What I read, played, and bought over the course of January!!
Hello and welcome to my first Monthly Backlog Stackin’ post of the year! Yippeee! Wahoo!
Immediately, I want to mention that these posts are gonna be a lot shorter and less structured generally, as I’m just gonna ramble about the books/games I’ve read/played over the month so y’all can be more involved in what’s going on behind the scenes.
Books I’ve Read
Let’s start simple: I read quite a bit already for January. My reading goal this year, for those who don’t know, is to hit at least 2 books a month for an end goal of 24 books by the end of the year. Last year, I read about 21 books, so hypothetically should be an easily attainable goal. Maybe.
In January, I finished four books. So, y’know, already ahead of schedule. One book I finished on the first, so I’m not sure if you can really count it for 2026 since I read the majority of it in 2025, but uhhhh, it’s my backlog so I’m gonna decide how I want to categorize things.
This month, I finally got around to finishing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which I think I’m convinced that the only reason people dislike this book is because it’s popular. I thought it was a very solid and enjoyable read. I also read Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake, which was, y’know, alright. Definitely not the most impressive book in the world, but is any romance book looking to be impressive? I don’t really think so.
Recently, I finished Iron Gold by Pierce Brown—after a lot of pestering by my brother—officially continuing the Red Rising series after a couple months break. It’s a very interesting continuation of the Red Rising Trilogy for sure, jumping forward 10 years, but I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the multiple POVs. Then again, I’m not the biggest proponent of multiple POVs in general, so. The first half of this book is truly a slog to get through, very reminiscent of Red Rising, but after a little past the halfway mark, things start moving at the breakneck pace that Golden Son and Morning Star are known for. I don’t think I could say this was my favorite book in the series, but it was a good one, for sure.
Finally, I read Narrative Design for Writers by Edwin McRae, which was the only nonfiction book of the month. I’m not the quickest nonfiction reader in the world, I usually like to take my time and annotate thoroughly, so you likely won’t see a lot of nonfiction in this mini blog series going forward. As an aspiring narrative designer, this was a very succinct and enjoyable read, which shares a lot of interesting tidbits of the games industry and how writing for games works; though, it also gave its examples through specific games, which if you haven’t played those games, makes it hard to comprehend the point that the author is trying to make.
Upcoming Reading Plans
Now, my reading plans are not fully in my control because I use Libby for like 70% of what I read, but for the most part, I intend to get through more of my physical backlog this year. I don’t have a crazy number on this backlog like other book content creators, so it seems feasible, but again, Libby persists. I’ve already read through two books on my physical backlog, that being Iron Gold and Narrative Design, so good progress, I think. I have about 15 more books to go, where one is a manga, two are light novels, and three are nonfiction, so I technically really have like 9 novels to read, specifically. This is still a terrifying number for me, at least, because I don’t really like having more than three books on my physical TBR.
My plans for physical book reads come February is to get through at least The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I was supposed to read this for a class, but the prof thought students would read a 400-page book in the first two weeks of class, and that’s just generally not gonna happen. Though, what I did read of it back then was really interesting, so it’s first up next on my list. Also, y’know, I have to read Dark Age now, so (looks at the page count) Yippeee…
Libby-wise, I have no goddamn clue when I’m getting books, so I can’t expect much. I have a hold for A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, and like two weeks left for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, so these might be on the reading radar for February. If I actually read these books through will depend on how the first few chapters go, so don’t hold your breath for any reviews on these books specifically.
Games I’ve Played
Honest to god, the games I play in a month is gonna be so skewed and strange because I’m truly just playing whatever the hell I want and am in the mood for during any given week.
Hopefully, this shows why I rarely finish games in a month, because like, I’m playing something all the time and forever, but sometimes it’s not something that can be marked on my backlog. Like Animal Crossing. And replaying Ghost Trick. And of the Devil, because it’s not a complete game yet. My priorities in gaming have been a mess this month, lets just say.
Console Gaming
Console-wise, I haven’t been playing nearly as much as I have in previous months. Still working on Metroid Prime 3, primarily. I haven’t been the most productive gamer in the Prime 3 side of things lately, mostly because I was stuck on the Elysia Seed Boss for a hell of a long time (not because I couldn’t do it, moreso because I really didn’t want to deal with another Mogenar, if you know, you know). Though, having a capture card so I can stream my suffering to my friends has been very beneficial in this regard, so finishing Prime 3 by the end of February may still be feasible (and subsequently, my review of Prime 3 will go up around that time as well).
After Prime 3, my console-playing plans are to play Prime 4 (now that it’s out) and Other M. However long that takes is unbeknownst to me. Outside of Metroid, I don’t really have any other set-in-stone console-playing plans as of right now.
