Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner with Juliet Stevenson (Narrator)

Due to some issues with my audiobook app of choice, I did not have the audiobooks I wanted to listen to on my return flight. I had to look on Libby and CloudLibrary for options. This was the first of two for the journey. I have been getting motion sickness on long haul flights so I took some anti-nausea medication. The night flight and the medication made me very sleepy so I do not remember much from this book. I only listened to it because Juliet Stevenson is my favourite audiobook narrator and very soothing. The first book was fine. I am not interested in a lot World War II era historical novels. I barely remember anything other than one romance and the triumph over misogynistic workplace storyline.

Jan 19, 2026.

Queen Charlotte by Shonda Rhimes and Julia Quinn with Natalie Simpson (Narrator)

This was the second audiobook as I knew a romance would easy for the flight. I was asleep for some of this but not as much as I wanted to. The best part was the friendship between Charlotte and Danbury. The torture was awful to read and over the top. I was honestly bored for most of it so I’m not reading Julia Quinn again. The TV mini series was better than the book and gave Lady Danbury more depth and an interesting romantic subplot that was not in the novel.

Jan 19, 2026.

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy (The Murderbot Diaries #2.5) by Martha Wells

My second flight was delayed so I had time to finish QC and read this at an airport lounge. It only took a few mins. It was fine albeit a bit boring. I prefer it when it’s centred around Murderbot and it was not in this novel at all.

Read on Kobo Clara BW on January 19, 2026.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

I believe I started the first page of this in the airport lounge. I tried to read it more in the coming days but I did not really like it. It was too slow and I did not get a good sense of the characters. It was told in the fairytale style, but I still struggled to care about any of the characters or plot.

Read on Kobo Clara BW January 19-22, 2026.

As I am writing these reviews at the end of February, I am finding it difficult to remember the details. These were all the novels I finished in Japan in January.

Continue reading →

2026 Specific Goals

Read 40 for 40 – 40 books from my shelves. I have probably over 100 unread books. I need to read at least 40 of them in my 40th year.

Read five French books – I barely read/listened to three in 2025. Children’s books always count.

Reading Glasses Challenge 2026

The StoryGraph Genre Challenge 2026

Track daily pages and mins on The StoryGraph – I am trying this out and reading most days. I was not something who reads in bits, but I need to develop this habit now since I am so busy during the week. I may not be able to keep this up for most of the year.

Ongoing Annual Challenges

Read 80 books

Read more books from my shelves – See 40 for 40 above.

Read three books from Boxall lists – Should be easy with all the Boxall books I know.

Read French books – See above for five books.

Read one Shakespeare play – Completed as of this writing and on track to read another too.

Keep physical library books at less than 10 books at any time – Well this is difficult, but I still do need the library for my children’s and graphic books.

Read more classics – Same as Boxall really.

Write reviews soon after reading them – I have been reading and listening to so many books that it is taking much longer until I can do a review. Partly, I am avoiding the computer if I am not working especially on weekends. It’s probably more laziness.

GoodReads Challenges – I do these to supplement my other goals and to get recommendations on newer releases.

Paused Goals

Read more ebooks and audiobooks – I need to get books out of my home. I listened to a lot of audiobooks last year and the listening mins have already eclipsed pages. I am trying to focus on my owned print books.