Bookish Beginnings January 2026 Exercise Thread

[Elizabeth Smith]

Welcome to the January 2026 exercise thread, in which we'll be looking at the books that inspired some of our favorite Disney movies!

If you’re returning, we’re excited to have you back! If you’re new, welcome to the team! Here’s how it works:

Each person chooses a time goal and posts minutes towards that goal as they exercise. You can post daily or just catch up when you can. You decide what movement counts towards your goal - which can be a nice round total for the month, a specific number that means something to you, or a calculation based on a target number of minutes per day. Since January has 31 days, here are some common conversions:

15 minutes/day = 465
20 minutes/day = 620
30 minutes/day = 930
45 minutes/day = 1395
1 hour/day = 1860

One of the special motivations of our Disney challenge is color changing! Page one will be updated with individual and team color changes as we make more and more progress:

10% - Bookish Blue
25% - Author Orange
50% - Page-Turning Purple
75% - Published Pink
90% - Reader Red
100% - Epilogue Green

We’re officially starting this challenge on January 1st, but if you don’t find the thread until later in the month, you’re still welcome to join! There's no better time than the present to start toward your goals!! Just post your goal and I’ll add you to the list. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and to check out old threads to see what’s been going on.


Participants:
Elizabeth Smith 540/575
Alicatt 1000/1000
PollyannaMom 820/700
clappyclaps 1803/1700
piglet1979 620/775
BonnieF 40/500
ShannyMcB 252/250
sophy1996 845/1000
TwilightSparkle 2715/1860
Raya 634/800

TEAM 9270/9160

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

The first book we'll look at is one that I recently read! (I'm actually working through reading the whole series).

The Princess Diaries book is radically different from the movies! A few notable differences: the book takes place in Manhattan rather than San Francisco, Mia's father is still alive, and Mia is only a freshman!

The Princess Diaries is one of my all-time favorite movies and the books are a fun read too! Has anyone else given these books a try?

 

[Alicatt]

I haven't but the look fun. What a great theme! I'd like to honorably mention the Peter and the Starcatchers series, which I realize isn't the same thing but are books based on beloved Disney characters and are a great read.
As I mentioned last month, I am in it to win it this month and want you make up for my low December. I'm in for 1000.
I started my year off on the right foot by joining the Asbury Woods first day hike. This year it was in snoe shoes since we had over a foot of new snow. I had never snow shoed before and it was a great experience.
60/1000

 

[PollyannaMom]

Love the theme!

I'm in for 700 again.

 

[clappyclaps]

Love the book theme! And I've never read The Princess Diaries either, will have to give them a go.

Put me in for 1700 this month and hopefully I can reach it this time!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Started off well yesterday because there was snow to shovel (50 min)

And did 25 min of treadmill walking this morning,

for a total so far of 75/700.

 

[piglet1979]

I am in for 465 minutes this month.

 

[BonnieF]

Happy New Year, all! Hope it's a happy and healthy one for all!
Trying to start the new year strong but have been waylaid by a house full of people with the flu. Anxiously waiting my turn - not!
I'll aim for 500 minutes this month.
Can't wait to see all the books this month! For those who've read it - is The Princess Diaries appropriate for a 12 year old? Thinking I could co-read with my granddaughter.

 

[clappyclaps]

+ 143 for walks on 1st and 2nd, and a treadmill run today. Looks like it's going to be the treadmill for the next few days as the paths here are too icy for walking, with snow forecast afterwards. Keeping everything crossed the snow clears without freezing as that makes walking impossible! I hate this time of year

Total = 143/1700

 

[ShannyMcB]

Im in for 250

 

[sophy1996]

In for 1000.

30/1000

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Happy New Year, everyone! I was going to give myself another month before coming back, but I peeked at what you all are up to and you had me at books.

