January Reading Round-Up

New Year, New Reading Round-Up! Going into 2022, I set some new reading goals, including more non-fiction books (I love a good romance, but sometimes they aren’t the best for my mental well-being) and more books by BIPOC authors. I’m aiming for sixty books this year (last year’s goal was 40) and 27,000 pages, in honor of turning 27 this year.

This month, I read 7 books and 3,220 pages. Here’s what I thought!

“To Shake the Sleeping Self” by Jedidiah Jenkins

Genre: Memoir

Rating: Five Stars

Reread!

I first read this memoir a year ago, during one of the darkest times in my life. It stirred a fire deep within me when I wasn’t sure if I would ever feel anything again. So I decided to pick it up a year later when I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been in my life. It fanned the flames of that first fire even bigger. It’s the story of a man who sets out to ride his bike from Oregon to Patagonia when he turns 30. What stuck with me over the last year, more than anything, were the discussions on spirituality and the harmful side of religion and finding a way to make your faith your own. It discusses the ethics of travel and American ways of consuming and bastardizing other cultures. Jedidiah’s writing style is relatable, but incredibly profound. I think anyone will find comfort and guidance in these pages, but especially if you feel called to travel, you will find yourself in this story.

“Neon Gods” by Katee Robert

Genre: Erotic Fantasy Fiction

Rating: Four Stars

As the cover blurb says, this book was in fact unspeakably hot. It is a Hades and Persephone retelling set in a modern-day urban city Olympus, which gave me some mega Capitol vibes from “The Hunger Games”. When Demeter promises her daughter, Persephone, into marriage with Zeus, whose past three wives have mysteriously died, she flees across the River Styx and right into Hades’ arms. I loved how fleshed out Olympus was and how much depth Robert gave to her characters. The ending felt a bit rushed and almost anti-climatic. Overall, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. But please check content warnings because Katee Robert really gave erotic romance readers what they wanted and this book will not be for everyone.

“Electric Idol” by Katee Roberts

Genre: Erotic Fantasy Fiction

Rating: Four Stars

I got this ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in a giveaway and I thoroughly enjoyed this reading experience. This sequel to “Neon Gods” follows Persephone’s sister, Psyche, and Eros, who has been commissioned by his mother, Aphrodite, to kill Psyche as part of her ongoing feud with her mother, Demeter. One thing leads to another, and suddenly Psyche and Eros are married and trying to convince the entire city of Olympus that they are in love in order to keep Psyche’s heart in her body. I found the romance in this book hotter than the first, and loved the character development from Eros. Again, the ending felt rushed, but overall, I’m glad to have read it!

“Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies” by Tara Schuster

Genre: Memoir/ Self-Improvement

Rating: Five Stars

I’ve strayed away from self-improvement books in recent years because many are so steeped in internalized fatphobia that I can’t process anything else the author has written. This was not the case with this book! She even says point blank that diets don’t work. Love that! Schuster’s voice is so strong and funny throughout the whole piece, even in very vulnerable and painful sections. I found her advice practical and loved her honesty about how long she has been on her “self-love/ reparenting journey” because making deep and lasting change takes so much time, something I feel very few self-improvement authors acknowledge. This book reminded me that treating myself is not a sin, that self-medicating never does us any good, and to stop taking everything so personally. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone in need of a little more love and care in their lives.

“Written in My Own Heart’s Blood” by Diana Gabaldon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: Five stars

I will admit, after the seventh “Outlander” installment, I was losing steam. But my faith has been restored by book number eight! I devoured this in a week (these books are so long, I usually reserve at least three weeks for them) and was so happy with the pacing. It was full of the drama and the intrigue and the steam and the plot twists that make Outlander what it is. Marsali and Fergus got so much airtime in this book (the superior Fraser offspring couple, in my humble opinion). I wish we could have gotten a bit more development of the how and why behind time travel that Roger and Brianna work through in their timeline, but I anticipate that being a focal point of the last two books. I also wish Diana Gabaldon spent a bit more time developing plot points and less time describing 18th century surgery in graphic detail, but overall, my love for Jamie and Claire and all the drama they manage to embroil themselves in has not diminished.

“The Art of Flaneuring” by Erika Owen

Genre: Non-Fiction

Rating: Three Stars

Flaneuring is the French term for wandering for the sake of wandering. Historically, flaneurs were rich white men who had nowhere to be and all the time in the world. Erika Owen adds more clarity, saying that flaneuring is experiencing your environment without interacting with it. I picked this book up in an effort to be a bit more intentional with some upcoming solo travel plans. While I didn’t think this book offered anything radically new, I did appreciate the gentle reminder to spend a bit more time wandering aimlessly and less time just getting from one place to the other. This book perfectly encapsulates “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” I really appreciated the author’s acknowledgement that not everyone will have the same access or experience the same freedom to explore, especially in terms of race and gender expression and their many intersections. I liked it, and thought it was an easy read for anyone craving a bit more slowness and steadiness in their life.

“Yinka, Where is Your Huzband?” by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: Three Stars

This new novel follows Yinka, a thirty-something, educated, accomplished British-Nigerian woman navigating a season of singleness with the added pressure of a large and overbearing family. As someone who comes from a large, crazy, loud family where gossip is currency, I could relate to Yinka in that regard. I loved the insight into what it’s like to be a dark-skinned British Nigerian woman and the peak into Nigerian culture. And I really wanted to love this book overall, but it fell a little flat for me. I didn’t find the dialogue realistic for women in their early thirties and found Yinka naive and a little insufferable for a good chunk of the story. I could see what the author wanted for Yinka and her growth, but I think she spent so long describing her spiral and breezed through the healing. I really enjoyed the last sixty pages and just wanted more of Yinka healing her relationship with herself, her family, and the world because those moments were so beautiful and brought tears to my eyes.

So there you have it, friends. As always, please take each review with a grain of salt because what works for me might not work for you and vice versa. All links will take you to BookShop.org, supporting independent bookstores across the nation.

Overall, it was a great reading month, with three five-star reads and two each of four and three star reads. Have you read any of these? Let me know what you thought!