December was a good reading month for me, but I spent the first half or so focusing on trying to get through David Copperfield, and that slower reading, combined with several not-so-great books sprinkled through December, has put me into a bit of a reading slump as I head into January. I’m happy with what I read in December, though; I got several more books off my TBR shelf, so that was great!
December reads:
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I’m hoping for some great reads in January, not just okay/somewhat good. I am excited about some of the reading challenges I’ll be participating in this year, so that’s good—hopefully, they’ll guide me to some books I can really get into and enjoy again!
Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:
The prompt this month is “pretty,” and honestly, probably about half of the covers on this TBR list would fit that description in one way or another. I decided to go with The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox (a carry-over from December’s TBR) because I think this cover is GORGEOUS!
A Year of Maud:
I am super excited about having the chance (okay, more motivation) to get through all of the Anne series this year! This read-along starts the year by reading Anne of Green Gables. I’m about 50 pages into it now, and I love the story even more than when I heard it read aloud!
5 x 5 Reading Challenge:
A book that teaches me something: I hope to get through some of my so-far unread writing books this year with this prompt. For January and February, I plan to read Focused Backstory by Carol Alwood.
Published in the 1970s: The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. I needed this book for the next reading challenge anyway, so I was thrilled to see that this was first published in 1978!
Brighter Winter Reading Program:
Two books by the same author: Lyddie and The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. We’ve had both of these for quite a while but never read either; I thought it was about time to find out if they’re worth having on the shelf or not!
A book set in Asia: I was tempted to choose Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze for this prompt, but then I saw that we had Ho-Ming, Girl of New China, by the same author, and I’ve never read that book before. So I’m looking forward to this story—I hope it will be as good as Young Fu!
A book published in 2024: We don’t have many of these on the shelf, but Heavenly Rescues & Answered Prayers by Andrea Jo Rodgers was published last year, and it looks like it will be an interesting read!
(Almost all of the other books in this post work for Brighter Winter, too, but to save confusion, I’m not listing them multiple times.)
Celebrating Jane Austen:
I was watching a BookTube video yesterday and came across a mention of this read-along. I’ve been wanting to read all my Jane Austen books for years (ever since I got the complete set!), but haven’t had the impetus to do so. I’m holding this read-along loosely, but if I can fit it in, I will. This month’s book options are Pamela by Samuel Richardson or The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. I don’t think I’m ready to tackle Pamela, but I was able to find a copy of Memoirs in one of our online libraries, so I’m looking forward to trying it this month!
And that’s the list for this month! What are you planning to read in January? Have you read any of the books on this list? Are you hoping to participate in any reading challenges this year?
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