Intro

Every month, I try to post a roundup of everything I wrote/read/watched that month. This year, I’m starting another series to post about planned reads and actual reads. Kinda like office, y’know, setup goals for the year and then year-end assessment of where I was. Just trying to be more disciplines, is all. (And observe more restraint).

In that regard, this month is already a mess because…

Planned for January 2026

In December 2025 Roundup, this is what I had planned:

Done with Indian authors. I have a few books by David Baldacci and a few other books in my mind. I think I’d read those in January 2026; begin the year with some some crime and suspence.

1. Eleven Numbers by Lee Child: I have a backstory about it, later.
2. Carryovers from 2025:
   1. Srilaaji— Shobhaa Dé
   2. Becoming Mrs Kumar — Heather Saville Gupta
   3. Delusions of Grandma — Carrie Fisher
   4. Little Women — Louisa May Alcott
3. David Baldacci

NEW Plan for January 2026

With Goodreads reading challenge set for 30 books, I better start early and start smart, so we’re going to read a bunch of short stories, preferably in different genres, irrespective that finding short stories on Amazon short stories page is a challenge.

After a lot of deliberation, these are the ones I’ve downloaded, some romance, and some mystery/thrillers/

1. Eleven Numbers by Lee Child
2. Snow Place Like Home (Home Sweet Holidays) by Laura Pavlov
3. All Wrapped Up in You (Home Sweet Holidays) by Rosie Danan
4. Merry and Bright (Home Sweet Holidays) by Ali Rosen
5. You Better Not Pout (Home Sweet Holidays) by Mia Sosa
6. The Exception to the Rule (The Improbable Meet-Cute collection) Christina Lauren
7. A Mussoorie Mystery by Ruskin Bond, Ruskin Bond
8. A MURDER IN MUSSOORIE AND OTHER TALES by Ruskin Bond
9. The Housemaid’s Wedding: A Short Story by Freida McFadden
10. Abscond: A Short Story by Abraham Verghese

Shabana Mukhtar