The first quarter of the year has ended, and it feels like it went by in a flash. My first few months of 2023 have not been great for reading or blogging, so I decided a double-month wrap up would be best, at least for February and March.

Books Read

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
- Book club pick (paperback)

The characters shine in this novel, which is sort of the point, but TJ Klune gave them beautifully dynamic personalities and used dialogue in perfect ways (and in many forms). I do wish the happy ending didn’t feel so obvious or mildly predictable, because although many sad and traumatic events occur and are alluded to within the story, the stakes didn’t ever feel all that high. It was a great book club pick; it’s certainly a rich story to discuss.

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
- EBook (from the publisher as part of the blog tour)

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I jumped at the chance to join Algonquin Books’ blog tour (like I did for The Mountains Sing in 2020). I recommend both novels, as well as learning about Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s journalism and advocacy work. My review for Dust Child can be read here.

Books I Did Not Finish

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
- Paperback

This has continued to be a slow read for me. There are a lot of royal politics involved in this fantasy novel, and while I’ve read the Mistborn trilogy as well as the follow up Wax and Wayne series (which all rely heavily on political and social structures), the plot hasn’t yet consumed me. I have started to feel slightly warmed up, so to speak, so that’s why I’m holding out a bit longer. We’ll see where in my reading log this book ends up next month…

Blog Posts

Blog Tour: Dust Child

Miscellany

I’m just going to repeat what I said in my previous Wrap-Up, which is that I continue to struggle to stick with daily and weekly routines. I’m trying to be patient with myself, since I’ve really only been devoted to this habit-forming attempt for about four months, which in the grand scheme of things is a short amount of time. And like I wrote in the last Wrap-Up, I haven’t given up yet.

What did you read (or not read) in January? Any recommendations, or blog posts you’ve loved (of yours or others’)? Let’s chat in the comments.