I read some really great books in February. There was only one book that was MEH for me and it was a Net Galley. Those are always a bit hit and miss. Oh, there was one book that I DNF’ed, but that one isn’t counted here.
Here’s a short recap of the books I read in February…
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I received this book for Christmas this year and was really looking forward to reading it. I read it after finishing my January reading and before receiving my Book of the Month subscription.
The Midnight Library examines all of the choices that go into a life well lived as the protagonist, Nora Seed finds herself faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one in which she made a different, *better* decision. Nora must search within herself as she travels through the “midnight library” to decide what is truly meaningful in her life and what makes it worth living. She must decide all of this before time runs out.
I loved The Midnight Library and the way it examines regrets, mental health, and our memories. It was a very introspective book that I thoroughly enjoyed!
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
The Kindest Lie was a Book of the Month choice for February. It deals with topics of race and motherhood.
This novel is set in 2008 right after the inauguration of Obama as the first black president, ushering in a new kind of hope for many of the characters, especially Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-league black engineer married to a kind and successful man. Ruth’s husband is eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain because of her secret past…a past that she must make peace with before she is able to move forward.
Ruth travels to her hometown, an Indiana factory town plagued by unemployment, racism and despair, and uncovers a secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden.
Send for Me by Lauren Fox
Send for Me by Lauren Fox is a historical fiction novel set during World War II. It moves between this time period and present day Wisconsin.
In the WWII German timeline, Annalise is a young Jewish woman realizing the dangers of the time she is living in. She and her husband are able to escape with their toddler daughter, but she has to leave behind her parents, whose future and safety are uncertain.
Two generations later, Annalise’s granddaughter, Clare, stumbles upon her grandmother’s letters from Germany and sees the history of her family’s sacrifices in a new light.
Send for Me was emotional and felt so very real. It explores the relationship between mothers and daughters, duty and obligation and hope and forgiveness.
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Infinite Country was another Book of the Month choice for me in February. It offers an intimate perspective on an experience that so many in our country have experienced and are enduring right now.
Elena and Mauro leave their home in Colombia and set their sights on a better life in the United States after their daughter is born. They send wages back to Elena’s mother and weigh the risk of overstaying their tourist visas or return to an uncertain future of economic hardship in their war-torn home. Two more children are added to their family and they move multiple times, ignoring their exit dates and living in the precarious state of being an undocumented immigrant. Eventually Mauro is deported and Elena must make a devastating choice that will ease her burden, but further splinter her family.
Infinite Country is written from a place of personal connection and it shows in the way it handles the experiences of the characters and gives them a voice.
I am so glad that I read this story. It is one that needs to be told and read with empathy.
Nobody, Somebody, Anybody by Kelly McClorey
I received an advanced reader copy (ARC) of Nobody, Somebody, Anybody from NetGalley. It it set to release in July. It was my one meh read for this month.
This novel is about an anxious young woman who administers a “placebo” treatment to herself in a last-ditch effort to rebuild her life. In the end she doesn’t move forward much at all and I’m not sure if she has learned or received the help she needs in order to move her life forward. I ended up not caring a whole lot about Amy or her “placebo” treatment as she continued to make terrible choices and spiral out of control.
This novel attempts to explore a young women’s inner world of grief, delusion and self-loathing but doesn’t quite hit the mark.
The Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
I received The Silver Sparrow to read along with the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club in the fall, but I never actually got around to reading it in the fall. I pulled it off of my TBR shelf as I began to read through my list in February.
I should have read it earlier because it was such a good read! I enjoy Tayari Jones’ writing so much and I should have known I would have loved this one.
The Silver Sparrow is set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s and revolves around the two families of James Witherspoon. Yes, I said TWO families of James Witherspoon–the public and secret one. The two daughters of these families meet become friends and only one of them knows they are sisters. This relationship is one that is destined to explode and impact everyone around them.