I somehow ended up without a photo for January 2021! I guess I could’ve taken one of the snow from yesterday (Feb 1) as I write this, but that’s not really January. So instead you get this hilarious comic I downloaded from reddit when I read Winegard’s The Mosquito, but forgot to use it in my response to the book!
And if I’m being completely honest, I’m surprised it took 10 months for me to NOT have an actual picture to use during this pandemic, and to be fair I have two further on with knitting but they work better together. 2020 was such a mess and then 2021 started off even messier so who knows where we’re going at this point in the US.
On the knitting front I’m 95% of the way done with a shawl for one of my teammates that is retiring at the end of the fiscal year (June):
I’m enjoying knitting it as it’s a fairly simple knit every row for the most part. The middle contrasting part is created by slipping every other stitch on the knit side and purling and slipping every other stitch on the other side. If I make another I’ll have to loosen my tension on the middle section.
Books and Bookish Things
I read A LOT this month. Most of it is because I packed in four unexpected MM Romance novels when I got ahead of myself with No Blanks, No Pauses and was going to miss the publication date by two weeks! I read three galleys (*), revisited Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper and revisited two authors I hadn’t read in quite some time, Cullinan and Lane.
- Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle – Penelope Peters
- The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator – Timothy C. Winegard*
- Live Life Colorfully – Jason Naylor*
- Heartstopper, Vol. 1 (Heartstopper #1) – Alice Oseman
- Heartstopper, Vol. 2 (Heartstopper #1) – Alice Oseman
- Love Lessons (Love Lessons #1) – Heidi Cullinan
- Secret Admirer (Love Notes #1) – D.J. Jamison
- Fever Pitch (Love Lessons #2) – Heidi Cullinan
- Lonely Hearts (Love Lessons #3) – Heidi Cullinan
- No Blanks, No Pauses – Shelly McNamara*
- Winter Ball (Winter Ball #1) – Amy Lane
As if revisiting Heartstopper wasn’t enough I saw this treat on Oseman’s Instagram and got WAYYYYYYYY too excited.
I’m proud I haven’t finished out the series online, but if for some reason they’re not published before that airs I absolutely will be reading it online and then buying the other volumes later.
I received/accepted a few galleys this month. I’m super excited about Parrish’s follow up to Better Than People. I didn’t realize it was going to be a series but I found her writing to be truly magical. I’m also excited about Jentleson’s Kill Switch I heard this fantastic piece on NPR about it and reached out to the publisher for it.
- Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) – Amy Aislin
- Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy – Adam Jentleson
- Best Laid Plans (Garnet Run #2) – Roan Parrish
I requested/accepted two others [Emerett Has Never Been in Love (Love, Austen #1) by Anyta Sunday and As Far as You’ll Take Me by Phil Stamper] but haven’t received a confirmation or rejection as of this post. And this doesn’t include the other couple I’m trailing . . .
What’s Next?
Just last night I finished reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and ya’ll: It. Was. Amazing. I honestly didn’t know I would enjoy it as much as I did, but the way she plays with words and language, chef’s kiss! It’s been on my kindle for ages and I kept putting it off because I knew how detailed it was and I’m not usually a fan. I thought she’d be more Dickens or Steinbeck, but she was definitely more Atwood and O’Neill where every word served a purpose and wasn’t bogged down.
My Marketing Analytics class started up this past week and it’s going to be a doozy! I’m hoping to be able to read as much for leisure as I have been, but I have a feeling that’s going to be a bit more challenging than usual.
How has your 2021 started? What are you looking forward to in February?
Uuuugh. I have such an issue with Wolf Hall and Hilary Mantel in my head. I tried reading Wolf Hall when it first came out and I hated it. I hated that she didn’t use quotation marks (which doesn’t usually bother me, but it did with that book), and I was SO MAD that she was winning so many awards. Hahahahaha!
But so many people whose reading tastes I respect have been reading it and loving it lately that I think I want to give it another go. Maybe it was wrong time, wrong book? Don’t know. I just know I need to get over my hate first. Hahahaha!
100% wrong book wrong time. I bought it b/c it won the Booker Prize and then realized how long it was and put it off because there were two more coming.
I DESPISE no quotation mark books and I HATE over description, but somehow this one just worked for me. It definitely quite a few pages to wrap my head around. I won’t lie and say there weren’t a few scenes I had to read twice to make sure I got who was saying what, but her way with language and how she sets a scene were just SOOOOOOOO good. She luxuriates in the English language and I found myself reading passages out loud b/c of her way with words.
Definitely worth trying again, but only if you feel it calling. It called to me after two random people dropped it in conversation over a couple of days that I don’t always discuss books with so I knew it was time. Same thing happened the first time I read Harry Potter and I BLAZED through the first three books in two days.
Good to know. I’ll give it another go at some point.
Yay for Heartstopper!!!
It’s taking all my self control not to go finish the series on tapas!!
great comic, which reminds me this book is on my TBR. Great month, and I hope February is the same. My recap is here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/02/01/2021-january-wrap-up/
I hope you enjoy it!
My 2021 has gotten off to a great start, well, reading wise anyway, with me finishing six books in January and they were all of a high quality. I am so pleased you finally took the plunge with Wolf Hall and ended up loving it. Take care and happy reading in February 🙂
Sounds like a good start to 2021!