We are a week into March and I'm finally getting around to my February reading recap! February was a decent reading month for me in terms of volume - I read 8 books which is great for a month with 28 days! I had a lot of plane travel during the month so that's part of why I read so many books in the midst of a short month. Overall I've been feeling a little bit "meh" about my reading so far this year. 2022 was such a stellar reading year for me so I feel like I'm sort of set up to be disappointed? At this point last year, I had read 3 5-star books and my average rating was over 4 stars. This year my average rating is about 3.8 and I've read 2 5-star books (which I didn't love nearly as much as the 5-star books from last Jan/Feb). But, I've also been busier than ever at work which has left me feeling a little depleted in general so surely that's a contributing factor.
Favorites:
These were my 3 favorite books, although I can't say I'd broadly recommend them to everyone, especially the first one. Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett is a very quirky book that is - stay with me - narrated by the ghosts of the towns' graveyard. I generally don't love speculative fiction but I loved the voice in this book. The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake is a historical fiction novel about a female understudy to a surgeon in the late 1800s. This is the first book in the series, though, so it doesn't wrap up tidily. Tell Me Everything by Erica Krouse is part memoir/part true crime expose about a sexual assault case at UC Boulder. Trigger warnings abound! I had trouble sleeping one night after reading this book.. the subject matter is upsetting.
Excellent Light Reads:
I've read a lot of heavy content lately so I needed some light, happy reads! Enter these 3 romance novels. And yes, I read a Christmas book during the month of February. The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan was light and delightful. It's set in Edinburg, Scotland which sounds like the most charming city! In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer was a fun romance set in NYC which is one of my favorite cities. Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin is set in a bookstore in Denver. This was my least favorite of the 3 romances but still a fun, entertaining read.
Meh:
The last 2 books were popular with others but my general feeling about both was "meh." I was told to go into We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves pretty blind. So I don't want to say much about the book to avoid spoilers for others who check it out. It was just a bit "out there" for me. The Bandit Queens was the first 2023 release I've read this year. The husband of a woman living in India disappears and the women in her community assume that she killed him - and now some of them want help killing their husbands. The story felt a little too over-the-top for me and there was SO MUCH SWEARING. Admittedly I am a bit of a prude when it comes to swearing. I can tolerate some swearing but it felt excessive and unnecessary in this book.
Paul's Reads:
We absolutely LOVED The Wolf Suit. It's a graphic novel but is short enough to be read in one sitting. It's so delightful so I highly recommend it! It's about a sheep that wants to go out in the woods to pick berries, but he's afraid of encountering a wolf - so he sews a wolf costume. Hilarity ensues.
We also enjoyed these 3 books that I randomly pulled off the shelf at the library. Poopsie Gets Lost is about a kitten that wanders off and gets into all kinds of trouble. We are partial to cat-themed books in our house since my husband is a HUGE fan of cats so this was sure to please. The Last Rainbow Bird is stunningly illustrated. In this book, they are trying to find the "rainbow" bird which is nearing extinction. Walter Had a Best Friend is about shifts in friendship. Walter and Xavier were the best of friends... but then Xavier starts to play with someone else. Walter feels hurt, sad, and confused but then at the end, he meets a new friend with similar interests.
Have you read anything great lately? Is your reading year off to a great start or a bit lackluster like mine?
Of all of your reads, I have only read two. The Girl in His Shadow, which I thought was good but not necessarily excellent. It is an interesting topic, but I gave it three stars. I also read the KJF book and gave it three stars, in fact, I have read two of her books and they both got three stars, so I am not sure that I am in love with her writing.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Snakeheads by the same author as Empire of Pain, so it was definitely a fact heavy non-fiction, but was enjoyable. I also read Kindred which I did not think I would love as it does have some time travel, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think last year my first book was five stars so of course it is hard to beat that, but I definitely have not had a lot of SUPERB books yet this year. This could also be my mood/mindset as that does have a big part in my enjoyment of books in general.
My reading year is pretty blah so far, but I have Unlikely Animals on my shelf right now so it looks like it might pick up! I'm also reading Know My Name which has a similar topic to Tell Me Everything, so it's pretty heavy.
ReplyDeleteYou know how I feel about excessive swearing, so I've made a note to avoid that book!
ReplyDeleteMy reading has been so-so this year. I felt "fictioned" out, so I've been reading more non-fiction again and it feels good to get back to my "happy" place. I have In A New York Minute in at the library right now and will be picking it up today!
I never really notice swearing, but now that you and Elisabeth have pointed out the swearing in some books I really like, I've been paying more attention. I've also been paying more attention to the swearing on my own blog because I don't want to upset some of my best readers!
ReplyDelete@NGS - I can't think of any blogs that have offended me with swearing so I don't think you need to worry about that! I was raised in a house where swearing absolutely did not/could not happen so I think I've been forever impacted by that!
ReplyDeleteI went into We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves blind as well and whoa. I did not realize that it would be...well, about that.
ReplyDeleteI loved In A New York Minute so much! Do you ever listen to her podcast? It's one of my favourites.
Thanks for the look at your reading list. My year is so-so. Right now I'm reading a (VERY) long biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. It was a gift; I'm not sure I would have chose it for myself, though she's interesting but I have a feeling I'll be reading it for a long time -- great for a page count, lousy for adding numbers to my total!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of any of those books, but sounds like some good ones. I don't have anything too much to report in reading... I was proud to get through 2 books in February! haha. :) This last week hasn't been great since I was away from Thursday-Sunday and didn't read at all. I have to go pick up my next work book club book - which is The Blue Last by Martha Grimes. Not even sure what it's about- I think a mystery? Maybe you've heard of it. Anyway, hoping I can read it on the plane/ airport, because my book club is right away when we get home from our trip. We'll see! If I don't finish it, oh well.
ReplyDeletei haven't heard any of these books. good to know which ones to skip? how do you choose which books to choose? I'm such a mood reader. would love to learn other people's strategy in choosing books.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to read this because even if it was lackluster for you, these are mostly all new to me! I love new recs-- even tepid ones :)
ReplyDeleteALSO! THE FOWLER BOOK! One of my favorite EVER, but I have not been blown away by any of her others, so I get the meh reaction.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of these! My reading year is off to a good start (although I usually only read four books a month.) I just finished Atomic Habits and am deciding between Ten Thousand Doors of January or my new Helen Dunmore book, exposure to start next. Even though you didn't give it a great recommendation, now i'm curious about We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I want to know what it's about!
ReplyDeleteI've been having a pretty meh reading year myself, though I've finished 2 great books this month. One of them, In An Instant, is also narrated by a ghost, so I think I'll check out Unlikely Animals.
ReplyDeleteI just finished The Lies I Tell, which was an excellent thriller! And The Lost Ticket may appeal to you as a nice, sweet palate-cleanser type of book.
ReplyDeleteI read great stuff in January, but February was very blah. Code Name Helene was very good and if you haven't read it, I think you'd like it!
ReplyDeleteI love adding your book recs to my Good Reads and Libby requests! I have been in a bit of a lull lately so I needed a few good recs. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGet "Baa Baa Smart Sheep" for the boys and try not to laugh. My coworker and I got it for a prek kids and didnt read it before hand. We were cracking up! I have seen it at HCL so you could even request it.