What I Read: January 2024

Read:

Monsters – Claire Dederer (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023) (273 pages)

What You are Looking for is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama (Harlequin Audio, 2023) (translated from the Japanese by Alison Watts) (8 hours, 22 minutes/304 pages)

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers – Sarah Tomlinson (Flatiron Books) (304 pages)

Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders (Random House Audio) (7 hours, 16 minutes/342 pages)

Restless Dolly Maunder – Kate Grenville (Canongate Books, 2023) (256 pages)

Currently Reading:

The Flanders Road – Claude Simon

Kingdom, Grace, Judgement – Robert Farrar Capon

The End of the World is a Cul-de-Sac – Louise Kennedy

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain – George Saunders

2024 Reading Goals:

Goliath Challenge: 1,479 pages read/30,000 pages

Goliath Books Read: 0

Translated Works: 1/15

Books I Already Own: 0/30

Pre-2023 TBR: 0/25

Thoughts:

Am I off to a great start? No, I am not. I only read 5 books in January which is less than my norm. I got 2 Goliath-type books out of the library but have started neither of them. (Our library sadly had a flood during our big snow the other week and so is now operating at reduced status.) I have two books I’m currently reading (Flanders Road and Kingdom, Grace, Judgement) that I’ve been reading for a long time and am not making slow progress on both.

Yet, I feel satisfied with my reading right now. I’m enjoying the books I’m reading and what I read in January. I’m excited to read more and I’m pleased with the variety of my reading these days. I’m letting myself be led more by what interests me in the moment than choosing my books based on attempting to meet a goal.

I didn’t get a review up this week but I feel on top of my book reviewing and I’ve been enjoying sharing some quotes from my reading each week.

What’s Next:

I’ll have a review of Lincoln in the Bardo (which I both listened to and read) next Monday and one for Restless Dolly Maunder the following week. The 2 Goliath books I have from the library right now are A People’s Tragedy (why was this even on my TBR???) and Middlemarch. I also have Antarctica out from the library, a short story collection from Claire Keegan. I have to finish my current Irish short stories first though.