What did you read in February?

[ufcasey]

What books did you finish reading last month, and how did you rate them out of 5 stars? Any stand out favorites you would recommend?

[tacokick]

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro ****

The Safest Lies by Megan Miranda ***

I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities And Other Stuff by Abbi Jacobson **

Not Becoming My Mother (aka For You Mom, Finally) by Ruth Reichl ****

Fracture by Megan Miranda **


Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah ***

Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon ***

The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob ***

The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown zero

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas ****


The Lost Man by Jane Harper ****

Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult by Catherine Oxenberg **1/2

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten ***

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray ***


Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken ***

And literally 33 cookbooks. I’m surprised I read so many actual books TBH.

[Vespasia]

Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb - 4 stars. Good for a Kindle freebie.

The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris (audio) - 4 stars

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller- 3.5 stars? I actually skipped rating this on Goodreads. The writing was pretty good but I disliked the story and the characters and just did NOT enjoy it at all.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden - 4.5 stars. Really happy with the finish to the series.

[travella]

A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold, 1*

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, 4*

The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris, 3*

The Wife by Alafair Burke, 3*

This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp, 3*

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, 3*

The Beach by Alex Garland, 2*

12/45

[ufcasey]

2 Stars:
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

3 Stars:
Devil's Daughter (The Ravenels #5) by Lisa Kleypas
Bright Star(The Twelve Systems Chronicles, #2) by E.G. Manetti

3.5 Stars:
The Cartel (The Twelve Systems Chronicles, #1) by E.G. Manetti
How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

4 Stars:
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier*
How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
Dark Tempest (Red Winter Trilogy, #2) by Annette Marie*
Slouch Witch by Helen Harper

4.5 Stars:
How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9) by Louise Penny*
The Lost Man by Jane Harper*

* = Recommended!

[Gato]

*** Bitter Orange: I agree with the previous poster, good writing but the whole thing was a bit too gothic for my taste

***** Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon: I hardly ever will be inclined to give five stars, but this book earns it. I think it should be required reading for every American.

*** Maid by Stephanie Land: it's good when it's her story. It's not so good when she recites every Sociology 101 statistic in existence.

**** Hourglass: Time, Memory, and Marriage by Dani Shapiro. I didn't love everything about it--there's a lot of unexamined privilege there--but she is so sharp on sharing a life with someone long-term. Beautiful writing.

** She Has Her Mother's Laugh: the Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer. Suffers in comparison to A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, which was much more engaging (and less long-winded!)

[dorothyinAus]

It was a slow month for me. I read:

Blood Orange by Susan Wittig Albert 4****
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke 4****
The Last Chance Olive Ranch by Susan Wittig Albert 4****

[minzy]

The Enlightened Mr. Parkinson - The Pioneering Life of a Forgotten Surgeon and the Mysterious Disease that Bears His Name by Cherry Lewis - 4 stars
Becoming by Michelle Obama - 5 stars
The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris - 4 stars
Glow by Megan E. Bryant - 4 stars (YA about Radium Girls)
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 4.5 stars

14 so far on the year

[abs]

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great 4*
Hero by Samantha Young 3.5*
Fight or Flight by Samantha Young 3.5*
Nine Perfect Strangers 2*
On the Come Up 4*

On the Come Up was the best of the bunch and that only one I would actually recommend. I mean I really enjoyed the Samantha Young books, too, but they are books I should not enjoy but somehow do anyways.

I'm always surprised how much I enjoy Judy Blume's books as an adult. Her books have held up very well. Sheila reminds me a lot of my daughter...scared of everything, lol.

[sarahswim]

The In Between Days (Eva Woods) ****

The Swing of Things (Linda Keir) **

Valley of the Dolls (Jacqueline Susann) ***

Save Me a Seat (Sarah Weeks & Gita Varadarajan) ***1/2

The Lying Game (Ruth Ware) ***

Hoot (Carl Hiaasen) ***

16 so far for the year which puts me behind my goal but I think I can catch up.

[rainbowchip]

Hidden Bodies (You #2) 4* Similar to You but also completely different. I hated how it ended!

Prisioner of Night (BDB #16.5) 3* Typical BDB story. Not the best written. Not the best story. Kept me entertained enough.

Wildcard (Warcross #2) 3* An OK wrap up your the series. I still do not understand the Warcross game. And I liked how the ended sort of hinted at what happened next without saying it.

The Wedding Date 3* I found this one good but not great. It also made me realize how happy I am that I don't have to date. Because I don't do the games.

[mrspez07]

I felt bogged down in my reading and listening this month.

