January 2019 Overview

One of my 2019 reading goals is to read a greater proportion of books I already own. In order to help me keep track and to be accountable for it, I decided to revive my monthly wrap-ups! This means I’m back once again with loads of stacks of books to share with you this year.

Looking Back

Reading Stats

Even though January was a busy month, I managed to read a lot of books. In fact, I finished 15 books last month. I managed 15 in January 2018 and 16 in 2017, so I’m seeing a trend with starting the year strong, and then dropping off the curve. Part of the reason is that I get easily distracted by mindlessly scrolling through social media and my off-kilter sleeping pattern. I’m pretty sure that as I work on developing healthier habits in those areas, that’ll translate into more focussed and productive pockets of reading time.

Anyway, my average rating for the books I read last month was 4.071 out of 5 stars. I’m pretty pleased with that because I don’t usually end up with such a high average rating. For the longest time, my average rating on Goodreads was below 3.5 but I’ve seen it climb lately. The way I see it, I’m becoming better at picking books I’m more likely to enjoy.

I read 2,162 pages for print book editions listened to 66:06 hours (equalling 2,482 pages) for audiobooks. That gives a total equivalent of 4,644 pages. It helped that I got to switch between the ARC and audiobook editions of The Smoked Thieves. I wasn’t a huge fan, so I was noticeably slow in reading the print edition. Listening to the audiobook when doing chores, commuting, etc made me feel like I was progressing, so I didn’t get stuck on this one title, which might have reduced my interest in reading a great deal otherwise.

Books Read

Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman | Rating: 3.200^*
The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll | Rating: 4.500
Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey | Rating: 4.786
Mariam Sharma Hits the Road by Sheba Karim | Rating: 4.000
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas | Rating: 4.889
The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green | Rating: 2.850
[Re-read] The Cruel Prince by Holly Black | Rating: 4.750
The Lost Sisters by Holly Black | Rating: 4.056
When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney | Rating: 3.688
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour | Rating: 4.100
What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera | Rating: 4.111
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi | Rating: 3.938
Your Happiness Was Hacked by Vivek Wadhwa & Alex Salkever | Rating: 4.125
The Wicked King by Holly Black | Rating: 4.889
Essential Spanish in 2 Hours by Paul Noble | Rating: 3.188

^*Note on ratings: I rate books on a scale of 0 to 5, 0 being the worst and 5 being the best. I first rate various aspects such as prose, characterisation, plot, originality, etc. Then I average these out for my overall ratings. To obtain my star ratings, I round to the nearest 0.5.

TBR Pile

TBR Reduction

In January, I hauled four books. I read six books from my TBR pile and unhauled two, so my TBR reduction tally is -4 thus far for 2019.

Book Haul

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

I hadn't planned on buying books in January but after receiving an unsolicited review copy of the second Fantastic Beasts screenplay, I decided to to get the first as well. I've yet to watch the movies, so I asked on Twitter whether I should watch or read first. Most everyone was in a agreement that I should watch, then read, which means I'm planning on a movie night in in the coming weeks.

The Flower Girls is another book I received for review unsolicited. Personally, I don't like thrillers all that much. I do read some occasionally but if I do, I tend to go for YA psychological thrillers. My dad, however, does love his thrillers, so he's happy to adopt this copy from my, in exchange for a short review which I will post here on the blog in the near future.

Another book i received for review was The Wicked King, which I was ecstatic about. I really enjoyed The Cruel Prince and had been highly anticipating the sequel. The Wicked King did not disappoint. I enjoyed it a great deal, gave it 5 stars, and will share my review very soon!

Last but not least, Indian Horse was a gift from Savindi, who used to be a book blogger but stopped a few years ago. She was transiting in Singapore en route to Australia, so of course we met up and had a swell time.