What to read in February 2025

Diving into the Digital Stacks

One thing about me when it comes to reading? I’m always open to a change of plans! At the start of the year, I set out to tackle my towering book stacks—but conveniently forgot about the treasure trove hiding in my digital library. A quick count revealed nine different apps on my phone for reading or listening to books, plus three more for rating and organizing them. (Side note: Does anyone have more apps? What’s your favorite?)

Between these apps, I had over 100 books waiting to be read—books I’d enthusiastically downloaded and then…forgotten. So, in the spirit of tackling my literary backlog, I explored my digital stacks this month.

February’s Stack Selection: Another False Start

It’s official: I’ve started a trend. Once again, the first book I picked up this month turned out to be a dud. This also happened in January, which led me to embrace a new reading mantra: It’s okay to move on! If a book isn’t clicking, I’m not forcing it. Just because someone else raved about it doesn’t mean it’s for me—and that’s totally fine.

Now, let’s get to the books that did hold my attention!

Digital Nonfiction for the Win

Revisionaries: What We Can Learn from the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Writers by Kristopher Jansma

I picked this one up because I’m a writer, but I think any book lover would enjoy it! Jansma pulls back the curtain on famous authors whose careers included some major flops (spoiler: that’s almost all of them). Whether it was self-doubt, writer’s block, or an overzealous editor, there are plenty of reasons why certain works never made it big. But the most fascinating part? The manuscripts that mysteriously surfaced after an author’s death.

It made me think about social media—how we only see the polished highlights. Revisionaries gives us the behind-the-scenes version of literary success, and I loved every minute of it.

Audiobooks Are Back!

This month, I also borrowed Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell from the library, and wow—what an intense, gripping listen! The book tackles the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, an issue that affects American Indian and Alaska Native communities at devastatingly high rates. Cobell’s storytelling makes this crisis deeply personal, turning statistics into real, unforgettable characters. It’s the kind of book that stays with you long after you’ve finished.

So, that’s my February reading roundup! What books are you loving this month? And seriously, how many reading apps do you have?