5 Books I Read in February
I did not read as many books in February as I read in January. I was a bit busier, I was more social, and I was back on my bullshit (aka abandoned lots of lovely habits I created in January such as reading instead of drinking.) LOL, whoops.
Also, most of these were just fine. So take them or leave them.
Listed from favorite to least favorite.
The Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz - 4.3/5
A cozy British mystery to close out my month of reading! I enjoyed this and was not expecting the twist. It reads like a traditional mystery, set in a small English village in the 50s, where a woman dies and people suspect it wasn’t an accident. Then another guy gets murdered. What’s going on?!
But THEN, halfway through, you find out that the author of the novel you were JUST READING dies suspiciously so there is no ending. We then follow the book’s editor as she tries to get to the bottom of the “suicide” and find the novel’s missing pages/ending. She does. Then we go back to the original novel and see how it ends and how it parallels the real-life murder.
I thought it was super fun. Different from anything I’ve ever read and full of interesting characters. It had Agatha Christie vibes and it knew it.
Also, it was made into a series on PBS Masterpiece! I watched it over the weekend and enjoyed it.
Black Cake - Charmaine Wilkerson 3.8/5
This book was highly rated last year so I was excited to finally read it. Unfortunately I didn’t love it as much as others did but it was still an enjoyable read. It felt a little long, and a little too confusing to me. There were some unexpected twists and an interesting story though!
A mother dies and leaves her kids (who haven’t spoken to each other in years) a recording about a secret she had been keeping from them, and her famous black cake in the freezer for them to eat together. They find out their mother had a past life and was on-the-run after maybe killing her husband? Also, she had a baby in the UK so they have a sister. She ended up changing her name (in the same way as Don Draper) and remained on-the-run, ending up in California far away from her island home in the West Indies. The story was sweet, interesting, frustrating, all the things. I did enjoy some of the characters, and the story of their mother growing up was so fascinating. Ultimately I was annoyed by the LACK OF COMMUNICATION. I was so annoyed that this family NEVER SPOKE TO EACH OTHER and let STUPID SHIT keep them apart.
Communication solves everything, you guys!!! And this book would have been about 12 pages long if they were better at it, BUT STILL.
Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties - Dianne Lake - 3.2/5
WHAT A TITLE! I obviously have read/watched/listened to lots of stuff about Charles Manson, and it’s always morbid and fascinating. (The You Must Remember This podcast does a very in-depth series on him if you’re interested.) I wanted to read this because I’m more intrigued by the people who joined his cult and what it was like.
This girl was 14 years old when she started living the van life with Charlie. Her parents were both hippies and had dropped out of society (living in a van/random houses with lots of drugs). Her parents were not super lovey dovey with her, and she always felt abandoned and tossed aside. As a LITERAL CHILD she was in a throuple with two recovering heroin addicts. Then she joined Charlie and his gang and started taking acid every day and engaging in group sex.
She loved him, she believed him, but she wasn’t there the night of the murders. She was back at home and remembers them coming back after the LaBianca murders. She eventually testified against Charlie in his trial. The story was fascinating and it was interesting to see the perspective of someone who was fully indoctrinated in the cult but has grown up and doesn’t believe it anymore (unlike a lot of his followers.) It was also a sad story about an impressionable teenager abandoned by her parents who had no choice, essentially, but to join a cult.
The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell - 3 / 5
This book SCREAMED me. Historical fiction based on a true story in Renaissance Italy with a historic portrait as cover art? SIGN ME THE F UP! But it didn’t work out for me :(
I had a weird February, to be honest, and felt very distracted and disoriented a lot of the time. This story was depressing and you know she dies after a year of marriage from the very beginning. Her family was awful, she was basically sold off at 14 to this abusive duke who pretended he was great, and then she was murdered after a year of raping her without getting her pregnant because HE was infertile. I know that sounds super glamorous and fun so I’m not sure why it didn’t do it for me during an already-depressing month?
Something I learned: when Renaissance artists did portraits, they would do some of the work separately on their own. So, for instance, the dress she wore during her portrait was sent to the artist to paint the details so she didn’t have to sit there while he worked on that. Great way to work smarter, not harder, Renaissance artists!!!
Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey - 2 / 5 but did not finish.
I saw this book on a couple of “Best of” lists so I had really high hopes/expectations for it. I listened to the Audiobook and it was read by Julia Whelan, a very popular audiobook narrator, which doubled down on the book’s high potential. My first issue was actually with the narration. Julia Whelan is almost too popular? I’m kind of tired of her voice, I think. Or maybe I attribute her voice to so many other characters that it’s making books difficult to remember because they all mesh together.
The other issue was the main character being the worst. Admittedly, I didn’t finish this book because it was irritating me, but I’m not sure how she could become redeemable. She was making choices that were INSANE and while I know she was going through a lot (going through a divorce, that she initiated, after a 2-year-marriage to her high school sweetheart) it was still super annoying and there wasn’t a ton of self-awareness. I didn’t CARE about her redemption, honestly.