My reading challenge for 2026 is 63 books, which would be a little over five a month. So far, I’m on track, at least for fiction. In January, I reviewed 17 books, but only 5 of those were new reads this past month.

1. All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017) – BR00293 (R2026) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
2. Newbie Werewolf by Sue Denver (2022) – BR00294 (R2026) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
3. The Last Starfighter by Alan Dean Foster (1984) – BR00297 (R2026) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
4. The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) – BR00298 (R2026) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
5. The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen (2024) – BR00299 (R2026) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

On the other hand, my TBR pile exploded with book suggestions from 40 different book clubs, so my pile didn’t exactly go down. 🙂 Against my reading challenge “bingo” card (see the link below), I’m going to code:

• All Systems Red as “Rebel” for the Murderbot hacking his governance module;
• Newbie Werewolf as “Fantasy creatures”, for obvious reasons;
• The Last Starfighter as a “childhood favourite”, I loved that movie back in ’84 when it was released, a long time treasured movie, and the book holds up well;
• The Compound as “Infrequent genre”, as it is a little too contemporary or pop-culture for my normal tastes; and,
• The Games Gods Play as “Fantasy Adventure”, although the setting is relatively modern.

I’ve updated the reading challenge with my latest TBR list, although it’s getting out of control. I have over 800 books on my Kindle. Say what? How is that possible? Oh, right, I’m a Book Goblin (credit: Elizabeth Wheatley) and I’m hoarding!

Oh well, on with February’s reads!