Another month is just about over and although and I'm happy to say goodbye to it. Books were something I found to be a pleasant diversion from life. I read (12) books in February and enjoyed most of them an awful lot.
February Reads
- The Heights; Louise Candlish - 4/5 stars (February)
- These Silent Woods; Kimi Cunningham Grant - 4.5/5 stars
- Wintering: The Power of Rest & Retreat in Difficult Times; K May - 5/5 stars
- The End of Getting Lost; Robin Kirman - 3.5/5 stars
- To Paradise; Hanya Yanagihara - 3.5/5 stars
- The Elephant of Belfast; S. Kirk Walsh - 4/5 stars
- Love, Robert Sabuda - 5/5 stars
- The Golden Couple; Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen - 4/5 stars
- The Swimmers; Julie Otsuka - 4.5/5
- The Authenticity Project; Clare Pooley - 4/5 stars (book group read)
- A Town Called Solace; Mary Lawson - 5/5 stars
- Ocean State; Stewart O'Nan - 4/5 stars (no review yet)
I had (2) DNF books in February - both were on audio:
- Vladimir; Julia May Jonas (quit at the 51% mark--pathetic, negative unnamed narrator) - (Feb)
- Will; Will Smith (memoir) (Feb) (was not enjoying the audio AT ALL)
February Favorites
2022 - YTD - 26
March Reading Plans
Greenwich Park; Katherine Faulkner (January List) - 3.5/5 starsThe Paris Apartment;Lucy Foley - 3.5/5 starsVery Cold People; Sarah Manguso - 4/5 starsTalking to the Dead; Helen Dunmore (my shelves) - 4/5 stars- The Overnight Guest; Heather Gudenkauf
French Braid; Ann Tyler - 4.5/5 stars- Black Cake; Charmaine Wilkerson
- Xsabeth; David Keenan
Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals; Laurie Zaleski - 5/5 starsNine Lives; Peter Swanson - 4/5 stars- The Forests; Sandrine Collette
- In His Own Image; Jerome Ferrari
In Love: A Memoir of Loss & Love; Amy Bloom - 4/5 starsThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue; V. E. Schwab (book group pick) 4/5 stars
Hope everyone had a good month!
I love Robert Sabuda. That's a book that is unlikely to be at the library, but I'll definitely look.
ReplyDeleteI've got Paris Apartment, Funny Farm, and Swimmers here now. I need to get busy on these before I have to return them.
You did have a good reading month. Hope March is even better!
Deb, that happens to me often with library books. NEW releases are just 2 weeks with 1 renewal. Funny Farm sounds great for the animal loving reader.
DeleteWow you had 3 5-star books in Feb, that's great!!
ReplyDeleteYes - no too bad. I hope March is as good.
DeleteLots of good books on your March reading list...at least they look like they could be good. Fingers crossed they are! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, I hope we both have a good March...sometimes are best plans don't always work out.
DeleteHi there Diane! A town called Solace reminds me of A town called Alice. One of my all time favorites. I don't recognise any of your February reads, but for March - I can vouch for The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. Loved that one!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week ahead and thanks for stopping by!
I never read that Neville Shute book - I know I should. Glad to read that you enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
DeleteI'm a slow reader these days, with so many distractions you wouldn't know I'm retired, lol. Love that you have read so many books this month.
ReplyDeleteI needed to be distracted by books this month but, I know what you mean - sometimes in retirement we are busier than when we worked.
DeleteI'm really looking forward to the PAris Apartment.
ReplyDeleteI'm about 60% into it right now and am enjoying it enough to continue but, at times there is a lot of nothing going on.
DeleteYou had a great reading month in February, even with two DNF's!
ReplyDeleteYour March plans look great - hope they are good reads.
Have a good weekend!
Thanks Gretchen, I hope March is good for you as well.
DeleteWow great recap. Glad to know the Mary Lawson book is a winner (I liked her debut long ago) so I plan to get to this one too. I'm also pleased to hear The Swimmers novel is one worth pursuing. Your reviews are always so helpful to me. Thanks Diane! You had some great reads in February!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan, I considered February to be a good reading month as well. I hope you will like The Swimmer and A Town Called Solace.
DeleteLooks like you had a really active and successful reading month in the shortest month of the year. I'm not overly familiar with most of the books you read...or will be reading in March...but I look forward to exploring them a little more. You seem to have had a particularly negative reaction to Will Smith's book...is he the narrator?
ReplyDeleteWill Smith does narrate the audio book, WILL, and, it wasn't exactly his voice that I had a problem with it was all this background clips and music that I found annoying and distracting - I'm kind of noise sensitive and can't stand the tv on too loud or loud music.
DeleteYou had a great month, especially since it's a short one. I hope/plan to read Wintering, The Golden couple, The Swimmers, A Town Called Solace and Ocean State. Thanks for including your DNF. I sampled A LOT of books from my backlist shelves and gave up after just a few pages. I think there were at least a dozen that didn't interest me in the least.
ReplyDeleteI need to sample books more often before requesting audios. Lately, I am having trouble enjoying some British narrators. Ocean State had a teen sounding narrator which was age appropriate for the story but, I didn't really care for her. Swimmers was one I loved and A Town Called Solace (not audio) was excellent as well.
DeleteYou did well to do 12 books for February, Diane. I'll watch for what you think about Greenwich Park. I read it and well, it's the one that made me take a break from the psycho thriller books. I do want to read The Overnight Guest perhaps in March. Or maybe I'll just stick with my 'catching up' on favorite series quest. I'm definitely enjoying that. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteI've been putting Greenwich Park off but, may read the print as I've been having issues with some British narrators.
DeleteI read the The Authenticity Project for book club also. I was afraid it would bomb for our discussion but it generated quite a good one. My Sunday Salon post
ReplyDeleteGlad your group liked that one as well Anne.
DeleteFantastic job!!! Happy March!
ReplyDeleteThanks and same to you Freda.
DeleteVicki, you may like the audiobook, WILL. I am noise sensitive and they is a lot of background clip and music as well when he is speaking that was distracting for me.
ReplyDeleteFunny about Will Smith, we don't really care much for loud either.
ReplyDeleteI guess there are a lot of us Brian.
DeleteThat's quite a line-up for March. Good luck with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dorothy. I always plan for more than I know I will actually read:)
DeleteGood luck with your March reading! I really liked Addie LaRue.
ReplyDeleteI've seen many favorable review of Addie LaRue - I'm curious as it is not the kind of story I am normally drawn to.
DeleteI'd love to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - have heard so much about it, so I'll be looking forward to your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of your February books though The Swimmers is at the top of my list. I love that you enjoyed most of your Feb reads. Hope your March is as enjoyable!
Glad to read that you loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It's another book I would have passed on had it not been a book group pick.
DeleteYou had a great reading month! I'm happy to see A Town Called Solace among your favorites... I can't imagine it not being one of my favorites for the year!
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you so much for blogging about it; I bet it will make my faves as well.
DeleteI also have the Paris Apartment and Black Cake on my TBR shelves so I look forward to seeing what you think of both those books.
ReplyDeleteBlack Cake has me curious - I like the setting for sure so I hope the story works out once I begin.
DeleteSo glad you loved Wintering. I laughed out loud at your DNF comment: 'Pathetic, negative, unamed narrator'. I love it. That would've seen me gone too. Looks like you have some interesting books lined up for the rest of March.
ReplyDelete