Once again, it’s time to chat about our favorite reads of the previous month. My reading in January leaned heavily towards the Star Wars universe, which you’ll hear about soon enough. For now, I’ll share a couple others, as well as the family’s favorites for the month.
JEREMY: I already wrote about Seth Wickersham’s It’s Better to Be Feared, which you can check out here. I’m no Pats fan, but Seth did an incredible job telling the story of their two-decade dynasty. It’s a must-read for sports fans, as far as I’m concerned.
JANE: On the fiction side, Jane and I shared a favorite read in January: John Kenney’s I See You’ve Called in Dead. My full review is coming this week, but we both appreciated this book’s funny, life-affirming, and tenderhearted story.
GRAHAM (10.5 years old): Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree earned a ton of accolades when it came out in 2017. The oldest kiddo wholeheartedly agreed with all those positive reviews and really enjoyed the book — enough so to turn the wish tree into a school project for a creative tissue holder.
WILLA (almost 8 years old): Graham went through a major “Who Was?” book series phase, reading dozens of these kid-sized biographies and histories. Now it’s Willa’s turn. Her favorite in January was Who Was Helen Keller? Expect to see more from this series in the months to come.
BO (5 years old): January and February mark sled dog race season here in the Northland. The Beargrease is a well-known race in northern Minnesota and our youngest kiddo had fun learning all about it at school with Fearless John by Kelly Emerling Rauzi.
Your turn! What was your favorite January read?
Hands down, The Winds of War by Herman Wouk. Very long but very engaging story of characters engaged in events leading up to the start of WWII. The book ends with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I was so impressed that I found a used copy of War and Remembrance to read later this month. Highly recommend.
My favorite January read was Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. I See You Called In Dead was on my list of five star books for 2025. Loved it!