July Reading Wrap Up

  I KNOW we are 4 days into August but I think I still have time for a quick reading wrap up. 

This "new job" has really got me turned around.  I broke my own rule about requesting audio only, and thus I find myself buried in actual books that I need to read with my actual eyes. And then, I also have to make various reviews. Whew. 

I am not doing the request-a-pal-loo-za again. Because it means I am doing...small videos like this. 

Instead of more interesting ones like THIS. 

And... I'm behind on all sort of reviews. 

So here we are. In July I finished 14 books. 

Books in Translation:  ZERO  I took NONE. I am so sad about this, and since August is Women in Translation Month, I am hopeful for my August. 

Books by Diverse Authors: Also seems to have taken a huge hit.  I read 4 books by authors who I could discern that they are Diverse in some way 28% Not terrible, but I wanted it to be better. 

One of my favorites was indeed Road to Ruin by Hana Lee.  This book is criminally underrated.

Books that relate to my Outer Space Theme: 4/14 or another 28%  I'm disappointed that although I tried I failed to finish any instructional, non-fiction books about space, and mostly stuck to the Space Opera style novels.  

Otherwise I read a romance with my Book club which was not the best and not the worst. 

And some top Notch regular fiction.  A Penance for Crows by Shannon Morgan was amazing, as was The Raven Scholar, and Whalesong! 

So while it wasn't a month that moved my goals along that well, it was a very enjoyable one for reading. 

August looks to be a month ot tidying up, and so hopefully there will be plenty of reviews forthcoming!  I want to clear out my NetGalley list! 
 

February Reading Wrap Up

 So  February was a bit of a slower reading month for me.  It is of course, also only 28 days long. I feel like given 2-3 more days I might have finished off at least the one ridiculous romance I've been dipping in and out of all month!

Things at work have been super busy, and I was very sick for a week or so, and that did not improve my reading opportunities at all! 

I finished 14 books in February.  One was a 53 page novella,  which maybe should count more as a short story. 

February was a HIGH QUALITY reading month.  Almost everything I picked up was polished and dense and required me to engage a bit more heavily than some of my usual fare. I really enjoyed almost everything I read as well. 

I think if I had to pick a favorite I'd have to put Cat Rambo's  You Sexy Thing  and John Chu's The Subtle Art of Folding Space into a cage fight and see which won. 

Thankfully I'm non-violent and the two can just share a spotlight. 

Oddly with February being Black History Month, I did read a lot of diverse books.  I do try to read diversely all the time, but I was also fortunate in that many of the books I had on hold by diverse authors happened to pop up as available this month. 

So.... 

Books in Translation: 

1/14   or 7% of February's reading. SO LOW!  I read The Plotters by Un-Su Kim  and it was FANTASTIC.  I can see this a a taut little mini-series. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 8/14  - 57%  Over half the books I chose this month were by Diverse authors. 
   This was the month to be reading diversly and I somehow managed to get a lot of books from the library that fit the bill. The number might actually be a bit higher, but some authors don't entirely put all of their specifics out there for the world, and so if I am not totally sure, I just count them in the less diverse pile. 

Non-Fiction: 1  book- 7% 

This is the sole non-fiction book I finished.  TO be fair, I picked up several more and kind of DNF several of them,  Boring... and bland.  One was about physics but the guy just kept making Star Wars jokes and I was over it after a few chapters. 

Books that relate to my Outer Space Theme: 8/14  or 57% 

I really am enjoying this theme.  

March may be jam packed full of reads, mostly because I have several books that I started in February and am slated to finish in the first few days of March, giving me a  bit of a Head Start on things.  I struggled a bit in February with "Overconsumption"  borrowing tons of books from the library only to have them ride around in the car for 3 weeks... unread.  So hopefully I will either be able to read more, or, restrain myself a bit in the library, though I definitely want to find a bit more translated literature to pump up the volume! 

January 2026 Reading Wrap Up

 Well, I must first remark upon the weather. 

