What I Read in January 2023

Another year of reading begins!

This year, I’m hoping to share standalone book reviews as well as these monthly round-ups – giving a little extra attention to the books that certainly deserve it. I always find that I’m particularly energised towards my reading goal in January.

As such, you’ll notice that almost all of my January reads boast four or more star ratings. I usually attest this to the fact that, ahead of the New Year, I take extra care in researching what I want to be reading for the year ahead. This energy tends to slowly dissipate as the year gets busier, so please don’t compare your reading flow, pace and style to mine. Thankfully, I’m still feeling inspired to read and I’m really looking forward to what 2023’s reading journey has to offer.

For 2023, I set some reading resolutions, one of which was to read more non-fiction and, specifically, nature non-fiction. Well, we’re off to a good start as I read three non-fictions in January, including a nature one! Long may this sort of reading habit continue!

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Rating: ★★★★/5

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I fell in LOVE with Wohlleben’s The Secret Network of Nature and naturally I was thrilled to unwrap the other two books in the series at Christmas. My boyfriend knows me all too well! This non-fiction hones in on trees and forestry secrets in the same magnetic way as the others.

I appreciated Wohlleben’s expertise as well as his further thinking and reasoning, and he tells a story SO well. Within The Hidden Life of Trees, you’ll learn everything about trees from their roots to underground mycelium networks, canopies to the animals that affect forests. And, like I said, Wohlleben writes in such a way that you truly become immersed in the natural world he describes and explains. It’ll instantly make you want to head out for a ramble in the woods and forests near you.

Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Rating: ★★★★/5

The Before the Coffee Gets Cold trilogy is one that has truly captivated me for many reasons, and I loved this instalment too.

Divided into four chapters – each following a different character travelling in time – it is just as poignant and thought-provoking as its predecessors. This time, the characters are in Café Donna Donna, a coffee shop in northern Japan, in Hokkaido. We follow a daughter, a comedian, a sister and a young man as they travel back in time to see somebody from the past. While it is a little repetitive to hear the time-travelling rules over and over (nope, this hasn’t changed from the first two books!), it’s undeniably a heartwarming, cosy read.

I’m a real slice-of-life kinda girl. I love anime in the genre, adore nothing more than watching vlogs and reading blogs, and this book is just that kind of vibe. Before Your Memory Fades opens up questions surrounding death, how to treasure your loved ones, sitting in your present, and how to hope for the future. Loved this as much as the others in the series.

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong

Rating: ★★★★★/5

I really wanted to read this before the Lunar year was up, and I’m glad that I did. Year of the Tiger is more than Alice Wong’s memoir: it’s her lifework and scrapbook perfectly capsuled and with such a strong message that I doubt I’ll ever forget reading it. If you haven’t heard of Alice Wong, then where have you been? Wong is a disabled Asian-American activist and the founder of the Disability Visibility Project.

Year of the Tiger is a compelling collection of Wong’s essays, podcast transcripts, illustrations, interviews, conversations and photos. It is a captivating medium for Wong to draw together her activism work and open everyone’s eyes – widely – to her own lived experiences of being disabled, as well as those of the disabled community. From her Medicaid woes to her distinct love for food, meeting Obama to changing the game at schools and other institutions she attended, Wong lays all bare and with meaning and purpose.

Above all, Wong is a witty and clever storyteller. I find memoirs with different media to feel jarring a lot of the time and, historically, haven’t been a great non-fiction reader. But this is a book that will stay with me and that I’ve already talked people’s ears off about.

Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

Rating: ★★★★★/5

Murakami is one of my all-time favourite authors, so I’ve been dying to read Novelist as a Vocation ever since it came out. The book is a set of essays all about his life as a novelist and writer. Finally I got my hands on a gorgeous hardback copy, and read through the collection of essays in a matter of days. Well, evenings.

As a writer myself that is hoping to transition into writing novels, I was beyond delighted to hear Murakami’s thoughts on being an author and novelist, to understand his motivations and process and, ultimately, to glean an insight into his magically moving and surreal works that I’ve admired for years. I read this at a time that I felt unsure of my own writing and editing ability, and picked up some wonderful tips – from my favourite author no less! I’m not one to showcase books on my desk, oddly, but for this I may have to make an exception.

Read my full-length review of Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Rating: ★★★.5/5

After seeing every person under the sun rave about Lessons in Chemistry, I had to pick up a copy. I snagged one of the gorgeous limited-edition Waterstones editions, which features a periodic table on its sprayed edges! Aesthetics aside, this was an expectedly great read that deftly blends literary fiction with magical realism.

Elizabeth Zott is a scientist and a mother in 1960s America, whose career is ‘derailed by the idea that a woman’s place is in the home’. While working towards a new academic study, her life is derailed when she runs into famous colleague and Nobel Prize nominee Calvin Evans. Several twists and turns later, Elizabeth finds herself star of America’s most-loved cooking show, Supper at Six, where she combines cooking with chemistry.

I really enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry, yet I struggled to give it a four-star rating. I love the glimpses of magical realism and LOVED the feminism that rings strong and true throughout. Elizabeth (and the whole female cast of characters) is quirky, witty and fun. I really enjoyed how it portrayed Elizabeth to be unfailingly and unapologetically herself, and that there were inferences of her being on the spectrum. And don’t get me started on the adorable pooch! But something felt a little off for me: it could feel forced at times, and at the start I often felt like Garmus was shoehorning themes in. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry and flew through it in just a matter of days!

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Rating: ★★★★★/5

What can I say about this book, aside from it is worth every part of its hype? Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a novel that I did not know I needed, but is simultaneously MY book. A keen gamer myself, this is the first book I’ve read that features gaming as a central theme and it tackles it masterfully.

Sadie Green and Sam Masur are friends since childhood, brought together by hospital visits and a shared love for video games. When Sam leaves a subway one bitterly cold December day and sees Sadie Green on the platform, so begins a new game: a legendary collaboration between two curiously creative friends who will enter stardom.

There is something incredibly immersive about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; Zevin skilfully conjures up a world so realistic that I found myself half-thinking I’d bump into Sadie on the Underground or glimpse Sam at a video game convention. Rooted in themes of friendship, love, escapism, perfectionism, autonomy, loss and insecurity, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow draws incredible comparisons between the real world and the ones that we can escape into. The raw humanity that drives our main characters feels real and I certainly cried on more than a few occasions.

In creating Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Zevin also dives into the business of creation and how video games are created, produced, developed. This really appealed to the gamer in me, and, I suppose, the writer and reader too. It’s told in a gorgeously paced saga style, so you feel like you grow up with the cast of characters as they mature and experience different phases of life. Now that I’m in my thirties, this felt particularly poignant. One of my new, all-time favourites.