January in Review

January has been a funny old start to the year. My friend Debbie came to visit me for a few days right after New Year which really started 2016 off well for me. But then my exercise regime began traumatically, which you can read about here. David Bowie died, Alan Rickman died and, on the very last day of the first month of the year, Terry Wogan died. All too young, all from cancer, all national treasures. I had one really good week, which culminated in a fab weekend in London with loads of friends, and the weekend just gone, the last of January, family friends came to stay. We went on a visit to Liverpool and to the cinema and for Nandos (my first of 2016) which rounded off January nicely.

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Books read in January
Nimona - Noelle Stevenson
See How They Run - Ally Carter
Anna and the Swallow Man - Gavriel Savit

Best book of January: Nimona

I am disappointed by the lack of reading in January, 3 books is very poor for me especially when I've had loads of excellent ones to read. I've been watching a lot of TV and am hoping to balance this a bit more in Feb.

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Books acquired in January
See How They Run - Ally Carter
This Raging Light - Estelle Laure
The Sleeping Prince - Melinda Salisbury
Maresi - Maria Turtschaninoff
Beautiful Broken Things - Sara Barnard
The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters

Thank you to the lovely, wonderful friends who sent/bought/gave/lent me these books for helping me constantly acquire books even when I can't actually afford to buy many.

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Films seen at the cinema in January
The Danish Girl
Joy
The Revenant
The Fifth Wave
Room
Spotlight

I felt pretty meh about most of these - with only Room and Spotlight standing out as really decent. Hopefully February will fare better on the film front!

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So overall, January has been a month of swings and roundabouts. Even though I normally hate February, I'm hoping for a more positive month overall. I'm going to my first exercise class this week and we're going to try upping the exercise to 3 times a week. I'm looking forward to the release of Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, a book I read when the publisher I worked for got it in on acquisition, I can't wait to read the finished version! I will be going to see Pride & Prejudice and Zombies and Deadpool at the cinema, plus hopefully some other films!

What are you looking forward to in February?