Chapter Seven: Convincing You to Read My January Books
Using my favorite quotes
I have a love/hate relationship with January, but it does tend to be a pretty good reading month for me—probably because it’s freezing and I only want to stay inside my apartment. January does tend to drag on, but I appreciate this month because it feels like a reset after the hectic busyness of the holiday season. There are fewer expectations and less activities outside of the home.
Though I’ve had some cozy moments this month, I’ve also been bombarded by horrifying news alerts, single digit temperatures, and a deep, unshakable fear about the future of this country. I usually turn to introspective books in January or books that provide some kind of escape, and that’s proven to be essential this year. It also feels important to keep reading the books that the current administration would rather us not read, whether they’re books written by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ authors or books that tackle climate change and what our reality could be in the not-so-distant future.
In 2025, I wanted to be more intentional about the books I picked up and more reflective about what I learned or gained from each one. The nine books I read in January offered very different perspectives, but they were all beautifully written, and I highlighted quotes in each one. I know some other writers on Substack have shared a similar type of post, but now I can’t remember where I got this inspiration from. If it was you or someone you know, please let me know!
Below are my nine January reads, and rather than share my reviews for each one, I’m going to share my favorite quotes to convince you to read them. (If you’re looking for actual reviews of these books, check out my Bookstagram, where I share real-time mini reviews in my stories and post reviews in my feed.)
I’d love to hear about the books you read in January or if you decide to pick any of these books up because of this post!
This post includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org, and if you choose to shop my recommendations (and support local bookstores in the process!), I can earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Descriptions also pulled from Bookshop.org.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
“Art is what we leave of ourselves in other people.”
Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.
*This book is out May 20th, 2025! Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy. Note that this quote is from the e-galley and thus subject to change in the finished edition.
Rental House by Weike Wang
“She and her parents had a finite amount of time left together, and from now until one of their deaths, that time would be cut up and concentrated into these tiny bursts.”
Description: From the award-winning author of Chemistry, a sharp-witted, insightful novel about a marriage as seen through the lens of two family vacations.
The Faraway World by Patricia Engel
“Love doesn’t need to be exquisite for it to be true.”
Description: From the author of Infinite Country—a New York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick—comes a “rich and compelling” (The Washington Post) collection of ten exquisite, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise.
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.”
Description: The national bestselling author's hilarious first novel that memorably mixed food, heartbreak, and revenge into a comic masterpiece.
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
“A building is just a body through which you live a life. What mattered was the people we found and lost, not the places.”
Description: In the tradition of Station Eleven, a literary thriller set partly on the roof of New York’s Museum of Natural History in a flooded future.
*Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy! This book came out on January 7th, 2025.
Happy to Help by Amy Wilson
“There will always be something I could do quickly, right now, and cross it off my list, and while knowing that makes me more productive, it also creates an unrest that is hard to call happiness.”
Description: Amy Wilson, co-host of the award-winning podcast What Fresh Hell, takes a funny and insightful look at how women are conditioned to be "happy to help"-and what happens when things don't go that way.
Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
“Sometimes you don’t have to tell people everything, you just have to trust them. And I trust you.”
Description: The “brilliant” (Daily Mail, London) bestseller that follows a brother and sister as they navigate queerness, multiracial identity, and family drama, all while flailing their way to love—for fans of Schitt’s Creek and Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
“Ghosts never wanted enough, and people always wanted too much.”
Description: Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
“She began to feel as if she had been split in two, and only one half of her was here in this living room. That was the good Chinese daughter who was delicately chewing her way around the bones in each piece of hsün yü, carefully extracting them from her mouth and laying the tiny white spines on the edge of her plate with her chopsticks. The other half had been left out on the sidewalk before Lily walked in the front door.”
Description: A story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare.
Wishing you all the five-star reads,
Katherine
This is such a fun way to share your monthly reading
All The Water in the World sounds like such a good book!