2026 reading journal: january-march

Welcome to the first reading journal post of 2026! I’m so excited to share these reviews as I had a really fun time in reading these five books.

To start the year, I read wintery, cozy fantasy novels as well as some poetry and nonfiction. Below, I’ve ranked the books from most loved to least enjoyed—let’s dive in!

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Summary:

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter stays for most of the year. Vasilisa and her siblings love to hear fairy tales of the spirits that protect their land. When Vasya’s widowed father remarries, her life turns upside down as her stepmother forbids her family from honoring the spirits, causing misfortune throughout their home and village.

As the village’s defenses weaken and evil comes nearer, Vasya is forced to use her dangerous gift she has hidden to protect her family from the fairy tales she used to love.

My thoughts:

This was the perfect book to start off the year. Not only was a five-star read, but it encapsulated the magical, cozy vibes of winter.

The story is a combination of various Russian folklore so, naturally, it felt like reading a fairy tale. I loved its complex characters. They’re so incredibly well written—you can really get the sense of who they are to their core. Vasya is a great protagonist and I loved her more as the story progressed. I sometimes find protagonists to be difficult in liking but Vasya made it easy to like her with her witty and compassionate personality.

The atmosphere this novel has is unlike any other book I’ve read in years. It’s almost as if you can feel each individual flake of snow because of Katherine Arden’s writing. I felt transported into Vasya’s world and never wanted to leave.

I enjoyed the themes the book touched on like good vs. evil, old beliefs vs. new religion, feminism, and personal freedom. Arden really shows the tension between these themes by the situations Vasya is forced to face. It adds more depth to the story and, on that note, I would love to reread this novel again just to meticulously annotate it. The themes are incredibly woven into the characters, setting, and story that it would be very interesting to annotate.

I honestly can’t believe this was Arden’s debut novel. The book is truly so beautiful—I would even say this novel could become a classic down the line.

Quotes:

“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me. Please. Please let me help you.”

“Nothing changes, Vasya. Things are, or they are not. Magic is forgetting that something ever was other than as you willed it.”

“Sleep is cousin to death, Vasya. And both are mine.”

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Summary:

Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie walk into a wardrobe and find themselves in Narnia—a magical world ruled by the White Witch. With the return of the Great Lion Aslan, the siblings fight to save Narnia and its people before it’s too late.

My thoughts:

Why has it taken me THIS long to read this?! There’s a reason this book is a classic—it’s innovative, beautiful, and an incredible read. I’ve always loved the film, and now I love it even more because it’s an amazing adaptation. The foreword is now my favorite I’ve ever read—it truly builds up the excitement and wonder of the magic in fantasy.

I really enjoyed how C.S. Lewis tells the story to the reader—going back and forth from telling the story and directly telling the reader what the character’s are feeling. It has the feeling of listening to a bedtime story. I found the novel incredibly timeless. Even though the book was released in 1950, it can still be enjoyed to this day no matter what age you are. While the book doesn’t go into much details like a J.R.R. Tolkien novel, the storytelling, characters, and settings are equally immersive.

Having in mind that the book was written for younger readers, it has good world building and characters. The Pevensie siblings had that sibling dynamic almost all of us can relate to, and it was fun to see how that dynamic added to the plot and moved the story forward. The vivid imagery of the creatures and settings made it feel like I was physically there in Narnia—how I wish!!

Before reading the book, I had known that Narnia touched on Christian themes and ideas, but I was surprised to see how much of it there actually is. When reading the novel, I researched this and apparently C.S. Lewis wrote the series with the intent of writing a fantasy story with religious elements so that children can understand Christianity better. Knowing this, I think C.S. Lewis succeeded in adding those themes without it being too forward.

This is a small detail, but I also really enjoyed the illustrations in the book! They were beautiful and added a child-like wonder throughout the story. I also appreciated the fact that you can read this novel as a standalone as the ending wraps up nicely or continue with the story if you want more from the Narnia world.

Quotes:

foreword~

“Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia.”

“If you've been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you - you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing was ever going to happen again.”

“Then with a roar that shook all Narnia from the western lamp-post to the shores of the eastern sea the great beast flung himself upon the White Witch.”

