I didn’t expect January to fly by so quickly, but, alas, it did. My reading game started out strong, even if not all of them were amazing, and then fizzled toward the end as a result of watching terrible things happen to good people. Everything is so heavy right now and it’s become even harder to find some calm in reading. I’m not great at finding the right words to say for hard topics, but I do hope everyone is safe and that they know they matter. <3 While I’m having a hard time concentrating on reading, getting caught up with blogging has been a little easier. So here’s my January 2026 Book Blog Wrap-Up right on time.
Book Reviews
I posted four book reviews in January. From earliest to latest they are:
- So This Is Ever After by F.T. Lukens
- How To Lose A Goblin In Ten Days by Jessie Sylva
- Silver and Blood by Jessie Mihalik
- The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.
My top five posts for total page views are (as of January 30):
- Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 690 views
- STEMinist Romance Books: 510 views
- Dungeons and Dragons Romance Books: 344 views
- January 2026 Book Releases: 209 views
- Book Review: Gild by Raven Kennedy: 190 views
#BeattheBacklog
I finished two books that I had on my TBR prior to 2026. Those books are THE LAND OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD by Shauna Lawless and SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins.
Other Bookish Items
I finished six books in January:
- HOW TO LOSE A GOBLIN IN TEN DAYS by Jessie Sylva (ARC)
- THE GREAT HURRICANE: 1938 by Cherie Burns (audiobook)
- SILVER & BLOOD by Jessie Mihalik (ARC)
- THE LAND OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD by Shauna Lawless (ARC)
- THE SCOUNDREL AND THE SIREN by Christy Carlyle (ARC)
- SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins
While I didn’t read as much as past months, I read four ARCs, which I haven’t done in a single month in a long time. And all but one of these books were over 300 pages, meaning I spent more time per book.
I also posted a couple 2025 wrap-ups, including Favorite Books Published in 2025 and Favorite Backlist Books of 2025. I plan to post about my 2025 reading wrap-up and books I DNF in 2025. Since I ran out of time this month, stay tuned for them in February.
Finally, I also posted about my Bookish Goals in 2026.
Other Media Wrap-Up
Thursday Murder Club: I didn’t realize there’s a movie adaptation of Richard Osman’s popular book. I knew I’d never read it as I don’t care so much about mystery novels. So we watched the movie instead and it was entertaining, but not a new favorite despite the great cast was great. It’s a solid date night movie, though, especially if you’re looking for something relatively light (though the ending is heavy).
Asterix & Obelix: We finished this short series on Netflix and while I wasn’t sold at first, by the end I thought it was fun. This is based on a French comic series where a Gaulish village knows how to brew a magic potion for strength. The potion allows them to fight the invading Romans. It’s pretty lighthearted considering I think it’s aimed at kids. Now we want to watch the live action movie on Netflix.
The Two Towers: Regal Cinemas showed the whole extended cut of the LOTR trilogy. We snagged tickets for TTT and it was lucky we did because if we’d bought tickets for ROTK we would’ve been snowed out. Of course the movie was great. I have vague memories of seeing it in theatres with my family when it first came out. The visuals hold up really well to today’s technology, though today’s movies are much crisper in recording quality.
Non-Bookish Items
One highlight this month is we took a quick trip with my father in law to the US Virgin Islands over MLK Day Weekend. It was nice to escape the cold and enjoy the sun and heat. We spent most of our time in St. John between downtown explorations and the resort. We also took a day trip to visit the batholiths on Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands) and then snorkeled afterward.
After we returned from our trip we had a few of days of normal winter temperatures before a winter storm rolled through. It was incredible just how much land this storm covered, from the Mexico-Texas border to New England and Canada. Sadly, we watched the forecasted snow totals decrease as we got closer to show time. We ended up with about 6 inches of snow and at least 3 inches of sleet. We could’ve had so much more awesome snow if not for the sleet! We’ve had sub-freezing highs for the last week with no end in sight, which is very odd for Virginia.
And that’s it for my January 2026 Book Blog Wrap-Up! How was your January?
I also lost steam near the end of the month, with so much heavy news and shocking stuff going on, it’s hard to concentrate on anything😥 Your trip to the Virgin Islands sounds like a nice change of pace!
