January 2020 Wrap-Up

January is over? Already? Finally?

On one hand, I can’t believe it’s already February, but on the other hand it feels like Christmas was 6 years ago. How does that happen?

Anyway, it’s been a while since I did one of the monthly wrap-up thingies, but I did a ton of reading (more listening) this month. Then there’s the Cheapskate Challenge to check in with, and my very first use of an awesome bookish gift from my wife!

Books I read this month

TEN! I don’t think I’ve ever read that many books in a single month before. To be fair, the majority of them were audiobooks, but even so… TEN!

	Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse  Digital ARC
	The Girl in the Tower (Winternight #2) by Katherine Arden Audiobook
	The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner #2) by James Dashner Audiobook
	The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson Audiobook
	The Long Walk by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) Audiobook
	The Shining byStephen King Audiobook
	The Winter of the Witch (Winternight #3) by Katherine Arden Audiobook
	Mr. Monster (John Cleaver #2) by Dan Wells Audiobook
	Obsidio (Illuminae Files #3) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff Hardcover
	Own the Day, Own Your Life by Aubrey Marcus Audiobook

The Cheapskate Reading Challenge

After the first month, I’m happy to see that my score for the Cheapskate Reading Challenge is 20!

For anyone looking for an easy way to keep track of the points for the books you read, I’ve built a simple spreadsheet, available for anyone who would like to use it. All you need to do is:

1. Hit ‘Make a Copy’ or you won’t be able to enter any data.
2. Then just enter your book titles and select the category of each book from the dropdown menu.
3. The spreadsheet will assign each book the proper amount of points and give you a running tally.

What I’m Reading Next

Lastly, I made my first use out of the most thoughtful and creative gift from the holiday season. My wife, whose creative endeavours never cease to surprise, made me a reading scratch ticket.

Each rectangle has a book title underneath. Leading up to the holidays, my wife talked to some of people that know a bit about what I might be planning on reading soon, and she even convinced me to re-arrange our bookshelf by ‘read’ and ‘unread’ in order to put to right kinds of books on the ticket. Book number one, Iron Gold! 

How was your January? How are you doing the Cheapskate Reading Challenge? And how is February looking for you?

Fun fact about this post: On a side note, look at how immaculately clean Iron Gold is without its dust jacket. There’s no way it’s going to be that clean by the time I’m done reading it. No way!