Everything I Read in January 2025

Starting the year off with Nobel prize winners.

Karin Reading (1904) by Carl Larsson. Image via WikiArt

While I very much enjoy writing the weekly post — The Week That Was — and will often note the current books I am devouring, I think the books deserve slightly more space and their own moment to shine. Enter a monthly post dedicated to the books I read the previous month. This is a round-up of every book I read—the good, the bad, the fun, the academic—with more thoughts than I can fit into the weekly post and extra bookish bits. These posts are for paid subscribers! To read more of my newsletters and access the archive, consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month or $50 a year.

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January Books

January was an odd month—both in the world at large and in my reading life. With two lackluster book club selections, I found myself approaching my evening reading with reluctance rather than the usual anticipation that builds as the day winds down. I could have set them aside, of course, but I’d never turn up to a book club discussion without having read the book. So, I pressed on. It’s been a while since I’ve had to push through a book I wasn’t enjoying. We all know life is too short for that, don’t we? While I’ve abandoned a few books in recent years—Kristin Hannah’s The Women comes to mind—I generally finish what I start. Which makes me wonder: am I playing it too safe with my reading choices?

Do I challenge myself enough with unfamiliar genres and topics? I like to think I read broadly, but if I’m enjoying nearly everything I pick up, perhaps I’m staying too firmly within my comfort zone. For the next book club, we’re reading a fantasy novel—far from my usual fare—and I’m curious to see how I’ll take to it. It raises the question: what else should I be bringing into my reading life?

What about you? Do you find yourself sticking to familiar genres, or do you deliberately push your reading boundaries? How do you decide what to pick up next?

(As always, my curated selection of recent reads and anticipated titles is available in my Bookshop store—where a purchase may send a small commission my way.)