January, and with it the first month of 2026, is officially over! I didn’t have the most excellent start to the new reading year, but it wasn’t awful either, and as Gem @Gem’s Book Talk said in her wrap up, there’s no reason to put special pressure on January to be a good reading month!
Read on for some basic stats, a quick overview of the books I’ve read and progressed, what I’ve been up to on the blog and in the blogosphere, and my soundtrack for the month.
- Overview from the Storygraph
- Books Read
- Books Progressed or DNF’d
- On the Blog
- Around the Blogosphere
- Song of the Month
Disclaimer: Clicking on any of the book covers will take you to their Bookshop.org UK page (if the book is available there). These are affiliate links and I earn a small commission if you buy through them – this doesn’t affect the price you pay. If you can’t purchase via Bookshop.org UK, I encourage you to use the US equivalent or purchase directly from an independent bookshop (or use your library!) Let’s keep our bookshops and libraries in business!
Overview from the Storygraph
As you can see, there were quite a few days where I didn’t read this month.
Books Read
I read four books this month – two in English, and in two in Korean (English versions of both exist)! and managed to hit a different rating for every single one! I will be posting mini reviews for Kestrel and Glad to Meet You (너를 만나서 행복해), and I have already posted separate reviews for The Everlasting and Every Moment Was You (모든 순간이 너였다) – the review is in English, since there is an English translation available. Definitely check those posts out for more of my feelings and thoughts!
- The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow | ⭐⭐⭐.5 (Review)
- Kestrel (Starhawk #1) by Adrienne Lothy | ⭐⭐⭐
- 너를 만나서 행복해 [Glad to Meet You](Buddy Gator #1) by Chow Hon Lam | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- 모든 순간이 너였다 [Every Moment Was You] by 하태완 [Ha Taewan] | ⭐⭐.5 (Review)
Books Progressed or DNF’d
I did also make some decent progress in a couple of books this month. I read the first two chapters of Zhuangzi – which I have now paused and will pick up again once I’ve got more time for non-required reading in my field of study. I also got about 30% through Poyums, which was one of my first purchases of the year, so I’ll be finishing that in February.
Finally, I started Show Me Where It Hurts by Claire Gleeson but I am very much running behind my fellow buddy reader (who has already finished it). So I’ll be trying to quickly finish it in the first couple days of February. My friend said it extremely sad, which is why it’s ended up stuck at about 4% for two weeks – I’m just too intimidated! But it’s short, so I will be forcing myself to sit down and actually read it ASAP.
On the Blog
I didn’t post quite as regularly as I would like this month because it took me longer than expected to adjust to the new term, but I did manage to at the very least get through all the major new-year posts that I had planned except for one (my Q1 personal curriculum) that will be coming later this week. As a result, my other kind of content maybe suffered a little bit but that’s okay since I actually really love creating end of year/new year content!
You can expect some more reviews and less goal/wrap up related posts in February, though.
I also did a massive refurb of my blog layout and aesthetic – what do you think? Let me know!
Around the Blogosphere
I’ve been really slack on reading blogs this month, except for top ten tuesday posts (sometimes), so I don’t have a lot of posts to share this month. I did however really enjoy Danielle @The Part Everyone Skips’ list of anticipated releases for the first half of 2026.
Since I was so bad at blog hopping this month, I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of really interesting blog posts. So please link your favourite post from the month below so I can check it out (shameless self promotion very much encouraged)!
Another great post (that will hopefully also help me with blog hopping more in February) is Briana @Pages Unbound’s list of 45 bloggers to follow in 2026. This is a great resource for anyone looking for some new blogs to follow and I was so honoured to be listed!
There were lots of other posts I liked but I was bad about keeping record and now I can’t for the life of me find them again… let’s stay on top of things a bit in February, Keira. (Pretty please.)
Song of the Month
To finish off the wrap up, here is what I’ve been listening to this month:
I’ve had these two songs on repeat ever since they came out (although I kept rewatching the live performance of XO, My Cyberlove, hence why it’s not on my Spotify receipt). Just Like a Dream in particular is a really interesting combination of modern pop and traditional Korean music and singing techniques.
What was your favourite book of the month?
If you did a wrap up post of your feel free to link it in the comments and I’ll check it out!
Keira x
Keira's Bookmark 