I'll aim for 1860. Most of those minutes will be horse related, but I have set a goal to try to do yoga everyday this year. It doesn't have to be a long session, but my word for this year is healing and I want to see what consistent yoga practice can do for mind and body. So far I have managed a session daily since NYE - starting with short, easy sessions and will be gradually increasing time and intensity when I feel ready to do so. I hope to also maintain my running ability. I hope by putting this out here, I'll stay accountable to myself!

ETA: I forgot to add walking from our lantern festival outing on NY Day. We were there a couple of hours, but walking was a lot of stop and go, so I am only counting 30 minutes. New total:

220/1860 - mostly horses, two short yoga sessions, walking

 

[Raya]

Love this theme! Sorry to be late, but I caught some sort of stomach drama (food poisoning?) over New Years. Thankfully I was better in time for today's super cool workout: Puppy Yoga! While the puppies mostly spent the time in corpse pose, the rest of us did 45 minutes of serious yoga. Then we had 30 minutes of cuddle time. Very cool. And a great reminder that I enjoy yoga - even without puppies Puppy tax, in case you haven't seen puppy yoga before:



Raya - 45/800

 

[sophy1996]

+85, including a long walk in the sunshine. It's in the 60s here!

115/1000

 

[Alicatt]

Love this theme! Sorry to be late, but I caught some sort of stomach drama (food poisoning?) over New Years. Thankfully I was better in time for today's super cool workout: Puppy Yoga! While the puppies mostly spent the time in corpse pose, the rest of us did 45 minutes of serious yoga. Then we had 30 minutes of cuddle time. Very cool. And a great reminder that I enjoy yoga - even without puppies Puppy tax, in case you haven't seen puppy yoga before:

View attachment 1035428

Raya - 45/800

This is the cutest thing I've seen all day!

 

[Alicatt]

+ 75
45 on Friday- a run and foam rolling, 30 today- run
135/1000 Bookish Blue! Author Orange here I come!!

 

[clappyclaps]

+ 99 for walks today and yesterday. Despite my claims last time, the freezing weather here hasn't quite extended yet to icing over the paths, so I've managed a couple of outdoor walks. It has now snowed though and looking like the freezing temps will turn everywhere into an ice rink by tomorrow

Total = 242/1700

 

[Raya]

56 sore minutes on the treadmill today. Definitely going to need yoga to recover from puppy yoga.

Raya - 101/800 - 12%

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

375 minutes since last update - horses and yoga

595/1860

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I feel like it has taken me all weekend to recover from the holidays! Part of that, of course, was taking down all the Christmas decorations. And then, today, I decided to punish myself further by getting Charles off the paci cold turkey (finally). LOL. I managed to get my first 15 minutes of intentional movement for the month (and year).

We have tons of color changes!
Alicatt, PollyannaMom, clappyclaps, sophy1996, Raya, and the TEAM are all Bookish Blue! And Twilight Sparkle is already Author Orange!

Can't wait to see all the books this month! For those who've read it - is The Princess Diaries appropriate for a 12 year old? Thinking I could co-read with my granddaughter.

In my opinion, approximately the first four books in the series are mostly appropriate for a 12 year old. There is some suggestive material, like Mia's mother getting pregnant by her algebra teacher. But after those first few books, there's quite a bit more talk about s-e-x and it becomes a little bit more mature generally.


I think most of us know that the film Peter Pan was based on a novel.

But did you know that Peter's first appearance was actually in a previous work of author J.M. Barrie, entitled The Little White Bird? He appeared in a few chapters of that book, then a stage play, then finally his own novel!

I also find it interesting that the rights to the name Peter Pan are a somewhat complicated matter. Barrie gifted the name rights to the Great Ormand Street Hospital, who received royalties for all new adaptations. Both the play and the novel entered the public domain in 2024, though. Of course, Disney holds the trademarks for their original character designs and for the name Tinker Bell! But if you want to write, publish, and sell your own Peter Pan fanfiction based off Barrie's original play and novel, you are now free to do so!

Has anyone given the novel a read?