What I Read: January

One of my goals for 2018 was to read more. As a child, I loved reading and could always be found with my head in a book but as I've gotten older, it just sort of fizzled out. But not anymore, 2018 is going to be the year where I take a step back from technology for a period of time each day and immerse myself in a book. And that sparked the idea for a new series. Now every month, instead of including the books I've read throughout that month, I'll be doing a separate post where I talk you through the books I've read, it means I can go a bit more indepth with what I want to say instead of rushing it as an after thought in a favourites post. I'm aiming for five books a month but going from this month, it'll probably more along the lines of three to four.

The Miniaturist- Jessie Burton
The first book I read this year is one that's been sat in my collection for a while. And it was only because they did a TV adaptation on BBC One at Christmas was I inspired to reach for it. The Miniaturist is set in 1686 Amsterdam and tells the story of Nella, an eighteen year old girl who's adjusting to life as a merchants wife. And whilst the story is slow to start, Nella's husbands gift of a miniature house that resembles her new home sets the story on a different pace. I loved reading this, I finished it within a week which for the first book of a long time, I was surprised. But once you got past the beginning which was a little slow as to set the scene for the rest of the book, I was hooked. Each new chapter was a different twist and turn and I found myself staying up later so I could keep reading. If you haven't read this, I highly recommend you do. I'd happily reread it as it's just so enthralling and well paced.

Divergent- Veronica Roth
The second book I read this month is one I'd read previously. Divergent is the first of a trilogy from YA author Veronica Roth. And it's only because I'd brought Allegiant the final book did I reach for Divergent again. It had been a while since I'd read both Divergent and Insurgent the second book that I thought I'd reread them so that I had an idea of what was going on when I started Allegiant. I do like this book and devoured it in record time. It was fast paced, each chapter had a new turn and the end if you haven't seen the film adaptation would be/was a shock. I have however seen the film and due to that, I found myself comparing the characters as they were written in the book to how they were portrayed in the film. It was hard to stop myself doing but it also helped as it helped me imagine how they looked in the book without having to try and create something in my head. I'm currently reading Insurgent and hope to have finished both that and Allegiant in time for February's What I Read.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Movie Tie In- Mark Millar
Now I know that this won't be up everyone's street but if you're a bit of a movie nerd like me then I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Kingsman is one of my favourite film franchises and The Golden Circle was one of my favourite films of last year. So when I saw this in my local bookshop, I knew I had to read it. I was intrigued to see the differences between this and the actual film. And there were quite a few. Some were a bit boring and laboured but because it was in print and not on film, it also felt like they were necessary to give the plot a bit of backstory. In hindsight, I'm probably not going to read this again anytime soon but I wouldn't say it's a bad book. I got through it in several days but it's only a thin book with roughly 300 pages.

So that's it for my first What I Read of 2018. I'm really hoping you enjoyed this and want to see more, as I've quite enjoyed going through my collection and correlating a handful of books to read and then share with you all.