vs. delusion vs. fantasy. It’s hard to say much about this book without giving away all of the things, so just trust that this short book is a thinker.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who enjoys being a bit challenged. Anyone who likes the lines blurred when they are reading. Anyone who enjoys books that bend reality.
Outlawed by Anna North
Premise: Ada can’t get pregnant. And in a post-flu 1894 world, that can get you divorced or hung for being a witch. When Ada is accused of casting curses on her friend’s child, she runs away, into the arms of a merry band of women and nonbinary folk who can’t find their place in this society either.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Thoughts: It’s hard for me to form coherent thoughts on this novel, and I’ve wavered between three stars and five stars on this one. On one hand, the plot felt like a traditional adventure novel, with bad guys and good guys and bank robberies. On the other, it was unlikely anything I’ve ever read, with the queer twist on Billy the Kid. The world felt both familiar and foreign, and I truly couldn’t put it down.
This book touched on some tough subjects, but I feel like a lot of them were thrown in as a “oh yea and…”. There was a bit of discussion about race, but it felt separate and apart from Ada’s story. LGBTQIA+ persecution was the same way. The representation was there, but the issues were subplots at best. What did shine forward, though, was infertility and the role of women in society. I thought the world that was dreamed up in this novel was… horrific… and maybe it was presented so plainly so as to highlight that horror. I don’t know. On the surface, this book doesn’t feel like anything earth-shattering, but the layers underneath the surface had me thinking about it any time I wasn’t reading it.
Who Should Read It: Anyone in the middle of the baby-having years. Anyone wanting a different sort of book. Anyone who enjoys adventure books.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Premise: Lori Gottlieb is a therapist, but… even therapists need therapists sometime. After her boyfriend walks out of her life, Lori is falling apart and seeks advice from a therapist who gives her insight into her own life.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thoughts: My first 5 star book of 2021! I listened to this one on audio after signing up for a free trial of Audible. And wow I am so glad I did. This book was such an interesting mixture of Lori’s patients’ stories (all of whom I loved), her own story, and information about psychology and why we do what we do. She wove her story so beautifully that I never got tired of any one thing… just as I was getting bored with the psychology, she would switch to a patient, then back to her own life.
There were definitely some trigger warnings here, with suicide, child loss, and cancer, but all of it was handled so beautifully, with a levity that conveyed hope despite the odds. And truly hope… not a manufactured positivity, but an acceptance that shitty things happen and we can survive them (or do the best we can do until we don’t survive them). Lori sits so beautifully with her patients, understanding that what they need may not always be what they originally ask for. I don’t know, man… it just made me so happy to hear these stories and I really wanted more (although the book wrapped up beautifully).
Who Should Read It: Anyone who has seen (or is thinking of seeing) a therapist. Anyone who enjoys masterfully woven memoirs.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Premise: Linus is a social worker for DICOMY, who look after the magical youth. His job is to visit orphanages and make sure the children are getting what they need. But when he does his job *too* well, he is assigned a special case from Extremely Upper Management, and this case will change his views of the world forever.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thoughts: With all the hype around this book, I had high expectations going in. I figured it would have some magical elements and I knew it featured a gay main character, but that was pretty much all I knew about the plot. What I didn’t realize I would be getting with this novel was a lovable curmudgeon, six magical children, and a heartwarming story. (I keep using the word heartwarming to describe this book but like… if ever there were an up-lit book, this would be it.)
Linus’s character is a rule follower, by the book, not one to question anything beyond what he is employed to do. So when he meets Lucy and Talia and Theodore and Sal and the others… he’s forced to question everything he knows about his job. The decision between what is right and what is easy comes up a lot in this novel, and I really can’t stop thinking about these characters. Also, Linus has a feisty cat companion, and if that doesn’t convince you to read this book, I don’t know what will.
Who Should Read It: Anyone who needs a pick-me-up. Anyone who needs an escape. Anyone who loves grumpy characters being befriended by children.
