Bookwyrm Breakdown: January 2023

It actually feels weird posting this on the last day of January because I never do this? I always wait until the closest Tuesday or Friday (and even sometimes I push it off), and here I am, posting my wrap-up like a normal person on the last day of the month. Who is she? I don’t know her.

Not gonna lie, it was tempting to skip it until next week.

In a nutshell, January was wild. It felt like it was crawling, but it wasn’t.

January Musings

• [3 Jan] 2022 Musings, Highlights + 2023 Aspirations
• [13 Jan] Bookwyrm Breakdown: December 2022
• [17 Jan] Phantom School (2022)
• [31 Jan] Bookwyrm Breakdown: January 2023

Books Hoarded

One book made its way somewhere in my room (and will probably never see the light of day until later this year).

• Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin – I enjoyed Kerin’s debut, so when I was offered a chance to review her second novel, I couldn’t resist (even if I’m trying my best not to add any more review copies).
  • My “choking on a sharp pineapple” legacy began with The Phantom Forest; I am nothing if not creative with my threats to evil characters.

Books Devoured

I regret to inform you all that I have not read a single book in January. I did, however, start a new book on top of the ones that I started last year and didn’t finish.

Last month I got Disney+ so I can get somewhat caught up on the MCU but also live my best childhood life rewatching Stitch. January was a lot of rewatches, but we’re covered for a bit of time (at least until Black Panther, Shang-Chi and Avengers: Age of Ultron).

• The Incredible Hulk
• Captain America: The First Avenger (rewatch)
• Thor (rewatch) – Okay, technically I didn’t fully rewatch it, mostly because about 10 minutes into the movie I felt like I watched it, but I didn’t remember when or where and as I got further along, it was very much I definitely watched it in the past few years so I just skipped around to get a refresher (also, Loki is the best part).
• The Avengers (rewatch)

I also watched other things as well (it is not all MCU here).

• Heaven Official’s Blessings (天官赐福/Tiān Guān Cì Fú) – I started this sometime last year and never continued since I got preoccupied with Avatar: The Last Airbender. I still have a few episodes left, though, but I think I’ll finish it sometime in February.
• Reborn Rich – Honestly, as much as I enjoy this and want to watch it to the end (I’m already on episode 7), I’m tempted to drop this as well because there is a lot going on, but mostly because I’m struggling on identifying who is who aside from a couple of characters who can be identified in other ways. It’s very much a “it’s not the show, it’s me.”

Unlike last month (almost wrote last year, ha), I did keep somewhat on top of new music, though I spent a good part going through MAMAMOO’s discography and listening to Scream from High School Musical 3 (because it sums up my mood currently) on repeat.

• The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION by TXT – minisode 2: Thursday’s Child was by far my favorite TXT EP, but their latest is a close second.
• Heartbreak Feels So Good by Fall Out Boy
• The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday by Red Velvet
• SKZ-REPLAY by Stray Kids – Probably the only one I remember listening to in December but it obviously slipped my mind (to be fair it was a late December release and my brain cell was out the door).
• Red Moon by Primrose – This duo just debuted on January 13, 2023 and I personally enjoyed the album overall, so I have my ears open for future releases.
  • But also I love supporting lesser known groups when I find them.
• The Fifty by FIFTY FIFTY – Also a recent debut (November 2022) that I have my eyes on. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped I would, but the music isn’t exactly my type.
• Dream Land by XEED – A third recent debut! I haven’t listened to the rest of the mini album just yet, but I did like the title track when putting it on in the background while working on this post.

(There’s been a lot of media consumption in my world lately.)

The Breakdown

A breakdown of what the universe had in store for the month (or longer).

I wish I could say January was better, but I would be lying. If we count it by the number of average hours of sleep, it was marginally better (which I’ll take). Maybe this is a sign that things are looking better; we’ll see.

(I feel like I’ve been a sad sap in recent months.)

Other Things of January:

• Journaling didn’t look as sad; I actually wrote ~8 entries this month! (And I’m probably better for it.)
• Went into a rabbit hole of world-building tools and family trees.
• Still in the BitLife hole sort of (not as much as last month, though).
  • The Holmes family is still going on strong, though there were a few close calls where my attempt for a 5,000 year legacy (I’m going achievement hunting) almost ended…
  • The Herondales ended after 3 generations. Big oof.
• A lot of existential crises. More than likely why the month felt like it was crawling, but not at the same time.