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.
The Proof of My Innocence (Jonathan Coe): This is up there as one of the best books I’ve ever read. Coe is always reliably good, but this book is incredible. Sort of a mystery. Sort of not. Thought-provoking, mind-bending. Wow. I’m just blown away by this one. It will leave you thinking about it for weeks afterward.
Big Swiss (Jen Beagin): A friend recommended it, and I put off reading it because I wasn’t sure I would like it. Big mistake. It’s a great story with great characters – every one of them. Except one, but he’s terrible so it’s okay not to like him. It’s being turned into a television show with Jodie Comer as Flavia. I think it will be fantastic.
The Potting Shed Murder (Paula Sutton): This is the sweetest book – the perfect book to read when overwhelmed by the world. I passed it along to ChickieNob the moment I was finished because everyone needs a chance to spend time with kind characters in a beautiful space. I love Pudding Corner. I loved that I guessed every piece of this mystery. It was the least stressful and loveliest read. I am pre-ordering the next book in the series.
What did you read last month?
1 comment
A friend recommended Big Swiss to me — we’re considering it for the book club we co-host. 🙂 Glad to hear you enjoyed it too!
I finished four books in February (yay me) — all reviewed on Goodreads & StoryGraph, as well as my blog:
* “The Mad Woman’s Ball” by Victoria Mas (the March book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). The book is based in fact (!), set at the Salpetriere asylum for insane women in Paris in 1885, and focusing on the stories of two women — a matron who works there, and the daughter of an affluent family who commit her when she confesses that she sees dead people. This was a relatively short, quick read, with a story that builds steadily to the climactic event: a Lenten ball where the female patients are allowed to dress up and mingle with the citizens of Paris, who come there to gawk at them. While it’s not a book I would have likely picked up on my own, it was interesting. Still, I felt a certain emotional distance from it all — maybe because it was translated from the original French? 3-3.5 stars.
* “The Mermaid of Black Conch” by Monique Roffey (the April selection for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). Fantasy/mythology/etc. are generally not my thing, but once I picked this up, I found it hard to put down, and I wound up loving it. It’s set (mostly) in 1976 on a small Caribbean island, and told from the viewpoints of several different characters. The main narrator is David, a fisherman who spots a mermaid one day (!) and then comes to her rescue when she’s caught by two American fishermen. He hides her at home, intending to return her to the sea — but before he can do that, she begins to transform back into the human woman she once was — and of course he falls in love with her. Sad but sweet. It surprised me and touched me. 4 -4.5 stars.
* “Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney (another book club read). The story of two brothers, mourning the recent death of their father: there’s Peter, a 32-year-old human rights lawyer, who is juggling relationships with two different women as his life falls apart, and Ivan, a geeky 22-year-old chess prodigy who becomes involved with 36-year-old Margaret.
The brothers are very different — and grief, and their different ways of dealing with it, has only emphasized the chasm that’s grown between them over the years. The book moves between Peter and Ivan’s viewpoints (as well as Margaret’s), with a clear shift in the writing style for each character. I’ll admit I found it hard to get into, but I stuck with it, and it ultimately won me over — particularly in the final 1/3 or so, as the brothers begin to realize the toll that their grief has taken on them, and on their relationships, with each other and others. 4 stars. (P.S. & FYI: The steamy sex scenes that seem to be a staple of Rooney’s books are also present here in abundance!)(lol!)
* “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach. I’ve had this on my to-read list after recommendations from multiple friends & people I follow online, including (I think?) you, Mel! as well as Jess at A Different Path and Modern Mrs. Darcy. I had to put it off while I caught up on book club obligations, but it was worth the wait,and I am recommending this for my Nomo book club. The premise is a little grim (attempted suicide), but there’s a lot of humour as well as fantasy/wish fulfillment (lavish wedding at a swanky Rhode Island inn). There are some sharp observations about marriage and weddings, grief and loss, and friendships and how they change over time. 5 stars was tempting, but I ultimately gave it a rating of 4-4.5 stars.
Leave a Comment