I don’t blame you…it’s an endless onslaught of terrible things happening to people. T_T Our trip was a nice change of pace and I’m glad we did it.
The trip to the Virgin Islands sounds like the perfect thing to do at this time of year. Asterix and Obelix is a great comic book series and some of them are laugh out loud funny. I love Asterix in Britain which pokes fun at British things like beer. I didn’t realise that there was a TV show so might need to go and investigate this.
It seems really weird to me that LOTR was first released twenty five years ago. It just doesn’t seem that long ago.
It really was nice to go somewhere warm this time of year. I’m glad we got to soak up the warmth because it’s been absolutely frigid near D.C. with no end in sight. We’re on day 10 or something where the daily highs don’t get above the freezing temp, which means the snow (now compacted to thick ice) is going nowhere fast.
I know!! I thought I was older when LOTR first came out as I have memories of seeing it in high school, but I guess I was still in middle school when the first one came out. I’ve heard there’s another movie in the works, The Hunt for Gollum, and I’m undecided on whether to see it. Plenty of time to decide!
I think I’m unimpressed by the idea of The Hunt for Gollum. Using CGI to make Elijah Woods, Ian McKellen etc look the right age seems a bit weird to me especially as they’ve got to have a new Aragorn.
Whilst living in Germany it is kinda hard to avoid what’s going on in the US, or in other countries because of this administration.
As being so far away it is still shocking but also still too far away to be too emotionally distracted by it. In the end we do have our own domestic problems here, even if not as acute as yours.
But I do hope this will get better, and damn soon!
I think it’s funny and weird that the US is obviously discovering Asterix & Obelix. I know there stories, comics and movies since my childhood. As a European it’s a given to know them. My boy loves to watch the comic movies.
I still have to start reading the series by Shauna Lawless, but at least I can say I read the pre-story of the series already.
My wrap-up will be online tomorrow. If you like, just stop by but don’t forget to have your browser translate from German to English. 😉
Cheerio
RoXXie
I know, I wish things were better here and that you and the rest of the world’s news didn’t have to keep reporting on the U.S. Let’s just say there are a lot of comparisons to what was going on in Germany in the 1940s. I hope both our and your country’s problems get better…it’s hard to feel positive, though. 🙁
My husband said he’d heard of Asterix and Obelix when he was a kid. I’m surprised I didn’t since my mother grew up in France. She had a copy of Le Petit Prince around, but I never read it because it was in French (sadly, I’m not fluent).
You should definitely start the series by Shauna Lawless. She does a great job with everything.
Asterix and Obelix is such a nostalgic comic for me and I totally missed out that they have some series on Netflix! I’m glad to hear you enjoying them, I will definitely check them out 🙂
Have a great February, I hope the cold and heavy snow season will ease soon!
Yes, there’s a limited series on Netflix for Asterix and Obelix and a live action movie! Definitely check it out if you liked the comics.
I hope you’re okay and that it warms up for you soon 🥰 especially as youre not getting the level of snow that you’d have liked. I pretty much never get any where I am. Well done on getting to a couple of backlist books too. What did you think of Sunrise On The Reaping?
I havent seen Thursday Murder Club. I feel like I should read the books first but they’re not high priority for me so I guess I’ll wait and see.
Your trip sounds lovely too. I bet snorkeling was incredible 🥰
Thank you! Tomorrow it’ll be over 10 degrees warmer than we’ve been experiencing, so that’ll be nice. The packed down snow (now ice) did melt some today, finally.
I liked Sunrise on the Reaping, but not as much as I thought I would. I remember feeling more invested in the original trilogy. Haymitch’s story seemed a little too straightforward and the writing/reflections read a bit more simply. It makes me wonder if I’d feel the same now with The Hunger Games trilogy if I reread it.
Hopefully that means the weather will stay slightly warmer for a while 🤞
Aww thats a shame. I hope if you ever reread them that doesn’t end up being the case. Its always a little daunting picking up a series you loved years ago in case it doesn’t live up to your memories.
Sleet is no fun to deal with in January! We didn’t quite get that storm here, but we did have several days around -40C with the wind chill.
Did you find your January stats rebound from the December dip at all?
Yes! I suppose I forgot to comment on monthly views, but they rebounded for the most part in January. I had 2,000 more views compared to December. How about you?