Happy New Year! After a busy and very festive December, The Lit Wagon is rolling into January with a slower pace, thoughtful reads, and a focus on fresh starts — without the pressure to reinvent your entire personality.
January is all about resetting, reflecting, and trying something new (with a beer in hand, ideally). Expect curated self-improvement and wellness reads, comfort fiction for cold days, and of course, Blind Date With a Book picks designed to nudge you just outside your reading comfort zone.
January Kickoff Events
Here’s what’s happening this week!
Macushla Brewery — January 4, 1-5PM
Brew Year, New Reads
A New Year–themed pop-up featuring self-improvement, creativity, habit-building, and reset reads — plus Blind Date With a Book bundles for readers ready to take a chance.
Come for the beer. Leave with a better chapter.—no judgment here).
Skokie’s Winter Market on Main
Join us Sunday, January 11th, & Sunday, January 25th for the Winter Market on Main! This indoor/outdoor market is located at 4051 Main Street, Skokie, and in front of Soul Good Coffee at 4022 Main St., Skokie, and will run twice a month on Sundays from January through April from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. rain or shine!
Future Dates: February 1 & 22, March 15 & 29, April 12 & 16
Back by popular demand - SMORES! Starting at 10:00 am, enjoy a s’more by the fire pit. While supplies last.
Street parking is available. The Skokie Farmers' Market is B.Y.O.B - bring your own BAG! Reduce your carbon footprint. Reduce the use of plastic.
Charity of the Month: The Literacy Connection
For January, The Lit Wagon is proud to support The Literacy Connection, an Elgin-based nonprofit dedicated to improving literacy for adults and families through education, tutoring, and community programs. 10% of this month’s profits will go directly towards TLC & their goals.
Literacy opens doors — to opportunity, confidence, and connection — and we’re excited to highlight an organization doing meaningful, long-term work right here in our region.
Next on Tap:
Married or single, date day or opportunity to mingle, coming with your gals or bringing the boys, maybe joining us solo by choice— an unforgettable market experience awaits you at Itasca Country Club— 𝑪𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑩𝒚 𝑪𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒂!
Location: Itasca Country Club, 400 E. Orchard St., Itasca
11am-4pm
February 1 — Crafted by Cupid Market Gala
The spacious and stunning Lyons Room and part of the grand ballroom will be transformed into a cozy and curated shopping sanctuary showcasing 40+ local small business owners selling a variety of handcrafted/sourced goods! Seasonal decor, houseplants, jewelry, woodworking, bath and body products, sweets and treats, art, and so much more— you will be sure to find something for everyone!
Add in a specially crafted cocktail menu (plus other drink options), a food pop-up, and live music too?! THIS DAY WAS MADE FOR YOU.
Feel like hanging out before the market or sticking around later? Fox & Turtle is steps away on the lower level of the country club and ready to serve you from 11 am-11 pm. An upscale American rustic pub with 30+ craft beers on tap and a carefully crafted culinary menu.
Goodreads Choice Awards 2025: | Author: | Genre: |
|---|---|---|
My Friends | Fredrik Backman | Fiction |
Atmosphere | Taylor Jenkins Reed | Historical Fiction |
Not Quite Dead Yet | Holly Jackson | Mystery/Thriller |
Great Big Beautiful Life | Emily Henry | Romance |
Onyx Storm | Rebecca Yarros | Romantasy |
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil | VE Schwab | Fantasy |
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls | Grady Hendrix | Horror |
Everything is Tuberculosis | John Green | Nonfiction |
The House of My Mother | Shari Franke | Memoir |
Veteran fantasy and sci-fi author V.E. Schwab delivers a sweeping sapphic vampire epic that moves from 16th-century Spain to 1827 London to contemporary Boston. Schwab folds in elements of horror, historical fiction, and gender politics, too.
One lucky reader can grab a signed copy of this 2025 Goodreads Choice Award at a Lit Wagon event.
What I’m adding to my TBR this month:
Half His Age — Jennette McCurdy
McCurdy’s novel introduces 17-year-old Waldo, a high school student who falls deeply into something with her creative writing teacher. Maybe it’s love, maybe it’s lust, maybe it’s just a need to be seen.
Enormous Wings — Laurie Frankel
Pepper Mills, age 77, is determined to make the best of her recent and reluctant move to the Vista View Retirement Community. But after meeting a new friend, she must navigate a situation that no one saw coming. Pepper is pregnant.
It’s Not Her — Mary Kubica
Local Chicago author is a Lit Favorite! Her latest concerns a double killing at a Wisconsin lake resort town, a missing teenager, and a lovely little lakeside cottage splattered with blood. Kubica uses alternating POVs to add further revelations and to gradually eliminate suspects…one way or another.
Whidbey — T. Kira Madden
When a child abuser is murdered, circumstances change suddenly for three women connected to the dead man—a traumatized victim, a former reality TV star, and the abuser’s mother.
Every Version of You — Natalie Messier
Talk about a literal second-chance romance. After her untimely demise, 32-year-old L.A. attorney Joey Vasquez is offered the opportunity to return to her freshman year in college and rethink her adult life from the ground up. A great chance to finally get together with the best friend she's pined for all these years? Maybe.
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay — Jenny Lawson
A master at one of humanity’s most incredible magic tricks: using humor to get through tough times. Her new book is practical—100 actual tools and tricks Lawson uses to navigate her various issues concerning depression and anxiety.