It’s the first month of 2026 and that means the first TBR of the year! I’m trying to keep my TBRs pretty tight this year in the hope that I can stick to them fairly well. I didn’t do too bad on it last year, but I would really like to not have books staying on my monthly TBRs for months on end this year!
I’m also trying to reduce the number of books I try and “make progress in” each month because I do tend to enjoy books when I read them in a more compressed period of time. This doesn’t mean I won’t have any, but probably not as many as last year.
Finally, I’m trying to keep my “currently reading” on Storygraph to 3 books or less. I may end up needing to exclude books for my dissertation from this, but we’ll see. Hopefully that will help me to not abandon books for such long periods unless I intentionally decide to take a break from it!
Without further ado, then, let’s take a look at my January 2026 TBR! I’m trialling giving a bit more information about each book in my TBR and then putting a summary graphic at the end, so please let me know what you think about this new style of TBR post!
Clicking on book covers will take you to the Bookshop.org UK site (except if the book is not available on the site), where your purchases support local independent bookshops. These are affiliate links and I get a small commission – this does not affect the price you pay. Titles link to The Storygraph. For books not in English, clicking on the English title will lead you to the English book on Bookshop.org if a translation exists.
The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow
The story of a legendary lady-knight and the historian sent back in time to make sure she plays her part – even if it breaks his heart.
This was my most anticipated release of Q4 last year, but I never got around to reading it (I have an awful habit of putting off things I’m excited for), so I’m rectifying that this month!
너를 만나서 행복해 [Glad to See You] by Chow Hon Lam
This is the first book in the Buddy Gator series, which are graphic novels based on the Instagram-famous comic strips.
I started reading it last year when I was in Korea but then I had to put it in a box and ship it across the world which took many months. I’m going to go and fetch some of the books from my grandparents’ house later this week, so I’ll be picking it up and finishing it then.
Show Me Where It Hurts by Claire Gleeson
A literary fiction novel about a woman whose husband tries to commit suicide and take her and the children with him. And yet I’ve somehow read it’s more life-affirming than depressing (let’s hope).
I’m reading this as a buddy read with a couple of friends from back at uni – we find reading books a great way to keep in touch now we all live in different countries.
The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Two people meet on a train for the spiritually lost – not the dead, but the living who have lost their way and their purpose.
This is the new release I’m most excited for in January (it comes out on the 23rd) and I want to read and review it before the end of the month as part of my goal to post timely reviews of new releases this year. I enjoyed Water Moon last year, so hopefully I like this one too!
은하철도의 밤 [Night on the Galactic Railroad] by Miyazawa Kenji
A Japanese children’s classic by the author who is cited as a great inspiration for Studio Ghibli, featuring a train that travels across the galaxy.
Surprisingly I’ve managed to put two train-related books on this list? This book is originally Japanese, but I own the Korean translation and the audiobook version is available on the audiobook app I subscribe too, so this will be my audiobook focus for the month. (There is an English translation too – find it on Bookshop.org UK here!)
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
A book of brief explanations of the key astrophysics concepts needed for understanding news etc. about space.
Since I quite enjoy reading sci-fi set in space and also astronomy-related essays and news, I thought this could be a fun one. However, it’s just an audiobook that I’m borrowing from the library and not a book I own, so it’s a bonus book that I can read if I need a second audiobook to listen to!
The Book of Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi
Also known as The Book of Chuang Tzu, this is one of the key texts in Daoism. (Check out my post on reading Chinese philosophy!)
I need to read the second chapter for a class I’m doing called “Sound and Sensibility” – we’re looking at hearing loss in the Zhuangzi in the third week of the class. I hope to read at least chapters one and two before that point. Whether I get much further will depend on my progress in other books, but I’ll be happy if I at least make that start!
이상한 나라의 스물셋 [The Strange World of Twenty-Three]
Short stories about the difficult process of growing up and living in the world with other people in your young twenties.
If you’ve been reading any of my TBR or Wrap Up posts since July when I started this blog, you’ve probably seen this book before since I’ve been reading it so unbelievably slowly. I have 3.5 stories left to read, and I’m hoping to get to at least 1.5 in January.
Summary
All in all, I have five key books that I wan’t to finish this month, one bonus book, and two books that I would like to make some progress in. Of those, two are 2025 releases and one is a 2026 release. All bar the new release and the “bonus” book are books on my physical TBR already.
Not featured here yet (largely because I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to read yet and also I don’t know how much of it will be read in whole and how much dipped in and out of) are the books I need to read for my dissertation research, so there will be definitely some East Asian premodern history/women’s literature-type reading going on as well.
What books are you planning on reading in January? If you’ve written a January TBR, please leave me a comment so I can check it out!
P.S. I was originally supposed to post my 2026 reading goals today but that post is taking longer than expected to write, so it should be coming on Wednesday instead!
Keira x
Keira's Bookmark 