What are we reading in January?

Happy new year, everybody! What are you kicking off the year with?

Next up from my library shelves is Gender and Our Brains, by Gina Rippon. Of the many things I have out from the library that are due back on the same day, this one has the most holds, so I need to read it first.

I’m reading Oryx & Crake, What the Chinese Don’t Eat, and Cosmic Clues.

I'm reading the first volume of A Dance to the Music of Time, L'Etranger, and The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart.

I'm starting off the year finishing up a couple of hang-overs from last year: Montauk by Nicola Harrison and D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose.

Just finished Empress Orchid and starting Wearing Paper Dresses.

As usual I have several on the go. Three Things About Elsie is hanging over from 2019, but I should finish it in the next few days. I'm also reading Your Life in My Hands, which is excellent (it helps that I agree wholeheartedly with her about Jeremy Hunt), Nightwalking: a Nocturnal History of London for the TravelKIT, and my library book (which I will also finish this week, hopefully) is I'm Only in it for the Parking. I've also started my volume of Eminescu poetry for the RandomCAT (but it will take me a lot longer than a month to finish this!), and Jerusalem by Alan Moore for the year-long group read.

I finally decided to start the new year with Greenglass House by Kate Milford. It's a little slow to start, but I'm liking it so far!

I just finished Djamilia by Tchinghiz Aïtmatov for GeoCAT, a book set in Kyrgyzstan.
I'll start The long Mars, the third book in The long earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

I'm also reading Self-made Man by Norah Vincent for the Nonfiction Cat.

I finished The Calculating Stars yesterday and today I’m starting Cain His Brother.

Here's mine for January. The first I should finish before the end of the month. The other three may easily carry into February and possibly beyond.

Small Steps to Giant Improvement: Master Pawn Play in Chess by Sam Shankland
King's Indian Warfare by Ilya Smirin
Extreme Caro-Kann by Alexey Bezgodov
French Defense: The Solid Rubinstein Variation by Hannes Langrock

Currently I am reading A Blade of Black Steel by Alex Marshall, the second book of a fantasy trilogy. The Fever by Megan Abbott and listening to a cozy mystery, Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay. Enjoying all three.

I seem to be indulging in childhood amusements today -- namely, watching a bunch of cartoons on Disney Plus -- so I'm going to continue the trend by picking up a Hardy Boys book that's in my Pool for the year: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk, by Franklin W. Dixon. I expect it to be outdated and full of stereotypes, but hope it will be a quick read.

I've finally finished my first left over from 2019 Montauk by Nicola Harrison and am moving to finish one more that was left over.

After a bunch of short books, looking to kick off my aviation category with The Last Nine Minutes, by Moira Johnston. This is about the Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crash on 03 March 1974.

I am reading Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper and about to start Passing by Nella Larsen. I am finding Anderson Cooper's book a very quick read.

I'm reading Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood, a Much Ado about Nothing retelling set in 1930s Italy.

I am reading The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

I need a fairly substantial book for the 3-day trip to Fla, so I've decided to start The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. How much reading I do will depend on how much driving I can get my husband to do. Besides, I'm a better navigator.

ETA: I also have a few e-books if I finish it.

I've just started In Milady's Chamber by Sheri Cobb South, a mystery set in the Regency period. Really enjoying it so far!

I'm reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, both for my book club and also the RandomCAT. I bought the book early last year for assigned reading for an adult education class which I ended up not taking. If it was not for RandomCAT, I might not finish it; we are not required to finish books for my book club.

For the KITastrophe challenge, I'm planning to read The Library Book by Susan Orlean which would also fit the BingoDOG squares for "involving books, bookstores, or libraries" and for "library or thing in the title"; I'm planning to use it for the former.

For the published by a small press title, I'm reading Needville a collection of poems about mining in Appalachia by Sara M. Robinson, published by Cedar Creek Publishing, "a Virginia Publisher of Virginia Books" (t.p. verso).

I am reading Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the BingoDog epistolary square. It's just as funny as I remember it.

>21 pamelad: I read it last year - loved it!

