Josh’s January Blues: Books I missed in 2020

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Book Corner! Make yourself comfortable. How was your Christmas? Did you get any good books? What’s that? You’re struggling to pick what to read? Got those January Blues? No worries, I’ve got you covered.

A New Year often means readers like ourselves set ourselves outlandish targets. I surprised myself and read 61 books last year including comics, graphic novels, plays, e-books and audiobooks. If you’re a pedantic purist, you might say those don’t count! Well, I’m here to say not only does reading include more than just physical paper books, but it doesn’t matter how many you read! Set yourself a reasonable goal or none at all.

And don’t feel pressured to read something new or in a genre you’ve not yet explored or something prestigious you feel like you should be reading, it’s more than okay to re-read one of your favourites or something in familiar territory to ease you back into your groove.

For me though, my New Year’s Resolution was to read the books that were published and I missed in 2020 and they all happened to have blue covers! They also were all uplifting in their own way which we could all do with in times like this.

So, here are the January Blues that cleared my January Blues and who knows might help you too going forward in 2021.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I’ve been a fan of Matt Haig for a while. His non-fiction self-help books Reasons To Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet were of invaluable help to me when I was at my lowest points and even if you’re not struggling with mental health, I’d really recommend them, and The Midnight Library, for his perspective on life.

The Midnight Library is the first fiction of Haig’s that I’ve read. I was instantly intrigued by the premise, followed the hype for it with a keen eye and it was my most highly anticipated release of last year. So, you’ll be glad to hear it was worth the wait)

Like Reasons (whose stage adaptation was one of the last things I saw in theatres before COVID) and Notes, The Midnight Library proves Haig has learned how life should be lived ironically, by not having the answers. He never claims to know and doesn’t preach. In fact, his writing tells you there is no one way to live but stresses the importance of empathy. Seems obvious, but we often forget and neglect others. But The Midnight Library also reminds us not to go too far in the other direction as well and prioritise our needs.

On the whole, The Midnight Library is just very...wholesome. It starts off quite depressing but that’s only because the main character’s plight is relatable. The sci-fi fantasy follows Nora Seed who feels stuck in her home town and dead-end job. But when she tries to kill herself,

finds herself in a limbo library where she can pick infinite lives from infinite books until she chooses the right one before she dies.

So, basically, there are parallel universes and that’s one of my favourite tropes in fiction. It’s a perfect vehicle for a character to explore themselves and the characters in The Midnight Library feel realistic.

Haig’s worldly observations are witty and overall, the book inspired me to get out of a rut and believe in myself when I’d kind of lost hope. But The Midnight Library is all about the value of second chances, especially the ones you give yourself.

It also helps that Haig’s chapters can be very short and vary in length which makes reading his books easy to the point I devoured this. I’d recommend it to anyone regardless of what they read or even if they read at all. It’s one for everyone.

P.S. I can definitely see this as a film or mini-series!

Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls

Apparently, this was originally published in 2019 but the paperback was on shelves last summer and I picked it up from the supermarket I work in as soon as I got paid.

David Nicholls was an author I was late to discover in 2020 (you can read my review of Us, which was adapted into a fun mini-series last year, here) and is quickly becoming one of my favourites.

Like the last two of his books I read, Sweet Sorrow crept up on me and now, all 3 of Nicholls’ books are 5 stars.

Sweet Sorrow is a coming-of-age tragicomedy (a phrase I saw on the Goodreads page for this and love; it applies perfectly for all of Nicholls’ books that I’ve read so far) about a 16-year-old, Charlie, who’s just left school and had nothing to do with summer except look after his dad who’s depressed after losing his music shop business and was left by Charlie’s mother, taking his sister with her. But then Charlie meets a girl called Fran and the only way to get a date with her is get involved with a production of Romeo and Juliet, which he finds himself enjoying.

Despite the thirty-year age gap (I don’t mean to make you feel old, David, promise!), Nicholls made me feel nostalgic for the late 90s (I was born in 96) and early 00s. He captures the small town/school experience and naivety of first love so potently, I could feel it in my bones. His descriptions are that vivid they’re almost tangible. I knew exactly the sensations Charlie was having. A proper example of how to put a reader in the main character’s shoes.

I guess it also helped that I related to Charlie - his feelings of inadequacy, being stuck, his fraught relationship with his father and feeling stupid at not understanding Shakespeare (although this encouraged me to buy Romeo and Juliet).

Overall, Sweet Sorrow is a beautiful, heart-wrenching book about the complexities and imperfections of love in all its different forms that’ll make you yearn for the past and turn your regrets into a favourable future.

The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams

I bought The Love Square at the same time as Sweet Sorrow and shared it on social media and I just wanted to say how nice both authors have been, always making the effort to like and reply to their readers. It’s always a good sign.