Ah! 2021--A Clean Slate! What I'm Reading in January

 It never fails-each late December I put away my decorations and decide I want to clean up, declutter, get in shape, eat healthy, and get organized. That lasts about a week, and then falls apart. I've been doing this all my adult life, and I feel the urge rising again. Calendar? Planner? Weekly meal prep? An excel sheet with all my books, alphabetized and color coded, with reading goals for each month? A plan to clean out closets, a basement, a garage? Plan a garden? Organize paperwork? Geez, I'd have to be a wonder woman to get any of it done. 

Oh, I can feel it, rising like sap in a tree. But this time I'm beating it all down. Nope. Not going to do it. I'm going to enjoy the heck out of 2021, and that means setting realistic goals in everything I do so I'm not setting myself up for failure. That means, (although it pains me!) that I'm not going to set a reading goal this year. And I'm going to read whatever I like and whatever interests me. No pressure to read what everyone else is reading; no pushing through a book that just doesn't capture my attention. If it takes me two weeks to finish a book, then so what? Life seems to be busier, somehow, and I just don't have the ability to fly through 3-4 books a week like I used to. Now it's 1-2. Let that anxiety go! 

I hope you also start off 2021 fresh and excited, too. I've got a lot of books calling for me this month. January is usually my best reading month, and right now the snow is coming down hard outside and we're in the middle of a winter storm warning. I'll be shoveling a lot of wet, heavy snow later on tonight. So January, yes it is my month where I read a lot. We'll see what I get through this month. Here's what's on tap:









Looks like I'm making up for my lack of historical fiction in 2020 this month. I've had The Arctic Fury and The Lady Brewer of London sitting at home for weeks now with the aim of reading them in January. The Children's Blizzard I've read about in David Laskin's non-fiction book from 2005--which was amazing! This is a fictional account of that terrible disaster and I can't wait to read it. The Wife Upstairs I just received for my December BOTM. Another domestic thriller with shades of Jane Eyre. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie is a fictional exploration of the strange disappearance and re-appearance of Agatha Christie that has stumped people for decades. 

Right now I'm finishing up Jolene by Mercedes Lackey, and The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler. I haven't made it through my stack of holiday reads, and I may need to set them aside. I fall rapidly out of holiday read mode once December is over. 

That's my January list. I'm excited to start another year of blogging. This will be my eleventh year! Oh my golly. I think I'll be pulling up some of my past posts throughout the year, and I'll be doing something special in March to mark my eleventh year as a book blogger. I've got to admit, my 10 year anniversary slipped by in the crazy days of March 2020, and heck, I didn't even realize 2020 was my tenth year until just now. So we'll celebrate eleven years instead. 

Have a safe and Happy New Year! 

Sending you all a big socially distanced hug-

The Bookalicious Babe






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