Books of 2026: January Wrap-Up.
Wow, pretty much all I did this month was read, actually?? I did a couple writing side quests (one of which, yeah, was also Reading™), and picked at some knitting projects, but mostly as you see shelved above: Reading.
I did, however, file a bunch of this reading under the "writing" checkbox in my habit tracker, because all of the binders plus the tiny pronged folder between Wallflower and Wintergreen are My Projects™. I went back to 2016 and read all but three (3) of the books I've written since then, mostly chronologically (Average DNI)(Average should be after Faultlines and before Tide Locked, and Avian Initiative (not pictured) should be between them; the only other things missing are NaNos from 2022, never typed, and 2025, because it's cooling off)(In Between is last because it's the current revision project; by genesis it should be near Faultlines).
The last time I did a big catalogue reread, rapidfire, was in 2017, and I must've covered about 10 years of manuscripts then, too. I like to go back and revisit shelved projects intermittently to see what can be On Deck Next (I'm beginning to suspect I go through cycles of "write a bunch of new stuff" "okay now revise a bunch of stuff" "okay now write a bunch of new stuff again", with NaNo punctuating every year).
My writerly hopes and dreams for this year are to finish In Between (for real this time)(ignore how many years I've been saying that, I do genuinely have An Accomplishable Plan this year), get its Querying Package ready, pick at some Leramie/Howling worldbuilding in the too-hot fall months, and write a stupid and fun and SIMPLE shapeshiftery NaNo before I properly dive back into Leramie/Howling next year.
After that, I've got Tide Locked and Hover City Q and, weirdly, my Little Red Riding Hood retelling as Potentially Next Up, because I need to cut revision cycles with cool off periods. Example: Revising Avian Initiative (TAI) went like this: TAI draft > Ave 1 revisions > Ave 2 NaNo > TAI rev1 > beta read friend's book > TAI rev2 > Ave 3 NaNo > TAI rev4 > query TAI (which took from March 2018 to March... 2020..... oof). So even if Leramie/Howling is burning a hole through my brain right now, it needs cool off periods between drafts, and I'm thrilled that I can junebug Tide Locked and HCQ and maybe LRRH about it! It's been so long since I've been able to plan further out than a year at a time (because I, too, fittingly, have been stuck In Between for all this time), and I did not realize how much I missed it until I got to see all my babies lined up like this <3
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Now, the part y'all are actually here for: The Published Stuff!! Somehow despite slamming through twelve (12) of my own manuscripts, I did also manage to finish six (6) books and start three (3) others! Two of those three are shelved after the binders, because I'm planning on taking those at an amble over more time; I can't possibly read 700 pages of poetry in a month (even though it's for Book of the Month)(I'll be reading a little bit every month and finishing it in December, thanks), and Structuring Life to Support Creativity is a resource book that I'm bookclubbing with a friend (Tayler is a wonderful teacher, and I'm very stoked to dig into a book-form resource having attended a couple classes she's taught).
So far, besides Animorphs, I've stuck very close to my assorted reading tag games lists this year! Reviews with photos for the completed books linked:
ANIMORPHS 6 ★★★½ I do feel like a broken record, yeah: I enjoyed this because I love my children, but I don't think it's great as a standalone (needs the interiority context of narration). Grine handled Jake and Not!Jake very coolly, though.
COUP DE GRACE ★★★½ Wow, what a hard book for me to rate. On the one hand: I loved what it did with structure and POV and implicating the reader, and I'm always a sucker for fucked up liminal horror looping monsterscapes. On the other hand: I had major beef with the ending(s), and the prose was overwrought in spots (rich, coming from me, I know). Very short book, easily the heaviest and most fucked up thing I've read in a long time, please mind the content warnings because it is NOT fucking around.
PIRANESI ★★★★½ PIR MY BELOVED!!!! Reread for me, and boy howdy does it manage to be even more heartbreaking the second time through. Phenomenal little book, hugely recommend, love how it's a perfect counterbalance to COUP.
THROUGH GATES OF GARNET AND GOLD ★★★ I love the ritual of New Wayward Kid Book In January, and I love how this one daisychains perfectly from PIRANESI. I do, however, wish I'd reread the first 5 books (which I'd wanted to do and then life squirreled away from me), because the more immediate context refresh would've made this hit harder, I think.
THE LIGHTHOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD ★★★(½?) Another very hard one to rate. On the one hand: Most of the time I felt like it was perfectly mid, and it was very easy for me to put down (took me 10 days to read, which is a Long Time for me). On the other hand: it made me tear up at random paragraphs twice (2x), and I was actively crying through the last 40 pages, which ???? wtf. I can't remember the last time I did this much crying through a book (Animorphs #54, definitely, and one other thing I read in high school whose title escapes me? but as a rule I don't cry, especially not while reading).
PORTRAIT OF A THIEF - 64/369 pages read. Enjoying this so far, although we're still at the "Convincing The Crew To Heist" stage (which seems like a long time, if we're going to heist five (5) museums?). The chapters have been thriller short but literarily written, which is a fascinating combo. Very sturdy book, thanks Tiny Rep Books for your quality manufacturing standards.
VISIBLE ★★★ First book of Poetry Quest for the year! I figured I could start here to dual wield it with my invisibility manuscript (Wallflower). Only one of the six selections blew me away, but I liked the first one, too, and I do enjoy reading out of my lane in bite-sized chunks.
Under the Cut: How I Generally Conceptualize ~*★Stars★*~
