Monthly Wrap-Up | January 2022

Would you look at that? January’s over. We are officially one month into 2022, and I swear to god, I am still not over 2020 2021.

Hey everybody! Welcome or welcome back to my blog!

Okay, honestly? January sucked. Well, life wise, not blog wise. But since, all of my monthly wrap-up start with me whining talking about my month, let’s get into that!

So, well, the start of the year wasn’t bad. I started off the year with a Harry Potter marathon with my friends, we watched stuff till like 3, maybe? And then well, I celebrated with my family in the day, and had a nice dinner at night, in a restaurant. Like, finally, I ate outside, after ages, and it felt so good! And the restaurant also served complimentary pani puri (An Indian chaat I love), and I literally wanted to eat pani puri on New Year’s Day, and I was like, yay, day successful, year successful! Only, no, year’s first month wasn’t successful.

COVID brought things back to a standstill. My classes went online after like 5 months of offline. I was kind of relieved, because things had been taking a toll on me, honestly. So things were well, till like the second week, until I fell sick. Fever of 102 degrees, headache on the first day etc. etc. I did not think it was COVID, neither did my parents, because I literally hadn’t stepped out of the house in two weeks, after that night at the restaurant. So, well, I didn’t get it tested- at first. And the fever was down in like exactly three days, just like in viral. So, that was that. Except then, my mum and dad fell sick. And a couple of days later, Dad tested positive for COVID. That does imply I had COVID, but when I got tested, I was a negative, yay! But my sibling and mum also tested positive, so I was quarantined, but with TV, snacks, my laptop, my phone, my book, my textbooks, but who used them? Just kidding, like a good kid, I attended all my classes, and I also turned in most of my homework. I haven’t studied though, and I have my pre-boards this month, so here’s to hoping they’re online, or I miraculously remember everything I’ve ever studied(in Grade 12)! Ah, it was a fun time, even though I had to do a lot of work on my own. But, still, fun, because I was alone a lot of the time.

Anyways, that was a not-so-short life update, which I am sure most of you skim read. Anyway, let’s get into books and blogging and stuff!

Books:

I read a total of four books this month, and I am in the middle of my fifth one:

1. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Reread)
2. Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson (Reread)
3. As Good As Dead: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 (This was so amazing!!!)
4. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I read non-fiction- and I loved it!)

I am currently reading A Man Called Ove, and well, I haven’t read a lot of it, but well, I am looking forward to reading it, since I haven’t heard anyone say anything negative about it!

I also flunked the 12 Reading Challenge, in the first month itself- but in my defense, I was sick. I was supposed to read A List of Cages, but I haven’t. Hopefully, I’ll cover up in February but chances are slim. Oh, well, that’s the side effect of being a mood reader.

Movies and TV shows:

I watched a bunch of movies this month- since I was quarantined, so I watched a bunch of nonsense films- got annoyed of them, enjoyed some of them. I also started rewatching Brooklyn 99, and guys, if you haven’t watched this show, you are missing out on life. Life, I tell you. It is one of the best shows ever, and my greatest grief in life is that S8 is not on Netflix yet.

But on a better not, One of Us is Lying is coming on Netflix, and I’ll finally be able to watch the show!

Music:

Wellll, I still haven’t listened to all songs from Red (TV), but I did listen to a few new ones, and found a new favourite- Message in a Bottle!
And Why Don’t We (my favourite ‘man-band’) released a new song with Jonas Blue- Don’t Wake Me Up, and it is an amazing track! I also listened to a few new songs like:

1. Missing You by The Vamps
2. Skinny Dipping by Sabrina Carpenter
3. Till Forever Falls Apart by Ashe ft. FINNEAS

among others.

Tags and Awards:

I covered up a lot on my pending tags, and most of the left ones will probably be over in February. Well, these are the ones I did if you wanna check them out!

