Hello. The end of January is finally here and I want to finish off this first month of 2023 with the way I hope to end most months, a reading wrap up. I honestly can’t remember the last time I wrote wrap ups but I want to try getting back into the habit of writing and posting them at the end of the months so I can keep tabs on my reading and to see if it will motivate me to read more consistently.
As January went, it was rather up and down. I started off really strong, hit a bad reading patch, which also coincided with illness and a bad life/work patch (I might get into that later, who knows), and then it picked back up again when I realised what I was actually in the mood to read. All in all, a typical month for me!
Book and Reading Stats:
Total number of books read: 4
DNFs: 1 (not counted in the total)
Audiobooks: 3
E-books: 0
Physical books: 1
Books Hauled: 3
DNFs
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.
This book was HUGE last year and I really thought I was going to like it with its magic, secret society, and morally grey characters, influencing me to pick up more books described as ‘dark academia’ because, conceptually, they sound appealing. However, I found The Atlas Six very boring, slow and pretentious. It did nothing for me and I wasn’t compelled to pick it up at night to read. It sat on my bedside table for at least a week and it was only after talking to some fellow bloggers in @IShouldReadThat’s discord server, that I decided to DNF it. I’m just rather peeved now because I made a point of picking up the Waterstones special edition of The Atlas Paradox too and obviously now I’m not going to read it, so it was a waste of money and valuable bookshelf space.
Audiobooks
Constable on the Prowl, Around the Village, and Across the Moors by Nicholas Rhea (#2, #3, #4 in the Constable series)
Light-hearted, cosy, funny, James Herriot-style books are definitely the ones that I love the most on audio so I’m glad I stumbled across the Constable series of books again. I read the first one a few years ago as an ebook and loved it for its charm, humour and commentary on 1950s/60s Yorkshire society/community. This time, we’re following a police constable who’s just moved to the small Yorkshire Moors village of Aidensfield (Goathland near York, if anyone wants its real life location) who has to get accustomed, not just to rural policing, but Yorkshire life and the characters who inhabit it. There’s a lot I like about these autobiographical yet fictional memoirs, but one thing is that the author is himself. Nicholas Rhea, is PC Nicholas Rhea and it just brings a little more reality and authenticity to the stories, especially when ITV’s Heartbeat, which was inspired by these books, turns Nick Rhea into Nick Rowan and completely changes his character.
Anyway, enough rambling. They were the perfect audiobook accompaniment to my early January crafting, and I’m definitely going to be carrying on with the series if the next books are available.
Physical Books:
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
At the moment I’m finding that I need to be particular about picking up books I see hyped up online (refer back to The Atlas Six), but clearly not where cosy fantasy books set in a coffee shop run and frequented by a bunch of creatures are concerned. Everyone in Justine @IShouldReadThat’s discord server was talking about this book and I had to see what the fuss was about because I needed a fantasy with absolutely no high stakes or nail-biting drama, and it delivered. And most certainly so, to the extent that I now want nothing more than these type of fantasy books where creatures and magical characters simply want a change in life and to honour an aspect of themselves that they rarely let everyone else see. It also didn’t require a lot of brain power and that in itself made this an absolute joy to read.
Books Hauled:
As I said in my stats above, I hauled three books this month.
I shouldn’t be hauling any books apart from those I previously pre-ordered but a crappy January needed a boost and I’ve been intrigued by the Agatha Christie related books for a while. The biography also gives me the opportunity to finally read something by Lucy Worsley too. She’s one of my favourite contemporary historians and I will watch every BBC history documentary she’s made, so that and a growing fascination into Agatha Christie make it even more interesting. I don’t read a lot of biographies or non-fiction anymore either so it might help me rediscover the kind of factual books I would pick up and read.
Anyway, I think I will end it there. It has taken a lot of motivation to finish writing this post and I don’t want to push it.
What did you read in January?
Do you think your reading year is off to a good start?
As always, thanks for reading and have a brazzle dazzle day!
xx
Turn Another Page 
I actually read a few non-fiction books this month, which is weird for me, haha. But they were good ones! I like how you do your wrap up! Looks like you had a good month!
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Oh thank you. It didn’t feel as if I’d had a good reading month but I suppose I did really. Glad you enjoyed your non-fiction reads ☺️
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Wasn’t Legends & Lattes a treat? That was exactly the pick-me-up I needed when I read it last year, too. (There’s another book in the series coming later this year!)
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I know, I can’t wait for it, and I think from the extra info in the back of my copy it is set in a bookshop too. However, I think it is a November release and it’s a long time to wait for it.
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I know, it’s a while to wait. I think it’s going to be a prequel, and I’m really excited for it.
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