January 2026 Book Reviews
- Ash
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
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Hi friends! Curious to find out what I've been reading this month? Well, check out my January 2026 Book Reviews.
My goal this year is 30 - 50 books. I did over 50 last year, so I'm hoping I can do it again. I am off to a bit of a slower start, though, as we seem to have WAY more on this January than we did last January.
I'm only up to 3 books read so far.
Check out all my other book reviews "here".
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January 2026 Book Reviews
Emergency 911 Calls: What's Your Emergency? - Outrageous 911 Calls - Ancel Reagan: Hmm, I am not sure how I feel about this book. The first 70% is really intense, it's like days of horrible stuff happening, and yeah, that's what people call emergency services for, but it felt like it was targeted at people who wanted to learn about dumb sh*t people had called 911 for, and we didn't get that until the end of the book. I was hoping for more of that. I think it would be a good read for anyone looking to become some sort of first responder. I rate this a 5/10.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson: I know this book has A LOT of praise, and I'm scared people are going to come for me, especially in the blogging community, if I don't give it a sterling review. However, I struggled with this book. It felt like a guy yelling at me the whole time, and not even for how much swearing was in it (I saw someone describe it as "edgy dudebro" attitude. Yes, there is undoubtedly some great advice in here that I will take on board, but I know a lot of people who live by Manson's sentiments, but it just didn't do it for me. It was a fun read, sad at times, but also a bit all over the place. It really felt like Mark Manson "knows better than all of you, so you better listen to him". I actually think my psychologist read this recently, too, so I'm looking forward to our debrief about our latest reads. I rate this about a 6/10.
I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy: TW: child abuse, EDs, SA, narcissism, terminal illness, OCD, etc. I knew going into this that this book was going to be intense, especially when all that stuff about Dan Schneider came out. I grew up watching iCarly and shows like Victorious, but I never knew the hell that Jennette was going through. I was just a kid, too. What I didn't expect was to relate to a lot of the things that she went through - not the being forced to act, but some types of ab*se resonated with me (I'm not going to say who, maybe I can write a book one day, but it was just more relatable than I expected). I feel so sad for what she went through, and I wish I could take all her pain away. Obviously, I can't. The book is raw, it's vulnerable, open, honest, and you really see the naive child coming through. I was so glad at the end when she was able to eat the damn cookie without any feelings except enjoyment. Healing isn't linear, and I wish her all the best in her writing career, which seems to be going really well for her. I wish she gotten to have her childhood, and I'm glad she said no to the iCarly reboot. It feels weird to rate a memoir like this of a woman in the public eye, but it was definitely a 10/10 for me. I felt like I was on the journey with her, and that can be hard in memoirs. Also, to anyone complaining that the book isn't funny because of the title, I don't really know where that came from - is that from the characters shes played? Or do people just expect stories like this to have more humour sprinkled in so we can deal with it? I do love comedy, but this book didn't need it.
The other books I'm still reading are: Without Fail - Lee Child (#6 in the Reacher series), The Panic Years - Nell Frizzell, and yes, the Life Admin Hacks book that I'm slowly getting through.
What's on your 2026 reading list? Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for reading!!
Ash x
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