1. Know Your Buddy Tag ft. Nehal @Quirky Pages
2. 2021 Book Tag
3. The Rory Stories Tag
4. Red (Taylor’s Version) Book Tag
5. Indian Sweets’ Lover Award
6. The Cat Markings Book Tag
7. Chapters and Melodies Tag
8. Favourite Character Book Tag
9. The RIP it or SHIP it Book Tag ft. Simran @Far From Perfect
10. The Randomest Random Tag

Discussion Posts:

1. Types of Bloggers We All Know
2. Types of Readers We All Know
3. Types of Music Lovers We All Know
4. Types of Authors We All Know
5. Types of Texters We All Know
6. 11 Unrealistic Things that Happen in Books/Movies (This is one of my favourite posts of this month, so do check it out!)

Among Other Things:

1. I created bookish memes and musical memes! I enjoyed doing that, and people even enjoyed the posts! Check bookish memes part I and part II, and the musical memes post here!
   
2. I did a Save One Drop One post and a Reacting to Relatable Opinions one too!
   
3. I also reacted to bookish memes!
   
4. I did a bookish quiz post as well- the quiz recommended a family drama to me!

Blogging Achievements:

This month, was the perfect start to 2022 as far as blogging is concerned. We hit quite a few milestones! Firstly, duh, we hit 1000 followers! Secondly, we hit 50k all time views! Thirdly, we hit 500 posts on this blog, woo hoo! Fourthly, and lastly, we had over 5k views this month, the highest monthly views ever, and also, the first time I’ve crossed the 5k mark. It was a pretty amazing month, blogging wise.

Here are the thousand followers posts- in case you didn’t know, we had a week long celebration!

1. Introduction post
2. Feedback form post: Fill the form if you haven’t already!
3. Introducing the Eximius Award!
4. Reflecting back on the blogging journey + Gratitude!
5. Introducing the Bloggers’ Catalogue: An initiative to appreciate all bloggers, by making a page on my website, dedicated to them. Make sure you participate!
6. Assumptions: Send in your assumptions!
7. Blog Party!

Posts I enjoyed around the blogosphere:

(The links to the posts are embedded in the blog names)

1. Evin @A Curly Sue’s Ramblings shared amazing blogging hacks, which literally every blogger should check out!
   
2. Naemi @A Book Owl’s Corner did a hilarious post in which she mentioned 7 Bookish Details she misunderstood as a kid. The post is definitely worth a read!
   
3. Maria @The Character Study did a lovely discussion on favourite books!
   
4. Rabhya @Rab’s Bookish Planet did a post discussing the similarity in book covers, which was a rather interesting read!
   
5. Emily @Frappes and Fiction did a post sharing 5 books that one must read if they enjoyed One of Us is Lying! She also shared a few tips newbie book bloggers must know, and you can check that post out here!
   
6. Shruvi @The Shamelessly Bookstruck shared the layout of her ideal library, and well, I loved the post (and the hypothetical library)
   
7. Malka @Paper Procrastinators did a post on blog-hopping and honestly, some of our views on the topic matched, and I rather enjoyed reading her post!
   
8. Amber @Escape Life in the Pages did an interesting post (which is actually a series on her blog) ‘Who Wore it Better?’ wherein she takes different book covers of the same book (US and UK edition etc.) and discusses which cover is better, according to her. I rather enjoyed these posts, and found it to be a very nice idea!
   
9. Harini @Book Spiral did a magnificent post wherein she discussed why she fell in love with reading. I feel like a lot of people discuss how and when they fell for books, but the why (albeit, sorta obvious), isn’t often discussed. I enjoyed reading this post!

Book blogs I discovered this month:

1. Fangirl Flax
2. Rebecka’s books
3. Wordy and Whimsical
4. swarable.com
5. Meghan’s Whimsical Exploration and Reviews

---

And that was all for January! I hope you had a better month than me, and here’s to hoping that February’s great! Let me know in the comments your highlight of the month!

Advertisement