Monthly update: January 2024

Everything I read, watched, played and did in January. 

Anyone that knows me knows that I don't really do much — I'm very much a homebody and I'm more than happy with that. But even as an introvert, there are still a handful of things I like to do. Many of those things are just done at home.

My partner and I are both pretty sentimental people.I blame both of us being eldest children for that. We have a little storage box that we keep mementos from all of our dates in. In a kind of similar way, I was thinking about how it could be interesting to keep a kind of virtual diary where I can keep track of all our important (and some non-important) life events and look back to see what we were doing at this time in our life. An in-depth wrap up that focuses on not just what I'm reading, but also what I'm playing, watching, and doing each month. I think doing this monthly wrap ups will help me both to post on my blog more and to keep track of what I'm doing at different times in my life.

To begin my first wrap up, let's delve into my literary world and talk about what I read in January.

Reading: 

Best books of the month

I had a pretty good reading month overall. I had a lot of pretty highly rated books that I enjoyed. I ended up having two books tie for my favourite of the month, with an honourable mention being awarded to The Reformatory by Tananarive Due.

My first favourite of the month (and my very first read of the year) was The Maid by Nita Prose. I really enjoyed the story, honestly. I thought it was a very clean (pun intended) plotline that kept me engaged. The Maid follows Molly Gray, an autistic young woman, who finds solace and purpose as a hotel maid following the death of her grandmother. However, her orderly world is shattered when she discovers the body of a wealthy guest, Charles Black, in a disheveled suite. Wrongly accused of his murder, Molly embarks on a quest with newfound friends to uncover the truth and clear her name, delving into a web of deception that challenges her understanding of human connections. The Maid intricately weaves together elements of a classic locked-room mystery with a heartwarming exploration of identity and belonging, ultimately revealing that genuine human connection holds the key to solving life's most perplexing puzzles.

As an autistic person myself, I was immediately drawn to this book for it's representation. For the most part, it delivered. My only qualm is that I felt like Molly didn't have very much agency in the story — it very much feels like the plot happens to her, not because of her. However, I think that can be okay, and in fact, partially representative of the autistic experience. I'm hoping that it can be a point of character development in the next book, which I haven't read yet, but hope to soon. Even with that issue, I loved this book. It was so sweet and heartwarming, while still being a really compelling mystery.

My second favourite of the month was The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. I originally had this explained to me as being a thriller version of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and it was absolutely right. In The Heiress, Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore, North Carolina's wealthiest and most infamous woman, passes away, leaving her vast fortune and the legacy of the McTavish family to her adopted son, Camden. Surprising everyone, Camden rejects his inheritance, opting for a simple life as an English teacher in Colorado alongside his wife, Jules. However, a summons draws them back to Ashby House, the family estate, where they must confront buried secrets and tangled family dynamics. As they unravel Ruby's mysterious past, they discover the true extent of her plans and the complexities of inheritance, realizing that family ties transcend death itself.

I really loved this book. Particularly, I loved the Evelyn Hugo-esque aspects of it where we got to learn about Ruby and her past. But I also loved trying to figure out where Ruby's past connected to the modern day parts of the story. I thought most of the characters were well-written, especially Ruby. The vibes of Ashby House are immaculate, as well. Over all, it was a really compelling thriller that made me immediately go and seek out nearly all of the books off Hawkins backlist.

Worst books of the month

My worst book of the month is incredibly easy — The Fury by Alex Michaelides. I was genuinely mad for approximately 90 per cent of this book, which ironically makes the title fitting. I considered DNF-ing this book a mere six pages in. I hated the narrator, I hate the way men write female characters, and I hated nearly every single choice made by the characters.

I am a lover of unlikable characters — but those characters need to know they're unlikeable and not be written as some man's idea of the perfect woman, which is largely silent and naive.

There was no tension because I just could not care about what was going on in the story. The characters were so incredibly dumb that I did not care about what happened to them honestly. I'm fine with unlikable characters — half the time I fall in love with them — but these characters were not only unlikable, but boring, which is a sin I can not forgive.

New to the TBR

I managed to stay pretty on top of the new releases in January — mostly because there were only a handful of ones I was looking forwards to — but there are still a few new releases that I added to my TBR this month.

The first January release I've added to my TBR is The Clinic by Cate Quinn. In The Clinic Meg, employed at a Los Angeles casino, leads a gritty life catching cheaters while numbing her own pain with pills. Her sister, Haley, a renowned actress, takes a different path, struggling with addiction and ultimately dying at a remote rehab facility. Despite rumors of suicide, Meg refuses to accept this narrative. Determined to uncover the truth, she checks into the same facility, battling her own demons and facing isolation in her quest for answers. As she delves deeper, Meg realizes that untangling the web of lies surrounding Haley's death may prove more challenging than she ever imagined, with no support from friends or family to aid her in this lonely pursuit.

