January Wrap-up and February Reading Possibilities

 January was such a busy month and yet it already seems like a distant memory. Time can be funny that way. We headed to central New York after the holidays to spend a long weekend with my parents. Leaving was especially tough this time, knowing we wouldn't return until spring. It took a few more days to pack and close up the house in Connecticut before we began the trek to Florida. We got here just in time for the coldest weather in decades. There were actually snow flurries as close as Cape Coral - unbelievable! It's still unusually cold, but they're promising good weather for the upcoming week. Fingers crossed!

On the reading front, January was a a slow month, as usual.  

I started my project for the year - a chapter-a-day slow read of War and Peace along with a group at Footnotes and Tangents. All went well for a week, but I didn't keep up during our travels and ended up starting over. I caught up later in the month and am actually enjoying it now. The daily chapter summaries and notes are helpful, plus I even occasionally check in on the chat thread. I will note that I enjoyed the initial 'peace' section more than the current 'war' section!

BOOKS READ IN JANUARY 

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood 

             literary fiction - ⭐⭐⭐💫

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

                               MMD February selection, cozy mystery, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

                            

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6 by Beth Brower

                                                         historical fiction, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

FEBRUARY READING POSSIBILITIES

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-Reum (finished)

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (in progress)

  

Grown Women by Sarai Johnson

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol 7 by Beth Brower

Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman

How did January go for you? What was your favorite book?

The Sunday Salon: It's February!

Hello from the very chilly gulf coast of Florida, where it's early afternoon and our wind chill here on the island is still 29 degrees! Today we have all sorts of cold weather cancellations throughout the area - festivals, concerts, and even a library book sale. I've never seen anything like it. We also have an abundance of cold-stunned invasive iguanas lying around. They are basically paralyzed from the cold. This has prompted FWC to set up iguana collection sites around the state where homeowners can drop them off. Sounds like a good idea in theory, but I prefer to leave it to the professionals!

Recent reading//

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Volume 6

by Beth Brower

I've been raving about this series for months as I read them with a small group over at Modern Mrs. Darcy. These books just keep getting better and this is the best one yet! I own the set in paperback, but have also been listening to them on audio. The narration is excellent and all eight editions are available on hoopla.  This is my first 5-star read of the year!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Current reading//

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books 

by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan

I enjoy books about books and reading, and just started this collection of short essays last night.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The chapter-a-day slow read continues...

On the blog//

Top Ten Tuesday : 2025 Author Discoveries

In the kitchen//

I've got two new recipes to share this week. The first is an easy Korean-inspired Ground Beef Bibimbap  from skinnytaste. This is a slightly spicy one-pan meal ready in under 30 minutes. I'd never used Gochujang sauce before and liked its sweet/spicy flavor. I omitted the optional fried egg.

Since I had a bag of shredded carrots on hand, I tried Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal from Joy Bauer. The recipe is sweetened with maple syrup or honey (I used the maple syrup) and contains raisins and pecans. The recipe makes a 9 x13 pan, so I cut it into squares and put several servings in the freezer. I also skipped the cream cheese glaze in favor of a dollop of whipped cream. Delicious!

The week ahead//

I've got appointments scheduled with the dermatologist and dental hygienist... not fun, but necessary. At least I won't be missing out on beach time. It looks like highs will be only be in the upper 50s and low 60s all week!  We're also having friends over for dinner one night... it will be good to catch up.

How was your week? What have you been reading?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.