Handheld Gaming
Handheld-wise, it’s been kind of a blur. I was working on Fire Emblem Sacred Stones for a good chunk of the month, continuing from last year, but I genuinely got stuck in Chapter 15, and have been nursing that agony for a couple of weeks now. I’ve spent the second half of January taking a break from Fire Emblem, but Chapter 15 is feasible now (after almost 10 attempts orz) so soon, I might be free from the trenches. It’s still gonna be a minute until I can finish FE8 in full; end of March is my goal. I was planning on jumping to FE10 after this, but I heard FE10 is hard, so I think I’m gonna just fall back to finishing FE7 instead and/or replay FE13 again.
While taking a break from FE8, I ended up hacking my 3DS and have been playing it a lot more than recently. Mainly Animal Crossing New Leaf, in both English and Japanese because I might be slightly insane. I wanted to play it in Japanese because it’s a good study tool, especially because it uses furigana (hiragana above kanji), and is relatively simple to understand, but I had a hell of a time trying to get the Japanese version to work on my 3DS, so I started an English world while I was struggling, and may have gotten obsessed.
I’m also just playing whatever the hell on my 3DS now that I have games to play again. Mostly Kirby Planet Robobot. It’s always Kirby. I also have a couple of DS ROMs on there for the future, but I’ll probably not get to them for a while.
And yeah, I’ve also been emulating a couple of games on my phone. Primarily, I’ve been replaying Ghost Trick so I have enough to review it for 2/8’s review, and like that’s it. I started playing Aria of Sorrow, but the vibes just weren’t right, so I’m gonna wait a bit until I play it properly. Likely when I’m in the middle of less games.
Steam Gaming
I probably won’t have a lot of Steam games that I’m playing going forward, because I’m not really a Steam gamer, if you will. But, I did play a couple of games out of necessity. Primarily, I finished of the Devil Episode 2 this month, which might’ve been the only game I finished this month. I can’t talk about what happened without spoiling but uh. Good god. That was pretty sick. You should play of the Devil.
I also started playing Unbeatable, which took a backseat this month as soon as I picked up of the Devil Episode 2, unfortunately. It’s gonna be my priority for next month, for sure.
Any Pick Ups This Month?
Shockingly, I did not add anything to either collection this month, which I’m quite proud of. The goal for this year is to buy less than 20 physical games, with hopefully a 2 month no-buying period in there, for my sanity. I buy too many games, frankly, it is a problem.
Ideally, I’d like to pick up Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition at some point this year, though I’m waiting for my local shop to have it in stock. This is the only physical game I have planned to purchase this year. I’m gonna try to be more frugal this year with game purchases, especially now that I’ve cracked part of the code with emulation, so any pick ups this year will likely be anything I can’t really emulate (Gen 7 and up, essentially). Or things I’ve emulated for a while and want a physical copy of, as a keepsake (e.g. Metroid Fusion, Kirby 64, ACNL, Ghost Trick, etc. etc.)
Book-wise, I’m actually responsible with my money in this category, moreso since getting a Kindle. Like I mentioned above, I don’t like having more than like 3 books on my physical TBR before I start buying more, so until I get through the majority of my physical TBR, I likely won’t be picking anything up in this category for most of the year. I do have my eyes on Witch Hat Atelier Volume 14 releasing in March, and that’s really my only major plan for book buying this year.
Honestly, the beginning of the year is not a time I’m game-hunting a lot during, or even looking for books to expand my collection, so this section is gonna be pretty bare going forward.
And that’s about it for January! Kind of a hellish month in all regards, I’ll be so real. The fact I survived to tell the tale is enough for me, honestly.
What have you been playing/reading lately? Any good games? Any good books? What did y’all pick up in the month of January? Lemme know in the comments below!
Again, MBS posts like this one will be posted on the last day of the month every month at noon EST, regardless of what my upload schedule looks like. This upload was pretty easy because it’s Saturday and I don’t usually post on Saturdays, but I know May 31st is a Wednesday, and I’m not looking forward to that. May’s MBS post will still be uploaded, but I’m not sure what my main post that week will end up being.
Next week is the last week of my old upload schedule, so stay tuned for that! I have a review of the entire Poppy War series going up 2/4 with spoilers, and a spoiler-free review of Ghost Trick going up 2/8. After that, I won’t see y’all until 2/18, so don’t freak out when I vanish for 10 days. I’m honestly looking forward to a much more relaxed schedule and much more in-depth essays/blog posts.
And as always, see you next week! (Damn, I’m gonna have to change my ending tagline…)
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