Hello bookworms!!!
What is this? The first month of the new decade is already over and done with?! Time is a messy and scary thing, isn’t it? I hope it was a great start for a decade for you lovely bookworms and as far as bookish things are concerned, it was great for me, too!
On a personal front, it wasn’t quite so great because my health kinda took a dive into the murky depths of the unknown for pretty much half of the month. I had fevers, I had migraines and to top it off like a freaking cherry, I had cold that made me lose my voice. It was not a pretty time for this bookworm, let me tell you.
However the new year also brought a whole new look to my blog and I am very happy with the way it looks right now. It’s clean, it’s also pretty in a minimalist way so yay for that. With this year, I have also sort of started a new thing. Or rather a thing that should have been a norm on this blog. Posting reviews in a timely manner. I have done that. So far. Let’s see how well it goes during the rest of the year. So far, I have posted these reviews!
The German House by Annette Hess; Elisabeth Lauffer
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Then like any other new year, I was filled with all those post ideas and book and series tbr that I wanted to conquer. I even rambled on about my anticipated releases in the first half of the year.
BOOK SERIES TO CONQUER IN 2020
MY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2020 (JAN-JUN)
Of course, my weekly meme of WWW Wednesday continued on with no problem or hitch. I truly thanked the gods for being able to schedule my posts because my health was not here for the blog.
Now, coming to the books I read during the month. I think this was a very odd month for me because it started great and muddled a bit during the middle and then, I picked up a series to re-read and it bounced back into being pretty good pace. So, yeah. As I said, not the ideal reading month one wants at the start of a decade. Oh, well.
I read a total of 9 books, I think. They were different in length as well so that helped. I think. They were not of wildly different genre though, I must admit. Something I was hoping to change during this year. However, it’s only one month and I also read something different. I read an anthology and…and…a sort of literary fiction (which is also a bit fantastical in nature, oops.).
Lirael by Garth Nix
Sabriel might have hooked me in the series but Lirael is the book that really made me love the world and the magic system. I guess part of the reason was the library aspect of the book or maybe I just liked the fact that with Lirael, the world opened up more and I got to see more in this slightly scary world.
Abhorsen by Garth Nix
I feel like I have said this too many times but this was the perfect conclusion and I loved the action and the twists in it. If Lirael was the sort of boost I needed to love this series then Abhorsen straight up sent me into the space to encompass all the awesomeness of the series.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus was a beautifully written story and The Starless Sea was the sort of story that particularly appealed to me. It was full of whimsy and magic and so many unknowables (sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn’t. This time it really did.) The plot might be a bit weaker but overall effect of the book and enjoyment value alone made this one a five star read.
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Atmospheric, tragic and haunting. This book was written so well, the characters and their emotions felt so raw that at times I had to stop and take a deep breath. This book has made me aware of the historical event that I was previously unaware of and a new author I might have to obsess over in future. So yay for that.
Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma
A novella that packed quite the punch. I think I will always think about Gideon’s life and Ormeshadow in the back of my mind because it was just….it left such a mark me and not just because of the gorgeous writing but the family dynamics and the heartbreak and the fantastical touch. Everything just blended so well to give me this perfection, okay? I wanna read more Priya Sharma now.
Color Outside the Lines, edited by Sangu Mandanna
A mixed bag but a thoroughly enjoyable one. This book is all about how people of colour feel in a vastly white-centric world, especially in USA or Europe. It is always fascinating to read about other people of color and their experiences, not just because of the negativity surrounding it but also to understand the inequality of a different kind. I am a brown person in a brown country and even here, I have seen inequality but it’s very different from the kind that’s seen in the western side of the world.
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
So. We all know how this happened. Turns out I love this book still and the characters are still pretty interesting and I found myself invested in them because I had forgotten some key things and was kinda shocked when things happened? It’s weird but it’s true. Also I have a weird admission to make. I had mostly forgotten what happened in Blue Lily, Lily Blue and boy, did I get so many surprises when I re-read it for the first time since 2016. I am currently reading the last one and it will probably be the first thing I finish reading in February.
And that is it for the month of January. I read a lot and most importantly, I enjoyed all of my reads and I am so glad for it. I am also hoping to continue with the posting schedule during the year as well because it got me way more engagement than I normally do. So yay for that.
What about you guys? What was your best read or the worst one? Or, let’s not call it the worst, let’s call it most disappointing read. Tell me all about it in the comments.
bookwormmuse 
Leave a comment