February 2024 Wrap-Up and March TBR
Plus March releases on my radar and our next Booker of the Month pick.
Hi, book friends.
Happy March! Spring starts this month! Daylight Saving Time starts next weekend! It’s going to be 65 and sunny where I live tomorrow! It’s amazing how these things can make life feel so much brighter, don’t you think?
At nearly 24 weeks, I’m finally feeling so much more like myself. I’m no longer sick, and while I definitely still have some very tired days, my motivation and executive function seem to have (mostly) returned. So I’m spending this weekend digging out of my snowballed to-do list so I can embrace March with a fresh, clean slate. Starting with this newsletter! (I wrote all nine of the book reviews linked below yesterday, lol.)
Let’s get into it, shall we?
What I Read in February
Click each title to read the full review!
Loved
The Book of Love by Kelly Link* 📖🎧: Pick this one up if you want to get lost in a sweeping story with excellent characters and weird magic and all the feels.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey 🎧: All vibes, no plot set in outer space, but it’s not sci-fi. It’s a gorgeous meditation on the Earth, what makes us human, and what connects us.
Liked a lot
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. Maas 📖
Ædnan: An Epic by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel* 📖🎧
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino* 🎧
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange* 📖🎧
Liked
The Eternal Ones (The Gilded Ones, #3) by Namina Forna* 📖
How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney* 📖
Just OK
The Future by Naomi Alderman* 📖🎧
*gifted to me by the publisher
My March TBR
If you recall, last month I couldn’t choose between all the books on my TBR, so I knew I wasn’t going to get to all of them. Sure enough, you’ll recognize some of the books below as carryovers.
But this month is actually doable! Yes, there are 12 books on the list, which is more than my usual self-imposed limit of 10, but looking at page count, this TBR is right on par with how much I read in both January and February. (I’ve already read 6 books with more than 500 pages this year. 😅)
I’m also determined to get “caught up” on ARCs, which in my mind means finishing anything publishing the first few weeks of the next month (in this case, April) by the end of the current month (March). I want to start sharing reviews on pub day or before. Hold me accountable, fam!
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo: Publishing 4/9. I’ve already started this one, and I’m really enjoying it so far. Hoping to finish it up quick so I can send this traveling ARC to the next person!
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft*: Publishing 3/5. Jennifer Croft is an all-star translator (and great person), and I can’t wait to read this novel by her.
Sunbringer (Godkiller, #2) by Hannah Kaner*: Publishing 3/12. I was a big fan of Godkiller, and I’m excited to read the sequel!
James by Percival Everett*: Publishing 3/19, and one of the most critically anticipated books of the year. It’s finally time!!! I’m extra pumped to have gotten an early audio copy thanks to Libro.fm and PRH Audio so I can listen along as I read.
The Morningside by Téa Obreht*: Publishing 3/19. I’d read Téa Obreht’s grocery list. Bring it on!
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀: This month’s Booker of the Month (more below!).
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke*: Publishing 4/9. Is there any genre Avid Reader Press can’t tackle? This sounds so good!
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods (To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, #1) by Molly X. Chang*: Publishing 4/16. One of the year’s most hyped debut fantasy novels, on deck.
Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes: A friend very kindly and thoughtfully sent me a copy of this book when she heard that I was expecting, saying it had made her feel super powerful. I read and liked Garbes’ Essential Labor, so I’m excited!
Tadek and the Princess by Alexandra Rowland: This is a fun, author-published novella about one of the secondary characters in A Taste of Gold and Iron, which was my favorite fantasy novel of 2022 and a book I consider rereading at least once a week, lol.
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James*: This one has hung out on my TBR for too long. It’s time!
Faebound (Faebound, #1) by Saara El-Arifi*: Ditto! ^^
*gifted to me by the publisher
March Booker of the Month
ICYMI, I run a book club called Booker of the Month, where we read one book from the Booker Prize longlist each month. There are 13, so we double up just once, and by the time next year’s longlist is announced, we’ll have read them all.
This month’s selection is A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀. Join us!!
Find it on The StoryGraph or Goodreads
Sign up for our Zoom discussion on Monday, March 25 at 8 PM ET
March hot releases
I keep a running list of new releases I’m excited for on my Bookshop storefront. Just a few that I have my eye on in February include:
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle by Anna Shechtman
James by Percival Everett
The Morningside by Téa Obreht
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
Bunyan and Henry; Or, the Beautiful Destiny by Mark Cecil
As always, thanks for sharing your corner of the internet with me! It would mean a lot if you were to take a second to like this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, too.
Finally, if you like this newsletter, please send a few friends my way.
See you on Instagram!
— Deedi (she/her)
I hope you love James as much as I did! Wandering Stars will definitely be soon for me and I would like to also read Aednan!
i hope you love THE MARS HOUSE as much as i did 👏