It's amazing how your reading months can vary. In January I was up and down like a yo-yo, anything from 2 star reads to 5. February has been much more on an even keel, mainly 4s and certainly no 2s!
Anyway, the books. I read 11 last month - given February is a short month that's quite surprising for me but there you go, if life actually made sense where on Earth would we be...
9. The Pavilion in the Clouds - Alexander McCall Smith
10. Midwinter Murders - Agatha Christie which I briefly spoke about in that link.
11. Blind Descent - Nevada Barr
12. To Be Taught if Fortunate - Becky Chambers
13. The Willows in Winter - William Horwood. Delightful sequel to The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
14. Murder Before Evensong - The Reverand Richard Coles
15. Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen - Fay Weldon. This novella length non-fiction book features letters Fay Weldon sent to her, non-existant niece, Alice, after said niece had told her she found Jane Austen 'boring'. I must admit I thought Alice was a real person, but she's not, so it's a bit confusing. Regardless, I enjoyed these essays on Jane and her life, there's a lot of background on what life was like for middle and upper-class women in the early 1800s and I found it fascinating.
16.The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer. This was a reread of one of my favourite Regency romances by Heyer, this is probably my third reading of it but it still felt fresh and delightful.
17. Washington Black - Esi Edugyen
18. Red Sauce Brown Sauce - Felicity Cloake. Non-fiction about a journalist who cycles around the UK looking at what we Brits eat for breakfast, regional variations that kind of thing. Very enjoyable, I have another book by her where she goes to France for the same reason so I look forward to reading that.
19. Ship of Magic - Robin Hobb. A reread of book 1 of Hobb's 'Liveship Trader' series which I read 10 years ago. I want to read book 2 and didn't think I'd remember enough about it to understand what was going on. Loved it all over again and can't wait to start on book 2 now. The review I did of The Ship of Magic, back in 2013, is HERE.
So those are my 11 books... 9 fiction, 2 non-fiction. There was one 3 star (Washington Black), seven 4 stars, and three 5 star reads (Blind Descent by Nevada Barr, The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer, and Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb). I mainly stayed in the UK this month but did several forays to Sri Lanka, New Mexico in the USA, and Barbados, Canada and Morroco in Washington Black. So that's not bad really.
Favourite book? Not easy when I consider February to have been an excellent month for books, much better than January. But if pushed it would be this:
Blind Descent by Nevada Barr had me on the edge of my seat following claustrobic Anna Pigeon into the depths of the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Fantastic. Honorable mentions, well both of my 5 star rereads, but also Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles, To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers and The Pavilion in the Clouds by Alexander McCall Smith.
I hope February was a good reading month for you, and that you're keeping well and staying sane in these crazy times.
20 comments:
A great selection of books and authors in February, such a good mix of genres!
I have been following your mid-month posts, so many of your titles have already been added to my 'wish list', so just a quick recap from me about the ones which particularly caught my eye.
Numbers:- 9, 10, 14, are definites, with 16 and 17 on the possible list.
I have never really checked out Alexander McCall Smith on FF before and had no idea what a prolific author he is. Much as I would like to, I can't ever see me being able to catch up with any of his series stories, however, I had no idea that his stand alone novel collection is quite so interesting, so reading 'The Pavilion In The Clouds' soon, is a must for me.
I managed to read five books in February, although my last review isn't going to post until today, so I'll take that as one for March and revise February to four!
'Death Of A Mermaid' by Lesley Thomson - 5* Thriller
'One Mistake' by Rona Halsall - 5* Thriller
'Bellevue' by Alison Booth - 4* Australian Fiction
'Her First Child' by Sheryl Browne - 5* Thriller
We are both well and hope that you and P are too - although I can't really vouch for being sane!! :)
As usual you far exceed anyone else I know! lol.. I love you!
Yvonne: Glad to have added a few books to your wishlist, though if you're like me it's unlikely that all of them will get read. LOL
Yes, McCall Smith is hugely prolific. I have read quite a number of his books but have come to a halt with his series in the way that some people do. But I was very surprised at how interesting The Pavilion in the Clouds turned out to be. It's written in a very thought provoking manner and would be well worth your time.
