January 2021 Wrap up

 I am actually a bit unsure if making this post or not. The last few days I have been seeing a few interesting conversations about the impact and unrealistic expectations people might be getting from reading or watching the content people share about reading.

Is it possible that people who see posts like this where the author is reading what most people consider a lot might be building unfair expectations or making themselves feel bad for not reading as much? I hope that is not the case really.

I wanted to make a small pause for this. But I have not been able to make a coherent idea to share. So I will not be making a post for it, but the general idea is:

I am happy to share what I read and I feel no small amount of pride in completing books and series. That does not mean other people should be reading as much or more than me. This is not a competition, for most people, I included, reading is a hobby. I do it for fun and I hope everyone who does enjoy reading does not place the most importance on the numbers.

Reading is one of those activities you can do on your own and at your own pace. Just dive into it as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. I might be updating reading 5 - 10 - 20 books read in a month if someone out there reads 30 or 1 book that is just as valid.

So moving on.

I did not complete my first TBR of the year, but that is not a surprise I have not completed a single TBR for the last few months. So 6 were left unread that is 27% unread. I tried, I started two of those books but my progress was so small that I can't even count it.

Will I try to complete them in February? Maybe.

I had a very decent reading month in any case. This time I will be giving an overview in a  different format for this time:

Most of my reads were good I will show the books in categories based on the star rating I gave them

The majority of the books this month were

I did read a few mangas and graphic novels, a few mystery thrillers older works. As the vast majority were in the 3-star rating the average for the month was 3.1. I have reviews for most of the books mentioned today, and a few are still missing but hope to have them up in the next few days. 

I had a few 4 stars:

These are all rereads, they should not count for my favorites. But I do love the Raven Cycle series. I have been debating if changing the 3 of them to 5 stars. Who knows I might just do it because I love it so much.

And the lowest rating this month were

We have a diverse selection here, a fantasy story that is a good concept but I simply dislike the romance and teenage angst. It is written for YA, I understand I am not the target audience so the low rating is not exactly due to the book but a me-problem. Then we have a nonfiction and a thriller short story collection that were not able to capture me. I mean they are good reads I guess just I felt a bit meh, nothing caught my interest in particular.

On a more positive note, I did get a 5-star rating:

I really think is not a surprise but this book was the one I was more emotionally invested in, the grief, the family life, the whole small town, and its secrets. I mean I just enjoyed this whole ride!

So overall I read 22 books. So I am doing very well for the 2021 Good Reads challenge. 

For this time we will simply move on now.  I did complete a few more books I had not added in the TBR and a few I simply didn't get to. We'll see how we do in the next month. Should I do TBRs if I have a lot of issues to stick to them? Any ideas?

Do let me know what you have read so far? And if possible give me your opinion on the first topic of the day. Is reading wrap up more about numbers and competitiveness or do you consider it simply closing for the time frame set?

Let me know. Stay safe, stay heathy!