Monthly Review – February 2015

Posted February 28, 2015 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Monthly Reading / 4 Comments

The Paying Guests Where has the month gone? I cannot believe that February is over already; time just moves too fast. I feel like this month has been a very busy month with work and life but I cannot really work out what occupied so much of my time. Having said that, in my reading life, I was very happy with February. While I have been making this the year of reading more books in translations and some re-reading, my wife has challenged herself to read a book by an author from every country in the world. This is fantastic challenge that might take her years to complete but it also reminds me that there are some gaps in my reading. On BookTube, there is a lot going around about reading more diversely, and while I have noticed some trending problems, it has let me evaluate my reading. I have never read a book by a non-binary author. I do not know of any non-binary authors, so do not know where to begin and finally I need to read more books from South America. I may do the reading diversely tag on my BookTube channel just so I have a document of this.

I have not done too much towards my challenge in February, my goal is to do at least one re-read and one book in translation a month and I did achieve that. I had one re-read and two books in translation; I feel like most of my rereads will be books in translation but I am okay with that, I finished The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (translated by Hugh Aplin) which I started in January and I enjoyed this book so much more the second time around, there is so much going on and it is hard to articulate everything I want to say about it but I will try to do that sometime soon. I even read Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (translated by Jay Rubin) and this is the first time I have read this book but I can see why people often pick this as their favourite from this author. I am currently reading two books in translation at the moment, The Whispering City by Sara Moliner (translated by Mara Faye Lethem) which is a book from Spain and Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo (translated by Edith Grossman) which is from Peru, but I still have not worked out what I am re-reading in March.

I started off very slow in February and I got to a point where Goodreads were telling me I had fallen behind on my reading goal already. However one of the advantages of reading multiple books at a time is that sometimes all the books being read finish at the same time and I was able to get back on track. I have mentioned three books already but I also read another six books. The first book I read this month was Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch which is the fourth book in the Peter Grant series and I am trying to resist the urge to move onto the next book; I want to read it but then I will have to wait months for book six.

My local indie bookshop hosts a book club and it has returned and this month we discussed Deeper Water by Jessie Cole, which I had to race through to get it read before the meet up. This is an interesting novel that explores the culture clash between the city and rural Australia and while I had issues with it I still enjoyed reading this one. I also picked up Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald to compare with Tender Is The Night, which I read last month. I need to do some research into this book because I feel like F. Scott Fitzgerald may have white washed it a little to make himself appear like a nicer person. Finally after that I picked up my first Rose Tremain, which was a collection of short stories called The American Lover and shows off Tremain’s writing skills and character development, so much so I need to check out a novel by this author. Also I dived into Wolf in White Van which explored isolation and depression in a really interesting way and I read Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. This book was amazing. It was my first Baldwin novel and I have so much I want to say about this book but I am unsure how to express these feelings. Finally I read The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro, which seems to be getting mixed reviews but I really enjoyed; still sorting out my thoughts but I cannot wait to talk about this one with others.

I feel like I say this every month but I have no plans for March (reading wise) apart from what I am currently reading, which is The Whispering City, Red April and The World According to Garp by John Irving. I do have some books reserved at the library, The UnAmericans by Molly Antopol, Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, Something Coming Through by Paul McAuley and The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell, so these books may make an appearance in my reading month. I would love to know what you have read in February and if you have any reading plans for March.

Monthly Reading