We made it through our first month of 2021. How is everyone doing? Everyone okay?
This month was a welcome return to semi-normal for me. I feel like I’ve become more attached to my blog than ever, and I can’t wait to see how my reading stats change this year. This month, while almost normal, was also incredibly stressful for me on a personal level, and I am so glad for these books and awesome bookish friends and events that were able to help me through some really rough days. I had hoped to get through a few books in my January WTR, and I’m pleased to announce that for the first month of the year I actually completed a TBR!
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference | Greta Thunberg
I try to start each year with a nonfiction book. I’m not sure what it is about them, exactly, but usually they have a sort of grounding effect on me. I feel better about myself and I close the books with hope. This collection of speeches didn’t teach me much that I did not already know, but it did inspire me to pick up a few more nonfiction-environment-related books this year. Greta Thunberg has inspired a movement across the world, and her speeches have rekindled my interest in environmental nonfiction. I hope to start Jonathan Safran Foer’s We Are the Weather, soon.
Next, I picked up (again) The Hero of Ages, the final book in Mistborn Era One by Brandon Sanderson. This book was so good and, I think, a very close second to The Final Empire in my enjoyment of the story. Part of this comes from the slight confusion that I had in the middle of the story surrounding the politics of the plot. I own almost all of Sanderson’s works physically, and have yet to read most of them. I enjoy his writing style, and I have enjoyed these characters. I’m hoping to get through Elantris at minimum, and then Mistborn Era Two (for a stretch goal) in 2021. That’s kind of a large feat for me, and I hope that I can do it. But, I don’t want to stifle my enjoyment of these novels by forcing myself to fly through them and catch up to Rhythm of War.
I then skipped Elantris and started The Alloy of Law. I didn’t realize for most of January that I had gotten access to the audiobook through Libby! And, within one day I started and finished this Fantasy-Western. This series is so refreshing after the high fantasy of the first era, and I look forward to finishing this trilogy this year.
House of Night by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Y’all. This one did not live up to what I had remembered from childhood. At all. The story was interesting, but the language is AWFUL. I have planned to buddy read this series with a few friends. My memories of the series were foggy at best, and I honestly did not remember much from this series, apart from loving the concept and a few characters. This series is not living up to the potential that the story itself has, and that is the most disappointing thing.
CW/TW: fatphobia, use of the ‘r’ word, use of gay slurs, careless degradation of people with eating disorders, rape.
I’ve finally gotten back into Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series! I’ve been having such a good time reading these books, and I can’t wait to finish the series sometime this year. Some of the politics in Empire of Storms went directly over my head, but I definitely cried at least three times while reading it. Tower of Dawn, however, gave me some depression rep that I didn’t realize that I had needed. And, it helped me through a particularly tough January. I can’t wait to find out what happens to these characters in the final installment, Kingdom of Ash.
The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel
I did it. I finally did it. Five years in the making and I have finally finished this series! I started this one way back in 2016 at the suggestion of a coworker. As far as I know, he still has not read this series. But, he is also no longer a coworker so there’s no way for me to know. Sci-fi normally intimidates me because space is scary, y’all. But this one was so approachable and so readable (especially after reading The Illuminae Files last year). Long story short, I loved this series! The last two installments were the perfect choice for the Off the Grid Readathon, because the story was so immersive. And, I’m hoping for a companion series or a continuation in the future.
To continue my interest in naturalist nonfiction, I read The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. This one was so interesting! I enjoyed learning more about octopuses and reading about their interactions with humans. I was particularly interested in the ways in which they communicate with humans and this one had a lot of that. The audiobook is narrated by the author, which for this one I think is a nice touch.
Phew! That is a lot of reading – more than normal for me, I believe. Maybe I’ll calm the heck down in February, but hopefully I’ll continue on this non-stop reading kick that I’ve been on for a little bit. How was your January? Have you read any of these books? Interested in any of them? Chat with me in the comments down below!
Leah Kristin 
Looks like you had a good reading month! I hope February is just as good!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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