February Reads

I must say, I wonder what my monthly review at the end of March will be like- will covid-19 have created total chaos? Who will the likely Democratic nominee be? Will I have survived a month of crazy deadlines at work? Needless to say, my stress level is pretty high. Luckily this wonderful hobby provides the perfect escape, as seen by my six books read in a slightly-shorter month.

I wrote about my experience reading American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins already- you can find my thoughts here. 

I read two nonfiction books this month, Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl and The Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn. Reichl's memoir is about her time spent as the editor-in-chief of of the now-defunct Gourmet magazine, and it was just exquisite. Her stories are fascinating and her writing so this wonderful combination of precise and descriptive. I will absolutely be reading more from her in the future. Finn's story of how he fell into ultrarunning will win over runners for sure, as well as those who love to be inspired by stories of perseverance. 

The two novels I read, Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson and Weather by Jenny Offill couldn't be more different from each other. Wilson's quirky story of a woman who is falls into caring for twins who burst into flames is both entertaining and sentimental (his novels never disappoint). Offill's Weather is told in her simplistic, yet incredibly complicated prose (she is one of the most unique writers of our time), detailing a woman's time spent handling the mail of a podcaster who focuses on climate change. 

And finally, I just finished Anjali Sachdeva's short-story collection All the Names They Used for God, and it was absolutely amazing. Each story was close to perfection, which is rare for a lot of collections. Her ability to craft such intricate stories with well-rounded characters in such a short amount of time impressed the crap out of me.