After the long descent into madness that is January, February, the shortest month on the calendar and in our hearts, has now also come to a close.

In the first half of the month, I was only able to tackle one book (although it was a doorstop), but I had a break during the second half of the month that let me tackle a nice handful of titles.

February Run Down:

Books

• Iron Gold, Pierce Brown (Rating: ♦♦♦♦/5)
  • On my Bookstagram I hold polls for followers to choose my reads for the PopSugar Reading Challenge. This was their choice for “Book that should be a movie,” and I was so excited to jump back into the world of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy. This one takes place ten years after the original trilogy, and the initial catch-up is a bit of a slog. However, I loved the change of pace of multiple narrators and wound up falling in love. I’m excited for Dark Age to drop later this year.
• Dumplin’, Julie Murphy (Rating: ♦♦♦/5)
  • I had mentioned wanting to read this one and all of a sudden a coworker shoved it at me, so I read it to be able to give it back. I was expecting to love it, especially after the great From the Front Porch recommended it on their podcast, but I was let down. I loved Willowdean, but I found the story itself a little unsatisfying and lite on substance. I am interested in reading Puddin’ though because I loved Hannah.
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han (Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦/5)
  • This was the PopSugar Reading Challenge Goodreads Group monthly read-along pick for the prompt “Book that has the word ‘Love’ in the title,” and I really did love this book. Lara Jean’s youthful innocence was refreshing. I loved that she wasn’t ignorant, but she chose to keep herself out of drama and allowed herself to be young. I also loved that all the supporting characters were nuanced in subtle ways without stealing focus from Lara Jean.
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦/5)
  • I read this one as 1/2 of the Advanced prompts “2 books that share the same title.” I was a little apprehensive about reading a classic about a wealthy man who falls in love with a less wealthy woman who has a bit of a mouth on her. I was worried that it would wind up being very Taming of the Shrew. But I was so pleasantly surprised. Elizabeth is allowed to be sassy and smart all the way through the novel, and Darcy actually learns a lesson on the perils of raising boys to always believe they are right. This was incredibly modern in both message and writing style, and I highly recommend it.
• Beartown, Fredrik Backman (Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦/5)
  • I read a lot of really good books this month, but this one is “Top 10 of the Year.” I read it as my IRL book club’s choice for February. Things I loved about this book: The true to life feeling of small town culture. The ability to pair characters with people from real life. The fact that there is no question about guilt in this novel. The fact that despite the lack of ambiguity the town still does wrong by victims in a way that holds a mirror up to our society. The number of different voices who are allowed to shine. The look at the meaning of friendship and family. And Backman’s ability to get me to care about hockey. Do yourself a favor, and pick this one up now.
• Pride, Ibi Zoboi (Rating: ♦♦♦.5/5)
  • I read this as the other half of the “2 books that share the same title” prompts. I had seen wonderful things all over Bookstagram and was happy to be able to tackle one of my backlist OwlCrate books. First, what is up with the weird relationship dynamics in my reads this year. Why were Bingley and Darcy made to be brothers so that this book’s version of Jane and Elizabeth (who are still sisters) have to fall in love with another pair of siblings? Also, this book struggles to cram all of Pride and Prejudice’s plot lines in while being less than 3/4’s the length of the original. And the book misses a lot of the nuance and messaging that made the classic so lovely. However, I loved Zuri (the book’s version of Elizabeth) and her relationship with Darius (the book’s version of Darcy), and I loved getting a piece of a culture I do not see much in my reading life (totally my fault) along with the book’s deeper message on gentrification.

Movies (One-Sentence Reviews)

• Ant-Man and the Wasp (Rating: ♦♦/5) – Netflix
  • While the original was the lite and funny member of the MCU family, this one had absolutely nothing going for it with it’s total lack of humor or excitement.
• Eighth Grade (Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦/5) – Amazon Prime
  • The hype is real in this hyper-realistic portrait of all the cringe-worthy awkwardness that comes with being a less-than-perfect teenager in today’s internet culture that will have you anxiously looking away from your screen in second-hand embarrassment while also falling for the beautiful father-daughter dynamic.
• Dumplin’ (Rating: ♦♦.5/5) – Netflix
  • The adaptation totally erases 90% of the plot, breezes through the pageant, tames down the already tame queer characters, and makes Willowdean a jerk, but the acting by secondary characters in the movie makes the film worth watching (except for Bo, who looks like a grown ass man).
• Pride and Prejudice – Keira Knightley version (Rating: ♦♦♦.5/5) – DVD
  • This retelling misses a lot of the humor and subtlety of the book, but I love the chemistry between Elizabeth and Darcy and the superb talent of Sutherland and Pike as Mr. Bennett and Jane.

 

March TBR:

• Us Against You, Fredrik Backman
  • I am carrying this one over from February in my attempt not to leave as many open-ended series in 2019 as I started in 2018. So far, I am enjoying it.
• Exit West, Moshin Hamid
  • This is my book club’s March pick, and I am excited by the lack of information given by the back cover. Is it a dramatic war story? Is it a romance? Is it Sci-Fi? Is it all 3? I don’t know, and I can’t wait to find out.
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple
  • This is the Goodreads group pick for March to fill the “Book with a question in the title” prompt. I am excited, if for no other reason, than to get to watch a Cate Blanchett movie after finishing it. Plus, a number of my bookish friends were hype when they saw it on my TBR, so I expect nothing but good things.
• The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl
  • My Bookstagram followers voted on this one as my “Book featuring an amateur detective” prompt, and I am excited by the Dan Brown blurb on the front. I am hoping this will fill a little of my Langdon-hangover, especially given how bad Origin was.
• P.S. I Still Love You & Always and Forever, Lara Jean, Jenny Han
  • These are more examples of wanting to leave 2019 with closed series, but I am also excited to get the rest of Lara Jean and Peter’s story.

Have you read any of the ones I reviewed? Do you share/disagree with my thoughts? And do we share any titles on our March lists? As always, let me know in the comments below!