January A Recap

It's hard to believe a month has already passed us by. Hard to believe how many incredible books I've consumed in the last 30 days. 

My method of counting books I've read, is that whatever month I finish the book on that is the month I count it. So if you're being strict I finished only 11 books in January, not 12 as two of the books I finished were halfway done before January started. By my estimation though I finished 3 more books than my goal. 

I go through phases in reading. I also struggle with severe generalized anxiety disorder. If my meds are working I'm still at a mild to medium on their anxiety test level. If my meds aren't working that day and anxiety is winning I am a GD mess. I try to read as much as I can when I'm having my good days so I can actually focus and not spend 20 minutes reading the same page because I keep getting distracted. 

This month was kind to me, this month reminded me of 2018 when after years of reading here and there but in essence barely at all; I read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood in one night and couldn't stop reading for the rest of the year. That year I was at the library at least twice a week picking up 2-3 more books because I was soaring through them. 

This past month was like that year. I still binged shows on occasion, spent time with my family, lived my normal life, but every night and a few early mornings found me curled up with my nose stuck in a book reading at lightning speed without even meaning to. 

I am perfectly fine with having a repeat of 2018 book wise. Only book wise, I don't want that president back, I don't want to go back to before I finally saw my doctor about my anxiety, and I definitely don't want to go back through the very painful but very important personal growth I've gone through in the past few years. Hard pass. 

I also saw someone on instagram making a scrapbook of the different books they
read and I thought it was the best idea ever. Luckily for my sanity and my house cleanliness and organization I decided to do mine digitally. It's actually been a lot of fun compiling images that the book makes me feel, favorite quotes, quick little thoughts. In 2018 I started an excel sheet to keep track of the books I read, this last year I transferred all of that over to goodreads. But the one thing I miss is recognizing if a book was life changing or not, maybe I'll have to add a note into my book journal videos regarding that because some books are just too amazing and life changing to not give their due credit. 

If I had to chose a favorite book for this month it would be "The Duke and I" by Julia Quinn, I've already ordered the next 6 books in the series and am waiting for them all to arrive this week. I cannot wait to continue the series. Her writing is fun and lighthearted, steamy and just all around wonderful. 

A close second goes to "Ice Kissed" by Amanda Hocking. If you haven't fallen in love with her troll world yet. I highly recommend, she is a fantastic writer, you see and feel the magical places she sends you to. You get emotionally invested in the characters, their decisions and stories. 

I didn't have a book I disliked this month...to be honest if I don't like a book I don't finish it, I made myself that promise back in 2018. There's no reason to waste my time on a book that isn't jiving with me. Maybe in the future it will, maybe it isn't meant for me, I firmly believe books come to us when we need them and sometimes we aren't ready or in the right place in life to appreciate them. 

I haven't written a blog for each book read in January yet, I'm behind obviously, it's hard to not overwhelm any of my consistent readers, aka my Mom, Sister and one of my Besties, who I know read every blog. If you're a every blog person and I don't know about it, thank you for your support on my rambling thoughts...Anyways in order to not overwhelm readers, keeping up with the books I read is a bit hard as I've been finishing one off every couple of days. Don't worry you will be hearing my thoughts on all 12 books I've read this month, and not just in my book journal, I will elaborate I promise. 

My book journal is updated below though because that is a lot faster than organizing my thoughts:

2021 A Year In Books

Happy almost February my bookish loves. Here's to another great month filled with wonderful stories and powerful words. 

Link below to my affiliate Bookshop.org 2021 list. If you're interested in any of the books I've read throughout January (except white fragility, as mentioned I've found it's not the best book to read for that perspective) I've compiled a list. Bookshop.org helps raise money to support your local independent bookstores, while making it easy to find the books you want and have them shipped to you.

https://bookshop.org/lists/2021-books-627c4737-489a-4beb-9a4e-146ad87eab2d 

If you prefer Amazon see the links below