This one is kind of giving me A Cure for Wellness kind of vibes, which is one of my favourite movies of all time, so I'm really excited to read this new release. It does seem a bit hefty of a book, coming in at 448 pages, but I've been reading some thicker books this year so it's not as intimidating as it would've been last year.

Another January release I'm excited to read is Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona. This book is a suspenseful debut thriller set in October 1993, centered around a single mother named Eleanor who leaves her two children, Ben and Mira, in the care of their babysitter Amy for a night out. Amy, battling her own anxiety disorder, finds solace in horror movies and initially manages the evening well. However, when unexpected visitors arrive, the night takes a terrifying turn, leading to a dead body in the kitchen. As the story unfolds, secrets are revealed, and Amy must confront her fears to protect the children in her care. I can't help think about all my favourite classic horror movies, like Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street, mixed with those old internet creepypastas, like the call form inside the house and the clown statue.

One of the older release that I've added to my TBR is Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I've been hearing a lot about it recently online, I'm assuming it's partially from Bardugo's release coming out later this year.

In Ninth House, Galaxy "Alex" Stern, an unconventional candidate, finds herself admitted to Yale despite a troubled past marred by tragedy and instability. Offered a full scholarship after surviving a brutal and unresolved massacre, Alex is bewildered by the generosity and the ulterior motives behind it. Tasked with surveilling Yale's secretive societies by enigmatic sponsors, Alex delves into a world where power and privilege intersect with occult practices far beyond imagination. As she unravels the mysteries of these elite circles, she discovers the sinister depths hidden beneath their prestigious façade.

I tried to read this one back in my I-only-read-romance phase, but DNF-ed it a couple of pages in. I'm hoping that now that my reading tastes have changed a bit I'll be more open to it because it sounds like something I would love. I mean, cults? Dark academia? unresolved massacres? What's not to love?

I'd like to get around to reading at least the first book in Bardugo's duology some time in February, ideally, but we'll see how the month goes.

The second older release is Fern Brady's memoir. As Scottish comic, Brady humorously details her late in life autism diagnosis in Strong Female Character, alongside discussions sexism, sex work, and several social issues. As has already been mentioned, I will read pretty much anything related to autism at this point in my life. Non-fiction books, such as memoirs like Brady's, are often among my favourites of these. I love seeing how autism has affected other people on such a person scale. While yes, other non-fiction forms (like Unmasking Autism) can portray similar information on ASD, I find the personifying nature of a memoir to be really impactful.

Watching: 

My partner and I watched Community this month. It his was first time seeing the show, but it was a rewatch for me. I loved the first three seasons, but got a bit tired of it by the fourth, so we took a break and haven't seen much past that point.

Along with all my other elder book nerds, I've also been watching the new Percy Jackson adaptation on Disney+. It's been fun for the most part, I'm definitely not in love with it though. I know that the books have younger characters and the actors were cast to match that in the books, but as a grown adult they just feel a little too young, you know what I mean? Watching the show starts to feel like babysitting — there are a lot of dumb or cringey things said by people much younger than me, and just like in babysitting no one amount of complaining can stop those comments, or that one kid who just will not stop flossing. My minor in Classics is also giving me some mixed feelings on the lore in the show, specifically Medusa and Ares. I think I'd have to re-read the series to remember if that's how it was originally written in the series or if this was changed for the show, because there does seem to be a lot that was changed between those two.

Also, never forget the back of the Ipod that saved them in the original movie. RIP.

Recent releases and want to watch

I really want to watch Saltburn. I've heard so many things about it recently that makes it sound like something I'd love. Saltburn follows a student at Oxford University, when his captivatingly charismatic and aristocratic classmate invites him to spend a memorable summer at his family's extravagant estate. I really love Rosamund Pike and will watch almost anything that she's in.

Poor Things is another movie that I want to watch. I feel like there's so many Frankenstein retellings coming out recently, but I've been loving a lot of them so I'm very okay with that. Poor Things " is based on Alasdair Gray's 1992 novel. The story centers on Bella Baxter, a Victorian-era woman in London who, after committing suicide, is brought back to life by a scientist. Through this unconventional resurrection, Bella sets out on a journey of self-exploration and enlightenment.

Lastly, I'd like to watch Killers of the Flower Moon. Again, largely for the actor in it. Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, featuring 1920s Oklahoma and the discovery of oil beneath Osage Nation land. The discovery then leads to a series of murders targeting the Osage people. The FBI intervenes to investigate and uncover the truth behind the killings. I love movies set in the 1920's, but especially when those movies feature one (or several) mysterious deaths.

