January started and ended well, but I was beset by a nasty cold in the middle of the month. I’m still getting over the cough. But I read a lot of books and had some fun nights out, so it was mostly a win.

What I Read in January:

I started with a clean reading slate at the beginning of the month (year, decade), and did not carry over any books from 2019. So all these books were begun and finished in January.

• Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo
• Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel, translated from the German by R.F.C. Hull
• The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo, ARC provided by NetGalley
• Witchmark (The Kingston Cycle #1) by C.L. Polk
• Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin
• Epic Solitude: A Story of Survival and a Quest for Meaning in the Far North by Katherine Keith, ARC provided by NetGalley
• Black Powder War (Temeraire #3) by Naomi Novik, audiobook narrated by Simon Vance
• The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, audiobook narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch
• The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated/edited by Jesse L. Byock
• Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli, narrated by the author
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, audiobook narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith
• Empire of Ivory (Temeraire #4) by Naomi Novik, audiobook narrated by Simon Vance
• Siege and Storm (The Grisha Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
• Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon audiobook narrated by Andre Braugher
• Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings by Tom Shippey

Statistically speaking:

• I read slightly more books by female authors than male authors in January, with 53.3% by women and 46.7% by men.
• Nine books were by Americans, two were by an Italian author, and one each were by authors from England, Germany, Iceland, and Canada.
• I read three adult fantasy novels, three nonfiction books, two YA fantasies, two memoirs, and one each of philosophy, mythology, and general fiction.
• Eight books were from my own shelves, five were from the library, and two were from NetGalley.
• The publication dates spanned exactly 800 years, with the oldest having been written in 1220, and the newest being published in 2020.

 

My Plans for February:

I have an ambitious TBR for February, including a tome for this month’s Tome Topple, hosted by Sam at Thoughts on Tomes, and buddy read with Jackie at Death by Tsundoku.

• The Book of Lost Tales, pt. 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. I’ve read a lot of the History of Middle-earth books, but it’s been a while, and now I’m not sure which ones I’ve read, and which ones I haven’t. So I’m going to start over at the beginning.
• The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Tales by Anonymous, translated and edited by Andy Orchard. I’m finally getting around to reading the Norse sagas I’ve slowly been collecting. I read The Prose Edda last month, and I’m going to try this one in February.
• Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusades and Jihad by Brian A. Caltos. I bought some history books during BookOutlet’s Black Friday Sale, and I plan to read them in historical order. This is the first one.
• The Phoenix Empress (Their Bright Ascendancy #2) by K. Arsenault Rivera. This is my selection for Tome Topple, which begins February 7th.
• Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez. I bought this because of the glowing review Olive at A Book Olive gave it on her channel. Olive has yet to fail me on a recommendation, and this YA fantasy, based on Bolivian legends, sounds fantastic.
• The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick. The British History Podcast is my favorite podcast, and the host, Jamie, has been talking about the age of Æthelred Unred, Queen Emma, and King Cnut for the past several weeks, so this seems like a good time to read a novel about Emma, a formidable but overlooked English queen.
• The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo. I’ve enjoyed the first two books in Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy, so while I wait for the third one to come in at the library, I’ll give this one a try.
• The Ruin of Kings (A Chorus of Dragons #1) by Jenn Lyons. I bought this one during BookOutlet’s Black Friday sale. It’s the one Jackie and I chose for our upcoming buddy read. We’ll be reviewing it in March.

I also need to finish Master of Sorrows by Justin Call (ARC provided by NetGalley) and Taaqtumi by various (ARC provided by NetGalley), which is a collection of Arctic horror stories. And now that I think of it, I will also need to read Deanna Raybourn’s next Veronica Speedwell book, A Murderous Relation (ARC provided by NetGalley), since that is due at the beginning of March.

 

So I have an ambitious TBR for February, and I already know which books I will set aside if time and events end up not being on my side.

 

Other Things I Want to Finish in February:

I have a green crochet scarf I’ve been working on for longer than necessary (I don’t pull it out very often), and I want to get it finished this month so I can actually wear it before spring, and so I can start on the next project and learn a new crochet stitch or two for the future.

Ripper Street, season 5
Netflix
TV-MA
starring Matthew McFadyen, Adam Rothenburg, MyAnna Buring

There are only six episodes in the fifth and final season, but for whatever reason, I haven’t watched any of them yet. I want to finish this series before moving on to Peaky Blinders or anything else.

 

So February is going to be a busy month, but because there are some snowy days in the forecast, I should have plenty of time to get to everything. I hope!