Monday Mini-Review: Looking Back at January

In terms of quantity,  I had my best reading month ever in January.  I also think the quality of my reading was fantastic as well.

I ended the month with 33 books, and so many I loved. 

It was hard to narrow it down to five favorites, but these five are ones I'll be thinking about and recommending to everyone.

Penitence by Kristin Koval is such a well written novel. The storyline is a little like Defending Jacob by William Landay, which I loved and still think about over a decade later.  I'll think about this one for a long time.

The Mother Next Door by Andrea Dunlop and Mike Weber is a nonfiction book about is a look at three women who had Munschausen by Proxy and the children who suffered under their parentage.  This is a fascinating -and heartbreaking- disorder, especially for the children of these women.  

Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser by Amy Wilson- this is a book of essays that reminds me a lot of some other favorite nonfiction female essay writers (Mary Laura Philpott and Elizabeth Passarella).  I like that Wilson feels like she could be a friend.

The Favorites by Layne Fargo- a fantastic novel set in the figure skating world.  Katerina has always known she was going to be a champion figure skater, and then when Heath, a foster care kid comes in to her life, the two become a figure skating pair.  A love story that experiences the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, this is a fantastic story. I couldn't put it down.

The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore- is historical fiction set during WWII. This is a fascinating book because it follows a group of men hired by the Treasury Department who are actually working on the economics behind the war and trying to direct outcomes by controlling the money.  I read the end notes for each chapter and want my husband to read this so the two of us can talk it over.

This group of four star books are ones that I also want to share with others because if I read fewer books each month, these would certainly be at the top of the list.  

I've read several books already in February; 2025 has so many great books being published and I still have so many on my shelves that I want to read.