It's super cold here. Like. the coldest I can recall in years and years. 

It's a little bit hard to handle just because I don't really have cold weather gear.  but I do have a space heater, and blankets and an indoors so I am exceedingly blessed in this world. 

Ok now.  Moving on. 

Winter's embrace needs to move on, or tone it down some. 

in Winter's Embrace. , 1907. [United States: publisher not transcribed] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018696747/.

In January, I finished a whopping 21 books. I am really enjoying my Outer Space theme, more than my Water theme from last year. 

Lets Break it down a bit. 

Books in Translation:  2/21  So about 9.5 % of my reading. Both of the books I read were excellent reads and I was very happy to have read them. 

    

Books By Diverse Authors:   3/21  14%

 

Of these three, I highly recommend The Manor of Dreams, but I don't know that any of these would steer a curious reader to DNF, they were all well written. 

This was not my month to be reading books by diverse authors. Many of the books had diverse characters, but the authors I looked into pretty much...were kind of the standard white bread authors. 

Non-Fiction reads:  3/21 14%  I read three books about Outer Space,  all of which were interesting and helped me understand the universe.  They did kind of decrease my excitement when reading some space setting romances, especially the idea that astronauts are really just moving about the space station in maximum absorbency garments - diapers if you will. 

Total Books on my Outer Space Theme? 9/21 about 43%  so I am approaching half of the books read to be about Space.  

Favorite reads?  I really liked almost everything I read this month.  I did have to DNF a non-fiction book about Black Holes.  I started it several times and eventually just gave up.  I could not with it. I will have to get black hole understanding elsewhere. 

Will I complete 21 more books in February?  That remains to be seen.  It helped that I read a few novellas this past month, and I don't know that I've got more of that on the horizon. 

I am starting off February pretty strong with some diverse authors, and a book in translation (The Plotters!) but it's a short month, and I'm finding I may not have quite as much reading time as I work to master my new job and continue at my old one part time. 

Life is full and ok. Things in the world are on fire and thus I feel I must also, in my own way, attend to that fire.  Sadly, reading will likely not be the actions required to throw some dirt on the fire. 
     
                                       

November Reading Wrap Up!

  November has been a month of complete and utter chaos. 

Mid Month, I started a new job. I went part time at my old job , but it seems they may have a different idea of part time. So I've been...working a lot. Work is good. 

My grand total for November- 14 books.  A fairly light month. 

TO be fair, I DNF'd a lot of books, and started a few and just haven't finished them. 

 So lets see how things stacked up!

 Books in Translation:  2/14 ~ 14%  Neither one was a favorite.  Alas.  Both did expose me to different perspectives. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 4/14 ~ 29%  Probably could have been more. I slipped into some monster romance, why choose- and to be honest, I don't know much about those authors- many using a pen name/alternate identity.  

Favorite Read of the month?

 Hands Down Artifact Space by Miles Cameron. 

A book that deserves an honorable mention: Sanora Babb's An Owl on Every Post.  It should be more widely read. 

What was your favorite from November? 

 

October reading Wrap up

 October was a Month of lots of reading.  It helped that I read at least 2 novellas  so that clearly pumped up the volume.  I finished 20 books in October!

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Pump on Greenwich Street, below Canal" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1894. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8ac46100-c560-012f-845b-58d385a7bc34

Now, I love some statistics, so let's see how my reading stacked up! 

Books in Translation:  2/20 So, errr 10% Not great at all. That said, I know I'm definitely reading more translated work this year overall, so when I do my end of year comparison, I imagine I will have improved my percentage from 2024. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 6/20  30% Which is a small percentage, but still..present. 

Favorite Read for this Month?

 Hands down  HEX  by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 

As far as spooky season reads went, this one.. slayed!   It was terrifying, and had great pacing and characters. Loved it. A Masterpiece. 

 

I had the MOST fun reading Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver as a Buddy read with a friend. 