Your books have clearly all been really good in February and that's all you can ask for I think.
Yes, we're ok too and I can't vouch for being sane either. :-)
Pat: LOL... a lot of people read far more books than I do. I just saw someone on Twitter who'd read 28. Yes, 28! Love you too!
AMS just amazes me. He is about six months younger than I am, and I feel like he has lived 10 lifetimes in my 1! haha. He has enormous energy. Whew.
I've never been much of a re-reader but I've been doing quite a bit in the past months. With some of the books, I wonder if I ever read them before!
You had some great February reads, Cath. I am very fond of McCall Smith's work, so it was great to see some of that here. And Nevada Barr writes such great thrillers, doesn't she? I'm always drawn in with her plots. There's a few in your post that I want to try, too. Yes, a good month and a productive one, and that's great!
What a variety of books you read. And so many, and many of them sound like a lot of fun to read. I only read 6 in February and some of those were very short and easy reads. I have been reading the Mary S. Lovell book about the Mitfords all month, very slowly.
I am going to have to look into Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen. I have a lot of books by Georgette Heyer, unread. I am glad to see that one of them is The Nonesuch, since you have enjoyed it three times.
Glad you didn't run into any 2-star books in February! And you read quite a variety. Blind Descent is the one I really want to read. It's going on my summer reading list. :D
Some people don't like The Nonesuch because of the misunderstanding about the brats but I am a big fan. Sir Waldo is delightful, as is Julian. I enjoy a heroine who works for a living and is a bit older. The family she works for is hilarious but treats her well. The glimpse of country entertainment is well done and contrasts well with the parties her heroines enjoying London attend.
My library has the Evensong book so it is now on hold! Sounds just my thing.
Nan: AMS is amazing, I completely agree!
I'm not much of a rereader either, never have been apart from one or two authors like Georgette Heyer. But, like you, I'm doing more these days and also, like you, wondering if I ever read them at all. So much I'd forgotten.
Margot: AMS and Nevada Barr are such different writers that it's amazing I can enjoy them both so much... but I do. Nevada Barr's plots always gallop at full pace and all you can do is hang on to your seat. LOL!
Tracy: Yes, I like variety in my reading but that can be drawback as I want to read 'everything' and own everything too. My tbr pile is ridiculous. I think when you're reading a big, thick book as you did with AK and now the Mitford sisters book, it slows your reading down somewhat. You have a treat in store with reading Georgette Heyer for the first time. They're huge fun and light relief from heavier tomes.
Lark: Nope, no 2 star read this month. Thank goodness as I honestly do not like doing that. Blind Descent would be great for a summer reading list. Another really good one in the series is A Superior Death... that's a diving one set set around Lake Superior.
Constance: I actually like the misunderstanding about the brats. Great fun! Like you, I like Sir Waldo and Julian and the older, more experienced heroine whose worth the hero sees immediately. I have a fancy to reread more GH now but can't decide which. I'm thinking of Lady of Quality or The Black Sheep. Hope you enjoy Murder Before Evensong when you get to it.
I laughed right out loud when I read your reply!
You did have a good reading month, Cath! I've only read Blind Descent out of your list, but even though it was many years ago, I still remember a lot about it. I ought to reread it. LOL
Nan: Old age, eh? Not for cissies.
Kay: Thank you, yes I was very pleased with most of the books and even the one I wasn't so thrilled with, I still got plenty from it.
Blind Descent is one of those books impossible to forget! I'm pretty sure it will be on my favourites list come the end of the year.
Blind Descent is one of my all-time favorite Anna Pigeon mysteries.
I've read the first book in the Barr series, but for some reason, I haven't ever continued with it. I need to! I've never been to Carlsbad in real life even though it's less than a day's drive from me. Maybe I'll only ever visit in fiction since I don't love caves. Bats! *Shudders*
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