January’s Reads

Running total books/audiobooks/short stories read in 2026 by month end: 13.

Here I am, ready for another year of reading and reviewing! The accompanying online bookshelf for this year can be accessed at the My Bookshelf 2026 page. If you would like to see my first year’s reading and reviewing, this can be accessed through a combination of my blog posts for 2025, and in My Bookshelf 2025 page.

From the success of my 2025 reading habit, I now want to slowly make some changes. I am disabled, so this can make planning very difficult. Around this though, I am aiming to improve my core strength, so my Health Plan is my main focus, hopefully with some space left over for art, culture and reading. The number of books I read per month may therefore ebb and flow, along with environmental and health factors. It has taken a little adjustment, but I have begun to relax into a less intensive reading regime. I kept feeling that I am not reading enough, probably after the intensive reading of the last year, but 13 stories absorbed probably shows that actually I was reading plenty!

At the moment, my reading choices are entered on my GoodReads and Storygraph accounts, so please feel free to link with me if you have accounts on these platforms, though for an entire record it is best to refer to the My Bookshelf 2026 page as I sometimes wander across rare, old, or unusual stories that are not listed on these forums. Please note that I include audiobooks in my reading record, and absolutely do consider oral forms of storytelling to be legitimate.

I only rated one book five stars this month, which was The Dispatcher by John Scalzi, which is the first (relatively short) novel in the audio only Dispatcher series. Honestly though, I was left wondering if I was being too harsh in the New Year, as Ron Currie’s The Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne was so fresh an offering that I should perhaps of upgraded this to a five star too. There were also one or two reads that I enjoyed more for their lack of pressure; while not strictly five star reads in my opinion, they were either soothing, fun, relaxing, or just very much suited my mood. Like three-star movies, these are often the best things to enjoy, without the heavy thinking needed in a five star offering. I hope this attitude makes sense. The reads falling into this category were: Tea & Alchemy by Sharon Lynn Fisher, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, and The Pursued by Corey Mead.

Again, these books were all reviewed by me on the My Bookshelf 2026 page and on my GoodReads and Storygraph accounts, with many having highlights shared by me too on GoodReads. I will still highlight any unusual reads in the future with a personalised commentary, but you can follow me and comment on these sites.

Happy New Year and thanks for reading!