I've set aside all other books to read The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. My book club will be discussing it Monday. It's fantastic and I don't know why I waited until now to read it.

I'm reading Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn, and I should not have started it during the work week because all I want to be doing is reading this book!

I'm alternating between Aunt Bessie Provides and Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters.

I read Your Momma Thinks Square Roots are Vegetables for the Weird Title square. That was great fun! I had not read a Foxtrot cartoon for ages.

>25 LittleTaiko: I have that book about Little Women on my pile for February. Look forward to hearing what you think.

I just finished Thunder at Gettysburg by Patricia Lee Gauch and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (for GEOCAT), and both count for BingoDOG too. I am currently reading A Moveable Feast by Hemingway (for RandomCAT) and also Christmas with the Shipyard Girls for NetGalley.

I'm reading The Element of Fire by Martha Wells, my first reread of the year. I first read it several years ago, and I liked it enough to purchase all her other Ile-Rien books, but I didn't actually read them! So now I'm starting over with the series and hoping to read them all this year. So far I'm enjoying this one a lot!

I am reading The Weekend by Charlotte Wood for a real-world book group. It will fit nicely in the Birth, Life and Death Bingo square.

Just borrowed from the library The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel and Big Sky, the latest Jackson Brodie book by Kate Atkinson. Two more Bingo squares: Library or Thing in Name and the Crime square.

I am reading The Trespass by Barbara Ewing, a historical fiction set in Victorian times and, I believe, leading to emmigration to New Zealand. I am also going to start Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea this evening.

Looking to kick off my French category with 1967, le Québec entre deux mondes, by Jean Rey.

I started with Dark Seed: No One Knows What Evil Grows, an local eco-thriller for my BingoDog small press category. Just finished Interpreter of Maladies for Geocat (India). I think that book belongs in the appreciate-but-did-not-enjoy pile.

For the non-fiction CAT (journalism), I’m to start Rolling Blackouts, a graphic novel featuring interviews with reporters in war zones. On hold at the library are The Overstory and A Better Man - a bookstopper balanced by a cozy mystery!

I just finished The Italian Cure by Melodie Campbell for the BingoDog Woman author not US/UK square (she is Canadian).

Currently reading The President is Missing, Clockwork Angels, Guardian of the Promise, and The Book of Being. I'm interested in seeing which one I finish first, though: "President" is a quick page-turner, and with Neil Peart's recent passing I'm probably going to devour "Clockwork Angels".

I just finished The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, which was fantastic. I'm continuing on with Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha and Herkunft by Saša Stanišic.

Almost finished the book mentioned in >32 rabbitprincess:, so next up will be Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain.

I've just started Play It Again: An Amateur against the Impossible by Alan Rusbridger, which is about the author's attempt as an amateur pianist to learn, in one year, Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor (Opus 23). So far it's very interesting, although I'd say it helps to be familiar with the piece and to be able to read music -- the book includes snippets of the score, as well as Rusbridger's entire annotated score in the appendix. I actually own this piece and may try to follow in Rusbridger's footsteps . . . although right now, it definitely does seem impossible because I am nowhere near good enough to play it! But perhaps Rusbridger's progress will encourage me. :)

I just started Little Women for my book club read and Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea for AlphaKIT. Slowly working my way through Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood as well.

Started a new bus book today: Gold from Crete, by C. S. Forester.

I am reading The Bertrams and Milkman. Both have started well. The Library at Night is waiting.

I've started How to be Right by James O'Brien, and am also reading Wide Sargasso Sea.

I am now reading Murder at the Brightwell and Christmas in Silver Falls for NetGalley

I am also reading The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope. Plus, I am reading Uncle Silas by Le Fanu.

I'm reading In the Walled City, because I just love Stewart O'Nan and I found it on my Kindle.

I've started The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Just read the first two chapters of The Calculating Stars and now want to read all day! I can see already why everyone loved it. It certainly hooks you from the start.
Has anyone read The Fated Sky?

>47 JayneCM: Yes, I did last year. I liked it but The Calculating Stars I liked just a little bit better, maybe because it was the first book in the series.