This was a very well done rom-com of sorts, involving, of course, serial killers. I fully fully enjoyed it and enjoyed reading with a friend who was as enthusiastic as I was. 

Did I have a least favorite? I read Choosing Theo by V. Aveline. It was...a book that seems to be well loved by the book tok community. I apparently am not that community exactly. It was not terrible, but it also wasn't quite the fun I had hoped for. 

What was your favorite or least favorite in October? Did you go all in for Spooky season or just continue on with your regularly scheduled TBR? 

Let me know in the comments! 

September Reading Wrap Up

September was a month of Bangers from the Back list and some great new reads that I got as Advanced Copies.  There were also some very mid reads, but - you can't win them all. Some of this is just dissociation from the world, but also... Advanced copies. 

 I finished 23 books in September. Incomprehensible.

Admittedly one was a VERY short read: Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson.

 I saw this as an audio book and thought why not?  I had no idea anyone harbored  such strong feelings about fish as villians.  

This took about 15 minutes to consume, so ... when I say I read 23 books... it might not be very impressive. 

Out of this stack of Books...  let's do some statistics! 

Books in Translation:  2/27   this comes out to 7%.   It seems low, but I still think I'm surpassing last year's totals.    I am keeping on in searching these out. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 7/27  which is about 26%   A lower percentage than last month, but a higher book count. 

Favorite read for the Month: Has to be My Name is Emilia del Valle  by Isabel Allende. 

 I loved this one with my whole heart and soul.  So relatable, and yet so different! 

A close second was Marie Lu's Adult Debut  Red City! 

  I enjoyed this one!  It was a wild ride that did generate some reading anxiety but... I appreciated the not very cliff- hanger-y conclusion. 

Last month I noted I had been requesting less Advanced Reader Copies, but honestly... I apparently have 8, so lots of new book reviews coming your way in October!!! 

I usually don't do a Least Favorite, but,  My least Favorite was K/A Knight's  The Wasteland.... not to be confused with T.S Eliot's poem.  The poem has great magnitude.  Knight's book is a RH story about a kick butt bounty hunter type woman, who picks up 3 very attractive male companions.  Both dystopian. I might need to do further comparison.  Knight has written other books that I've enjoyed, this one just didn't hang together very well. 

August Reading Wrap up 2025

  Whew.  August has been kind of miserable for me. 

 I read 16 books.  Most of them on audio or in print with audio assistance. I feel like I had a pretty nice balance between what I'd call "serious reading" and fluff.   The fluff in the end was the most enjoyable as I am currently trying to just escape reality! I did also make a bit more of an effort to find those diverse books again, so hopefully this looks better than June and July! 

This is missing Sargassa, as I surprised myself by finishing it at the gym today! 

Books in Translation:  2/16  or about 12%.   I started a few more and really really - found I had chosen wrongly, and sent those back to the library as DNF.  I learned a lot from both novels (The Empusium, and Celestial Bodies)  but I'm not sure either was a top top read of the month. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 6/16  or about 38%.  This is about the same as June and July. I generally start off a month picking multiple diverse authors and then, somehow devolve into reading certain fluffy romances.  This past month, however, two of the fluffy romances were written by authors of a diverse background. In addition, a few authors don't have any sort of indication on websites about their background, so a few of these could be falling into the diverse category. 

Favorite of the Month? 

it has to be Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis.

This one was so oddly relatable, and eye-opening at the same time. I loved everything about it.  Just amazing. 

This was followed in a very close second by Tim Chawaga's Salvagia. 

 
I fell in love with this one for the Florida theme, the "third way" alluded to throughout the book, the diving, and the general concept. I LOVED this.  

 I'll be diplomatic and not name my least favorite, because I did really loathe that one.  

I've been requesting less ARC's lately, so we shall see how September goes! 

What was your favorite read for August? 

June/July Reading Wrap up

   I seem to have missed doing a June reading wrap up. 

The beginning of July was fraught with a road trip, then came the corneal scarring issues and then boom, I had to have some surgery and thus I never did it. 

