Hey, guys! I am super excited to talk about all of the books that I read in the month of January. I had a fantastic reading month, which is super surprising since this month Uni started back up, so life has just been crazy. I even participated in a week-long readathon, which was tons of fun! I participated in the Winter Biannual Bibliothon, and I vlogged for the entire week, so I will link my incredibly long vlog here and also my wrap up if you want to check the both of those out. The only books I didn’t read for the readathon are the first two. But I did end up reading ten books, so let’s go ahead and jump into all the books I read in January!
The first book I read was Help Me Follow My Sister Into the Land of the Dead by Carmen Maria Machado.
This is a short story that was a bonus item in the October PageHabit box, which I unboxed on my YouTube channel, and I just really wish this was a full-length novel. If expanded upon, I think this has the potential to be a super gripping and interesting story! This is a story that follows this girl who is trying to bring her sister back from the Land of the Dead and she needs funds to do it, so she sets up a Go Fund Me account for it. I just want this to be a full-length novel because I think it would be super interesting, and that is just something I need in my life because THIS ENDS ON A FLIPPING CLIFFHANGER AND I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. I ended up giving this 4/5 stars.
The next book I read was The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien.
This is the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I imagine everyone has heard of. However, if you have not, this is a high fantasy trilogy that is centered around this ring. It is just too complicated to give a super in-depth synopsis, and I honestly think its better to go into it blind anyway. But I listened to the audiobook for this one, and I really loved it. I specifically listened to the BBC production of it because there are music and sound effects and a full cast, and it is just so fabulous. I do think I Enjoyed this more than The Fellowship of the Ring and possibly The Hobbit so this might be my favorite so far. So much happened, and I was freaking out like every second. If you want to see all of my reactions, I did live tweet it on Twitter using #AllieReadsTwoTowers, so I encourage you to check that out, but I did really love this, and I also reviewed it. I ended up giving this 4.5/5 stars.
The next book I read was actually a series of short stories, and that was The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
This is a short story in the Sherlock Holmes series, and I actually read this for my Detective Fiction course at Uni, and I really enjoyed this! This series is about reasoning and logic and cleverness and investigating, and its just tons of fun. It has so many adaptations from film to TV and everything in between, and it is just really good. I really enjoyed all of these stories. I read A Scandal in Bohemia, which I gave 4/5 stars, The Red-Headed League, which I gave 3.5/5 stars, A Case of Identity, which I gave 3/5 stars, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, which I gave 5/5 stars, Five Orange Pips, which I gave 4/5 stars, The Man With the Twisted Lip, which I gave 3/5 stars, The Blue Carbuncle, which I gave 4/5 stars, The Speckled Band, which I gave 5/5 stars, The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb, which I gave 3/5 stars, The Noble Bachelor, which I gave 5/5 stars, The Beryl Coronet, which I gave 4.5/5 stars, and finally, The Copper Beeches, which I gave 4/5 stars.
The next book I read was Mystique: The Ultimate Collection by Brian K. Vaughan.
If you are familiar with X-Men and/or the Marvel universe, you have probably heard of Mystique, but if you haven’t, she is basically a badass shapeshifter, and she is my favorite. I believe this is to be the first volume of the Ultimate Collection as this chronicles the first thirteen of the comics and the story is definitely not finished, but this was just my everything. It was funny, it was badass, the writing was fabulous and the artwork was just so stunning, and I just really loved this. If you are a fan of the Marvel universe and of X-Men, you definitely need to check this out because it is just so amazing. I ended up giving this 5/5 stars.
The next book I read was Fortunately, The Milk by Neil Gaiman.
This is a children’s story that follows the adventures of a dad who goes to get milk so his children can have cereal when he is suddenly kidnapped by aliens and goes on a wild adventure through time. This was a super cute story, and it was very short, being only around 150 pages with large print a lot of illustrations. I just thought it was a wacky little story that seven-year-old me would have loved as a kid, and I am sad I didn’t read this as a child. I ended up giving this 4/5 stars.
The next book I read was Saga Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and it was illustrated by Fiona Staples.
This is the second volume to the Saga series which is an adult science fiction series that is super badass, witty, funny, sexy and has a very strong theme of family, which I really loved. There were so many more endearing moments in this story, and we get to learn a bit more about how Marko and Alana fell in love, and it was just so freaking adorable. I still think I liked the first volume more, but I did still really enjoy this story, and I gave it 4.5/5 stars.
The next book I read was Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.
This is a play I read for my Shakespeare class at Uni, and I really enjoyed it! It doesn’t even matter that my instructor is a pretentious old prick who tried to ruin Shakespeare for me; I still really enjoyed this. I love just about everything Shakespeare has ever written, so I really loved this. It was hilarious, but it also went to some dark places, and it could be twisted. It went to so many different places than I was expecting, which I really loved, and I just enjoyed it so much more than I was expecting to. I, of course, gave it 5/5 stars because it was just so fantastic!
The next book I read was Saga Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and it was illustrated by Fiona Staples.
I really enjoyed this. While I was kind of “meh” with the second volume, I actually really loved this, and I do think it’s my favorite of the series thus far. There was so much that happened. It was action-packed and heartwarming but also heartbreaking, and I just love it so much. There is great rep for women of color and the LGBT community, and I just think this was so fabulous, and I gave it 5/5 stars. It was just fantastic!
The next book I read was Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
This is the first book in the Missing series which involves time travel and I honestly don’t think you should know anything other than that because it’s probably best just to go into this blind. This is a series I loved as a kid, but I honestly didn’t remember a single thing, so I decided to pick it up, and I really enjoyed it! Was it the best book that has ever existed? No, but I thought the suspense and time travel aspects were done really well, so I really enjoyed my reread of this. I did review this, and I ended up giving this 5/5 stars because I just enjoyed it so much!
And the final book I read in January was Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me by Lily Collins.
This is Lily Collins’ memoir, and I listened to it via audiobook. I ended up connecting a lot to what she was saying, though not quite in the same way. She was unashamedly honest about all of the things she has gone through from her relationships with her friends, family, and significant others to her struggles with her eating disorders. The major theme that was central to this memoir was definitely about loving yourself and just accepting all aspects of who you are, the good, the bad and the ugly. Her emphasis on these themes is really what I connected with. It has taken me a long time to be okay with the fact that I am bisexual and even to acknowledge that I am, so this really hit me right between the eyes. For that reason, I just had to review this one, and I ended up giving it 4/5 stars.
And there you have it! Those were all the books I read in January. What is your favorite book you read this month? Comment down below! I would love to know. And that is going to be it for this post today. Thank you all so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you next time!