>48 rabbitprincess: I'm sure I will read it as being a little less enjoyable than a fantastic book is still pretty good!

Currently in the middle of Brave New World, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Dubliners, Howl and Other Poems and Men Without Women.

>49 JayneCM: Oh yes, it was very good! :)

Today on the bus I started reading Verdict of Twelve, by Raymond Postgate. And tonight I might finish The Crooked Hinge, by John Dickson Carr, which I am very close to completing!

Next up for me is Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson for an e-book and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell for a physical book.

Finished Verdict of Twelve and have moved on to A Short History of Progress, by Ronald Wright.

I am reading The Diviners by Margaret Laurence and The Red Box by Rex Stout.

I just finished reading The President is Missing and gave it 5 stars. I had seen Patterson and Bill Clinton when they were on TV doing their PR run for this book, and it intrigued me. When I was at an airport last summer and nervous that I might finish my "traveling book" I decided to buy it at the airport bookstore. Glad I did - it was a quick read.

Currently reading Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters.

Today I started Dread Journey, by Dorothy B. Hughes.

Next up in reading from my Pool of potential reads is Gold for Prince Charlie, by Nigel Tranter.

Just started The Home-maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

>8 chlorine: I loved that one!

I have just started Green Earth, so you may not see me for a while. At 1069 pages, it may take me a few days! :)

As I am about to finish Small Steps to Giant Improvement by Sam Shankland, I am about to begin The Secret Life of Bad Bishops by Esben Lund.

I've just begun Meagan Spooner's Sherwood.

I am reading The Amish Marriage Bargain for NetGalley.

I've finished Xenocide, The Flight of the Phoenix and The Help so far. I'm currently reading Invisible Cities and Pilgrimage 4.

And sorry to report my first DNF in ages - The Brownstone.

AS I'm finishing up with Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson, I've also started Aunt Bessie Assumes by Diana Xarissa and I grabbed Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill. I'm trying to keep one physical and one e-book going at the same time.

Finished Dread Journey. Now onto non-fiction: The Personality Brokers, by Merve Emre, about the inventors of the Myers-Briggs system of personality testing.

I'm reading Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which I expected to be a difficult read, but it's not at all. I'm enjoying it. We say plough here, so the title is doubly foreign and I initially wondered whether a plow was an Eastern European theoretical thing.

>66 pamelad: - I have that in my list of things to read this year for my Nobel winners category.

I have finished The Radical King which I listened to in honor of Martin Luther King Day (thanks to Audible it is available free to stream this month). Cornel West's sections didn't impress me (and I didn't think he was very good at narrating) but King's own writings were excellent.

I am currently reading my 1970s horror book, The Rats by James Herbert, for this months ScaredyKit and I am just about to start My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

I've changed my mind and am reading Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger and also Scones and Bones by Laura Childs.

I'm reading American Dirt. I'm enjoying it even with all the controversy that I've seen about it.

I am reading The Mozart Conspiracy for NetGalley, a historical novel about a young female musician in Vienna. She must disguise herself as a male in order to get to play her violin in orchestras. A rollicking read so far! I have to now find the preceding book.

>71 lsh63: I'm taking a hit on that one, just from reading the description. I haven't heard of it or the controversy surrounding it, so I can go in clean.

Getting ready to start Tall Tales and Wee Stories, by Billy Connolly.

Finally finished The Standby Stephen King and am now reading The Kite Runner.

I'm reading A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake.

Just finished The Mozart Conspiracy by Susanne Dunlap and now reading Much Ado About Nutmeg which is a cozy mystery.

I've finished Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger and have decided my next book will be The Elephant's Journey by Jose Saramago.

Of the library books I have due soon, I'm going to pick out Forensics, by Val McDermid, next. I've renewed it twice already and really need to get a move on.

I'm looking forward to finding out what you think of Forensics since I have a copy of that on my tbr.

I finished American Dirt, I enjoyed the book, and didn't realize that there was so much controversy about it until I started reading it. I know next to nothing about the plight of Mexican immigrants, so I couldn't even begin to weigh in on any inaccuracies, dialogue, or cultural references. All I'm going to say is that I rated it 4 1/2 stars.

