January 2024 Wrap-Up and February TBR
Plus our next Booker of the Month pick and February releases on my radar.
Hi, book friends.
Happy February! Last month was 100 years long and my city only had three days where we got even one hour of sunshine, but we’re already halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and brighter, warmer days are on their way.
January was a good reading month for me, and despite getting off to a slow-ish start, February is shaping up to be even better.
What I read in January
I read 9 books in January, and nearly half of them were rereads. That’s not very typical for me, but I had three different book clubs and a new Sarah J Maas book to prep for! Here’s the recap, with links to reviews for this month’s reads:
Loved
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon: Whew, I’m going to be talking about this one to anyone who will listen for a long time. I want to be the author’s best friend. It’s SO fascinating and well-written. For real.
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar: What a beautiful exploration of the meaning of a death and the choice to live. And that ending! I wish I had a book club to talk about it with.
Liked a lot
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Just okay
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
Rereads
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1) by Sarah J. Maas
House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2) by Sarah J. Maas
My February TBR
I don’t know if it’s the fact that I didn’t read very many new releases in January or the sheer number of amazing books coming out this year (probably both), but I am absolutely starving to just read, read, read.
I typically limit my monthly TBRs to 10 books — that’s been a really comfortable number for me over the past few years — but this time, I just couldn’t do it. There’s too much goodness out there waiting. Plus, I took the Friday before Presidents’ Day off from work, and I’m planning to spend those four full days doing almost nothing but reading, so it’s possible that I could squeeze in a few more than usual.
So this month, I’ve divided my TBR into two piles: definites and possibilities. I’ll prioritize the definites first, and once I’ve finished them, I’ll mood read (!) from the possibility pile.
(Note: books with asterisks were gifted to me by the publisher.)
Definites
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. Maas: Obviously!! I’ve only been reading or rereading her books in preparation since March of last year, after all!
Orbital by Samantha Harvey: A library hold came in. Excited for this one!
How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney*: This month’s Booker of the Month book club selection.
The Book of Love by Kelly Link*: Publishing 2/13. Link is a very decorated speculative short story writer, and now she’s given us a doorstopper debut fantasy novel. Yes please!
The Eternal Ones (The Gilded Ones, #3) by Namina Forna*: Also publishing 2/13. The conclusion to a trilogy!
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange*: Publishing 2/27. This is a highly anticipated 2024 release, the follow-up to Orange’s acclaimed There, There (which I loved).
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft*: Publishing 3/5. I love Jennifer Croft (as a translator and as a person — my friend Bernie and I once chatted with her in line for the coat check at 1 AM after the National Book Awards after-party), and I’m so excited to read her novel.
Sunbringer (Godkiller, #2) by Hannah Kaner*: Publishing 3/12. I loved Godkiller, and I’m psyched for the sequel.
Possibility pile
The Future by Naomi Alderman*: This has carried forward on my TBR for a few months in a row now. Will February finally be the one?
Ædnan: An Epic by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel*: I’ve heard so many good things!
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James*: Again, so many good things!
My Friends by Hisham Matar*: Again again! Good things!
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi*: A hyped fantasy novel that passed me by. Good things!!
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo: Ahhh!! A bookseller friend (@alexreadsall) sent me this review copy, which we’re going to mail around like the sisterhood of the traveling ARC. So I really hope to get to this one in February!
February 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 How to Build a Boat by Elane Feeney. Join us!!
Find it on The StoryGraph or Goodreads
Sign up for our Zoom discussion on Monday, February 26 at 8 PM ET
February 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 Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
Ours by Phillip B Williams
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
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.
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— Deedi (she/her)