Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: January 2026

Hello, everyone! This has been a weird reading month for me. On one hand, I've read some pretty strong books, which I enjoyed a lot. But on the other hand, I've read some rough ones, one I should have DNFed, and one I actually DNFed. Right now, I'm feeling a be slumpy, but I'm hoping that I will quickly find something to grab my attention again.

Here is what I read this month: 

Books I've Completed in January

• The Hobbit - J.R.R.Tolkien: If you thought that I was done with Middle Earth after my Lord of the Rings reread, you were mistaken! The only reason I hadn't reread The Hobbit sooner was because my copy was in my hometown. So, it finally happened during my visit around Christmas and New Year's. As expected, I loved my reread and I'm glad that I started 2026 with a beloved book. If you want to learn more about my relationship to Middle Earth, you can read The Tolkien Book Tag that I did last year.
• Γλυκοχάραμα - Menelaos Lountemis: Then, I picked up a Greek book. You might have noticed this author's name in one of my wrapups since I'm trying to read his catalogue. I still have a long way to go, but I'm in no hurry. As for this one, it was a short story collection. It was good, but as you can expect, not all of the stories were as good. 
• No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy: I read this book for my book club, our first meeting for 2026. Cormac McCarthy is one of the authors that I've been meaning to read for such a long time and I'm glad that our club's pick "forced" me to actually do it. With this book, I already knew where the story was heading as I'd previously watched the movie. However, this didn't affect my enjoyment at all, as it was a very character-focused book. It was probably one of the most tense books I've ever read. Needless to say that I'll be reading more from this author in the future. 
• Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu: January was also the month of Winterween, which I decided to participate. During the week of the readathon, I only managed to read 2 of the 3 book I initially planned, but I also read the 3rd book right after. The first book I read for Winterween was Carmilla, one of horror's classics. I'm glad that I finally read it as I loved it. You can find my thoughts in my Winterween Recap and Mini Reviews.
• Sour Cherry - Natalia Theodoridou: The second book I read for Winterween, and the one that I should have DNFed. I'm so gutted that this book didn't work for me as I was the most excited about from the TBR I had initially planned. I don't want to go through the reasons I didn't love it again, but you can find them in my Winterween Recap.
• Coffin Moon - Keith Rosson: If you are looking for a good vampire book, this is the one for you! I reluctantly picked up this book after seeing it everywhere (with that being mostly Reddit) mentioned as one of the best books of 2025 and one of the best vampire books. Let me tell you, it lived up to the hype.
• Love After the End - Various (edited by Joshua Whitehead): Finally, I ended January with an anthology of speculative fiction, all written by Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous authors. All of the stories had really unique concepts, even though not all of them landed. I'm so glad that the Buzzword Readintg Challege made me prioritize this book, as I've found some authors I'm very interesting in reading more from them.

Books I DNFed

• Η κοινή προέλευση λογικής και τρέλας : Ψυχανάλυση και σχιζοφρένεια - Ioannis Vartzopoulos: I'm so disappointed that my first DNF of the year was also my first nonfiction of 2026. This was a Greek book from a university professor talking about schizophrenia and psychoanalysis. One thing that felt a bit odd was that there was no bibliography in this book. Then, the writing itself even though it wasn't bad, it wasn't really engaging and everything I was reading was going over my head. And since I started feeling a bit slumpy at that point, I decided to just DNF it. 

Books I'm Currently Reading

• Beg, Borrow, or Steal - Sarah Adams: My mission to find a 5* romance continues. This book started so strong that there is a high chance that it might be the one! I hope that the final quarter of the book will be just as good.

What did you read in January?

Which was the best and worst book of the month for you?