Top 3 Reads February 2008

My top three are from very different parts of the literary spectrum.

1. Seed to Harvest by Octavia E. Butler. It collects the four volumes of the Patternist series in an omnibus edition and contains around 800 pages. Definitely not a comfort read but intense and powerful.

2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. There's a reason this still sells many decades after it first came out.

3. Darkmans by Nicola Barker. This won't appeal to everyone but might do so for those that like over the top smartassed writing. Great big glob of fun reading.

1.Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
2. In the Forest by Edna O'Brien

Only two in February --

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
and
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

1. Middlesex - loved it!
2. Wizards and Glass - 4th book of the Dark Tower Series
3. Highlander Untamed - an unexpectedly good Highlander romance!

Not a good reading month for me -- mostly in quantity, slightly in quality, but one book stands out.

Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge

#2- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorite books of all time. It is just such a beautiful novel!

For me, February was somewhat of a poo month. I read a lot of YA lit this month (some good, some not some good, some terrible). The only two works I rated an 'A' were-

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and
Penelope by Marilyn Kaye (after reading the book, I can't wait to see the movie!)

February was a good month for me, so it'll be hard to cut down to just three, but here we go:

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat This is a really great collection of short stories.
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett I got this from the library because I saw the title cropping up on LibraryThing, and it was great; I ignored everything else I had to do and just sat and read.
The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende I had to make a cheat-sheet family tree, but it was a really good read once I got the family members straight.

And I'll give an honorable mention to Let It Be Morning by Sayed Kashua, a really interesting book about Arab-Israelis that gripped me the whole way through.

The New Kings of Nonfiction edited by Ira Glass - (Touchstone not working) Essays on all kinds of different topics by people like Malcolm Gladwell and Susan Orlean.
Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon - A very entertaining series of letters to a fictional niece of Weldon's, all about literature and writing.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - A great story told as the journal of a seventeen year old girl living in 1930s England in a crumbling old castle.

Tiny Deaths, a collection of short fiction by Robert Shearman, an LT author. Clever stuff, really.

Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections by Women Writers edited by Susan Morrison. A variety of viewpoints and an unusual book to be published during a political season. Thought-provoking (and a few, amusing).

The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford, long overdue and recommended.

A Revolution in the Head: the Beatles' Records and the Sixties by Ian MacDonald. Smart and thorough and avoids fan hype.

Bearing the Body: A novel by Ehud Havazelet

1. The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke.
2. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss.
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.

Two:

Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz

In the order I read them:

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
3. Minaret by Leila Aboulela

Lindsayg, I read Ira Glass's The New Kings of Non-Fiction back in Dec. and thought it was immensely entertaining

In the order I read them:

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Sixteenth Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Oh man, I read some good books in February, it's hard to pick. But if I must:

Anna Karenina (finished in Feb.)
Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
In Defense of Food : An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

Following closely behind would be The Translator: a tribesman's memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari and The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve

In order of their appearance

The Story of Lucy Gault

The Remains of the Day

Circling my Mother a memoir of her mother by Mary Gordon.

The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis
All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays by David Ives
Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco, which will probably make my top ten of the year.

I only read two start to finish in the four weeks and a day of February. They are:

* Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland by Bryan Sykes (February 3rd to February 14th)

and

* The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari (February 15th to February 27th).

.

Edited to add: I won't rank them. There's only two on that list, and I don't want to assign either book second fiddle status.

Icefields by Thomas Wharton
Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

(Ranked)

My favorite read was Donald Hall's The Best Day, the Worst Day. A real gem.

If I needed to pick three, I would add the six-word memoir book, Not Quite What I was Planning and Sue Miller's The Senator's Wife.

Lots of touchstones not working.

VisibleGhost - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one my favorite books! You might want to try Joy in the Morning by the same author.

LouisBranning - I really enjoyed it also, I thought the writing was excellent and the range of subjects was fascinating.

Out of the 10 books read in Feb., there were 3 terrific novels:

Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

Life Class by Pat Barker

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Not in any order;

A Watery Grave (Wiki Coffin Mysteries) by Joan Druett (Historical mystery)
"The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President" by Julie M. Fenster (history/biography)
Bill the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison (sci fi spoof)

1. Saturday by Ian McEwan
2. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
3. The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

My top three:

1) White teeth
2) Love in the time of cholera
3) Jane Eyre

Inhuman Bondage David Brion Davis

A Golden Age Tahmima Anam
Bangkok 8 John Burdett

I only read two novels in February I enjoyed immensely; Pagan in Exile by Catherine Jinks and Lady of the Lakes by J.C. Hall. Almost everything else I read was tied for just "like" not "love".

Since I didn't have a third regular novel I thought was exceptional, I will say my third was the manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Volume 16 by Clamp. I love that series!!

I read two, both excellent.

Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My top 3 of Feb are:

The Translator by Daoud Hari
Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher and
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Of the books I read in February, I can only honestly say two are worth mentioning. Intrusions by Ursula Hegi and The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman.

My two favorite reads of last month were:

The Quincunx by Charles Palliser
Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution by Lisa Jardine

I'm only going to pick 2 books this month because though I enjoyed a number of the other books I read, none of them stood out like these 2, and I couldn't choose what should be the third. These books were seriously fantastic and definitely favorites for life, not just the month.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella

I Love Everybody (and other atrocious lies) by Laurie Notaro

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

February was *a lot* better than January. Like, A LOT a lot.

Top three (in order):
1. Black Ships by Jo Graham.
2. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
3. Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey With His Wordless Daughter by Robert Rummel-Hudson

The Road (which has just moved to the top of my "best ever" books)
Dreams From My Father (well written and very interesting)
In the Country of Men (Gave me a real sense of how scary it is to live every day looking over your shoulder).

In order of impact:
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson

Someday I'll get around to updating my reviews and cover these.

The Last Chronicle of Barset - Anthony Trollope
The Card, A Story Of Adventure In The Five Towns - Arnold Bennett
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Pulpwood Queens Tiara-Wearing, Book sharing Guide to Life by Kathy Patrick

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Beauty by Robin McKinley
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman

(Most of last month was taken up with War and Peace... and I'm still not done...)

After having a great reading time in January, February was a bit of a let down. Here are my top picks in the order I read them:

An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina - recommended here on LT

The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Last Six Million Seconds by John Burdett

My top read for February is definitely Teta, Mother and Me - a memoir by a Palestinian Christian of three generations of her family - a moving memoir and a fascinating look at the recent history of the region (and the way it was experienced by women).

#17 - MarianV - The Story of Lucy Gault is my favourite for 2008 so far!!
I also liked: Atonement by Ian McEwan
and a toss up between The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford and Larry's Party by Carol Shields - both CanLit.

The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford an LT Early Review book that I loved.

Duma Key by Stephen King. Consumed me for a while. My favorite King in a long time.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld Great YA vampire lit.

1. The Confusions of Young Törless by Robert Musil
2. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
3. The Immoralist by André Gide

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry
2. The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty
3. Tilly by Frank Peretti

Let me know what you think (or thought) of Bangkok 8...I read it a couple of months ago and thought it utterly original and fascinating.