February and March Titles // 2020

On our daily morning walk around Ft. Langley; the Fraser River and blue sky

Although you maybe can't tell from this bulky list below, but February and March were fairly terrible reading months for me, February in particular. So much so that I didn't bother creating it's own blog post, simply because there'd be almost nothing on it! Thankfully I had quite a few books that I'd been reading for some time (Railroad, and Landline) so that I could just quickly finish them up, and with two books under 130 pages a piece this list looks bigger than it should. I've rounded out this list nicely with 3 memoirs, 3 fiction books, and 1 of poetry. Next month should look quite different as I'm also leading a co-op book club, reading some nonfiction (psychology), and will have finished up three different books with the kids (all different subjects in their homeschooling curriculum) that we're just on the tail-end of now.

This pandemic has closed all the libraries in my area (yours too, right?) and I hate audio and ebooks. I'm actually excited to not be 'allowed' any more library books-I've got scads of excellent books I've bought over the years that have just been waiting for me to crack open-but the new tantalizing stuff at the library keeps getting in the way! That...and all the books I've collected over the years from my travels but have yet to read simply because I own them and there's no pressure to get to them.

What are you reading these days?


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - I finished this at the beginning of February, and it was a book I read with 3 friends who live all over the US-we do our book club via the Marco Polo app and I love it. We've read some EXCELLENT books thus far and are always throwing out more. This book is....very hard to read. This subject simply can't be written about without the violence and abject human depravity that slavery entails. This won two major awards --The National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-- and it's no wonder. It is creatively written and visceral. I don't know that I 'liked' this book because the subject matter is so atrocious, but what I can agree with is this book is very important, and probably the most realistic I've come across.

Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey - This is a memoir written by Bessey, a local writer and pastor in our area, after her car accident that changed everything, but before the death of her best friend-that also changed everything. It's absolutely beautiful and raw and humble and kind. It's the story, alongside how the crash utterly changed her life, about her diversion from God and back again through a very unlikely religious experience.

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson - This is another  memoir that is less on the spiritual side (though written by a famous Christian artist), more on the artwork itself. It sort of felt like a mashup of memoir, how-to, encouragement, and 'accidents' along the way. I liked it but only a solid good...maybe 3.5 stars. If you like Peterson's work and follow him and his music/writing regularly, you may love this. I really only know him as the author of the Wingfeather Saga (and only because I bought the first book for Lukka's Christmas gift) so I really have no attachment to reach from.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet - A charming little ridiculous British book about the Queen and her confused kitchen boy who becomes librarian-in-waiting. Silly, under 150 pages, and very funny.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell - This book was the last of the fiction books I'd needed to read of RR's, and to be honest, it took me the longest. It was okay, and it was definitely the voice of Rowell that I love in her books, but it was less interesting, to me, than some of her other works like Attachments and Eleanor and Park. I won't be reading her fan-fic (I have no desire), but it won't stop me from reading any other books she publishes that have that Omaha/star-crossed lover feel. I feel like I was biased going into this and would like it no matter what, but it's probably my least favorite of the four of her stand-alone novels.

Enough by Shauna M. Ahern - This was a memoir that I loved. I've been following Shauna, aka Gluten-free Girl, for about 15 years-when I was first diagnosed as celiac and no one else knew what that word meant. She had written a memoir and had a beautiful blog through recipes. Now, I'm reading her memoir about her childhood through the disaster of her homemade flour business (that I nearly bought from!) and all the crazy, wonderful, and shitty things in between that make up a life. All of it felt new because it was all the 'hidden' stuff--her blog was beautiful and inspiriting--and this was far more interesting and real. If the title gives you any hint of what the book is about--Enough (!)--it's a good name. These stories are all the ways she grew into herself and finally said enough, this is who I am. I loved it.

The Paintings of Our Lives by Grace Schulman - This was such an unexpected lovely bit to my reading this month! As I mentioned above, I've been gearing up for reading from my shelves, and I randomly pulled this title from my poetry shelf--I don't even remember where I got it--and thought the cover looked interesting (yes, I judge covers, too). Schulman's poetry is just what I love in poetry: beautifully descriptive and clear with excellent endings and, in this case, fusing a lot of art (music and paintings) within the subject matter. I really enjoyed it!