January 2026 Reads
As a habitual reader who has barely left the house without a book close at hand for the last 30 years, I thought it would be fun to chronicle what I’m reading every month as the year goes by. I won’t claim to have the most educated opinions on things, nor the hottest takes — as they say “my opinion is my own and doesn’t reflect the opinions of anyone else” etc. But one of my favorite things at my job as a bookseller is getting to develop a relationship with readers — people who see my recommendations around the store, try something new, and love it, and come to me to talk about it. Maybe it’s naive to think I could extend that kind of community here, and the internet is a generally hateful place these days, but still, I’d love to share what I’ve been loving (and not loving) lately, and maybe my thoughts and opinions could guide someone out there too.
Without further ado, here’s my January 2026 reads!
THE CATER STREET HANGMAN
Anne Perry (1979)
The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry is the first in a well received, long running romance-mystery series taking place during the Victorian era. I became aware of this series while I was going down a bit of a rabbit hole looking for more Victorian era mysteries a while back - and then realized I had also heard of this series because the author was an actual, quite literal murderer (you can look that one up yourself.) I quite enjoyed the protagonist’s inner thoughts, and observing her slowly become aware of like…basic feminist tenants and class consciousness. However the EXTREMELY ABRUPT end to the book kind of put me off the whole thing. I MAY try and read the second book in this series at some point but I’m genuinely so annoyed by how this one ended, I’m gonna need to give it some time.
THE NIGHT ENDS WITH FIRE
K. X. Song (2024)
The Night Ends With Fire is part fantasy, part political intrigue, and part romance, inspired by the legend of Mulan, although if you’re here for the Disney version, you’ll be very surprised. Grounded in a world with realistic political dynamics amid dangerous magic and untrustworthy gods, for readers of Asian history or historical fiction, the setting here will feel both familiar and new. This is the first book in a duology, and while I enjoyed this book more than I expected to initially, I wasn’t compelled enough to rush straight to the second book right away.
PIG WIFE
Abbey Luck (2026)
Pig Wife is a graphic novel that defied my expectations. Based on both the cover art and the back cover blurb, I fully expected this to be a horror graphic novel — and it is, but it is also much more nuanced than that. Pig Wife is about toxic family dynamics, abuse, and neglect, and what it means to grow up in that kind of environment, with heaping helpings of mental health issues going long ignored, and religious fanaticism pushed to a truly terrifying degree. At the same time, there are some genuinely funny moments that made me chuckle, and heartwarming character beats. Genuinely really loved this one, it’s probably going to be on my list of top graphic novels of the year.
SUPER PSYCHIC POLICEMAN CHOJO VOL 1
Shun Numa (JP 2024; US 2026)
Super Psychic Policeman Chojo was a surprise hit for me. I expected another standard shonen manga, packed with action, a wide cast of characters to get invested in, and an easy to identify with self-insert protagonist. However, I was wrong on nearly every count with this one! Our two protagonists are Chojo, the titular Super Psychic Policeman. He’s arrogant, childish, and occasionally mean spirited — but in short order, you’ll come to see he does have a heart in there somewhere. Our other protagonist is Ippongi Nao, a rookie cop who is a fantastic martial artist, but idealistic, sometimes to a fault. This manga features a lot of great visual gags and facial expressions, that reminded me a bit of of Spy x Family. If this isn't a hit anime in a few years, I will be shocked.
THE BEWITCHING
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2025)
The Bewitching is the third book I have read by Silvia Moreno Garcia. The first was Mexican Gothic, which I instantly loved, and the second was Silver Nitrate. I was very much looking forward to Silver Nitrate, as it seemed very similar in spirit to one of my all time favorite books, Night Film by Marisha Pessl. Not to get into it, but I didn’t like Silver Nitrate, AT ALL. I have other friends that have a similar love/hate relationship with Moreno-Garcia’s works, but I’m pleased to say this book was a solid YES from me. I will admit to not loving it QUITE as much as Mexican Gothic, but overall it was solid and enjoyable. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the mix of different plot threads taking place in different time periods and locations, spanning from early 20th century Mexico farms, to a 1930s Massachusetts college campus, to the same college campus in the 1990s. The interweaving of an Edwardian time period, with the Depression era, and a 90s I only half remember myself really did something for the dopamine in my brain. It also was interesting to explore other cultural definitions of a witch!