Video games:

My month, as most do, mostly consisted of playing Disney Dreamlight Valley (DDV) and The Sims 4 (TS4). These two games are among my top three of all-time, with only Stardew Valley missing.

New content and updates: 

TS4 had a new expansion pack that released in December, the For Rent pack. I have not bought this pack yet and likely will not until it goes on a pretty aggressive sale, like a 90 per cent off kind of sale. I don't really like any of the build-buy or CAS objects in the pack, nor do I care about being a landlord or renting in the Sims.

A few days after the For Rent pack, DDV released their first expansion, A Rift in Time. So I bought that on my Switch this month and began playing with that. I haven't played much with it so far, I've only really started unlocking the new world and am still pretty firmly in the early gameplay of the new pack.

I, like many other players, have a lot of mixed feelings about the new pack. It was released after DDV announced that not only would it remain a paid game, but there was also a new paid expansion that was being released. If you didn't know, DDV was originally "intended" to be a free to play game once it left early access which would've occured on December 5, 2023. As you might know, that did not happen. The game is officially out of early access, but remains a paid play. It's clear that there are some issues with the way the developers went about this, but at the end of the day, it's not cheap to make a game, especially one of that quality. So at the end of the day, this game isn't a sub

Goals and achievements:

Progress and updates

The first goal I had for the year was my 12-for-12 reading list, where I picked out 12 books I wanted to read in the 12 months of 2024.

I had already decided I didn't want to do one a month, since — as a mood reader — monthly TBR's don't really work for me. So, during the first month of the year I read four books from my 12-for-12. I'm really pleased with the amount of progress I've already made on this challenge, especially because, as a mood reader, I always worry about any set TBR. The first four off this list that I read in January are: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due; The Fury by Alex Michaelides; None of This is True by Lisa Jewell; and The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins.

Lastly, my Fable book club is starting a new book on February 15. I have been picking monthly books for this club for the last couple months and it was a part of my goal for the year to keep that club going. I definitely struggled with posting on the club during January's pick of The Housemaid. Moving forward, I'm going to aim to make at least two posts for every book that we do, starting this month.

New goals

Near the end of January, I realized I wanted to get back into blogging. I graduated from my degree and am currently applying for jobs, but I'm not writing anymore. At least, not like I was when I had excessively long papers due every other week.

So my late additions goal for the year is to write at least one blog post every month. Ideally, I can post every Sunday and that way I'll end up way above that goal, but for now, that was the most reasonable goal I could make.

My second new goal is to do more yoga. I used to do yoga pretty much every day for most of high school and my first few years of university. Recently, my body has taken a bit of a beating this month. My partner feels the same way — his neck and back are always sore. One of the ways we're planning on remedying this is by practicing yoga together every week.

Our current plan is to do a short, 15 minute practice every Monday evening — one of our current mere three nights that are free of scheduled activities. As the more experienced yogi it'll mostly be up to me to decide how we spend that 15 minutes. Because of his back pain, I'm thinking of doing a lot of gentle, more yin-type practice. The "point" I guess you could call it of this goal is to really just help with our body pain and get some more full-body movement into our rapidly aging bones.

In the coming month... 

Of course, like girlfriends everywhere this month, I'm excited for Valentines day. By the time this goes up, I think I'll only have a few days before it, but at the time of writing it's two weeks out.

Based on who we are as a couple, we probably won't do much. We don't really go out usually, but we especially don't go out when it's going to be busy.

As the more media-driven one in our relationship, I get to pick the movie we watch. I'm currently torn between White Chicks and Twilight. I'm almost leaning more towards Twilight because it is technically a romance book that I think is kind of fitting for Valentines day and it may be one of my only opportunities to push it onto my partner.

My partner's job for the day is that he gets to pick the snacks. We recently visited a kind of fancy bakery near our house that has a bunch of really cute heart-shaped baked goods. We talked about picking up a couple of those for our snacks, so I think that will end up being our Valentine's day date.

No matter what he picks for snacks, I'm excited to sit down and watch a movie with my partner. It's pretty much one of my favourite things to do, so spending every special day like that is a great plan for me.

From the books that whisked me away to distant lands, to the captivating TV shows that transported me to new realms of imagination, and the moments of relaxation and adventure that enriched my days, it's been really fun reflecting and remember these moments. I'm hoping this isn't an outrageously boring post to read, but I'm more posting it for me than an audience really. Thank you for joining me on this monthly escapade – until next time!