First, let me apologise, because this isn’t a review post as I promised. Instead, it will be akin to a book haul, but extending across my study and reading hobbies. There isn’t a lot to report, but they are going to lead to some goals and intentions I have for the summer. These will serve as a segue into my 2026 reading goals and plans in a later post, but for now, here are the new additions to my desk and shelf.

First, let’s talk books. Over the last few years, I have been known to put more than a few books on my birthday and Christmas wishlist for gifts. I went light this year and only had two on the list, but I did buy a few secondhand books earlier in the month in connection with these gifts. The secondhand books I bought are Michael Bennet’s Better the Blood and Carved in Blood from the Hana Westerman crime thriller series. This should come as no surprise to those of you who have been reading my blog over the year, as I have raved about these books and knew I would be getting copies by the end of the year. Fortunately, these two came up in a secondhand listing, and I snatched them up as soon as they landed on the website. The other secondhand book I bought is The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini, which, believe it or not, I have not read before. I have heard many great things about it, so I am sure it will be a summer read I will gobble up. As Better the Blood is book one and Carved in Blood is book three, I needed to add Return to Blood to my wishlist to complete the set, and I fortunately got it for Christmas. The other book I had on my wishlist (which I had on there for months) is Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping. I have Scholastic hardcovers of the original series from over a decade ago that are a specific height, and I really wanted this edition of SOTR to match height-wise. When I saw this special edition would fit that criteria, I was so happy, and I was even more chuffed by the fact that it is so stunning. I got this for my birthday, and it now sits happily alongside The Hunger Games series.

I have made it a goal of mine this summer to refresh and build on my te reo Māori, and found a few resources to help build a strong foundation for my learning called Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison. I am very excited to get stuck into it and see what I remember and how much I can pick up in this first level. I find myself not only interested in getting language learning books but also willing to invest in them in physical forms over apps. I have used language learning apps for Spanish and Korean for about six or seven years now, and while they are great for getting foundation-level vocabulary, I found it challenging to get the grammar and full sentence structure skills down. I still have my Spanish textbooks from my undergraduate years, and I got several Korean textbooks a few years back as part of my birthday-Christmas wishlist, which have been so helpful and convenient to have. Not only do they facilitate a great language learning environment, but they also make for an excellent no-tech activity to enjoy for a break from screens. This is going to be integral for me as my research data collection moves into the analysis stage, so I know my Māori Made Easy and other language books will be well used in 2026.

Did you get any books or study materials for Christmas? Do you have any plans to add them to your wishlists in 2026? Let me know! Bonus points if they are language learning resources – what language skills do you want to pick up or polish off in 2026?