My Year in Books 2026: January

Another year, another set of blog posts to keep track of the books I read for fun. I'm going to stick with the habit I started in 2018 and do a post each month with the books I read purely for pleasure (so not including the books I read for review, for my radio show, or for research purposes). I'm kicking off with January (obviously), when I read two novels. In my defence though, they were both massive.

Here are the books I read in January...

The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith (2025)

I don’t think this is the first time that I’ve started the year with the latest Strike novel. In fact, I’m sure it’s not. Reading a massive Robert Galbraith tome has become a part of my 12 Days of Christmas now, so even if I get a copy earlier in the year, I save it until the winter. The Hallmarked Man is pretty much what I was hoping it would be, given that I love the rest of the series and have reread them several times (yes, even The Ink Black Heart with all its online chat log formatting!). The mystery plot of this one is fairly typical stuff for the series – a woman approaches Strike and Robin to investigate the disappearance of her boyfriend, who she believes may be the mysterious body recently found in a silver vault. Rather than investigating the disappearance, the duo are focused on identifying the body, running through a number of possibilities, each one resulting in a mini-mystery of its own. As always, there are so many clues, red herrings and impossibilities, but the overall solution is relatively elegant and straightforward (which is what I love most about the Strike series). However, tonally, I felt a bit of a shift with this one. The case itself – for all its Masonic shenanigans – ends up being quite downbeat, and the Strike / Robin storylines just felt rather sad. I wonder if the yearning and will-they-won’t-they is starting to run out of steam now, to be honest.

The Biggerers by Amy Lilwall (2018)

I picked this one up at the library and, as is quite often the case, I chose it after a cursory glance at the blurb. It looked interesting enough, and that’s usually all I need to check something out. I’m very happy with my choice this time, as I really enjoyed this book. The premise of the book is that humans have manufactured miniature humans – known as Littlers – to keep as companions around the house. It’s sort of a dystopian near-future setting, and there’s a bit of exposition at various points about what social and scientific changes led to the creation of Littlers. But, to be honest, the dystopia and the near-futurism are really just a backdrop to a quirky, heart-warming, thought-provoking and very funny story about Bonbon and Jinx, two Littlers who are starting to question whether the world is what they always believed it was. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives and timelines, as it’s not just the Littlers who may have misunderstood. There are also some serious existential questions raised about sentience, selfhood and the ontological status of (apparently) manufactured companions. For me, though, it was Bonbon and Jinx that stole the show. I loved that we got to see parts of the story unfolding from their perspective, and I really enjoyed the way that their characters (and they turn out to be quite different from each other) emerge. This was definitely one of those books that I’m very glad to have accidentally stumbled upon – definitely recommended.

Imbolc Stories Wanted for Hannah's Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

Submit your seasonal flash fiction to be played on Hannah’s Bookshelf this January!

Can you tell a seasonal story in just 3 minutes? Want to have your work played on the radio? This month, I’m looking for seasonal (winter, Imbolc, Candlemas, Groundhog Day) flash fiction from around the world for inclusion on Hannah’s Bookshelf, the weekly literature show on North Manchester FM.

On Saturday 31st January, I’ll be hosting the annual Hannah’s Bookshelf Imbolc Special, and as part of my seasonal special, I’ll be playing a selection of my favourite 3-minute stories on the show (broadcast on FM and on digital). Want to be part of it? Submit a recording of your seasonally inflected story (maximum 3 minutes) by midnight on Monday 26th January.

All genres welcome – be they cosy, romantic, scary or sad. The only rules are that stories must be your own original work, have some connection to the season, and be in English (the language of the broadcast). And please ease off the swears – stories have to be radio friendly! All you need is a microphone and a story – once you’re ready to submit your story, click on the ‘Start Recording’ button on my website to record your story and submit it. Remember to enter your name and email address when submitting your story.

If you aren’t able to submit via a recording and would like another method of taking part, please message via my website for more information.

Please share this call with anyone who you think might be interested – I’d like to cast the net as wide as possible. My favourite seasonal stories will be broadcast on the Hannah’s Bookshelf Imbolc Special at 2pm on Saturday 31st January, on digital radio and 106.6FM.