Reading Update: February

Business as usual for the shortest month

Hallo, it's me, Laura King. I'm something of a February hater myself, usually. So much so that I took off to South East Asia last February which I really recommend as an expensive yet effective way to escape these early days of “spring”. (By the way, I wrote about it for this Substack and I'm so glad now to have this to look back on).

But really, February isn't all bad, and this month was definitely better than last (didn't spend half of it in bed, not seeing many people), but it was back to normal for reading (not quite so voracious).

I started off the month with a lovely evening courtesy of Penguin Random House Ireland, where they invited lots of people to the Westbury Hotel to hear about their new releases and meet some of their authors. I snagged copies of new books by Elaine Feeney, Roisin Lanigan and Catherine Ryan Howard that I'm eager to get to soon.

I was definitely more social overall this month, which did impact my reading time, as has joining a gym (exercise is a real time suck, I've noticed after a break from it). I also bought my first car (her name is Patricia) at the end of January so the real theme for this month has been going on little practice drives, and looking forward to when I'm so comfortable with driving I 1. don't have to give myself and Patricia a pep talk every time I merge onto a motorway and 2. get to use this for dedicated audiobook time instead.

Here is what I read in February.

Read right now!

Thirst Trap by Grainne O’Hare is out in June, so it is a bit annoying for me to tell you to read it right away, but I know so many people who will love this spiky, but still very warm debut novel. It is about three young women living in a house share in Belfast, still reeling from the sudden death of their fourth housemate a year later. This could be very dreary but it is so so funny, and some of the sharp remarks and one liners definitely gave Derry Girls energy (if the girls were pushing thirty and having a brat girl summer).

Highly recommended

Love in Exile by Shon Faye is a non fiction reflection on different types of love, and while Faye shares some really thoughtful and vulnerable insights into her own life, relationships, and choices, the strongest part of this book is actually how Faye situates her own experiences in the wider context of society and relationships. Her intersectional analysis of these different forms of love in light of various genders and sexualities, and particularly how all of this operates under late capitalism, was so compelling.

Ripeness by Sarah Moss is out in March, and despite it covering so much ground it is very readable and enjoyable. It is set between 1960s Italy and current day West of Ireland, and it has so much to say about family, motherhood, nationality, migration, the national world and art, it's a really hard one to sum up (which is why I waited for quite some time to post any reviews about it!).

Recommended

Ice Breaker by Hannah Grace was great craic, I had so much fun reading this very tropey, silly but nice romance between an ice skater and a hockey player at college. Highly recommend if you like that kind of thing, absolutely do not recommend if you don't like very light romances (or for younger readers).

I very much enjoyed listening to The Wedding People by Alison Espach, but in drafting this newsletter I realized that I'd completely forgotten about the book, which probably isn't the best sign. Still, it's a surprisingly funny book considering some very dark scenes (almost attempted suicide at someone else's destination wedding), and I know some people who absolutely loved it.

Stag Dance by Torey Peters unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations, but it still had a lot to think about and enjoy in three out of the four stories or “pieces” in this kind of collection, so I still do recommend it.

Did Not Finish/ Not For Me

I'm so apologetic about trying several times with The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. I really do think it's me, not her, but I could not get into the audiobook and kept abandoning it in favour of other listens and ended up giving up entirely. I've requested it from the library as I can still see myself really liking it, but I perhaps need to leave it a bit longer.

I didn't finish The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr, which seems like a heartwarming novel, but I think this was a timing issue for me as I was enjoying for a while and then I just never really got into it. I don't think this was the right time for me to read it, but I may revisit as I liked the writing style.

Currently reading

Physical book: I'm currently reading Her Side of the Story by Alba de Cespedes, which is really ambitious and insightful but far more of a slog than The Forbidden Notebook, which I loved.

eBook: I am really enjoying Albion by Anna Hope which comes out in May, and while I haven't had much reading time in recent days this is definitely the one I keep reaching for.

Audiobook: I've been stopping and starting a few audiobooks but am excited to have just started All Fours by Miranda July, which I'm especially curious about because of the amount of memes it has generated.

Thank you for reading and I hope you join me again soon for another installment of LauraEatsBooks.