Books I Read in January 2021 (short reviews)

I started the reading year off very strong. Mostly it's because I took part in Rybsat (the read your book shelf a-thon) but also because I procrastinate my uni work a lot, so I spend all my time reading. Also I have no social life. 
Anyway, overall I finished 15 books in January. Some of them were for uni, some of them I had started in December and some I binged in a couple of hours. 

Here are my short reviews for all of them: 

The Lord of the Rings (all three parts) and The Hobbit - J.R.R.Tolkien (3.5/5 to 4/5)
I will say this as many times as anyone wants to hear it. The story is incredible, the characters great and the world unimaginable. Tolkien's style of writing however is... a struggle. I'm so sorry to anyone who loves his style of writing. I think it's beautiful in some places but in most it is very tedious. As someone who absolutely loooves Peter Jackson's films the books feel... boring. I kept waiting for the epic battles and only got lengthy forest walks.  I know it might not be fair, because I watched the films first which is why the rating for the story itself is still so high. Also, I know it's an unpopular opinion, that the films are better than the books. 

Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf (4/5)
Overall such an interesting experience. I read this in one go because I couldn't put it down but I couldn't really tell you what it is about now three weeks later. I think I'll have to re-read this a couple of times and really get all of the details. But because it gripped me so hard, I had to give it 4 stars.

In a Holidaze - Christina Lauren (4/5)
At this point I don't have to say that I love Christina Lauren, do I? This was a Christmas book that I started, you guessed it, over Christmas but finished early in January. As always, lovely characters, good relationship development and great banter. It had a little bit of a "supernatural" twist that I had not expected and I'm not sure it really helped the story (which is why it's only a four star read) but overall it was a great romance and that is what I read CL novels for. 

Fear - Jeff Abbott (4.5/5)
I decided to copy my goodreads review here because why not?
Got better and better with every page. Super quick read, a lot (a looot) of twists and turns and not predictable. I really enjoyed Jeff Abbott's style of writing and want to check out some of his other works :)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (3/5)
This one was super difficult to read. Not only was the language super hard for me to read (if you didn't know, English isn't my mother tongue, so reading a novel that is written in slang (?) is a bit of a struggle) but also the topics are quite heavy. Mark Twain did a great story at shining a light at the racism of the time and combining it with this Children's adventure story. However he totally lost me towards the end and I wish I could discuss the last chapters with someone. So overall a classic that needs to be read under the aspect that it was ahead of it's time. 150 years ago

Home Body - Rupi Kaur (3.5/5)
I rarely read poetry (probably because we have to do it so much in school and uni) but I loved the look of this collection. I got it from a friend and so it will hold a special place in my heart. As with all of Rupi Kaur's poems they deal with a lot of heavy topics, while trying to empower. Some of the poems were lovely and really stuck with me, but others felt a little like filler material and had no value. Really enjoyed the illustrations. 

Armies of the Night - Norman Mailer (4.5/5)
Had to read this for uni, but I really loved this. Norman Mailer has this incredible style of writing and really caught me by surprise. I thought I would hate this book that I had to read for my Literary Journalism class, but I enjoyed most of it so much. The theoretical aspects, the atmospheric writing, the character, so good. One thing 

Midnight in Chernobyl - Adam Higginbotham (4/5)
I had to read this book for uni as well and while I did enjoy it, it was also such a long and detailed book. If you are really interested in Chernobyl then I would say definitely check this out. Incredibly told and very detailed, but if you have to read it for uni it can drag on a lot. 

The Man Who Fought Alone - Stephen Donaldson (4/5)
Such a quick read for how many pages it had. I didn't figure out who the killer was until the very last chapters which was a cool experience. The protagonist 'Brew' isn't the most likable protagonist but he was so interesting to read which is exactly why I enjoyed him so much. It's obvious in his style of writing that Donaldson is usually a fantasy author, but this was still a great read.

Beautiful Player - Christina Lauren (4.5/5)
As said before, CL novels are the best thing for me to escape into at the moment. Out of the Beautiful series this was the best novel and I loved it soo much. I feel so repetitive when I say that the way the relationships and interactions is written is so funny, like laugh out loud funny, and the steaminess is through the roof, this time very fitting and tastefully and not as "over the top" as with the first part of this series. 

The Subtweet - Vivek Shraya (4/5)
This was a very interesting, very diverse read. It combines this struggle of developing friendships once you are grown up and the struggle of women and people of colour in the music industry. There is a lot of discussion about jealousy, miscommunication (subtweet) and the way relationships can be influenced by social media. I listened to this as an audio book which always makes me worried that I missed something (I cannot for the life of me focus on audio books the way I can focus on written text) but this was a very good read. 

The Negotiator - Avery Flynn (3.5/5)
One of those super quick romance reads. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, there were things that didn't really made sense, but there was steam and there was a good looking, intelligent guy and what can I say, I have to love a book that has me rooting for the characters at 2am. 

This concludes my January wrap up AND concludes a month of writing blog posts for me. I'm super excited that I managed to give myself more time to spend on reading and blogging because that's what's fun to me and I want 2021 to be the year that I spend on things I enjoy. 
I hope to keep this up for February, but it will be more difficult with exams coming up and everything. I will try, especially because I have now reactivated my Instagram account as well and won't leave that hanging yet again. 

What books did you read this month? Any recommendations? 

Take care, stay healthy and read on, 
Lena. 

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