hello, dear friends! i hope you’ve been having a lovely 2024 so far! january is always a weird month for me; there’s the promise of new beginnings, fresh starts and blank pages, and also an unhappy anniversary. i feel like every january, i dive in headfirst and my goals with a lot of energy and get burnt out by the end of the year. i’ve been trying to pace myself better, and work at my goals while maintaining what’s most important: having fun. reading is a hobby, not a chore, and bookstagram + book blogging should not be a secondary (or tertiary) job.Â
january was, all things considered, a pretty chill month. i spent a good portion of the first half of the month getting over whatever plague i had in december (i truly, truly think, that if i was up against a victorian child, the victorian child would win over my immune system). this month, i finally joined the world of storygraph — but am also continuing to track my reads on goodreads, in my tumblr reading thread, my google sheet reading tracker, and my hobonichi. i also spent a lot of time in january being crafty; partially because i’ve taken up hobonichi-ing, but also because i’ve been spending a lot of time embroidering, and also making bracelets in preparation for the eras tour in december!
in terms of reading, i’ve had a pretty good reading month! i’m starting to get in the habit of reading an arc or a gifted read at least once a week, as well as listening to an audiobook a week. this month, i’ve found a couple of four or five star reads, and have found a couple of new favorites! i particularly loved my reread of check please by ngozi ukazu, which i thought was really fun to do now that i have more of an understanding of hockey and was quite comforting. i loved celeste ng’s everything i never told you, and will be revisiting it to annotate at some point. i also caught up on two gifted reads that i definitely should’ve read earlier because i loved them both: forgive me not by jennifer baker and the summer of bitter and sweet by jen ferguson. and i read two absolutely delightful romances — the lily of ludgate hill by mimi matthews and last call at the local by sarah grunder ruiz — that i just adored!
here’s a list of everything i read this month:
1) beach read by emily henry (reread)
2) on palestine by noam chomsky & ilan pappé
3) valley verified by kyla zhao (gifted)
4) the wind at my back: resilience, grace, and other gifts from my mentor, raven wilkinson by misty copeland & susan fales-hill (gifted)
5) check please: year one by ngozi ukazu (reread)
6) check please: year two by ngozi ukazu (reread)
7) check please: year three by ngozi ukazu (reread)
8) check please: year four by ngozi ukazu (reread)
9) raiders of the lost heart by jo segura (gifted)
10) the frame–up by gwenda bond (arc)
11) everything i never told you by celeste ng
12) forgive me not by jennifer baker (gifted)
13) ever after always by chloe liese (gifted)
14) the summer of bitter and sweet by jen ferguson (gifted)
15) the lily of ludgate hill by mimi matthews (gifted)
16) last call at the local by sarah grunder ruiz (gifted)
17) the sun and the void by gabriela romero-lacruz (gifted)
18) a line in the dark by malinda lo (gifted)
19) biting the hand: growing up asian in black and white america by julia lee (gifted)
20) play it as it lays by joan didion
posts i loved reading:
- maisie is one of my dear friends over on bookstagram, and i’m so glad she’s joined us over in the blogosphere too! she’s one of a select few people whose judgment i trust implicitly; if maisie loved a book, i know i’ll most likely love it too. trust that my TBR has expanded significantly after reading maisie’s comprehensive guide to maisie’s favorites shelf.
- i haven’t been super in the loop with bookish news lately, and have missed out on a ton of upcoming releases — especially young adult ones! 24hryabookblog’s list of upcoming 2024 releases by authors of color was super helpful in helping me get caught up + adding to my neverending TBR list!
- cherelle is one of my favorite bloggers, and i love seeing her thoughts on any + every platform. i loved reading her top 10 books of 2023 roundup, as well as her insta post — a warm welcome back to bookstagram, cherelle!
- my dearest, loveliest friend, jamie has joined us over on bookstagram, so of course, i have to give her a little shout out! send jamie all your love <3 !!
i’ll be doing a little bit of traveling in february, but i’m hoping to actually finish rereading the starless sea and annotating it! i’ve made a lot of good progress with getting caught up on some gifted reads this month, but haven’t really touched my pile of arcs, so i’m hoping to do that as well.
