Show Us Your Books February 2022

This year I finally gave in to reading glasses.

Given that I had two week reading slump in January it is amazing to me that I read so many great books. Like really good, cry all night, book of the year type books.

I started logging my books in Storygraph this year. I don’t log everything it wants me to- that would become a job. I’m enjoying it even though I still prefer my good old fashioned handwritten book journal and spreadsheet for logging, and Litsy for sharing reviews. My favorite thing about Storygraph so far is how it assigns moods to each book and I am clearly a emotional and reflective reader.

Five Stars

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl -- I would have never listened to this if so many people on Litsy hadn‘t said how excellent it is. And I agree! This has got to be one of the best audiobooks I‘ve ever listened to. You can really hear the emotions in Grohl‘s voice as he talks. I loved too that he grew up not too far from where I live.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles -- I bailed on this one years ago because it doesn‘t have quotation marks, but a book club brought it to me again. I‘m so glad because it was a beautiful book. This is just a pleasant story, and I’ve heard the movie does it justice. A hug of a book. It made me feel good.

Four Stars

Transcendent Kingdon by Yaa Gyasi -- A lot has been said about this book so I won‘t add my clumsy synopsis, but I will say that I really loved it. I put off reading it for so long because I didn‘t think it would hold up to Homegoing. It was different but still just as heart wrenching in all the best ways.

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook -- This was another one from the bottom of my TBR list, and it was a good read. It takes place in Germany just after WWII, and is understandably grim. It was very interesting though to examine each person‘s reactions to the terrible conditions and to imagine how I would have fared. A good book to read on a cold, dark January day.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte -- What a wild ride! Not a boring classic!

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman -- Great poetry collection. This almost read like a time capsule from the last two years.

Three Stars

The Quiet Zone by Stephen Kurczy -- I have traveled through this area several times, and was interested in learning about it. This book wasn‘t what I thought, but it was interesting enough to listen to on a long drive.

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly -- I picked this book based on the cover alone, and I‘m happy to say it worked out! It was told in three timelines but all centered around one English garden. It‘s so super cold here lately. I enjoyed reading about a garden in bloom.

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty -- This one was a bit slow in the middle but wow, what an ending.

This post is linked to Show Us Your Books and Quick Lit.

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Food and Lit: Egypt

In January we ate and read from Egypt. January as a whole was kind of a wash for me, but I did manage to cook one recipe and read two books for this challenge.

I cooked the above pictured Fava Bean Stew from the intriguing Breakfast: The Cookbook. We ate it for dinner, but it was still great. (I really need to get back to this cookbook at a later date because it was huge and all about my favorite meal.)

For reading I started with Death on the Nile. It took a while for this one to get going- no one even died until about halfway through. I love Poirot though so no complaints. Kingdom of Copper is book two in a trilogy set in Egypt and a fantasy world. This one was a bit slow for me but the ending was great, so I will keep going.

Next month we read and eat from Argentina!

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