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The beginning of the year and setting my January TBR feels like both yesterday and a distant memory. This month has been a tale of two halves. In terms of reading progress and motivation, January has flown. Financially though, January is the looooongest month of the year. 

I’m pleased with this month’s reading progress. I got to all but one book on my January TBR, and started one extra audiobook after finishing with both the audiobooks I had on the list. 

 

Books Read 

Orbital 

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I wanted to start the year with a relatively quick read. Perhaps my choice of Orbital was a little misguided on account of the page count, however it was a fantastic read. 

What Orbital lacks in page count, it makes up for in thought-provoking content. From intimate detail on life in space with five other people to the fragility of life and the pull of the Earth, this book appealed to me for its content and didn’t fail to deliver. I’ve already shared my full thoughts on the book on my new YouTube channel. If you’re interested in finding out more about this Booker prizewinner, please take a look at my video 🥺

 

Beyond Redemption 

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I started Beyond Redemption in December but didn’t get too far before the end of the month. After finishing Orbital, I revisited this book. The pacing of Beyond Redemption didn’t quite work for me, so it took me until mid-January to finish it. 

In my recent YouTube review of Beyond Redemption, I shared what worked and what didn’t work for me. Ultimately, I finished the book and rated it three stars. The premise was really appealing and I had high hopes for Beyond Redemption. In practice, it didn’t quite live up to my expectation. Want to deep dive into my thoughts on this one? Here’s my video review. 

 

The Doors of Midnight 

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I made a healthy start to The Doors of Midnight back in December and I was optimistic that it was going to be a five star read of January. However, I ultimately decided to DNF this audiobook. 

When it came down to it, I found the narrative a little repetitive and interest waned. As and when opportunities came up to listen to this book, I found myself making excuses and picking up other things. That says a lot. To take a break, I started my second audiobook of the month and after enjoying that one more, it brought home to me more that I was no longer enjoying The Doors of Midnight. So, that was the decider for me. 

 

Yellowface

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Looking for a pick-me-up after Beyond Redemption, I turned to an author I know I’ve enjoyed historically. Of course R.F. Kuang did not disappoint once again! 

Picking up Yellowface is quite different from the two books I’ve read of hers to date (Babel and The Poppy War). However, she is the type of author who can write from a variety of backgrounds yet also discuss topics that clearly mean a lot to her to feature. 

If you are unfamiliar, Yellowface is heavily about cultural appropriation and the public perception of a white author publishing a story from a minority background. I loved how this was explored, as well as the nature of being an author and the publishing industry as a whole. Needless to say, Yellowface was the hit I hoped for, and needed. 

 

The Great Passage

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The Great Passage is the audiobook I picked up after DNF’ing The Doors of Midnight. I had high hopes for this audiobook already, but I especially wanted to love this book after being disappointed by that audio. 

Thankfully, The Great Passage fared much better. What I really enjoyed about this audiobook is that the setting is culturally very different. It opened my eyes to a completely different way of life. I picked up this book because I loved its passion and focus on words, meanings, and the compiling of a dictionary. It excelled at all those things, but the appreciation for the cultural insights this book gives is what made it a well-rounded experience. 

 

The Courage to be Disliked

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Unfortunately, The Doors of Midnight wasn’t my only DNF of the month. This month, I set a theme including self-help, learning and development for book club. On my January TBR I set out my intentions to pick up I Know I’m in There Somewhere. However, it turns out this book is very hard to get a hold of. Instead, I picked up The Courage to be Disliked…. But only read 21% before DNF’ing. 

The novelty of the dialogue-style narrative quickly wore off. If readers are meant to find the character of the unnamed ‘youth’ relatable, unfortunately it didn’t hit the mark with me. They are argumentative, combative and I didn’t gel with them at all. However, I also felt the ‘professor’ was a little off too. No doubt his role was to teach the principles of Adler, and they are what they are. I didn’t agree with all of what was discussed either. 

Consequently, The Courage to be Disliked didn’t last long under my nose before being set aside. 

 

Notes on a Nervous Planet

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I turned to a well-known and trusted author again after this latest DNF. 

Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library is one of my favourite books in recent history. His unique insight into mental health difficulties shone through in Notes on a Nervous Planet. This short and approachable read, written in short chapters, informal notes and tips for limiting the impact of our modern world on our mental health was insightful. I practice some of these already, such as limiting exposure to the news. However, it discusses a number of topics, like technology, social media and consumerism to name just a few. 

The format of this book was quite unique, and as a result I flew through this already short book. It’s definitely encouraging me to read more of his books – I have The Midnight Train to look forward to in 2026, but also some backlist titles like Reasons to Stay Alive on my radar as well.  

 

Dark Chronicles

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I signed up to review a collection of suspenseful speculative fiction stories late this month. Admittedly, I was quite late picking up this collection. However, its ease to read world in my favour so I could review these on my blog earlier this week.

For a short book, I still had plenty to say about this 178 page collection. Instead of repeating myself in this monthly wrap-up, instead I’ll direct you to my published review.

 

After the Forest

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Finally, this monthly wrap-up gets to my current and carried forced reads into February. 

After the Forest is my chosen Cottagecore Fantasy read for this month as part of the Cottagecore Fantasy book club. If you like fairytale retellings, this book will also be right up your alley. 

Building upon the well-known fairytale Hansel and Gretel, After the Forest brings darker topics like addiction, war and witchcraft into the future lives of the children. With trouble on their doorstep, Greta is doing everything she can to keep her brother Hans and her afloat. Suspicion is never far away, given her past. 

So far, I’m enjoying this quite dark retelling. As fairytales go, it’s far from light and fluffy anyway. It feels like a great story to use as a launchpad for this type of tale. As of this monthly wrap-up, I’m 40% into the book and excited to see its conclusion. 

 

Dreams from my Father

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Finally, the last book to feature in this epic monthly wrap-up (it feels as long as January did!) is Dreams from my Father. With my audiobooks planned for January either finished of DNF’d, I wanted to pick up my next audio. My preference is to have an audiobook on the go all the time, as it means I can maximise reading time when doing tasks where I can’t read traditionally. 

In the last couple of days, commuting to and from work, I’ve started to listen to Barack Obama personally recount is exploration of his origins and his dream to discover his identity. Dreams from my Father is very much about his heritage and background. About how he felt adrift growing up, given his obvious African heritage but lack of the father who shared it with him. 

As of this monthly wrap-up, I’m only 11% or so into this audiobook. As I said, I only really started this in the final few days of the month, and only whilst driving. I would have been a little further on if I didn’t fluff up earlier today and accidentally skip back to the beginning of my chapter. I couldn’t fix it whilst driving, so that could have been another 20 minutes or so. Never mind… 

 

Summary 

Despite a couple of DNF’s, I count January’s progress a success! I have six completions to my name at the end of this monthly wrap-up, with two more books in progress. In terms of my Goodreads Challenge, I’m getting ahead early. I don’t think I could have asked for a better start to 2026. 

How many books have you picked up this January? Have you had a good start to the year? 

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