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Summary:

In 1920s Montreal, Agnes Aubert loves nothing more than running her cat shelter. However, when she’s forced to move her shelter, she finds that her new landlord is using her charity as a cover—for an illegal magic shop. She also discovers the landlord is none other than the infamous magician, Havelock Renard—the one who almost destroyed the world.

When Havelock’s enemy comes back into his life, it jeopardizes his shop and Agnes’s shelter. This forces them to work together and in doing so, it deepens their relationship.

My thoughts:

I was first introduced to Heather Fawcett’s work with the Emily Wilde series, so I was happy to hear she was coming out with a standalone story. Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter was far better than what I hoped for—I loved it!!

Anyone who adores cats and magic will love this book. It has the perfect blend of a coziness and adventurous story. Like the Emily Wilde series, Fawcett describes the characters and the settings like no other. They’re so vivid and always leaves you in a trance wanting for more.

The story itself was a fun journey. The characters were fleshed out and each had their own fun personality—including the cats!! All of their interactions were really fun to read as they were heartwarming and funny. I definitely liked the second half of the book more than the first as it’s a little slow in the beginning, but when things start to pick up…the book goes by quick.

I knocked a star just because of two personal preferences. I think the romance could’ve have been a little more fleshed out. While I liked their relationship, I wished we had more time with them together. I also think the magic system could have been discussed a little bit more in terms of its history.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I would love to reread it at some point. It was cozy and cute which is perfect for any time of the year.

Quotes:

“Would not the world be better off if we contented ourselves with the small miracles of life?”

“Winter was no worse than a monster in a storybook: it could frighten but not harm me.”

“People think that magic spells can break, but in fact magic is more like water. One can contain it in vessels, but it always wants to shift, to flow.

“It’s near impossible to own a cat without falling in love with it.”

CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion by Sunita Kamir Nair

Summary:

Fashion and creative director Sunita Kumar Nair presents CBK: Carolyn Bessette A Life in Fashion, which pays homage to the style icon’s timeless, distinguished beauty and legacy.

My thoughts:

Last year, I made a post on Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s minimalistic style which led me to want to know more about her interest in fashion. Things like where she got her clothes from, what she learned working at Calvin Klein, and how she styled her pieces.

While the book had really beautiful images of Carolyn, I was disappointed with the text. It had a lot of designers talking about the 90s and about their own style. Sometimes, they would touch on CBK’s fashion, but it was a small comment. I would have liked to hear more from the designers who knew her or met her like Calvin Klein and Yohji Yamamoto. One of the designers in the book said that they didn’t even know who she was! I felt appalled in adding these texts in a book that’s supposed to be about Carolyn’s style.

I think it would be a lovely coffee table book for people to flip through, but not a book to actually gain some insight to Carolyn’s life and fashion. It wasn’t deep nor, quite frankly, interesting. I wished it actually talked about Carolyn more rather than just show pictures.

Quotes:

“She was never the kind of person who you owned; she didn’t belong to anyone and was always doing the unexpected. She had her own mind and was quite clever with how she navigated herself through things. She had such a wicked, acerbic sense of humor, which was brilliant, smart, and witty. She inspired you to be a better person, to be fearless and to go for it. Her ability to connect to people was so profound, and she knew how to engage anyone—that was the essence of Carolyn.”

“It’s a fashion war medal if you are bestowed with the title that you have a “good eye.”

“The eye” is the cultural mind associations in which we build our visual world as we grow up. You can’t dupe the seasoned tastemaker; they will know if you know, and it was this that Carolyn always had. She always knew what the next cool thing was, even at school, cultivating and growing her taste levels.”

The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson (Author), Rachel Wetzsteon (Introduction)

Summary:

A comprehensive collection of 1,775 poems showcasing Dickinson’s innovative style, exploring themes of life, death, love, nature, and solitude

My thoughts:

Okay, I haven’t read all of Dickinson’s poems yet, so no stars as of now. However, I’ve been enjoying reading a couple each week. I find her poems to be relatable, and I can feel her emotions through each poem just by her choice of words. It leaves me inspired to write poetry.

One of my favorite poems I’ve read so far:

I hope you enjoyed these reviews! I’m really pleased in the books I’ve read so far this year.

What’re you currently reading? And what’s been a book that you’ve loved this year?

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