So, it's my blog.  Lets do a Combo June/July Wrap up.  Between the two months, I was so busy that I did not a significant drop off, I also had a serious number of DNF non-fiction books that just... were coma inducing.  I read a total of 28 books! 

Let's get into it! 

Statistics!

Books in Translation:  NONE.  This is ridiculous. I'm going to ahve to remedy that in August if I can. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 36% of my reads were by diverse authors. Not the best, but not the worst. I seem to be bumping that up for August, so far.  in June and July I did sink into a lot of predictable reads to sort of help with the stressors, but I still could have read more diversely. 

TOP Read for June/July?

In the end, I'm going with 

Aqueous by Jade Shyback for June 

Even though it is not the most polished read I had, I was captivated by the story and want to read for from the author, specifically the next installment of this series. 

For July? 

 Gotta be The Island of Last Things.  I loved this one, weird as it might have been!

So... in August lets see if I can move forward on some translated works and pump up my diverse reads. Alas some of the authors I believe to be somehow "diverse"  when investigated appear to be as cornbread as I am with very little indication of other "diverse" indicators. 

 But I will say, For August, I've only finished 2 books, both of them Bangers, so we'll see how it goes.  More reading escapades await!  

May Reading Wrap Up!

 May apparently was not a month for me to finish up a load of books.  My Total is 12. 

Kind of a far cry from February's 21 books.  May was a difficult month overall, and it shows that I wasn't really able to complete a lot of books.  I did have several that I just had to return to the library and place on hold again because I couldn't get them finished in the 2 week loan period, so... I did do a bit of soft DNF, because I just couldn't get the book done. It will be available in about 3 more months, and hopefully I won't have forgotten too much plot! 

Like this human, my head was full and I was unable to concentrate on anything that made sense. 

Albertus, D. O., Albertus, M., Farfengo, B., Giles, O. R., Albertus Magnus, S. & Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection. (1490) Opus Philosophie Naturalis. Brescia, Baptista Farfengo, 10 Sept. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/47043534/.

 Despite my small reading, I do think I got a bit more variety in there this month. Let's look at the statistics!

Books in Translation: 1/12 It's a lower number, but I'm still glad to see that one of my books was a translated work! 

Books By Diverse Authors: 58% of the books I read were written by an identified diverse author. Much better than April's 19%.  

Buddy Reads: We started a book , but I failed to finish it.  I have been struggling with print books and leaning heavily on audio and this was a print book so it just.. fell a little by the wayside. 

Book Club: I DNF both the Local Book club book and my own On line Stabby and Smoochy Book Club book. The Stabby Book was in print, and no audio available and I just wasn't finding it to be that great. The Local library club was another tale of a heroic WW2 woman, and I decided after about a chapter that I'd read enough.  (And we see now why I may have only finished 12 books! 

Hugo Awards: I have made progress on reading this year's nominees, so, depending on which one wins, I might have made progress on this goal.

Water Theme:  33% - or 4 books this month fit in to my water theme very nicely. 

I have yet to review two of these for the blog. But, As soon as tumultuous May is finished maybe I can hope right on that! Overall, i was pleased with my mix of non-fiction and fiction about water, and our use of it in life and our stories. 

TOP Read for May?  

I think hands down it's the novel in translation:  Oromay  by Baalu Girma. 

Not only is it an interesting novel which presented me with a unique window into time, but it is one that I wish more people would pick up and read. 

IN very close second was Emily Tesh's  The Incandescent! 

This book was everything I wanted in a grown up world of magic, demons and finding meaning in ourselves and our lives as we navigate adulthood. 

Overall, I had a fun reading month, given that I had some fairly intense home/work life balance stress going on that's kind of very slowly resolving itself. (please send good thoughts) 

I am hopeful for June. Firstly I plan on READING the WHOLE book for my Stabby and Smoochy Book Club!  I'm skipping the library book club book because it looks like hot garbage,  and I am half way through some other books that I'm really enjoying so I'm hoping that will help me tally up some nice reads for June.  I don't really plan the TBR out, I just take what's available at the library. 

