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Welcome to my January 2025 month in review!
Travels/Exploration:
If you’re new here, you should know that my husband is a traveling healthcare professional and we travel the United States in our RV. He works three months or more at one hospital and we have fun exploring the area on his days off. Our permanent home is in Asheville, NC. He is currently working near Phoenix, AZ. Here are the places we visited this month.
Boulder Canyon Trail near Tortilla Flat, AZ (You can see pictures on my January 12 weekly update)
Page, AZ to see Horseshoe Bend, Upper Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon Dam, and Powell Lake (You can see pictures in my February 2 weekly update)
Asheville, NC to visit my family
Naples, FL to visit my in-laws
Watched:
Really, what are the odds that the two movies I watched in January both have posters that look like they’ve been cross-stitched? I didn’t even realize it until I was searching for the posters on IMDB right now.
We didn’t watch many things in January because we weren’t “home” in the RV much.
Thelma–I loved this movie so much, I watched it twice in January. Some moments will make you tear up but mostly my husband and I laughed and cheered Thelma on as she tracked down the people who scammed her. She is delightful. It’s simply a fun movie with a lot of heart but it also explores family dynamics between generations that most of us will recognize. Streamed on Hulu.
Fargo–I used to work with a young lady from North Dakota who hated this movie. She said the people who live there don’t talk like this. I can see why it bothered her, so I apologize to North Dakotans. Bad Southern accents on TV drive me up the wall. But this was still a quirkily watchable, if randomly violent, film. Streamed on the Roku Channel.
The X-Files Season 1–I watched The X-Files when it originally aired but I was a teenager so I was often out of the house when it came on. I missed a lot of episodes. I don’t remember anything about this season so it was fun to (re)visit it. Streamed on Hulu.
Reviews Posted:
March: Book Three by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell
Run: Book One by John Lewis with Andrew Aydin, illustrated by L. Fury and Nate Powell
We Are Here to Stay: Voices of Undocumented Young Adults by Susan Kuklin
Wild Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the Natural World by Mike Higgins, illustrated by Manuel Bortoletti
The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams
Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Matt Patterson
I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers
Bookish Posts:
Reading Stats:
Best Books I Read This Month:
Fiction: What You Are Looking for Is In the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts, illustrated by Rohan Eason (Link to my review)
Nonfiction: The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea–4.5 Stars
Audiobook: Noir (Noir Chronicles #1) by Christopher Moore, read by Johnny Heller–4 Stars (Link to my GoodReads review)
Other Books Read:
Seeing a Large Cat (Amelia Peabody #9) by Elizabeth Peters (Link to my GoodReads review)
The Tea Dragon Society (The Tea Dragon Society #1) by K. O’Neill
Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist by Evan Griffith, illustrated by Joanie Stone
A Small Kindness by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Wendy Leach
Gibberish by Young Vo
Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are by Bill Sullivan
The Whispered Word (Secret, Book & Scone Society #2) by Ellery Adams, read by Cris Dukehart
Ambush or Adore (Delightfully Deadly #3) by Gail Carriger
Run: Book One by John Lewis with Andrew Aydin, illustrated by L. Fury and Nate Powell (Link to my review)
Euphoria by Lily King, read by Simon Vance and Xe Sands
The Witch Owl Parliament (Clockwork Curandera #1) by David Bowles, illustrated by Raúl The Third
Pickleball Is Life: The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Obsession by Erin McHugh, illustrated by Jackie Besteman–3 Stars (Link to my GoodReads review)
Reading Challenge Update:
See more details on my 2025 Reading Challenge page. Title links go to the host’s challenge sign-up page.
| # Read | Goal | Complete? | End Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books in Translation | 1 | 4-6 | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Southern Literature | 2 | 7+ | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Hundred Years Hence | 0 | 1 | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Craving for Cozies | 2 | 1-25 | Yes | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Nonfiction | 2 | 12 | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Classics | 0 | 12 | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Cover Lovers | 10 | 1-10 | Yes | Dec 31, 2025 |
| GoodReads /Reading by the Numbers | 16 | 100 | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| The StoryGraph Onboarding | 0 | 5 | No | Dec 31, 2025 |
| The StoryGraph January Pages | NA | Read every day | Yes | Jan 31, 2025 |
| Classics Club | 25 | 50 | No | April 15, 2026 |
Hosts
The Monthly Wrap-Up is hosted by Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon at It Starts at Midnight. Best of the Bunch is hosted by Jessica at A Cocoon of Books. Link your post each month!
