February Reading Wrap-Up

Four out of Five I would read again

Stats:

• Five books total: All completed, zero DnFs.

• Three audiobooks; one paperback; one ebook

• 1 borrowed book from my local library (Hoopla or Libby included)

• 4 books purchased; 3 at full price and 1 inexpensively at a used bookstore

Fewer comp books read compared to January, but still, this task is top of mind.

That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz by Malachy Tallack was my favorite read of February. It was not on my 2024 TBR but, thanks to booktuber content, curious about it. For February, Savidge Prompts asked me to read a book with “a body of water in the title,” and so I picked it up. This book must be enjoyed in its audiobook format as the author and narrator’s, Scottish (and audio surprises) enrich the reading experience. It’s a quiet story, reflective. Not action-packed but sporting a few tense scenes. I never found it slow or dragging. The writing is beautiful and lyrical. I wanted to stay in its world and was sad when it ended. 4.25-stars.

For the 2025 “The Read Good Challenge, I read Thunderclap by Laura Cumming, a deeply-researched book about art. It made the longlist for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. The Challenge renamed February as “Flame-uary,” requiring participants to read a book with “fire on the cover.” Thunderclap refers to the accidental gunpowder explosion of 1654 in the city of Delft. It ravaged the city. The book is presumably about Dutch art, specifically the short life (1622-1654) of the dutch painter Carel Fabritius, painter of “The Goldfinch” and “View of Delft.” He died as a result of the thunderclap. Cumming uses the accident as a launchpad for Dutch painting history, and adds in random bits of memoir. She is the daughter of a Scottish painter from the mid-century Edinburgh school. Thus, she intuitively understands the agonies, challenges, and motives of a painter’s life. She attempts to apply these assumptions to Fabritius and other 17^th-century artists. Additionally, she discusses her daughters, her travels and her childhood. It's worth a read, but I found it to be overly ambitious, unfocused, and ultimately unsatisfying. Her own conjectures and memoir passages congest the text, making the factual information hard to dig out and impossible to remember. If you do decide to read it, plan on taking notes. I do not recommend the audiobook option of this work, although it, too, is read by its author. My least favorite read of February. 2-stars.

Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 by Seamus Heaney. Wow. This paperback, which I bought at a used bookstore, contains more than 400 pages of Heaney’s poems. The author, who spoke Irish, was a Latin scholar, and grew up speaking the common vernacular of North Ireland. He peppers his gorgeous English-language verse with apt words gleaned from his broad lexicon. It was rare for me to make it through an entire poem without needing a dictionary, at least once. The poems require effort, but the payoff is big. Note the dates in the title and think about Northern Ireland during that period. Then consider a smart lad growing up on a farm there. You can probably imagine what images and aches the poet carried. These are at once vivid, poignant, visceral, gorgeous, charming and gut-punching. This collection enriched my understanding of a time and place that has always interested and vexed me. If you are unaware, Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. He died in 2013. 4-stars.

My last two February reads are quite different from each other. The first, Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen, is a contemporary novel that weaves a fabulous story about two recently-widowed people and their parallel journeys through loss. It borders on the fantastic but is rooted in earthy things like trees and love. The characters are cartoonish but enchanting, like the characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is a plot-driven story—a yarn! Kudos for Cohen for dreaming it up. His editor, however, left in a couple of coarse bits that I felt cheapened the book. They are not offensive. Don’t skip the book over that criticism. This book provides a few fun days as you whiz through it. There is nothing important in Harry’s Trees, but if you like make-believe, and trees, this would be a good choice. I read this as an ebook. That was fine. I don’t believe it's available as an audiobook. 3.75 stars.

Lastly, I finished my reread of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, by listening to the Lydia Davis translation via audiobook. Such a great classic about a flawed protagonist. I caught more of Flaubert’s wry humor on this second reading and cared much more about Dr. Bovary than I did previously. If The Three Musketeers and Anna Karinina had a baby, it would be Madame Bovary. Perhaps the following will entice you to read it! Flaubert was taken to court because the novel was accused as being obscene. In February 1857, he was acquitted, and by April 1857 (just 2 months later), the novel, published in two volumes, became a best-seller! 4-stars.

We’re halfway through March! How are you doing with your reading goals?

Photo by Julia Kicova on Unsplash