Books Read in January

A crisis-filled start to the new year has left me a bit behind on the blog, but I'm catching up now! January was a wonderful reading month. Here's what I finished reading last month:

• The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (SC) - middle-grade audio book
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer (Mexico, Germany, France, India, Japan) - adult fiction
• The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall by Drew Weing - middle-grade graphic novel

• Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts (SD) - adult fiction
• Form of a Question by Andrew Rostan & Kate Kasenow (MA) - adult graphic memoir
• The Rent Collector by Camron Wright (Cambodia) - adult fiction

• The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice (CT, ME, Canada) - teen/YA audio book
  
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (MA) - nonfiction
• True Enough by Stephen McCauley (MA) - adult fiction

Wow, 9 books in all in January! No wonder it took me awhile to finish my reviews. It was a wonderful variety to kick off the New Year, with half the books adult novels, two nonfiction, two middle-grade, and one YA. Two were audio books, and two of my books were graphic novel-style (one middle-grade fiction and one memoir)...which explains why I fit so many in as those tend to be quick reads! I traveled to a lot of different locations through my books last month, though it looks like Massachusetts will be a popular one this year. I enjoyed every one of these, but I think my favorite was The Rent Collector, with Finding Dorothy a close second.

Progress in 2019 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges - and I just finished signing up for a record number of them for 2019!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge - 4 of my 9 books were from my own shelves - a good start! 

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - January was New to Me Author month. Seven of the nine books I read were new authors for me, so I chose Less by Andrew Sean Greer.

Back to the Classics Challenge - no classics read last month

Monthly Keyword Challenge - I didn't read a single book with any of the monthly keywords in the title! Slow start... 

Diversity Reading Challenge - wow, I rocked this new challenge! Seven of the nine books I read were diverse. 

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I added 3 international books. Countries included Mexico, Germany, France, India, Japan (all in one book!), Cambodia, and Canada.

2018 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added 5 states: Delaware (yay!), Maine, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Massachusetts (with 3 books set there already).

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 18 squares in January - 

Spaces filled in:

The Parker Inheritance - free book, audio book, repercussions
Less - shelf love, new to you author
The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: Monster Mall - in a series, ghosts/spirits/souls, multi-word title
Finding Dorothy - read a physical book, cold weather
Form of a Question - competition
The Rent Collector - not in a series
The Beautiful Lost - YA, outdoor activities
Being Mortal - library book
True Enough - made into a movie, siblings

Free Space

What was your favorite book read in January?