Read:
4321 2*
This needed an editor and a point. I thought it had so much potential but got bogged down in minutia, didn’t finish.
Becoming 5*

Audio:
Barking to the Choir 4*
Next Year in Havana 3*

[MrsAxilla]

Wow I only finished two this month?

American Marriage - 4 🌟
Shadow of a night - 4 🌟

Currently reading Beartown.

[aurora]

I had quite a mix last month:

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein - you can definitely tell she has a bias, but it was interesting to be challenged to think about the ways in which our fundamental economic system impacts our ability to fight climate change. It was pretty easy to read for non-fiction about such a critical topic.

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny - much better than the last one, and I'm back to loving the series.

Lethal White by "Robert Galbraith" (JK Rowling) - a re-read since I had devoured it when it came out in the fall, and had definitely missed a few things then. I think it's the best of the series to date.

Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery - I'm sort of casually re-listening to these, which I hadn't read since childhood, when I'm in the market for a library audiobook.

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey - another classic re-read.

Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs - trying to stretch myself with more and different types of non-fiction this year, and enjoyed this one about how people came to and settled the Americas. It's interestingly intermixed with stories of his own visits to the various places he's writing about. The part about his wife leaving him was a bit jarring, though. (Don't worry, it doesn't actually spoil anything since that's not what the book is about.)

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel - my 3rd classic re-read of the month.

Wow, I didn't realize I had finished so many books last month!

[stephm0188]

Slow month for me. Work has been very busy. I read and enjoyed:
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib
Victoria by Daisy Goodwin
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

Read but hated:
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza. I hated it but finished it for a book club I'm in. This book was another reason why I didn't finish as many this month as typically do. It took me so long to drag myself through it.

I'm 25/100 for the year.

[Gato]

Mar 2, 2019 18:14:33 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

I felt bogged down in my reading and listening this month.

Read:
4321 2*
This needed an editor and a point. I thought it had so much potential but got bogged down in minutia, didn’t finish.
Becoming 5*

Audio:
Barking to the Choir 4*
Next Year in Havana 3*

I felt exactly the way you do reading 4321.  Exactly!  I skipped a bunch in the middle, because you're right, it was too long-winded.  Editing would have made this so much better.  But I still think you should read the last section.  All will become clear, and it's actually pretty moving.

[litskispeciality]

An American Marriage 3.5 - 4
50 Shades Freed 2.5

Started The Husband's Secret

I'm still behind for the year, only 3 completed books. Really hoping for a good March.

[ufcasey]

Mar 4, 2019 15:56:58 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Read but hated:
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza. I hated it but finished it for a book club I'm in. This book was another reason why I didn't finish as many this month as typically do. It took me so long to drag myself through it.

Yeah I had to give up on that book, sorry you had to finish it for your book club! I just didn't understand why it had to jump around in time so much and I didn't find it interesting at all.

[CrazyLucky]

I don't read anywhere near as much as you, but I appreciate your lists because I use them for ideas on what to read next. I just put a hold on How the Light Gets In.

February was rough. I didn't like most of the books I read.
We Were Mothers - amazon first read - awful, 1 star
Whisper Me This - another amazon first read - 3 stars
Making Sense of the Bible - very dry and not what I was looking for, so that colors my review - 2 stars
The saving grace for me was Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. I loved it. I really like how much depth she gives to her characters. I gave that one 5 stars

I'm currently reading Rising Out of Hatred, about a white nationalist who changed his ways. I'm about halfway through. It's hard to put too much blame on a young kid who grew up learning nothing but hate. His parents are despicable and David Duke is his godfather. I give so much credit to the Jewish kid at school who continued to try to change Derek Black.

I didn't set a goal, but I'm at 7 for the year, which would annualize to 42. So that's pretty good for me.

[ufcasey]

Mar 8, 2019 11:05:50 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

I just put a hold on How the Light Gets In.

FYI just in case: that series really does have to be read in order or at least book 1 should be read first so you can get to know some of the reoccurring characters

[CrazyLucky]

Mar 8, 2019 13:21:53 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Mar 8, 2019 11:05:50 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

I just put a hold on How the Light Gets In.

FYI just in case: that series really does have to be read in order or at least book 1 should be read first so you can get to know some of the reoccurring characters

Oh no!  It's already in transit!

[charlatti]

Mar 8, 2019 14:20:58 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

Mar 8, 2019 13:21:53 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

FYI just in case: that series really does have to be read in order or at least book 1 should be read first so you can get to know some of the reoccurring characters

Oh no!  It's already in transit!

I read How the Light Gets In first and then went back and read the rest (and now am an obsessive fan). Some things were unclear but the story still worked.