January Reading Wrap-Up

I'm not sure about everyone else, but January felt like the longest month. Regardless, I read seven books! Overall, it was a very productive month of reading. I started the month strong by reading two great non-fiction books, Perfect Victims: And The Politics of Appeal by Mohammed el-Kurd and Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond. Both are strong contenders for best reads of this year.

Yet, the books after those two were a little underwhelming. I read Emily Henry's Book Lovers, which was cute but predictable. Then, I read The Silent Patient, which started off promising yet turned out to be really disappointing.

I ended the last two weeks of January by reading Jep Loeb's Batman: The Long Halloween, You, With a View, and The Ex-Vows, the latter two written by Jessica Joyce. Batman is my favorite superhero. I've read Batman: Year One and Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls. I enjoyed both, especially The Court of Owls. A friend of mine recommended it to me after The Batman came out in 2022. Its sequel is set to be released in 2027, so I decided to read The Long Halloween after hearing rumors that Scarlett Johansson will be playing Gilda Dent, the wife of Harvey Dent. For me, The Long Halloween was good, but nothing compared to The Court of Owls. If you love Batman, then I would definitely recommend reading The Long Halloween.

I'm saving my thoughts for You, With a View and The Ex-Vows for a later review. I will say that after reading these two romance novels, I became an immediate fan of Jessica Joyce.

In my last post, I mentioned my reading goals and the challenges that will help me meet those goals. You may remember that I wanted to read more non-fiction books and more queer books. While I managed to read two excellent non-fiction novels, I failed miserably to read anything queer. For next month, my goal is to read at least one queer book. I bought Game Changer by Rachel Reid, so I'm hoping to read it by the end of February. I'd also like to continue my stride and read at least one non-fiction book. I have a lot of contenders for that category. I've started Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning by Peter Beinart, and I have Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation waiting in the mists. Therefore, fulfilling next month's goal should be feasible!

That's all for today, so please continue to follow me on my reading journey!