Another month gone. I know they say the years go by faster the older you get, but this is getting ridiculous. Maybe I was just too busy, or maybe I just don’t have a grasp on time with so much snow covering everything, but 2015 is 1/6th of the way over and I’ve no idea what happened.
February was a rough month personally and professionally. It’s never a good sign when one aspect of your life drains into the other aspect in negative ways, and I honestly couldn’t tell you which bled into which more, but either way it was just a gross month. But that being said I did have an excellent last weekend of the month when I went skiing with my sister and a bunch of friends for a belated birthday and Christmas present! (See photos below.) The photo directly above is of me in South Boston standing on a snow bank. I could touch the One Way sign and was taller than the street light. Thankfully, snow is starting to melt, but we’re LESS THAN TWO INCHES from the all time record (107.9) and I can’t help but think, “Bring it on!”
Books and Bookish
This was a very slow month for reading. I finished three novels, The Bitterweed Path, Val McDermid’s retelling of Northanger Abbey and Megan Shepherd’s finale to The Madman’s Daughter trilogy: A Cold Legacy. I also read one loose collection of words, which I refuse to call a book or novella or even a short story, that is quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever read, A Gronking to Remember.
I released the fourth episode of Come Read with Me where my oldest friend, Alie, and I reviewed discussed our bafflement of Twilight. I found an awesome new word (horripilating) in Northanger Abbey (Instagram link) and found yet another typo in a published book.
Recent Acquisitions
I may not have read a lot this month, but I sure did buy a lot. When I was down south for family reasons, I picked up two additional copies of Wuthering Heights for my growing collection, including a decent used copy of the version I originally read in high school, from Mr. K’s Used Books. I was impressed with the size and selection of the story. In addition, I picked up a coy of J.E. Austen-Leigh’s A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections, which is one of the major “source” materials for all other Austen biographies and stories!
I went a bit overboard on digital books, but I can’t wait to read all of them, including two by a good blogging buddy, T.B. Markinson of Making My Mark and the 50 Year Project. But here’s what I downloaded:
- Georgiana Darcy’s Diary – Anna Elliott
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid
- Claudia Must Die – T.B. Markinson
- A Woman Ignored – T.B. Markinson
- I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You – Courtney Maum
I even put in a request for Nick Hornby’s new book Funny Girl but won’t get that for a while and requested an ARC of Rachel Hartman’s follow-up to Seraphina, Shadow Scale, and I can’t wait to read it!
What’s Next?
Hopefully it’ll be a better month in March (seems to be shaping up already, so that’s a plus). I have a lot of reading plans for the month, apart from the ARC above, I’ve already finished Crome Yellow and started Joe Meno’s Tender As Hellfire which I picked up YEARS ago. I also need to read Austen’s Emma for our Jane Austen Book Club and I promised the boy I’d read Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour.
How was your February? Are you excited for Spring? I know I am, but I want to beat that record first!
I had a good reading month, finishing another 6 books but can totally agree that February seemed to fly by!
Geez SIX books! That’s an epic month for me these days.
To be fair its pretty epic for me too 🙂
I read Funny Girl last week and loved it. Classic British humor with some sentimentality thrown in. Great combination. We’ll chat about it more after you’ve read it.
Oh I can’t wait to read it! I saw something about it and I requested it. I haven’t read anything by Hornby in a while and whatever I read really made me want to read it.
Really want to pick up Funny Girl soon! Loved the podcast episode, by the way. You’re doing great with that.
Thanks! I really should be more organized but I like the organic tangents we take.
I’ve thought about you, with all that snow you guys are getting up there. Might as well bring it on! 🙂 It’s been a stressful month for me, too, and while I didn’t read as much, I did have my first 5-star read of the year, so that’s a definite plus. Take care and here’s hoping that March will be a better month for both of us!
Oh first Five Star is always exciting! It has been a long winter, but I’m sure I’ll miss it as soon as it hits the first 90+ day! And yes, March will be better.
February did go quickly! And yeah looking forward to spring, I’ve loads of books to read, a whole pile! And I feel I keep repeating myself in other blog comments when I say “I need more time!” Hopefully I will – just got to make time, right?! 😉
Thanks for stopping by and for the comment! It really is about making time. The sad part is that I’ve had plenty of time I just didn’t have the motivation this past month.
Thing is, it was one of my resolutions to read more so I’m going to stick to it…honest!
So much snow!!! Holy cow!!!! Sounds like you had a pretty good attitude about it…I don’t think I’d be so sanguine at this point. Nice scores at the used bookstore–I’d like to read “A Memoir of Jane Austen” someday!
Yeah, I’m excited about it! And the snow has just become a fact of life. Although now it’s melting it’s going to prolong having to wear boots and what not.
Uggg I feel your pain (sorta). We had WAYYY less snow than you guys, but ours is starting to melt now. I became a dog owner last week, and it’s been interesting trying to steer him away from giant puddles!