January 2016 Wrap-Up: I Read My Own Damn Books!

Wheeee! I've had a great start to 2016 with lots of great books this month! Titles in blue were my own damn books and count toward my self-challenge. If you're participating in the challenge, even unofficially, feel free to link up reviews, wrap-ups, or commentary about #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks here! 

Something New: Tales From a Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley is her newest work, and I can't wait to review it closer to publication time! This one is definitely a fave. 

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham is that special kind of classic that totally grabbed me by the hair and threw me into a reading slump for a minute or two (ok, a few days). 

 

While I had my doubts about it, I absolutely loved Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More! by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez. I'm not one for capes and tights much of the time, but this was such great storytelling. KSD owns me. 

Monstress #1 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda was impeccable. This fantasy story about a girl who turns into a monster kept me on the edge of my seat, and this first issue is super long, so it's a great buy. 

Y: The Last Man Deluxe Edition by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, et al. has been on my TBR for a silly long time. Heather got it for me for Christmas in 2014, and here I am, finally getting my head out of my ass to read it. Really interested story about a plague that erases huMANity from the earth. Women are left to run the place except for Yorick...seemingly the last man. 

Giant Days Volume 1 by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, et al was AMAZING. Heather had already recommended this one to me when I received it in a Landfall Freight box, and I sucked it right down. While it doesn't have the fantasy elements, it reminded me a bit of Lumberjanes for an older set with its female friendships and quirky characters. 

The short stories were a mixed bag this month. American Housewife by Helen Ellis was snarky and clever, but it lacked some of the emotional heft I prefer in my fiction. 

The Unfinished World by Amber Sparks was odd and whimsical and also very emotional, so it was the big winner this month. 

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed is a blogger favorite. While I read this one in bits...having started it a year or two ago, I dove back in with glee. I loved Strayed's responses to her fans, but by the end this one wasn't quite enough to keep me engaged. 

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen is definitely the book furthest from my comfort zone this month, but it really affected me in a big way. To say I went on an organizational jag is an understatement, but that's fodder for a future post. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, one of my #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks goals is to ditch books that are not working for me and cycle them out of my collection. This month I DNFed...

Freedom Fries and Cafe Creme by Jocelyne Rapinac. I just couldn't handle the stilted writing and sterile feel of these stories. 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys is another blogger fave, but this YA novel about prison camps and Stalin's extermination lists was too much of the same. I've read SO many of these kinds of books from this period of time, it takes something very different (like The Book Thief) to keep me going until the end. 

Not a bad start if you ask me! Out of 12 books read, 10 were my own! Of the other two, one was my husband's audiobook (Getting Things Done), and Giant Days came in my latest Landfall Freight subscription box.