What did you read in February?

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

March has roared in like the lion in the saying, so let's take a moment to reflect on how we did with our reading in February. What did you accomplish? What were your favorites? What do you wish you'd skipped?

[Not_Your_Typical_Lannister (Leslie)]

I did well for Feb. completing:

-Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1)
Hobb, Robin *

-A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
Martin, George R.R. ***I started this in Jan.

-The Duck Commander Family
Robertson, Willie

-The Last Anniversary
Liane Moriarty
____________________________

But I had some less successful reads that I just did not continue with as I became uninterested:

-Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things
Lawson, Jenny

-Landline
Rowell, Rainbow

-The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga, #1)
Stewart, Mary

I may or may not go back and finish some of them as I think I suffered a slight reading slump or was just in a rotten mood.

[Not_Your_Typical_Lannister (Leslie)]

Oh and A Game of Thrones was by far my favorite of the bunch, and Assassin's Apprentice the least favorite of the bunch.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Things I finished in February...

Shakespeare's Sonnets 18-30**
Landline (BuddyRead)**
Death of a Valentine**
Precious**
One Night**

From the Vorkosigan Saga...
The Mountains Of Mourning**
Barrayar**
The Warrior's Apprentice**
The Vor Game**

I also chipped away at a few things that I won't finish until March.

My favorites all came from the Virkosigan Saga. Not a disappointment in the lot. I could have skipped any of the others, but they helped me complete some mini-challenges and earn some badges so no complaints. Also, it's good for me to vary things up a bit once in awhile. :)

[Holly, That Geeky One]

I did a bit of research when you started reading the Virkosigan Saga, Renee, and they sound like great books!

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Read 16 total

My favorites were:

Re-read of the vintage YA Deenie
Discovering and reading a trilogy, starting with Dark Currents
The Big Sleep
Firefight

Disappointments:
With This Ring

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

They're so much fun, Holly! I'm starting to worry that I need to pace myself so I don't burn through the series with nothing left. (But the rereads, of course.)

I never read, Deenie, Erin. Sounds like it's worth a peek.

[Cindy]

February was not a good reading month. No books that really impressed me. If I had to pick the best book of February it would have to be Uneasy Money by P.G. Wodehouse. I did read some great short stories by Amelia Edwards

[Martha]

I read a few books for book discussions at my local library, as well as for my book group. I also read some for pleasure and to meet some book challenges. I read seven total and these included:

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (Loved this)
Graceling by Kristin Cashore (eh - for a library book group discussion)
The Four Swans by Winston Graham (sixth book of the Poldark series that I'm working on completing this year
Pax by Sarah Pennypacker (very good middle grade book)
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez for Everybody Reads through a local library
Black Man in a White Coat by Damon Tweedy
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill

[Gavin]

I enjoyed my reads in February:
El hombre duplicado
Spice & Wolf, Vol. 9: The Town of Strife II
The Color Purple
Mansfield Park
Anne of the Island
Spice & Wolf, Vol. 10
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

If I had to pick favorites I'd go with The Color Purple and TLoEG. The former for being hard-hitting, but also a story of overcoming hard obstacles, and the latter for Alan Moore's masterful weaving of many different stories into a single unified universe.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Nice eclectic collection of reads, Gavin. It must have been a fun month!

[Jenn]

I got sidetracked from reading new books part way through the month into rereading the Sartorias-deles books by Sherwood Smith, which is really fun as reading them all in a row I'm catching interesting connections and details I'd missed before.

Anyway, of the new reads, the ones I enjoyed finishing reading the Rome sub rosa series by Steven Saylor, but didn't enjoy the prequels as much (I haven't finished reading the second one yet). Most of the rest were good - although I found The King's Peace hard going, even though it was very interesting worldbuilding.

[Willadale]

Under the Sheets by Shirley Hailstock
The Amish Clock Maker by Mindy Starns Clark
Thanksgiving, 1942 by Alan Simon
If You Lived Here, I"d Know Your Name by Heather Lende

I generally have at least two books "on the go" at one time - one on my browser and one on my e-Reader.

"Under the Sheets" should have had a different title since one could easily mislead by the existing title. It actually was a mystery with some very interesting twists and turns.

"Thanksgiving, 1942" is set in Pittsburgh, PA and gave interesting insight into what life was like during WWII.

The Lende book was a fascinating look at life in small-town Alaska written by the obituary writer for the local newspaper.

[The Raven King]

Cuckoos calling
The wrath and the dawn
Quiet
Never let me go

[Marina]

I seem to have read a lot of books in February! Here's my list:

Villette - which I actually read mostly in January, but finished up in February
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death
Contes du jour et de la nuit - no English translation
A Game of Thrones - one of my favorites in February
Franny and Zooey
Messenger - loved it!
The Sunday Philosophy Club
Bloodsucking Fiends - disappointing
The Experiment
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Il paradiso brucia e altre poesie - no English translation, my favorite in February
Phèdre
La rigenerazione - no English translation

All in all a good though not exceptional month. Still no 5 stars so far this year.

[Holly, That Geeky One]

Marina, that's an insane list! Especially with monster books like Game of Thrones!

[Jenny, Certified Bookworm]

Marina- Did you like Villette?

[Marina]

Haha, thanks Holly! Actually, I believe it took me only 8-9 days to read A Game of Thrones, I liked it so much I just couldn't stop reading!

Jenny, Villette was okay. Quite nice, but nothing really impressive.

[Margie]

It was a fun reading month. I read The 39 Steps for the 'Back to the Classics Challenge', completed the Very Very Valentine mini-challenge with Nefertiti's Heart, read Eleanor & Park for the monthly genre challenge, and crossed off four prompts on the PopSugar Challenge. I didn't start Middlemarch as planned for Modern Mrs Darcy challenge - maybe this month!

I read 20 books but these were some of my favorites:

The Portable Veblen
The Arrangement
When Breath Becomes Air
The Lake House
Natural Causes
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
The Soul of Discretion

A ridiculous number of books I had on hold at the library have become available (a good problem!) so I'll have a busy reading month in March.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Nice! Those are the problems to have!