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Emily Brontë (1847)
Wuthering Heights is one of my all time favorite pieces of classical literature. All the hype around the upcoming movie made me want to re-read it, so I dug out my copy ,which is an old 80s edition that was given to me by an aunt from when SHE was in school; well worn and well loved. RIP to the mass market paperback, I guess. Jury is still out on the movie, given as it won’t release for a few more weeks as of the time of this writing (I suspect it will be visually stunning, but get every aspect of the story and characters absolutely wrong) but this story of toxicity, codependency and generational trauma in isolation remains excellent. Wuthering Heights is one of the books that’s notorious for being completely misunderstood by most readers, who interpret it as a great romance, and the broader opinion of the day is to eschew any notion of the book being romantic at all, in favor of decrying its negative traits, in case anyone might mistakenly think it’s promoting as a good thing the kind of dynamics its main characters practice. However, if I’m honest with myself, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to say there’s NO romance in Wuthering Heights. Our characters are in love — some kind of love — the kind of selfish, desperate, naive love I best associate with being a young adult, as the characters here are for the first half of the book. However, despite heart wrenchingly dramatic declarations of how “he’s more myself than I am,” relatable to many a lover, barely anyone in Wuthering Heights gets a happy ending, and I think THAT’S the part that gets lost. I digress. Read it yourself, if your 10th Grade English class didn’t require it, especially if you plan on seeing the movie as well.
D.N.Angel New Edition vol 1
Yukiru Sugisaki (JP 1997; EN 2004, 2025)
D.N.Angel is a series that prompts a lot of nostalgia for me, simply because a girl who sat in front of me in like....a 9th grade science class was crazy about it. She was one of the only other people I knew back then who was really into manga, and at her insistence, I gave the first several volumes of the manga a read. I’m sad to say it didn’t click for me then, and it still doesn’t click for me now. Our protagonist, Niwa Daisuke, is the inheritor of a generational curse that makes him turn into the master thief Dark whenever he gets too flustered over thoughts of his crush. Maybe I just gave up on this series too quickly, but I never understood why….the curse works the way it does? What’s the relationship between your first love and turning into a phantom thief, essentially? The gags of accidentally turning into the wrong form in front of someone runs thin pretty quickly. The strongest aspect of the story is the romance dynamics between Niwa/Dark, and twin sisters Harada Risa and Harada Riku, as they realize their feelings for one another. It’s pretty standard shoujo pining, but more effectively handled than the thief plots. This manga is for SOMEONE, obviously, as my 9th grade friend would enthusiastically attest. But to my genuine dismay, it’s not me.
The Tainted Cup
Robert Jackson Bennett (2024)
This was a re-read! I initially picked this book up at a local bookshop, because an employee had written a shelf tag for it praising its unique system of magic and setting, and that’s honestly for me a huge draw with The Shadow of the Leviathan series (or is it now Ana and Din Mysteries?) On first read I found it almost dizzying to keep track of, but I was never quite able to get the world built here out of my mind. These Sherlockian books feature preternaturally clever Ana Dolabra, and her assistant Dinios Kol, part of the Iudex Iyalet, a kind of branch of the government concerned with law, judgement, and investigation, particularly with regards to gaining justice for the dead and wronged. The world is earthy, damp, fleshy as a plant; humid, salty and endlessly transmutable due to the effects of titan’s blood — derived from unfathomable monsters that attack the Empire of Khanum every wet season. Magic manifests through this same blood, which is used for all kinds of alterations that can be done to a human body. This world is so intricate, I actually made myself a little field guide as I re-read the book this time, breaking down for fun the different branches of Khanum’s society, and who works on what; making notes of the flora and fauna found in this world, different races and regions.
This first book in the series, we begin with a sleazy captain murdered in a violent, graphic fashion preceding a sudden, equally violent rash of murders across the region. These deaths come with dire consequences for any and all who live close to the walls keeping out Khanum’s titans. The intrigue grows and compounds upon itself, leading straight to wealthy influential families, displaced refugees, and plains replete with mutated life. No spoilers for this mystery, just highly recommend giving Ana and Din a try.
A Drop of Corruption
Robert Jackson Bennett (2025)
This second book brings us back to the Empire of Khanum some time after the events of the first book — I almost sense you could possibly read this book as a standalone without having read the first, if you’re only interested in a mystery, although you’d miss some core character moments and finer points of the world building if you did. We find a Din here who has become disillusioned with his work, and is lonely without his love interest, introduced in the first book. The stakes of this mystery feel heightened from the first book, with an ingenious “mastermind” that manages to stay steps ahead of our heroes, a devastating magical threat, and interesting political intrigues that affect both the larger Empire, as well as a satellite kingdom that’s introduced in this volume. More world building! More lore and history! A more breathtaking set of crimes committed than the last volume (and I thought aspects of that mystery were simply superb and would be hard to top). Overall this follow up book exceeded my hopes for it, and I’m already wondering how long I’ll have to wait before my return to the world of Ana and Din again.
That does it for my January wrap-up. I know it was a little chaotic, especially at the beginning there, but hopefully you found something that caught your interest. Thanks for reading this far! Til next month!
—M.