Typically, January seems to drag for me — the slow winter blah after a hectic holiday season. But this past month, not so much! I had two big things happening this past week that kept the sand speeding through the hourglass and somehow we’ve reached the end already. Here’s hoping that February has a more leisurely pace to it.
What I’m Reading:
In January, I read some great books.
For the book club I’m in, we read Winterland* by Rae Meadows. A fascinating story about a Soviet gymnast in the 70s. Our book club theme in January is always a wintery book, but with much of this book set in Norilsk, the northern most city in Siberia and inside the Arctic Circle, we decided we might need a tropical setting next winter.
Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake* has been on my shelf for a while and I am so glad I read it when I did. It was the perfect after-the-holiday-rush balm. Set in the summer of 2020 on a Michigan cherry farm, a mother is recounting to her early 20s daughters her time at a summer theater program in Tom Lake where she had a summer romance with a man who would go on to be a famous movie star. It was a slow paced, lovely read that I didn’t want to end. Highly recommend.
Similarly, Lisa Roe’s Welcome to the Neighborhood* has been hanging out on my Kindle for months. My family got me a new Kindle to replace the OG I’ve been nursing along and this was the perfect inaugural read for it. Welcome to the Neighborhood is full of great characters, difficult choices, and that feeling of finding your footing after great life change. Definitely lived up to its description as a “mom-com!”
I am a big fan of Colleen Oakley’s work. Her latest, The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise* may be her best yet. It’s got an octogenerian on the run from her past with a lost 21-ish year old behind the wheel of a classic Jaguar. This book is the perfect balance of intrigue and emotional growth with a dash of unlikely friendships that kept me glued to the page. I’ve seen it described as Thelma & Louise meets Golden Girls — a bit of an oversimplification, but I don’t hate it!
*These are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase through the link.
What I’m Watching:
My husband and I started The Diplomat in December, but the holiday crazies and our aggressive family holiday movie schedule kept us from Netflix for the rest of the month. We finished up and both gave it a thumbs up. Complex and morally gray characters are always fun to watch navigate tricky national security issues and the reveal in the season finale plus a shocking cliffhanger have us desperate for season 2. All in all, a fun, but smart, watch.
I also binged the American Nightmare series (okay, it’s short, it didn’t take a lot), but found it fascinating. It’s a real life Gone Girl type situation and the series sets the story up similarly to the book: The first episode focuses on the boyfriend, the second on the kidnapped girlfriend, and the final in a more omniscient perspective driven by law enforcement investigations. True crime is not my typical go-to, but this sucked me in and is a story that would be almost too crazy to believe if it weren’t actually true.
What I’m Listening to:
To be honest, I’m all over the map in my listening habits this month. I’ve been listening to lots of random music as I’ve been planning my next manuscript and adding songs I think fit the vibe to a new playlist. This has been lots of fun and I love using Spotify and Apple Music’s algorithms to find new music that becomes the perfect fit. That and asking my kids!
What have you been reading, watching, and listening to in January? Share in the comments!
Featured photo above by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash