January 2020 – life updates: Sunday Musings #64

Let me be a little cliche and say “I have no idea how we are already one month into 2020. Where did January 2020 go?” Well, here is an update on how that happened. 

Let me be a little cliche and say "I have no idea how we are already one month into 2020. Where did January 2020 go?" Well, here is an update on how that happened. How has your month been?#SundayPost #January2020 Click To Tweet

Quick January 2020 updates

  • We had guests over for more than a week, and that should explain my absence during the past week. Well, having guests gave us an opportunity to see the tourist-y places in Dubai once again.
  • Also, winter being the peak tourist season in general, Dubai usually has lots of sale and discounts during those months, and a lot of fireworks and celebrations as well. Being the fireworks enthusiast that I am, I watched them so many times from different places in Dubai. AND I loved them.
  • Last but not the least, I got featured in a leading National daily here and I naturally spoke about books and authors. In case you missed that piece of news, here is it. Let me know what you think!

What I read this month:

January 2020 was an average reading month for me. I read four books despite the number of distractions I had during the month. 

  • One Day in December by Josie Silver
  • Tattooist of Auschwitz, The by Heather Morris
  • Travelling Cat Chronicles, The by Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel (Translator)
  • How to Build a Heart by Maria Padian

What I watched this month:

Thanks to the other distractions I spent way less time watching TV and movies than I would have otherwise. 

I watched the Toy Story 4 last month and that is it. I loved it!But watch out for this space, because I will be back soon.

On my blog

I made a comeback this month in terms of blogging after a long time. So here are the posts from last month, in case you missed it.

Book reviews

Discussion posts

I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme

From the Insta-world

Also here is a quick recap of the posts on my Instagram from the past few days

Pin me!

January 2020

Let us chat

How has your month been? How many books did you read and what are you currently reading? Let us talk. 

41 Comments

  1. Ravmeet

    I find the concept of this post so neat! Doing an overall update in this format is brilliant! Also looking forward to your views on the Tattooist of Auschwitz, I have been wanting to read it.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you for the kind words!

      Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you!

      Reply
  2. Jane

    I found Toy Story 4 quite deep for a children’s movie; it had a lot of themes in it the children didn’t quite understand, and I wasn’t as fond of the plot concerning the doll needing the voice box.

    As a kid, I enjoyed fireworks, but as I grew up…eh. We have drought issues in Texas, but there is also the whole sensory input sensitivities I experience personally. They also complicate life for humans, animals and plants, for the sake of entertainment, so I just…don’t buy into it anymore.

    P.S. Your comment form keeps saying my email (J@ my domain) is incorrect. o.O It works literally everywhere else.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Yes the voice box theme was quite too dark for children too. I agree with your take on fireworks !

      Reply
  3. Jenn @ Bound to Writing

    Wow! What a busy and successful January you had! Mine was pretty chaotic, but I actually accomplished almost everything on my list. And the things I didn’t finish are almost done! I hope you have a fantastic February! 😀

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Kudos on ticking off the entire list. I hope your February turns out as good as well!

      Reply
  4. Katiria Rodriguez

    Great post, thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you!

      Reply
  5. Kathy West

    Looks like you had a good month.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I definitely did. Thank you!

      Reply
  6. DJ Sakata

    You should do touristy things often and show us all your high and low adventures 😉

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Oh that seems so dreamy right now with the lock down and all!

      Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Whispering Stories

    Looks like you had a fab month. January did seem to fly by quickly.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I totally agree and thank you!

      Reply
  8. vidya

    I recall that article you had posted.. that is cool! And I am yet to engage in the pinterest board, will start this month.. playing catch up on so many fronts..

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I hope things are better now!

      Reply
  9. Nadene

    Congrats on the feature. It would appear you had a busy but awesome month.

    Reply
  10. Carol

    How cool that you were in the news!
    I’d be watching as many fireworks as I could too.

    Reply
  11. Ash

    Wow that’s awesome about you being featured! I love fireworks too, we only get them twice a year here though (4th of July and New Years) Having guests can be fun but also exhausting. I haven’t read any of those books, but I hope they were good.
    Toy Story 4 was so good! Definitely my favorite out of the series.

    Ash @ JennRenee Read

    Reply
  12. Stormi

    It looks like you had a busy January. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is one I really want to pick up!

    Reply
  13. Charvi

    I was on a holiday for half the month and the other half I’ve been slogging away in university. It’s been fun though! I read a lot but unfortunately haven’t come across a 5 star read yet. Looks like you had a good reading month though!

    Reply
  14. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    It’s always great when company visits because you visit the touristy stuff. I’m glad I’m not the only one who does that! I need to watch the rest of the Toy Story movies. We’ve been binging Disney movies but I have it in my head that Toy Story movies are sad so I’ve been avoiding them. Have a great week!

    Reply
  15. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

    Wow! What a wonderful thing for you to get to be in the news! Congratulations.

    I’ve heard such good things about The Tattooist of Auschwitz. I’m also interested in The Dinner.

    I hope you have a fabulous week!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you! But the tattooist of Auschwitz turned to be a bust for me!

      Reply
  16. Athira

    Congratulations on being featured in the news! Enjoyed reading the post.

    I’ve had a much slower January so in a way, I’m surprised that for once, a month went by very slowly. That’s unusual for me. Glad that despite how busy you’ve been, you’ve been able to read well.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      A slow month is definitely good right?

      Reply
  17. Greg

    Congrats on the news thing! How awesome! And I love fireworks- I think it’d be neat to see them more than once in a while. And I’ll be cliche too- I don’t know HOW it’s February already. Argh haha!

    Have a great week!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you!

      Reply
  18. Bryan G. Robinson

    Read the interview. Very cool, indeed. I still need to read Fahrenheit 451.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you! Let me know if you ever get to reading it.

      Reply
  19. Rachel

    Congrats on the interview! Also, sounds like you had a nice time with visiting guest. I do enjoy fireworks, but they’re very limited, because they’re always worried (rightly so) about starting a fire here in California. Have a fantastic week! 🙂

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you! And yes we had some quality time

      Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you and yay to fireworks!

      Reply
  20. Sophie

    Congrats on being in the news! And I’ll now read your post about increasing engagement for reviews! Thank you and have a great week!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Thank you! Let me know if you like it!

      Reply

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Gayathri

Gayathri

Gayathri has been reviewing books since 2010. When she is not reading books or creating online content, she works as a writer and a digital marketer. Head over to meet me!