reading wrap-up february 2024

wow oh my gosh, i read so much in february what the fuck. i read for a mix of black history month + valentines day, though i'm pretty sure if you look at what i was reading, you don't get "valentine's day" out of it.

thirteen books! wow

 

 

Before I get started, I just wanted to copy paste something from a previous post of mine: Please consider reading up on the SMP Influencer Boycott and Readers for Accountability and please consider offering vocal support for Palestine, and perhaps help in a financial way if you are able. Here are some various resources you can take a look at, and here are some resources that you can donate to for Palestinian aid.

 

 

This month I read a fun mix of whimsy and horror, as well as a few books that were heartfelt and earnest. It was also the month of audiobooks, of which I listened to four. wow! i'm an audiobook girlie now. frankly speaking I read a lot of really good books in my opinion this month and I want to talk about ALL of them but I really can't dedicate that time. so i shall pick Three to expand on.....

In order, they were...

• Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier, Val Wise, Oscar O. Jupiter
  
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
  
• Animal Crossing volume 4 by Kokonasu Rumba
  
• Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (in audiobook format)
  
• Witch Hat Atelier volume 3 by Kamome Shirahama
  
• Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
  
• Blood and Ruin by Rumer Hale (in audiobook format, for an arc)
• All These Sunken Souls, a Black horror anthology collected by Circe Moskowitz
  
• i am the rage by Martina McGowan
  
• Snow White with the Red Hair by Sorata Akiduki
  
• My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon (in audiobook format)
• Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (in audiobook format)
• Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

 

I really enjoyed what I read this month. One of the more profound books that I read was i am the rage, which really changed a lot of thoughts and perspectives I had before about the black experience. i am the rage is a powerful and emotional selection of poetry written by Martina McGowan as a response to the many cruelties we've seen in the last few years in America. I found it powerful and harrowing, and being familiar with these cruelties while reading McGowan's poetry left me with a lot to re-process. I highly recommend reading it, and overall just finding poetry written by black men, women, and those outside of the binary.

 That said...

....those Three i will talk further about are Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Our Wives Under the Sea, and Woman, Eating!

Starting off, I absolutely loved the first volume of the Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett. Encyclopaedia of Faeries felt like a mature version of everyone's favorite (or least favorite) fantasy witch series we won't be naming (but if you are a fan, and you haven't read Emily Wilde, I implore you to).

It was silly, and sweet, and the main protagonist Emily felt both relatable but also quirky enough to stand on her own away from being a relatable protagonist character. She is both an intellectual and a bit selfish, but she experience such a fun character arc that I found charming and addictive. And that's not even mentioning her friend and ally, Wendell, who... oh, he's such a character. I adore him, I adore them both. Looking forward to the second book!

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 

Next, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. Man, what a slow paced, sad novel. I listened to the audiobook of this and found the narration to be so serene and sad. It is a powerful story about two women, Miri and Leah, and their marriage both before and after a life-changing work mission sinks Leah's submarine to the bottom of the ocean. It explores the depths of grief and how grief changes you as a person both mentally and physically, in extreme ways.

It is a bit of a body horror novel, which I am obsessed with for a lot of gender explorative reasons. Last year, I read and fell in love with Chlorine by Jade Song, and it was a lot of fun to compare those stories between how transformation takes place, either through involuntary (with Our Wives) or through force (as in Chlorine). 

Very lovely but very sad book, and it scratched at an itch that I have about deep sea/oceanic horror.

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

 

And finally... Woman, Eating, by Claire Kohda. This was an absolutely fun lit novel to read through, where the reader is placed so intimately within the main character, Lydia's, point of view, her feelings, and fears. She is an out of university artist and vampire who has only ever known the shelter of her possessive and ashamed mother, and I hate to admit how much I related with this novel. Even now in my thirties, I still feel like a fresh adult with no knowledge of what I'm... doing. 

I found it surprisingly sincere. I expected a little more horror, and instead i got a lot of sweetness and kindness, a lot of genuine honesty, and a portrayal of a severely depressed new adult woman trying her best just to survive and get by. I feel like I've seen it described as reinventing the vampire genre, and while I'm not sure I agree, I do think it was fresh portrayal of vampires that comes from a heartfelt point of view.

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

Finally, I listened to Rumer Hale's novel Blood and Ruin for an arc with Netgalley in February! You can read that review here.

February was a fun reading month. I had a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying delving into audiobooks finally. I feel like I've finally started training my ADHD which definitely is an improvement to my life.

I set out with a very specific set of books at the beginning of February and I'm quite pleased to say I read the heavy majority of them. I'm going to try to read that overflow through March and not really set a huge goal to read. That said...

March I want to finish reading Wuthering Heights, and I've started reading A House with Good Bones, and I want to pick up all about love by bell hooks. 

anyway! thanks for reading!