January is often a high reading count for me, and this year is no exception, with six books already marked off in the done category.

Here are some reviews of what I read last month:

Aliya to the Infinite City by Laila Rifaat

A middle grade fantasy novel that I picked up at the Daunt Books mothership in London last year, Aliya to the Infinite City could reasonably be called an Egyptian Harry Potter — and, in fact, it’s impossible to avoid the comparison, which I suppose Rifaat knew, since she name-checks the series in the story. Aliya lives with her grandfather after her parents are killed in a fire when she was very young. They’ve always gotten along well, but he’s become increasingly erratic in his behavior of late. On her 11th birthday, Aliya learns first that her grandfather has been telling the world she was also dead — and then that she’s from a long line of time-travelers. She ends up in an alternate dimension of Egypt, where she must play catch-up on a lifetime of magical learning, overcome the trauma of her grandfather’s betrayal, and meet other wannabe time-traveling kids who’ve come from all eras of Egyptian history. Add to that, she must try to cope with the stress of poisonings of governmental officials (possibly linked to her roommate and/or house matron), cracks that keep appearing in the sky, and a necklace that once belonged to her mother and recently gifted to her by an anonymous benefactor, which seems to hold enormous — and likely forbidden — power.

Rifaat does have a knack for descriptions. The Infinite City and its residents come alive before your eyes, and you will constantly be hungry because of the feasting that goes on.

It was an okay story, and I would read another in the trilogy if it were to cross my path. But I don’t know if I’d seek it out. Recommended for someone who hasn’t read Harry Potter and might no longer choose to or to someone who wants another version of a magical orphan.

Personal print copy

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Rudi’s got a busy coaching week, so I’ll be on my own starting today. Let’s see how much of this baker’s dozen to-do list I can tackle:

• Play volleyball (My game is at the ridiculously early hour of 10:30, which is painful but doable. I am hopeful I will be ready early enough that I can catch the bus, rather than having to bike to the game.)
• Get rid of the compost
• Reach out to some friends
• Write a post about the books I read in January
• Hit both libraries
• Work on my journal
• Bake (Maybe bread, maybe cookies.)
• Read the book I started this week
• Send some cards
• Watch some of last year’s All Creatures, so Rudi and I can start the latest season this month
• Take 10 books from the bin of books I culled from my shelves to either the Arlington Library or a Little Free Library
• Find yarn for Sergio’s baby’s sweater in my stash
• Change the sheets

How about you? What are you hoping your weekend includes?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My mother’s older brother died last weekend after a fall, a week short of his 78th birthday. When I was born, he drew up a complete astrological chart for me. He aspired to be a good uncle, giving me all sorts of fun gifts when I was a kid, including my first dictionary, my only football swag (a balaclava for the Miami Dolphins, the team he supported when he lived in Florida) a microscope, and a magic kit. He had a black dog named Telly, whom we all loved only slightly less than our own dog, Obe. He took my grandmother and me to New York City to see the ballet at Lincoln Center and my brother and me for ice cream when we spent the night with him and my aunt when I was in middle school.

Uncle David was having a challenging battle with Alzheimer’s, so ultimately this may have been the kindest death we could have hoped for, with my aunt and my cousins and my mom all getting to say goodbye.

2. After having to postpone multiple times because one or all three of us were sick, Sarah finally got to come over to meet the kittens. They took to her right away and were happy to be picked up and cuddled, which isn’t always the case, so it felt like the delay gave us the perfect moment in time.

3. Rudi and I went to see The Art of the Brick, a Lego exhibition by Nathan Sawaya. The pieces ranged from scale replicas of wild animals, sculptures, and interpretations of great art from around the world, including one of the heads from Easter Island, which required more than 75,000 Legos to complete.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the best new-to-us authors we read last year. In 2024, I read 52 books, which had 51 distinct authors/editors. Of those, 30 were either debut authors or authors whose work I hadn’t yet read. Here are the ten whose works I liked best:

1. Carsten Henn: The Door-to-Door Bookstore
2. Katya Balen: October, October
3. Simon Van Booy: Sipsworth
4. Karen Hesse: Out of the Dust
5. Emily Habeck: Shark Heart
6. Rufi Thorpe: Margo’s Got Money Troubles
7. Valérie Perrin: Fresh Water for Flowers
8. Nadi Reed Perez: The Afterlife of Mal Caldera
9. E. Alix Harrow: The Ten Thousand Doors of January
10. Sarah Hogle: Just Like Magic

Half of those are realistic fiction and half are speculative fiction/fantasy.

How about you? Which authors did you discover last year whom you would recommend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The team lost last week, so didn’t have a game, but we gathered for dinner and drinks tonight to celebrate Sergio’s impending second baby and, it turns out, Katie’s new job and new house.

2. Our new season of volunteering began this week and, for the winter, I’m coaching basketball with Aroush and some other folks. We had about 25 kids (ages 5–13) show up, which ran us a bit ragged for the hour, but it felt good to be back on the court with them.

3. Rudi and I caught Better Man before it left local theaters this week. I really like Robbie Williams’ music so was happy to spend a couple hours listening to it, the cgi monkey was an interesting symbolic move, and the script did a very good job of depicting imposter syndrome and depression.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the books that have most recently been added to our collections. I had an excellent Jólabókaflóð, or Christmas book flood, so all eleven titles (technically 14 individual books) below arrived at the Burrow in the past month, courtesy of Karen, Rudi, my mother, and Kathleen:

1. Haikyu!! Vol. 1 and #4-6 by Haruichi Furudate (I read the first manga back in 2018, have since devoured the anime multiple times, and now am hoping to read all 45 books before the final movie comes out (next year maybe?).)
2. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3. Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
4. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
5. Bake Club by Christina Tosi
6. Death Comes at Christmas edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane
7. Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah
8. Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
9. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
10. Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
11. Fangirl (graphic novel Vol. 1) by Rainbow Rowell adapted by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Gabi Nam

How about you? Have new books moved into your home recently?