books read: 2026 january

[meitachi]

Hellloooo 2026! We're still here, somehow, after the world's most exhausting month.

I read a lot of cnovels as escapism, and have a lot of fun books I'm excited to read on my TBR list. Work is in its busy period but still managing to read and watching a cdrama as a break. Glory/玉茗茶骨, which aired in December into this January, has been a delight so far (25/36 episodes). I love it so much. I haven't loved a main male lead and main female lead so much in forever. And their dynamic! They carried me the first half of the drama when every other character was getting on my nerves. Now some of the other characters are improving, but I maintain my love of Rong Shanbao and Lu Jianglai.

Anyway, Super Bowl is happening, and I am recapping my reads from January.

1. Dawning #3 by Ice - The last book of the series and we got our happy ending and resolved misunderstanding. Plus more sex. I am satisfied. I'll probably go back and reread this series when I want delicious angst and misunderstandings and yearning love.



2. Conclave by Robert Harris - I still haven't seen the movie, but this book was surprisingly compelling! Fairly fast paced, learned a lot about how conclaves worked, interesting personalities and characters. A fun read.



3. Don't Try to Corrupt Me by Radish Flower Rabbit - Delightfully tropey cnovel that is schoolboy humor and antics, with a minor little romance. Main character is reborn as a school delinquent with a system rewarding him points for bad behavior, but all he wants to do is be good at school! I like the side characters and silliness. The romance I could take or leave.



4. The Villain's Attack Plan by Radish Flower Rabbit - Unrelated cnovel but same general dynamics: school setting, antics, with a system motivating our reborn main character to be villainous and disturb the main romance. A cuter romance than the otehr one, but mostly there for the humor.



5. The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie - Twisty mystery with espionage, romance, secret cabals, and hidden identities/royalty in different countries, all converging on this English country house. Pretty fun.



6. The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today Vol 10 by Hitsuzi Yamada - So sweet and funny! I love everyone in this bar, and their cats.



7. Exclusive Love by Ice - Cnovel. The story of the background couple in Dawning, with a lot less conflict: rich, famous, and celebrated movie star and poor woobie new idol. They're cute! There is basically no conflict. Everything gets smoothed away by the main love interest. I was more interested in the cameos by the couple from Dawning.



8. The Killer Question by Janice Hallett - Pub trivia murder. Her schtick is the "real" messages and found docs, which you'd think would get old after a few books. But texts and emails, police interview transcripts and docs, overall worked well for this. I spotted some of the twists and red herrings, and overall it was fun. Not my kind of trivia though.



9. Cryptomania: Hype, Hope, and the Fall of FTX's Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire by Andrew R. Chow - Audiobook. Some of this I learned about through Number Goes Up by Zeke Fox, but this was also interesting/depressing. Had more of a comparison between Sam Bankman-Fried and Vitalik Buterin, who founded Ethereum. I don't know if you can trust any of these guys.



10. Brother, You Smell Good by Chu Qiu - Cnovel. OK basically the slightly less homophobic, sweeter version of "Don't Hide From Me". One guy is in love with his BFF, who is Straight and treats him special, and doesn't see anything weird with their extra special straight-man friendship. But as he slowly realizes his best friend likes someone else, and possibly a guy(?!), he questions his own sexuality and there's a happy ending together. Set in university, which is nice that they're older, and they've overall got a sweet dynamic. I believe in their individual growth!



11. I'll Have My Seatmate Beat You by Kaokao - Cnovel. High school shenanigans between a study god and the school delinquent. Cute but not especially memorable compared to some of my faves.



12. One Piece Vol 110 by Eiichiro Oda - They finally get off Egghead. BIG REVEALS about the missing century. Are we in the endgame now?! Honestly, too much action is being packed into every chapter, and too many characters. Every panel is doing too much. What is pacing. That said, I'm invested in how this ending finally unfolds.



13. Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran - Contemporary Chinese litfic, translated. Wasn't sure if I enjoyed it at first, some kind of commentary on class from a live-in nanny of a wealthy family. But in the end it's a lot more about how women end up trapped in different stations of life, with fewer choices. (It was also interesting to read about wealthy Chinese families not from the cnovel protagonist POV, lol.)



14. A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith - (The Trials of Gabriel Ward #1) A fun new mystery series with a reluctant lawyer (King's Counsel) turned amateur detective. It had more depth than expected with regards to social commentary and empathy toward characters. Set in the very specific and niche Temple system within London, which I hadn't really known anything about. Getting the second book of the series.



15. Fanservice Paradox by Zhi Chu - Cnovel. I like Zhi Chu's writing a lot but she does get very in the weeds of her escape room and mafia games. Maybe because I don't do that kind of strategy game but I don't follow them well, or maybe it's a translation issue. Anyway, two idol teammates fall in love! My favorite! Some tropey deliciousness but also too much woobie backstory, misunderstood by fans and others, extra special treatment for the main character. So self-sacrificing and pure for what? I guess it wasn't my favorite character archetypes and relationship tropes for this setting, though they were overall a cute couple. Too much of the negative side of idol fandom, I guess, pulling me out of my escapism and back into being critical of the entire industry.



16. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - Getting to a classic that I've owned for a while. It took some adjusting to the writing style after reading so much tropey romance, but it's got beautiful descriptive language for place. So much love of the country and countryside. The friendships are so great. The overarching plot was silly (Toad, why!) but the standalone chapters were some really gorgeous, surprisingly moving pieces.



17. The Ghost's Nocturne by Ananas - Webtoon. Historical, porny, plotty, with ghosts and trauma. Gorgeous, gorgeous, filthy art. I really thought the plot would wrap up with season 3 but apparently there is more to come! I will have to wait until it's all out before going back to it because I can't stand chapter by chapter releases. It's a good pausing point right now.



18. After I Possessed the Tmall Genie of the School Adonis by Lin Ansi - Cnovel, not a typo. Tmall Genie is basically like Amazon Echo or Google Home, but literally translates to Skycat. Cute! Another high school setting, where the main character randomly possess the Tmall Genie of his deskmate/rival at 9pm every night for no explicable reason, except for plot reasons. They slowly become friends, then more. It's sweet! The conflict is mostly external, from bad family members to annoying classmates. There is a lot of studying and obviously a happy ending.

Cnovels: 8
Webtoons: 1
Manga: 2

Comments

[merit]

Conclave was a fun movie. Beautiful costume design and great drama. I have a copy of the book so it should be read this year ^^

I read The Secret of Chimneys late last year. Bit entertaining - interesting to see Christie experiment with thrillers since it contrasts with what she's most known for.

[meitachi]

Maybe one day you'll read the book and one day I'll watch the movie!

The thriller was a fun change of pace but I do tend to like the cozy mystery more, I think.

[merit]

I definitely prefer her cozy mysteries. Her thrillers seem almost... unfinished I guess? Less polished.

[superborb]

Women, Seated sounds really interesting! And my library actually has an ebook copy for once haha

[meitachi]

Yes, generally trying to read more contemporary Chinese authors, translated. Especially women. (That aren't webnovels lol.)