February 2024 Reading Wrap-Up
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
February has been a month, and I'm glad that it's over. I think I'm going to be treating March as a reset month. After the February I just had, I need it.
In the month of February I read a total of 16 books: 7 novels, 2 nonfiction, 1 poetry collection, and 6 manga volumes. Nearly everything this month came from the library. 2 of the books were translated, 1 book was by an author from a country I had never read from before (that's a checkmark for my Read Around the World challenge, hooray!), and 1 book was a reread.
Okay, let's get into the wrap-up!
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Novels
(Translated from the French by Robin Buss)
Genre: Historical Fiction, Classics, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 5 stars/9.07
Page count: 1,276 pages
Day(s) read: 2.01 - 2.10
Final thoughts: Y'all, I can't believe I was considering not reading this book. I read this for the Game of Tomes book club hosted by Emma and Carolyn. I was originally planning to read The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky in February, but my curiosity for the book club won out, and I am so glad it did. I listened to the audiobook (highly recommend) and I breezed through it in 10 days. 10 days! I can guarantee if I was reading it physically, it would have taken me wayyyy longer to finish. But I truly loved this book. There was a part that was kind of slow to me (when we're first introduced to Albert and Franz) but it couldn't dampen my love for the rest of the novel. The end had me crying and I bought a copy for myself a week later.
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Genre: Fantasy, Mythology, Adventure, Middle-Grade
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5 stars/8.04
Page count: 268 pages
Day(s) read: 2.05 - 2.07
Final thoughts: While it was fun being back in Percy's head for this book, I don't think it was really necessary to the series overall. But did I still have a good time? Yes, absolutely. Was Uncle Rick trying a little too hard to embody the voice of a teenager? Also yes. I wouldn't go as far as to say that he's lost his touch, but this was definitely leaning toward "fully cringe" on the scale. Of course I will continue on with the series, because at this point Percy Jackson is in my DNA, but I think I might have to lower my expectations for future installments. I've been reading this series for over half of my life, at this point. I would be concerned if my opinions never changed.
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Genre: Horror, Contemporary Fiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4 stars/7.18
Page count: 272 pages
Day(s) read: 2.10 - 2.11
Final thoughts: I thought this was a very good depiction of depression and trauma, but I think it was a little too depressing for me. Well, let me rephrase that. I think I was too depressed to be reading this book at the time I did. I appreciated the language, it balanced simplicity with purple prose very well, I thought. And I think this is an important story that needed to be told. If I had read it when I was in a better headspace, I think I would have enjoyed it more (is enjoy the right word to describe a book like this? I never know what to say about hard-hitting novels).
Genre: Dystopia, Mystery, Horror, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3.5 stars/6.82
Page count: 213 pages
Day(s) read: 2.18 - 2.20
Final thoughts: This wasn't what I had thought it was when I picked it up. I remember some of my favorite horror booktubers mentioning it, so I thought it was going to be a horror with a monster lurking in the snow on this reservation in Northern Canada. And I guess, if you want to get technical, that's what it was. But it just didn't meet the picture I had in mind (which is totally my bad, since I was misremembering what I had heard about it). I know there's a sequel, but I don't think I'm going to read it.
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, YA
Star rating/CAWPILE: 5 stars/9.04
Page count: 417 pages
Day(s) read: 2.20 - 2.26
Final thoughts: This book took every feeling trapped in my body and trampled them into tiny pieces, and at the end I thanked it and the author for it. Honestly this was the catharsis I was craving. I know I don't read very much YA these days, unless they're rereads, but this was an excellent book to break that habit. Dare I say it even made me happy with the romance? Now you know that this was a favorite. I'm sure you'll be seeing it pop up in certain blog posts as the year goes on.
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5 stars/8.82
Page count: 336 pages
Day(s) read: 2.27 - 2.28
Final thoughts: Plain old historical fiction isn't usually my thing, but Asha Lemmie wrote my favorite book of 2021 (Fifty Words for Rain) so I knew I had to see what her sophomore novel was all about. And while I didn't love it as much as Fifty Words, I still really enjoyed it. The characters especially really stood out to me. I could feel Delphine getting older and wiser with every chapter, and she cared so deeply for the people around her it was hard not to fall in love with everyone she interacted with. I think I will keep reading her books, even though I know they're a step out of my comfort zone.
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3 stars/5.00
Page count: 325 pages
Day(s) read: 2.29 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: This was a really last minute addition to this month's reading, because I still had not completed the Buzzwordathon prompt for February (I talked about this in my last reading update). The last time I read this was five years ago, so I vaguely remembered the premise but enough time had passed that it was still a refreshing read. You all know romance, especially contemporary romance, just isn't my genre. It still isn't, but I can appreciate this book for what it is. I liked all the food and descriptions of Japan, which is why I bought this book in the first place.
Nonfiction
Genre: Memoir, Essay Collection, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4 stars/7.00
Page count: 190 pages
Day(s) read: 2.15 - 2.17
Final thoughts: Fascinating. I'd never read anything from Singapore before, so this was a treat. I thought the author's writing style really lent itself well to the essay format, each essay felt clean and complete, not like they were all blending into each other. My favorite was probably "I Had a Dream I Was Your Hero," as it dealt with Tania really discovering her sexuality and what it meant to be gay in Singapore at the time. But there were many essays in this collection that had a profound impact on me. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys more personal nonfiction.
Genre: History, True Crime, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3 stars/5.64
Page count: 320 pages
Day(s) read: 2.22 - 2.25
Final thoughts: This was a good history of the witch trials, but I think it read just a little too clinical for me. It tried to tap into the personal by imagining how the victims of the witch trials must have felt, but honestly that felt like the author was projecting onto them. In the instances where we had personal journals or records of letters/transcripts, that felt much more genuine. Also, this book didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Of course, I know that's a me problem and not the book's fault, but I do think it's worth mentioning since I feel like the people picking up this book are those who already have at least some knowledge of the witch trials and the people accused in them.
Poetry
(Translated from the German by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)
Genre: Philosophy, Religion
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 166 pages
Day(s) read: 2.13 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: I dog-eared so many poems in this collection. I definitely need to go back and annotate properly, because this was gorgeous. I knew it would be, this isn't my first time reading Rilke, but still. And of course I have to give kudos to the translators, because they managed to keep the cadence of the poetry through the translation, and that isn't always the easiest thing to do.
Manga
Genre: Historical Fiction, Shoujo
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 1,152 pages
Day(s) read: 2.15, 2.19
Final thoughts: This last arc really centered on all of the feels. There were multiple moments I had while reading these volumes where I had to set the book down and squee, kicking my legs like a little girl. Despite how serious the story is getting, with all out war approaching and Yona trapped where she can't escape, the softness in these characters is only growing mushier, and I couldn't be happier about that.
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Total page count: 4,935 pages
Favorite book of February: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
DNF's this month: If On a Winter's Night, a Traveler by Italo Calvino
No unfinished books this month
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And that's it for February! Despite being in a very bad depressive spiral, looking back on it I actually had a really good reading month. Almost everything was a four or five star, and the couple three stars were still decent reads.
One thing that hurts is that I only read one book from my physical TBR. Ouch. Not that reading from my library is a bad thing, I just really wanted to focus on the books I own this year. I think in March I'm going to take a step back from my library.
(Well, I already have four books checked out, so after those.)
Until next time, friends!
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