How do you plan your TBR?  

April Reading wrap up!

 April was a great month for reading, for me! I finished 23 books!  Almost all of them were on audio, so that is also a record for me.  Lately I have been wanting to read actual physical copies of books, but, the audiobooks are so very convenient and have now a lot of amazing narration as well. Still, sometimes, seeing the words in print and being able to go at one's own pace is really nice. 

  I haven't really tallied things up - but I feel like I may have read a little less diversly this month, which is NOT my goal at all. I have been enraptured with what is available on NetGalley lately  and that seems to have taken over. So I've been making friends with books.  A lot of friends.  And also, if you've read a good book by a diverse author, please drop the rec in the comments. Bonus if it is available at many libraries. 

Make friends with books November 13-19 , book week. , 1949. [United States: publisher not identified] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2015646092/.

Let's get into it! 

Statistics!

Books in Translation: 1/23  I do not have a particular goal of reading a lot of works in translation, but I do find it interesting when I read them, as the story is affected by both the author, the translator and the reader.  This month  I read Not a River by Selva Almada.  I am unsure if it fell flat somewhere in the translation, or if it just wasn't for me, but it did fall into my water theme nicely and I had never read anything by Almada, so now I have. 

Books by Diverse Authors: 19% of my reads were by diverse authors. Definitely a drop from February 57% . Al ot of this was that I was offered books that I wanted to read that weren't by diverse authors. Hopefully in May I will up that a  bit, I am really slipping.  So I've got 5-6 that I'm already starting in May which are by diverse authors, we will see.  I do kind of do a lot of DNF. 

TOP Read for April?  So hard. April was full of amazing reads, some very unusual for me  (Upon a Starlit Tide) and others that were kind of expected, like A Sorceress comes to Call). 

In the end, I'm  going with 

The River Has Roots By Amal Al-Mohtar

The writing was what clinched it.  The story itself was fine, but the musicality of the book really leant itself to reading aloud and thinking about things and overall the entire reading experience was wonderful.   I liked it so much I even made an entire video about it.

I'd recommend this to pretty much anyone. It's one I'd recommend for aspiring writers, just to look at how the author uses words throughout. 

A close second would be  If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga  

This short novel was quite a surprise for me, I read it and found it to be a little bit on the nose, and sort of off putting in some ways and then boom, the ending was chaotic and wonderful.  I will look for more from this writer. 

Hugo Awards: I made progress on my goal to read the Hugo award wining novels, and finished off Fahrenheit 451  by Bradbury.  This one was a winner especially after The demolished man, which was NOT a winner.  It took me a long time to acquire the next one - apparently another weak one- The Forever Game-  in which a feminine appearing robot is named "Bossy"  so hopefully, I finish that in May. 

Buddy Reads: 

  I finished off  Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings  with my Book Buddy and we both thought it was really fun.  Eddings writes a well paced romance with tension, diverse characters and a lot of relatable and funny moments! 

This one was overall just an enjoyable read (Thank you NetGalley and SMP!) 

Book Club Reads:  This is a bit shameful for me to admit, but even though I lead the Stabby and Smoochy Bookclub... I DNF the last two books!  We choose books by vote and I was outvoted. Since I had so many books from the library and Netgalley, those two just had to go- to me they weren't that great, and I had Noor Naga and Amal El Mohtar competing, as well as the great Ruby Dixon. 

I did read some Ruby Dixon this past month-  Bad Guy  Where readers continue in the Risdaverse, and meet who we think is Crueldon the Ruiner  and Mina, another brave human female. YES... it was as always fantastic, and Narrated by Mason Lloyd, I've audiobooked so much by Mason that the Dog recognizes his voice. 

I recommend Ruby if you are looking for a little Monster Romance. Everyone is always surprised at the quality of  her work.  

What else made up the bulk of this month's reading?

