February reads

I made my way through five books this month! I started reading every Saturday and Sunday morning when I get up and it has made a huge impact in my reading effort (a very noble effort in my opinion), and I feel so much better about the weekend start overall. Here are my reads from February!

After watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, I really wanted to read the book as well. They did make show very much in line with the book, but I think the book develops Beth’s quest to be a chess grandmaster in a more singular vision, the show uses some elements that are not present in the book to propel the story, and the book provides some more wholistic explanations of her character.

After I finished The Queen’s Gambit I moved on to Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds. If you have read Kristin Hannah’s books before, you know that you are in for a serious tale. I haven’t read a book of her’s yet that I would describe as light hearted. Her stories are somber, wide sweeping, with a centered understanding of place within the context of the narrative. She does intense research for many of her books and it shows. Based during the time period of the depression and the great drought in the south, it is a powerful story of resilience.

After I finished The Four Winds, I read Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom. I love Yaa Gyasi’s books from beginning to end because she has a truly inspiring ability to create complex characters that you want to learn more about as you read. This book presents the damaging effects of addiction, and the affect of culture and social communities on how it is perceived. A must read.

After reading two pretty heavy books, I decided to switch to something lighter with The Mystery of Mrs. Christie. Okay. I’m going to be super honest here. I was mad at this book most of the way through it. I don’t like how it portrayed Agatha as a complacent housewife, who was obsessed with her husband’s happiness. The book tried to rectify this at the end, but still. I didn’t love it.

After that, I finished out the month with the next installment of my favorite Manga series, Oishinbo. As always, it was great, humorous and also informative about food culture. One of the most interesting things I learned was that in Japan salmon is almost never eaten raw. If you want to find out more about why, you’ve got to read the book!

Happy Reading!