January Wrap-up!

Hello people! How are you? And how was your January? I know that for many this month was never-ending but to me, it flew by so fast! It was quite a full month, both in regard to reading and blogging things and of my personal life.
January was the month I went back to reading. I am not back to my old self, but I have started to read and enjoy again my books and I am so so happy about it! And it is also the month I came back to blogging, so yay! I missed the blogging and book community and I missed sharing my reading and my thoughts on book-related things so much! Also, I have added a ton of new books to my wishlist or TBR thanks to you all and, even if it’s not an optimal thing because… Well, my TBR is like any book dragon’s TBR out there (a fluffy black hole who is trying to eat us whole!), it’s an amazing thing all the same because… More books to read, how fantastic is that?? The fact that I won’t conquer my TBR, ever, it’s just a minor detail and I can ignore it.
Sooo… Let’s start with my reading!

Books read: 13 + 1 DNF
Physical books Vs ebooks: 3 vs 11
ARCs: 4

I had some problems with physical books because I am reading more when I am not at home, and so I found more comfortable reading ebooks. And there is also Swords and Scoundrels, which is my physical current reading. I am lying at myself with this one, because I don’t want to DNF DNF, because it’s quite good, it’s just not the right one at the moment, and I am telling myself that I am reading it. But… It’s a week that I don’t open it. I have not yet replaced it with another book (hence the lying to myself) but I am not actively reading it, either so… I think I would wait another week. If I go back to read it then, well it’s not DNF. If I don’t touch it at all then I would put it on hold and move to something else. Sometimes I don’t make sense to myself either!

The Very Good Ones!

Air Awakens was my first reading of the year and I loved it. I waited so long to start this series and I really don’t know why. I was quite impressed by it. Also the “I waited for so long before starting it!” may become one of my favorite refrain for this 2020, be warned! I have also loved I Russi Sono Matti, which is an Italian essay on Russian Literature, and in some ways, a long love letter to it. I appreciated it a lot. And I am also happy to have managed to read a non-fiction book! And then we have Death and the Harlot. I am loving this series!!!!

The Good Ones!

The Late Monsieur Gallet was a captivating reading and I devoured it. A Dance of Cloaks is a blame it on twitter reading because I kept this series on my wishlist since forever and I found there the push to finally start it. And I really enjoyed this one! With the next two books, I can say that I am very proud of myself because I continued two series that I have started some years ago. The Vanishing Throne was on waiting because I really hate cliff-hangers and the first book of this series was just so bad (cliff-hangering, not in a general sense) that I had to wait for my irritation to fade. I don’t have any excuses for Heart of Steel, if not that I am just that bad with continuing series. But I enjoyed both of them. I preferred the first installation, with both books, but they were good books.

The Ok Ones!

Eny of Angels is quite brilliant, to be honest, but it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea so, on one hand I appreciated the genius in there, but on the other hand, I wasn’t so enamored with the reading. With this Stiefvater’s series I have a complicated relationship: I loved some of these books, but not all. Two of them were pretty good, in my opinion, but the other two weren’t so good. And these last two are the first in the series, and the last one, sadly. And then there are two ARCs that I enjoyed, even if they could have been something more.

I had some disappointments, too!

Threshold was one of those “it’s not you, it’s me” case, because it’s a horror, and this really isn’t my genre. It bore me to no end. But I had this book on my bookshelves for so long because someone gifted it to me and I was determined to try it anyway, so, at last, its moment came. And I was hooked up because the writing is pretty good, but I was also bored out of my mind, if this can make sense to you. And then there is Slavic Witchcraft. It’s an ARC and I was hoping for interesting and informative reading, but it wasn’t either of those things. And, again, I founded myself pretty bored while reading.

DNF!

This is another ARC and, despite a good beginning, I found out that this one wasn’t the right one for me. There were some good things, but the pace was too slow for me and I lost interest in it, so I have decided to just DNF it, even if I am pretty sad to leave an ARC.

Series:
Finished: 1
Continued: 3

All things considered, I did well with the series. It’s true that I have started at least two new ones, (at least because I am undecided with one of them, at the moment. Go on or do not go on? This is the problem!) but I haven’t forgotten the old ones, and that’s the important thing here!

My Review!
–Death and the Harlot by Georgina Clarke
–Raven’s Moon by J.B. Dane

Two may not be much, and as sure as hell I am counting on writing more of them in February, but I just found my way back to blogging, so I am satisfied with this. And I am working on something new for the blog, a sort of meme. I have to sort out all the details, but the idea is here and I hope to see it done in the next month. But it’s not all. I was thinking about some “old” memes that I followed the last year and that I loved, even if I wasn’t really constant with them. So February would be a really busy month, but I can do it!

In Real Life!

I know that in these past weeks I have said this a lot of times, I know, but my boyfriend is moving to live with me. And this thing makes me happy, and excited, but it’s also exhausting me because we lived in two different cities and we both have full and strange schedules (at least so far, his would be more normal in a couple of weeks, my sadly won’t!) so do the actual moving is slow going and has to be planned and managed carefully. But I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!
On another note, I finally decided to try out my luck and I have taken home with me some flowers and plants. I am very bad with them, I had some sad attempts in the past to grow something and it always went bad. Always. But I am uber-determined to see this thing through and keep some damn plants alive!!! I would manage it!
And so far I am proud to say that I have started with 4 plants, all of different kinds and that they all have survived for 15 days. And so far they seem to feel quite well. Let’s hope this would continue. And let’s hope I won’t forget to give them water. I have no pics of them to show you at the moment, but I would very soon because I want to share them with you all!

Ok, this was quite a long post, but I am done, at least for today!

And what about you? How was your January? And have you read some of the books I have mentioned? Let me know!!!

Happy reading!
S.