    Looking back I seem to have indulged a bit too much into the romance genre, as well as some Science Fiction- as I'm moving through the Hugo Nominees.  Can't say I recommend that path as "Hitched to the Gunslinger" was OK, but...I think it may have rotted my brain.  I like romance, but I need it to be... better? 

 So.  Let's see if I can do better in May! 

I want more Diverse authors for myself, "better" romance, and I dunno, maybe not to get swayed by every single thing on offer with Net Galley! 

February Reading wrap up!

 Well. February is a short month, but I still managed to finish a whopping 21 books.  I'm not really "trying" to be a power reader, but I admit, the library only having a 14 day loan on a lot of audiobooks has put a bit of a fire under me. 

Credit: https://lccn.loc.gov/98508191

Of course, reading a lot of books at a rapid pace really can ruin the enjoyment and not leave a lot of time for thought.  Lucky for me, some of my choices were purely enjoyment novels and didn't tax my noggin. Others though... Well... lets see what happened! 

Some Statistics!

Books in translation:  2/21  A low number indeed, but that brings my total for 2025 to 5 books in translation, so I've got room for more! 

Books by Diverse Authors: 57% of my reading was a book with an identified diverse author.  I had a bit of help from Black Booksky  over on bluesky for finding books by black authors that I really wanted to read (you can check out Black Booksky too!)  

What was my TOP read? 

Well... after some thought (like about 8 minutes of thought...)

 It's a TIE! (I make all the blog rules so why not!)

I could not decide between Cordova's The inheritance of Orquidea Divina or  Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen. 

Both books feature a unique narrative featuring magical realism and some introduction into cultures that are not the normative culture that I live within. I have not stopped thinking about either one, and when pressed to really decide, I just couldn't. So there they are.

Non-Fiction- not my favorite genre, but I did read one non-fiction book. 

Black water by David Robertson. This is an interesting memoir of a Creen man growing up unaware of his indigenous heritage. While an important piece of writing, I think I highly preferred Tomson Highway's work of fiction, which just flowed better for me and was much more engaging. 

I started few other non-fiction water books but never quite got into them and they all remain unfinished. 

Speaking of my Water theme! 

Books read for the great 2025 Water theme! 

To be honest,  none of these topped my list for really awesome reads.  I will put of a review for McKinney's Noir book set in a future world where instead of building to the sky, we build down in to the ocean, in just a bit.  This month's Watery reads really had me questioning my choice of themes, but I've since gotten some recommendations, so hopefully my enjoyment level will rise in March! Water City is really worth a read, if you like Noir detective type novels, and it is a series, it was fun, but somehow didn't grab me like I had hoped. 

Advanced Reader Copies :

I was able to read one Advanced reader copy- 

This is the United Planetary Systems Book one To Avenge a Fallen Star.  It goes out on sale on March 25th and I wish Qillana Quinn all the best with the release of her novel. 

This lead me to requesting... errrr... several more books on NetGalley, breaking my Audio only rule and I am sure in March I will regret it. 

Book Club Books: 

 I read one in a series of Sci -Fi that I won't mention on the blog. I enjoyed the book, but the author is problematic  and thus... no discussion of that. 

Within the Stabby and Smoochy Book club, we have been CONSUMED  by The Broken Bonds series by J. Bree 

This isn't great literature, but the pacing is pretty good, and the story is so engaging. I have yet to figure out why we have the insects on every cover, so if someone knows, please let me know! 

We will be finishing off Book six soon and starting a new series or book. So far, a member has suggested  A Broken Blade - the Halfling series and I'm definitely ready for that. As always we love readers at Stabby and Smoochy so, feel free to hop in. Fable is free to join and it's a really responsive reading site with great visuals! 

BUDDY READS:

We loved reading the conclusion to the Ruinous Love Trilogy, it was everything and more.    This was definitely a good time featuring all sorts of things, cocktail olive picks, clowns, fortune tellers, crochet, and LOVE, of course. 

