Best Books of February
As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.
So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.
These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from February.
Nine Liars (Maureen Johnson): The first three books in the series were perfection. The fourth one was fine, but this series ended well with book three and didn’t need book four. It picked up again with book five until the very end of the book. I loved the setting and characters. I didn’t care that I guessed the killer 40% of the way through. I’m focusing on how happy I was for the first 90% of the story vs. the last 10%.
Tell Me an Ending (Jo Harkin): This was such a cool set-up, and the way the stories came together was brilliant. The writing was beautiful, and the questions asked in the book were compelling. As I read it, I talked about this book a lot with people — the mark of a really good story.
The Stranger Diaries (Elly Griffiths): Despite owning several of her books, this is the first one I read. And it was fantastic. I am so happy I have her books lined up and ready to go on my shelves or e-reader. I was genuinely surprised by the ending, and every chapter was delightfully creepy.
Nick and Charlie (Alice Oseman): A novella (as opposed to a graphic novel) takes Nick and Charlie into the days before Nick leaves for college. Am I facing down the twins going? Yes. That may have played into how much I loved this. But it’s still a super sweet story about lovely characters that you want to succeed — a good way to spend an afternoon.
What did you read last month?
3 comments
I read four books in February, all of them reviewed on my blog and on Goodreads, and all of them pretty good! (4 & 5 stars reads)
* “Wintering” by Katherine May. This was the perfect winter read and a balm for the soul. May’s personal story is intertwined with her gentle observations and meditations on winter (the season) and “wintering” (enduring a difficult period of your life).
* “Still Life” by Louise Penny (the first Inspector Gamache mystery). Echoes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, set apart by its Canadian/Quebecois setting and references, and the vivid portraits of the village of Three Pines and its residents — and the character of the thoroughly decent Gamache.
* “No Filter” by Paulina Porizkova. Not a conventional memoir, but a collection of short essays in which Paulina reflects on her life and the lessons she’s learned along the way — about things like beauty, aging, Botox, money, grief and heartbreak, anxiety and depression, nudity and nakedness. I appreciated her raw honesty and willingness to bare all (in more ways than one!)
* “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus. Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant female chemist in the sexist and restrictive 1950s, who winds up hosting an afternoon cooking show, where she delivers chemistry lessons along with the recipe of the day and a side dish of subversive messages to a receptive audience of dissatisfied housewives. It’s a bit of a fairy tale in some respects, perhaps more reflective of our own times & attitudes than Elizabeth’s, but the writing is brilliant. Suspend your disbelief, and enjoy!
February was a reading month focused on quality not quantity.
I also read “Lessons in Chemistry” in February, and loved it. Though I found it a bit more realistic (and therefore more frustrating) and less of a fairytale than Loribeth did. Highly recommended.
Another five star read was the novella “Assembly” by Natasha Brown. It’s the story of a young black woman in modern day London, and also covers sexism, and the intersectionality of that with the everyday racism she encounters.
That Maureen Johnson series sounds interesting. I don’t have much patience with YA stuff right now, though – I feel like I have finally aged out of it. 🙁