My Month in Books
February was a great reading month. I read and/or listened to 19 books, most of which I enjoyed. Here is the rundown.
40 Re-reads Before 40
I read three more books for this project. A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (5 stars) is the first book in the Kinsey Millhone series, which I discovered back when I worked in the public library. Both Kinsey and the 1980s setting held up quite well for me. The English Patient (2 stars), which I read in college, was a dud for me this time around. The writing I found so beautiful as a 20-year-old felt saccharine to me now. Wise Blood (5 stars) was a last-minute addition to my list, inspired by my recent obsession with classic Catholic novels. The audiobook read by Bronson Pinchot is excellent; if you're a first time Flannery reader, I think audio is the way to experience this book.
Read-Alouds
I read these three books for homeschool. Joseph Haydn The Merry Little Peasant (3 stars) was our music appreciation title for the month and Amos Fortune Free Man (5 stars) was our lunchtime read-aloud. Amos Fortune was excellent, and my three oldest kids were all really invested in it. I read The Golden Bull (3 stars) to my six-year-old as a supplement to her recent studies about ancient Mesopotamia. It was perfect for her, as she prefers (like I do) to get her historical information through story.
Challenges and Book Clubs
My in-person book club discussed the first half of Purgatorio this month, but I'm reading The Divine Comedy as a single volume so although I've finished Purgatorio, it doesn't count as read just yet. I read the ebook copy of Must Love Books (5 stars) that I won in a Goodreads giveaway for the Read Your Bookshelves challenge, the February prompt for which was to read a book with "love" in the title. I read As I Lay Dying (5 stars) along with the Close Reads podcast, and it also counted for the Buzzword read-athon prompt of a book with a pronoun in the title. The End of the Affair (5 stars) and The Moviegoer (4 stars) were two of my modern classics for the #WorldFullofBooks group on Instagram. I counted The End of the Affair as the classic I'd never read before for the Goldberry Reading Challenge. The Hawk (3 stars) was the book my husband and I read and discussed with our Goodreads friend over Zoom.
Mood Reading
I listened to Welcome to Dunder Mifflin (4 stars), which made me really nostalgic for the mid-2000s. I really enjoyed all the behind-the-scenes information about the development of the American version of The Office. I listened to The Odd Couple (5 stars) to see how I would like the audio version of a play, and it was great. I plan to listen to some more productions on Hoopla. Grave Reservations (4 stars) is a cozy mystery with a touch of paranormal fantasy. I really enjoyed the writing. Jacket Weather (5 stars) is a literary fiction novel about two people falling in love in New York City about a decade ago. The writing was excellent, and it made me want to visit New York.
I read two Scarpetta books - The Scarpetta Factor (4 stars) and Port Mortuary (4 stars) - and they were both fine. I'm really glad the author switched back to the first person point of view. I struggled with a lot of her books written in third person. I alternated between audio and paperback for The Winter Lodge (3 stars). It was fine, but not a favorite of the month.
As for the rest of the family's reading...
R. (boy, 23 months):
- Gossie and Friends Say Goodnight by Olivier Dunrea
- 10 Reasons to Love a Bear by Catherine Barr
- 10 Reasons to Love a Turtle by Catherine Barr
- 10 Reasons to Love an Elephant by Catherine Barr
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar's First Spring
A. (girl, 23 months):
- What's in my Truck? by Roger Priddy
- 100 First Words by Edward Underwood
- Mrs. Peanuckle's Bird Alphabet
- Mrs. Peanuckle's Flower Alphabet
E. (girl, 4 years, 4 months):
- Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
- Penny series by Kevin Henkes
- Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley
- George the Drummer Boy by Nathaniel Benchley
- Six Silver Spoons by Janette Sebring Lowery
(These are just a few favorites. She's read nearly 200 easy readers so far this year.)
C. (girl, 6 years, 5 months):
- Freddy and the Ignormus by Walter Brooks
- Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean
- Captains of the City Streets by Esther Averill
- Jenny Goes to Sea by Esther Averill
- The Orphelines in the Enchanted Castle by Natalie Savage Carlson.
M. (girl, 8 years, 3 months):
- The Marquis de Lafayette: Bright Sword for Freedom by Hodding Carter
- Shield Maiden by Stuart Hill
- The Stone Street by Marilyn Tolhurst
- Mission to Marathon by Geoffrey Trease
- Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean
My husband:
- Dumb Cake by Leon Garfield
- Tom Titmarsh's Devil by Leon Garfield
- The Filthy Beast by Leon Garfield
- The Enemy by Leon Garfield
Up Next for Me
I made an actual TBR stack for March because there are quite a few books I want to get to. For the #WorldFullofBooks Irish theme, I have A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners by James Joyce, The King's Prey by Susan Peek, and The Copper Beech and Evening Class by Maeve Binchy. It's also Middle Grade March, and I have two middle grade ARCs I want to read: Birdie's Bargain by Katherine Paterson and Across the Pond by Joy McCullough. I'm also reading 1984 with Close Reads and The Power and the Glory with a small group of Close Reads fans.
I'm adding this post to the link-up for An Open Book at CatholicMom.com.
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