Currently I'm reading : Jazz, Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You, and Clouds of Witness.

I've finished Scones and Bones by Laura Childs and am going to go back to Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill.

I just finished A Perilous Promise by Kate Kingsbury aka Doreen Roberts Hight. This is the prequel for the Pennyfoot Hotel mysteries, most of which I have read over quite a few years. I especially like the holiday novels in the series.

I am reading Sex and Suffering, a history of the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne 1856 - 1896. I've read a few of Janet McCalman's books: Struggletown, Journeyings and On the World of the Sixty-Nine Tram. All of them are about Melbourne.

I just started Airport, by Arthur Hailey, and oh MAN I am loving the technical aviation details. Also the book is set in January, which is a nice coincidence.

Another finish today--Much Ado About Nutmeg by Sarah Fox, for the "pun" square on BingoDog card. I read this for NetGalley. It is a cozy mystery that takes place in a small seaside town during the Golden Oldies Games for senior citizens. During the course of the games, three people meet their end in unfortunate circumstances. Of course, Marley, the owner of the local pancake house and her friends get involved in trying to solve the crimes, putting Marley in danger on several occasions. In addition, there is the excitement of Marley's upcoming wedding. I liked most of the characters, but the plot seemed slow at times, and I had a hard time keeping track of all the suspects. The title really has nothing to do with the story, so I imagine it is just a cute pun title.

I'm about to start Henrietta's War: News from the Home Front 1939-1942 by Joyce Dennys.

I am closing out the month with The Grifters by Jim Thompson and The Loudwater Mystery by Edgar Jepson.

Getting ready to start another mystery, a Holmes continuation/pastiche called A Taste for Honey, by H.F. Heard.

Just finished my first book of the year, Booking the Crook by Laurie Cass. It's part of the Bookmobile Cat series. I don't normally read mysteries, but this series has books and libraries and a cat in it, so what's not to like?

>90 BookLizard: Another contender for February MysteryKIT!

I am about halfway through Bill Bryson's Down Under - I haven't laughed so much at a book in ages! I think it is being able to relate to it as he makes some fabulous observations of my country.
He is just about to hit my neck of the woods. Well, relatively speaking. As he says, in Australia, everything is so far so him visiting towns that are an hour away from me is practically the same as visiting my town!

>92 JayneCM: - I've only read one of Bill Bryson's books so far, but I need to read more. The one I've read is the one where he hikes the Appalachian Trail in the eastern US. I have a couple more on my TBR pile. Maybe I can get to one this year.

I just finished The Whispering Statue which is a Nancy Drew book that my sister gave me for Christmas. This is part of the original series, the "yellow spine" edition. I have not read one of them in years, although I read most of the original series when I was in junior high school. My friend Debbie had the whole set, and her mom bought her each new one as it was released. She was kind enough to let the girls in our class read them. I read this one for BingoDog challenge.

I've finished what will be my last book for this month The Elephant's Journey by Jose Saramago.

Finished up two books today, and these will likely be my last books for the month: A Taste for Honey, by H.F. Heard; and Airline Maps, by Mark Ovenden and Maxwell Roberts.

I finished There's A Murder Afoot by Vicki Delaney. If you like Sherlock Holmes, this will appeal to you. It is set at a Sherlock Holmes conference in London, England. Readers get a pretty good tour of London throughout the book too! The main theme is art forgery, but the conference part is fun too. Although this is part of a series, I had no trouble following the story line, as the author did a good job introducing all the characters. They were all characterized well, so it was easy to tell them apart. There were not so many suspects so as to confuse the reader. I will have to go back and read this series from the beginning.

I'm reading The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea and it is just wonderful.

Just squeaked in one more last night Rotten Bananas and the Emerald Dream.

Finished three books (!!!) in January: Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson and the late Neil Peart; Guardian of the Promise by Irene Radford (part of her Merlin's Descendant series); and The Book of Being by Ian Watson (which I bought in 1991. For $2.95. Those were the days!).

On to February!