We have started to buddy read an ARC entitled Well, Actually  which we have dubbed "the hot dog book". So far, I think it's super polished and very funny, not sure how/what my reading buddy thinks/feels yet. 

 A book that sort of fell out of all of my "categories"  but deserves a mention is the heist novel Hammajang Luck. 

This book was so excellent on audio, the pacing was great, and it just moved along through a heist, which involved so much trauma, love, found family and trust, that I really found a lot to love about it, I just... didn't love it quite as much as my two tied favorites. 

The only other HUGE accomplishment for me was finishing off Bester's The Demolished Man.  That book has dogged me for months! We have moved on to 1953's Hugo award winner, which is a huge one, and I'll be sure to put up a review when I finish that - let's just say there are Firemen involved. 

The rest are all a blur of romance, space based romance,  and honestly some books that, I dont think I liked enough to want to re-mention them! 

What did you enjoy most in February?  What are you looking forward to in March! let me know in the comments! 

January Reading Wrap Up!

 Reading Friends. We made it through January!  What was your favorite read this month? 

  I finished 28 books in January. 

This seems kind of extreme.  But some were shorter reads, and many - were books that require less concentration to enjoy. 

   As the Book Tok crowd would say - "Lets get into it!"

Firstly - Statistics! 

Books in translation:  3/28 A fairly low number, but it's definitely more than many people read in a year. 

Books by Diverse authors: I have a goal to really increase my diverse author reading. Last year about 27% of my reads were  by diverse authors, so lets see how I did for the Month of January?

46%  of my reading was a book with an identified "Diverse author" I did have to actively search out Alexandria House, a Black romance writer- her books are as engaging as any other romance on the market, but they aren't something I came across naturally. Many people think of diverse authors as people who write on only the struggles of various marginalized people, but of course, diverse authors write in all genres, one just has to look a bit further to find them. I love being able to recommend these books to readers when they say "I'm looking for..."  We'll see how my percentage goes through the year.  

Coming in at my TOP PICK: 

RED QUEEN  By Juan Gomez-Jurado

Translated by Nick Caistor.

English Audio Book Narrator Scott Brick. 

While browsing at the library,  I impulsively checked out  Black Wolf  by the same author - only to realize Black wolf is book 2 in this series, so I started with Red Queen.  A psychological thriller/police procedural  set in Spain. Antonia  is a genius who is also specifically trained to mentally sift through debris and solve difficult, high profile crimes.  John is a disgraced cop who's coerced into being her shield,  which he initially feels is babysitting duty,  which - Antonia definitely  needs. 

I was wholly engrossed  by Red queen (and also Black Wolf  which I also finished this month.)  Both Antonia and John are relatable characters who I came to feel quite attached to.  The author uses a few leitmotif's through the book which give the reader this delightful feeling that they, along with the author and other readers, are in on a bit of a secret.  I am  not often a fan of male authors having a female main character- but in this case, Gomez-Jurado does it well, mostly because Antonia is not only  "not like other girls" she's also- not really like other humans in general. As we read we also discover that Antonia is indeed very much like other girls/humans but that she is not always treated that way. 

Scott Brick  has an audiobook legacy of over 800 books narrated.  He wasn't known to me, but his theatre training shows, as he was able to inject suspense, humor and anticipation as he read this, as well as Black Wolf in a way that added to the book, rather than made a listener cringe. 

I loved both books, and the narration so much that I requested White King - which comes out in March 2025 via net Galley and I'm currently about 65% finished with that. More to come, I do not think readers will be disappointed!  

Highly recommend - and clearly- others enjoyed this one as it's been made into a series on Prime as well. 

Out of all the books I read this month, this one, along with Black Wolf had the combination I look for: compelling story, broad appeal, well executed with... (yes I'm a bit shallow) a great cover.  I recommend this to anyone who enjoys this genre. 

  Ok onward! 

I read one Non-fiction book in January: I Contain Multitudes by Ed. Yong. 

 

I did fully enjoy this book, and recommend it as easy to read, and understand science.

