January 2024 Reading Wrap Up
The first month of 2024 has been a great start to my reading year with a whopping four five-star reads in there! While the blustery weather hasn’t been great for my bank balance thanks to multiple collapsed fences, it has been wonderful for encouraging me to snuggle down with a good book and a furry friend and power through some tough reads.
January Stats:
Total Books Finished: 10
Total Pages Read: 2,437
Total Minutes of Audiobooks Listened To: 534 (8hr 54m)
Formats:
E-Books: 5
Paperbacks: 2
Hardbacks: 2
Audiobooks: 1
Ratings:
5 Star: 4
4 Star: 3
3 Star: 3
2 Star: 0
1 Star: 0
DNF: 0
And now onto the reviews. If you’re interested in buying any of these, please consider doing so using my affiliate’s links below, every purchase helps to support me.
The Cat Who Taught Zen by James Norbury
Adult Spiritual/Philosophical Graphic Novel / 5 Stars / Bought Pre-2024
This was one of several books I picked up in the Waterstones post-Christmas sale. I read James Norbury’s Big Panda and Tiny Dragon: The Journey in 2023 and fell in love with it instantly, so this was an immediate cover buy when I spotted it. The title is somewhat self-explanatory, a wise old cat goes on a journey to visit a tree from which it is told one can learn infinite wisdom. As he goes, he imparts wisdom to those he meets, but does he have even more to learn from them?
Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club (Picked Without Reading the Blurb), Beat the Backlist (Good Vibes Only)
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Classic YA Coming of Age / 4 Stars / Borrowed from Library
My first library read of 2024 was this YA classic that I had never read before. I picked it up to fulfil multiple challenge prompts at once, and also to kickstart my classics reading for the new year. While it didn’t have the impact on me that I’m sure it would have done had I read it in my mid-teens, I can see how the story would have been revolutionary when first published in the 1970s, and how it would still be relevant to teens today, as well as why so many conservative adults still want it banned.
Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club (Author “Everyone” Has Read But Me), Beat the Backlist (Popular throwback), X-Files S4 (Jewish Main Character or Author), Buzzwordathon (Jan - There/Their/They’re)
The Little Book of Hygge by Merik Wiking
Adult Self-Help/Philosophy / 4 Stars / Bought 2nd Hand Pre-2024
My branch of the WI (Women’s Institute) had a hygge evening for our January meeting so I figured that was as good a time as any to pull this down from the shelf. I knew something about hygge - a Danish word that kind of translates as cosiness but encompasses much more - before reading this, but learned a lot from this book. The pictures and slow writing style made the book feel hygge in and of itself, it’s a perfect read for a cold January night curled up in front of the fire, even if your fire comes to you on a screen via YouTube like mine!
Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club (Cover Without People)
Big Rig by Louise Hawes
Middle-Grade Contemporary / 3 Stars / Pre-2024 ARC
This middle-grade ARC was one I received an embarrassingly long time ago as it got swept up into all the books I put to one side when my mum got sick, but I pulled it from my TBR jar in Jan and was glad I finally got around to reading it. The book follows 11-year-old Hannah (callsign Hazmat) who lives on the road with her trucker dad, crisscrossing the USA wherever their next job takes them and having adventures along the way. Hazmat’s dad is concerned that they need to settle down so she can attend a “real” school and fears that his job will soon be made redundant by driverless trucks, but Hazmat is determined to keep their lives just as they are and hatches a plot worthy of Hollywood to do just that. This was a simple, contemporary aimed more at the lower end of middle grade but it was a fun read and an interesting look at trucker life. Thanks to Peachtree Publishing for the ARC.
Reading Challenges: None
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Adult Magical Realism / 3 Stars / Bought 2nd Hand Pre-2024
I spotted this in a charity shop and picked it up simply because it was one of those books that seems to be everywhere right now and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I approached it somewhat warily as I’d been warned it was an emotional read and the premise - a coffee shop that allows you to briefly travel back in time and reconnect with loved ones - bore that out. However, I failed to connect with the story. I do wonder if some of that was due to the translation instead of the writing, it’s hard to know, but I found the characters to be flat and couldn’t get invested. Not a series I plan to continue.
Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club (Magical Realism), Beat the Backlist (Second Chances), X-Files S4 (Involving Time Travel)
OMFG, BEES! By Matt Kracht
Adult Science Humour / 4 Stars / 2024 Edelweiss ARC
One of my 2024 X-Files reading challenge prompts is to read a book about bees. Not having anything on my shelves, I typed “bees” into Edelweiss and simply had to pick this up and read it immediately when it popped up in my search results. OMFG Bees! is both hilarious and informative, and it’s beautifully illustrated too just to add some icing to the cake. I learned so much about bees and laughed out loud multiple times, and I’m determined to make my garden extra bee-friendly this year after having read it. If you’ve heard that bees are important but still aren’t quite sure why, then this is the book for you. Thanks to Abrams and Chronicle via Edelweiss for the ARC.
Reading Challenges: X-Files S4: (A Book About Bees)
Murder Road by Simone St. James
Adult Thriller/Horror / 5 Stars / 2024 NetGalley ARC
I read a Simone St James book (The Sun-Down Motel) as part of Jade the Libra’s Spooky Book Club several years ago, loved it, fully intended to read more, then simply never got around to it. I really can’t understand why because Murder Road is now my second five-star read from this author. It’s full of tension, mystery, and just a sprinkling of the paranormal that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Easily one of my favourite books of the month. Full review to come. Thanks to Berkley via NetGalley for the ARC.
Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club (More than 40 Chapters), X-Files S4 (Related to a Cold Case)
Adventures on the High Teas by Stuart Maconie
Adult Travel Humour / 3 Stars / Bought 2nd Hand Pre-2024
Stuart Maconie is another author whose books I’ve loved in the past and whose backlist I’m trying to work through. Adventures on the High Teas isn’t my favourite of his, but it’s still an interesting and enjoyable stroll through middle England, a look at what makes it tick and what ticks it off. The book was published in 2009 - well before Brexit was even thought of and before the Conservative Party had come into power and started dismantling the country piece by piece under the guise of “austerity” - so reading it now almost feels like travelling back to a more innocent “before” time, and that can be hard to stomach in parts. It’s a stark reminder of how the country can be when not being goaded into xenophobia and hatred, something I hope we can aspire to once again.
Reading Challenges: Beat the Backlist (300-400 Pages)
Two Women Walk into a Bar by Cheryl Strayed
Adult Short Memoir / 5 Stars / Pre-2024 Amazon First Reads
I read this last month so I won’t repeat my review here, just say that this is a great read and to check out my December 2023 wrap-up for more.
Amazon (Free with Prime)
Reading Challenges: None
End of the Hour by Meghan Riordan Jarvis
Adult Memoir/Self Help / 5 Stars / Pre-2024 Libro.fm ARC
I picked this up expecting an interesting book regaling me with poignant, insightful, and even funny stories heard on a therapist’s couch. What I got instead was an incredibly powerful personal tale from a therapist who ended up on the opposite side of the chair after the death of her mother led to a total nervous breakdown that required treatment at a specialist trauma camp. Reading this just months after the loss of my mum made it all the more hard-hitting and there were moments when it came so close to my own memories and emotions that I had to turn it off and walk away. Yet listening was a thoroughly cathartic experience that I’m grateful to have gone through. Thanks to Zibby Books via Libro for the ARC.
Reading Challenges: None