The new year was off to a promising start at least reading-wise, but not so much sharing-wise as this post is coming towards the end of February! Travel to Spain mid-month put that plan on pause.

In 2026, I look forward to doing another lap around the world. I have tweaked my world map to isolate the Nordic countries from Western Europe. There are now 12 regions and I’ll aim to visit at least one a month. View the 2026 edition of my Read Around the World challenge.

My Nordic Literature Reading Challenge continues slowly since there is no time constraint. This year I aim to read at least one book for each of the Nordic countries to make some more substantial progress.

I was hoping to commit to another reading challenge beyond my regular annual Read Around the World and Nordic literature challenges, but I haven’t had time to make those plans (yet).

Have you read any of the books I read in January?

The Last Party (DC Morgan #1) by Clare Mackintosh (2022) 📖
Narrated by Chloe Angharad Davies 🎧

This small town, slow burn murder mystery took me to the borderlands between England and Wales during present day. A new development of vacation homes has been built along the lake, and the wealthy newcomers have invited the local folk to a lavish new year’s eve party. The next morning the host is found dead in the lake. A local Welsh detective has to collaborate with an English detective in a case where practically all are suspects and secrets abound. I really enjoyed the setting and camaraderie between the detectives, and the story was satisfyingly deep and complex. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Read Around the World: Western Europe (United Kingdom)

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (2020)
Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 🎧

I really enjoyed this book and wonder if it might even have been a 5-star read for me if I had read it instead of listened to it. Then I would have picked up on the formatting that was not obvious in the audiobook but affected the listening experience a little (italics and section breaks). It’s subtly set in the very near future when the world is experiencing a climate-driven extinction crisis and most wild animal life has vanished. Franny is on a mission to follow the last Arctic terns on their migration from Greenland to Antarctica. Her mysterious past and what led her to this journey is slowly revealed through jumps back in time. It’s not a thriller but the suspense grew the closer she got to Antarctica. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Read Around the World: Arctic & Antarctic

The Water Rituals (The White City Trilogy #2) by Eva García Sáenz (2017)
Translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor (2021) 📖

A few years ago, I read the first installment of this trilogy and really liked it. Once again, I was transported to the Basque Country in northern Spain, immersed in a complex investigation centered on ritualistic murders rooted in the area’s history from long ago, both elements that really intrigued me. However, I was turned off by the main character’s romance with his superior and how unrealistically his muteness from an incident in the first book was handled. Over time that did improve as he healed so I finished the book on a positive note in that sense and am openminded to finishing the trilogy. ⭐️⭐

• Read Around the World: Western Europe (Spain)

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (2024)
Narrated by the author 🎧

I loved the author’s The Night Tiger (Reading Lately, July 2019) and her latest has been on my radar since it was published. It’s a mystery that takes place in Manchuria in Northeast China in 1908. The storyline alternates between Bao, who is investigating the death of a courtesan found frozen in a doorway, and Snow, a fox in the form of a woman, who is on a quest to avenge the death of her child. Slowly but surely the storylines merge. I really enjoyed this mix of genres with its insight into the East Asian cultures and folklore of the time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Read Around the World: Central & East Asia (China)

What have you been reading lately?

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