Mr. Yong is an incredible science communicator.  This book was published in 2016 and some of the latter chapters seem now a bit dated, but for the most part, it's still an excellent read. 

BOOKS I READ FOR MY WATER THEME 2025:

 Surprisingly, these were all, without exception, well written, interesting, thought provoking books that addressed the human experience in one way or another. I am sure at some point, I am going to choose some less good ones... as one always does.  

If I had to pick one that might be my favorite I think I'd pick All the Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan. I felt this book gave me a better understanding of the conflict in Gaza - which has been in the forefront of news cycles in the past year.  The author put such a human face on the suffering even though the story itself was not about the conflict exactly, --I feel that more people should go take a look at this one.  

What else did I read? 

In the genre of Science Fiction, I had a hodge podge of what I consider real Science Fiction,  and that of romance set in space.  The two are wildly different.

In the actual Science Fiction category we have:

Heavenly Tyrant  by Xiran Jay Zhao

And  Death of the Author  by Nnedi Okorafor

And: Intrastellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

All excellent reads.  Okorafor is by far the more polished writer, but Zhao brings it with heart stopping battle scenes and Lakshminarayan  brings popular culture to social commentary in a fairly easy to read format. 

In romance set in space, I outdid myself: 

I enjoyed all of these, though I will say Surrender to the Cyborgs probably hits the bottom of the list.  It was... OK. 

Ruby Dixon is the queen of Space Based romances, and she continued to deliver with When she Dances. Space for Love champions a plus sized heroine that was easy to love, for readers and her love interest as well!  Dianne Duvall's Aldebarian Alliance does a fairly good job at building a world but again the main story is an action/adventure romance. 

 I do love a good romance in a space setting. 

I  Buddy read 2 books.  And honestly Buddy reading was the way to go for both, unlikely I would have finished either one without my trusted Buddy reading  friend. 

Emily Rath has written better things, and Rebecca Yarros.... well. I read them, I enjoyed both of these books as "ok" but mostly really enjoyed reading them with friends. Yarros is a problematic author in many many ways (I dislike how her main character Violet is supposed to have a debilitating condition, but she's been able to somehow always, steadfastly be the heroine- involving many fantastic physical feats, and mental task that require a great deal of concentration, all while being worshipped by a demon man who has entirely bombastic language that if used in real like might cause a girl to just ask "what?"  This isn't how debilitating conditions work, Also noted that the writing and such in a lot of this new book made it seem like, almost a different writer, which made me wonder so so much about this whole situation.  The publisher is making bank though. 

Book club Books!

The Stabby and Smoochy Bookclub on Fable read quite a bit in January. We like our heroines stabby and smoochy and there are no shortage of such books.  We loves the Broken Bonds series and that will continue to feature until we finish it in February, so come join up if you also want a stabby/smoochy heroine. 

 My more staid Library  book club read this piece of historical fiction: 

Which was interesting and educational, and got I think, a solid 3 stars from the group. 
 

Books that found their way into my finished shelf that didn't really relate to any other books:

Her Body and Other parties  by Carmen Maria Machado  is a collection of well written short stories that could provoke a lot of discussion. For the most part- I don't like short stories, and par for the course, I didn't love these. To me there was a bit of the MFA voice (if I recognized it with my paltry reading skills, you know it was heavy in there)  and I did not enjoy that. Many many other people have enjoyed these so don't let an avid reader of Space Alien romances stop you from picking it up! 

And then She Fell  by Alicia Elliott 

I felt like this was a really excellent read for me.  I maybe could have popped it into the Sci-Fi realm but it doesn't seem to be shelved by many as Sci-Fi. I feel that it helped me to see myself especially through another's eyes and expanded my own horizons. Recommend. 

And then.... there are the audio books that were available at the library that I picked up to... read in the background. I enjoyed every single one of these not great literature type books and recommend them. 

Did you make it to the end? Whew! Let me know if you've read any of these and your thoughts!!! 

What was your favorite read of January?