I’m pleased to report that at least as far as reading goes, I’m starting the year off strong — this month I averaged a book per day, though it was only possible because I was on winter break for most of it and most of my classes have started off pretty slowly.

Since the theme for Devour Your TBR was January Jam Jar, I repurposed an empty hot cocoa tin and finally tried out a TBR jar! On the whole it went pretty well, saving me quite a bit of decision fatigue (and the overwhelm that came with looking over my owned-TBR); it’s definitely something that I want to continue with.

Probably the biggest surprise for me this month came from my decision to track how many books I added to my collection, with the goal of making sure I don’t totally undermine my #StartOnYourShelfathon progress: Not counting any books for class, I added 22 new books to my collection (between library checkouts, Gutenberg/Amazon freebies, and ARCs), which was much higher than I was expecting and also alarmingly close to the number of books I read this month. 

So in effect, I made only a small dent in my owned-TBR. But I did have some memorable reads and interesting stats, so let’s take a closer look at those.

Reading Challenges Check-In

Beat the Backlist

Read this month: 28 books

Total Progress: 28 / 75 (37.3%) ← probably going to increase this one!

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#StartOnYourShelfathon

Read this month: 20 / 16 
[goal: half of this month’s total read count = 0.5(31) = 16]

Current total: 37 / 100 ← probably going to increase this one too

Remaining priority owned-TBR: 168

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Pondathon

Read this month: 7

Current total: 7 

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Year of the Asian 2020

Read this month: 6 / 3

Current total: 6 / 31

Current badge: Philippine tarsier

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Books and Tea Reading Challenge

Read this month: 3

Total Progress: 3 / 12 (25%)

State of the ARC

State of the ARC is a monthly meme created by Evelina @ Avalinah’s Books.

Since I’ve been focusing on my owned-TBR and other backlist books, this month I actually haven’t added too many ARCs to my pile … though I also haven’t read many of the ones I have 😅

Actually, as you can see from the graph above, I’ve read and acquired in equal number this month (3 for each) and am still at 6 remaining ARCs. 

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Acquired

• Of Salt and Shore by Annet Schaap | Netgalley | TBR
• Selected by Barb Han | Blog Tour | Read

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Read

• Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin | ★★★★☆
• Selected by Barb Han | [blog tour upcoming]
• The Sky Is Mine by Amy Beashel | ★★✯☆☆

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DNF

• none

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Currently Reading

• none

Read This Month

Clicking on the titles will take you to the book’s Goodreads page; clicking on the stars (which indicate my rating) will take you to my review. [ARC] indicates an advance review copy; [RC] indicates a post-release review copy.

• This Is How You Survive by Lana Rafaela Cindric [reread] | ★★★★★
• Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury | ★★★★☆
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman | ★★★✯☆
• A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews | ★★✯☆☆
• The Neverending Story by Michael Ende | ★★★★☆
• The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco | ★★★★☆
• Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor | ★★★★✯
• Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin [ARC] | ★★★★☆
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare | ★★★★☆
• Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao | ★★★✯☆
• Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong | ★★★✯☆
• These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling | ★★★☆☆
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck | ★★★★☆
• The Defining Decade by Meg Jay | ★★✯☆☆
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri | ★★★★☆
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster [reread] | ★★★★✯
• Infinity Son by Adam Silvera | ★★★✯☆
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart [reread] | ★★★★✯
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart [reread] | ★★★★✯
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart [reread] | ★★★★☆
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages by Trenton Lee Stewart | ★★★★☆
• The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire by Dan Howell & Phil Lester [audiobook] | ★★★★✯
• Selected by Barb Han [ARC] | [blog tour upcoming]
• The Sky Is Mine by Amy Beashel [ARC] | ★★✯☆☆
• The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee | ★★★★★
• The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee | ★★★★✯
• The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane | ★★✯☆☆
• They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera [audiobook] | ★★★✯☆
• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman | ★★★★✯
• A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver | ★★★★★
• Dog Songs by Mary Oliver | ★★★★✯

31 read + 1 DNF
3.85 average rating

Currently Reading

• There There by Tommy Orange
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath [audiobook]
• Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman 

• How many books did you read this month? How many books are you hoping to read next month?
• What are the best books you read this month?
• Are you currently participating in any reading challenges and/or readathons?