February in Books (that I am Only Just Now Writing About)

Hello dear readers. I’ve had a writer’s block of late, but happy to report it hasn’t creeped into my reading. The reading life is on fire and to that I say what relief. Books forever!

Before we move into another month I’m penning my February reviews. After a sluggish January, my reading year is galloping forward! The To Be Read (TBR) list is a huge help with this, and I’ve been mixing in recommendations from friends and podcasts as I go. The combination is making for some rich personal reading.

February featured nine reads, a blend of fiction and nonfiction, some Young Adult (YA), and many strong covers! I’m putting each down in the order I read it. Here we go.

PATRIOT. I dare you to look away from this photo. What a cover.

Navalny was fearless! Throughout a life of resistance that ended in death, he maintained a sense and hope, and surrounded himself with people who shared his values and were also willing to risk their own lives and livelihoods for a better Russia. Navalny’s brother was imprisoned, his lawyers are now in exile or prison, and his family lives in exile. 

Despite wrongful imprisonment, torture, and nonstop surveillance, Navalny continued to write as he could, communicate with his supporters, and hold out hope for a better future.

I struggle to summarize all the thoughts I have reading Navalny’s memoir, but my big takeaway is that we can and must continue to stand up for what’s right. Our countries are not just for the rich to thrive.

A mysterious tale that I was excited to keep returning to with characters I wanted to keep getting to know.

This story explores what it is to be a copy in fascinating ways, from people to pieces of art. I also love how The Original explores money, the inequity of money, as well the ways money motivates and contorts us, and how money influences our freedom.

Stevens has such a clear vision for this book. It goes smoothly forward and back in time, precisely explores copies vs originals, and tells stories of queer love and its implications in a society that doesn’t accept it. Just what I needed to rekindle my reading flame.

My sister gave me a copy of this sleeper reading hit from 2025 and I devoured it in just over a day. The epistolary style of The Correspondent engaged me from the start.

We come to know our main character, Sybil, through letters to and from various people in Sybil’s life and the story unfolds in these exchanges. The emotional force of The Correspondent snuck up on me and I spent the last chapters full of all sorts of feelings as a result of reading this book.

Life can stop time and extinguish our flame for periods short or long. Grief, guilt, and the inability to forgive can imprison and hold us at a distance from our lives. We hold all life’s actions and consequences within our being, and to reckon with all of it is both herculean and necessary.

As Sybil writes, “There is no parallel universe.” And now I want to write letters to everyone!

Is the universe talking to me? I picked up this book by chance, and it was an oddly perfect continuation to The Correspondent. What happens when we don’t reckon with our past, forgive each other, ourselves? Ties will tell you what remains. There are no soft edges in this book and- while I found Ties intriguing and well-crafted – I felt uncomforftable the entire time I was reading it.

Starnone explores the family unit, the institution of marriage, having children, and calls all of these into question in various ways. The ability and inability to reconcile what we desire with responsibility for our choices and the commitments made, including commitment to the self, are ruthlessly examined themes.

No one in Ties trusts or forgives (except perhaps one character?). This destroys any hope of family rebuilding or enduring mature love, leaving neverending aftershocks on family. The hearts in Ties are all buried under distrust and lies, disappointments. 

I left this book wondering what we owe ourselves and each other. More than what Ties presents through its characters, that’s for sure, and we can only live well if we are brave and honest about that. 

The book is creatively constructed, starting with letters from the past and moving into shifting points of view, but it felt like a story that was being built as a study, and this construction (along with the absence of heart) kept me at a distance.

Finally, the cover (the bottom of what appears to be a man’s two legs with the laces tied to each other) is perfect perfect perfect.

Patricia Evangelista recounts the Phillipines’ history from Marcos to Duterte, and takes us with her as we see the unleashing of death squads (first in Davao and later throughout the country) and the state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings that occurred under Duterte.

Evangelista interviews victims’ families, police, and perpetrators of these murders and shows how something unthinkable can happen and keep happening without the public or someone in power saying stop. Enough.

Evangelista is at the center as she recounts the larger story of this time period through the voices of those who endured it and we are always with her. I could place myself in the room as she smoked cigrettes with her interview subjects. This human-centered framing also gives insight into how much Evangelista, the photographer who accompanied her, and others risked to make sure people knew what was happening in the Phillipines.

The number of people murdered in the name of law and order horrifies and yet we also see how well-marketed ideas under the guise of justice can dehumanize, destroy, and give rise to terror over and over.

And once again, another jaw-dropper of a cover.

I love the Logan family. Mama and Papa treat their children with care, and interact with their kids in a way that respects both their youth and their curiosity. Big Mama, Mama and Papa nurture the Logan children honestly. The children are so well-described that they animate in my head as I read. Actions match personalities drawn. These are complete characters navigating post-slavery America and its complications, high stakes, and violence.

I hear that some people wish to ban this book and that is maddening. I grew up in an all-white community and read this book in middle school. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry began to open my eyes to history and post-slavery realities, made me question my textbooks, and showed that books and stories don’t always offer neat happy endings to the reader. This is a story with a great plot, rich characters and crackling narrative, and it belongs on our bookshelves.

Mengestu’s debut novel centers on the African immigrant experience and takes place around Logan Circle in Washington, D.C., just as the area begins to gentrify.

Mengestu tells the story of Sepha Stephanos as he pursues a semblance of the template of the American dream by opening a store in Logan Circle while he and his friends wrestle with the political violence and traumas that pushed them out of their home countries.

I understood Sepha and his choices. The slow exploration of his history and personal story, as well as those of his friends Kenneth and Joseph, show show lives and world views complicated by war, exile, and death. I don’t know that the Judith and Naomi storyline totally worked for me and the splitting of the timelines toward the later part of the novel seemed unnecessary.

I like the stories Mengestu has to tell and how he tells them. While I didn’t like The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears as much as Someone Like Us (a sublime powerful read) I plan to read another of his books later this year.

Having read and loved Remember Us last year, I was eager to check out another of Woodson’s titles. When I saw Brown Girl Dreaming at a library book sale I snapped it up.

Look at this cover, it’s the depiction of dreamy!

Brown Girl Dreaming is a memoir in verse about Woodson’s childhood, family, and her evolution as a writer. Woodson’s creativity of expression inspires me, and she introduced me to the free verse memoir.

The book is comprised of short chapters that capture moments or periods of time in Woodson’s life, and even poems that she wrote as a child. Woodson’s writing is forthright. I can evision her as the younger self she describes.

Her chapters hone in on the importance of imagination and storytelling, and remind us that imagination helps us thrive and become our full selves. Imagination lives inside all of us! And in Woodson’s case, it is a critical implement in her writing toolbox.

Woodson is a gifted narrator and I consumed Brown Girl Dreaming both in print and audio. Woodson is a prolific writer – primarily considered a YA author, I think – and I hope to keep working my way through her catalog in coming years.

A story about 1970s Harlem, Ray Carney, Pepper, Zippo, corrupt policing, and the system that underlies the system. Whitehead delights in his characters and the Harlem of the time.

And this cover! Every photo is true to the time and place Whitehead writes about.

Crook Manifesto is so well-researched and full of rich details neatly sewn into the plot. The story vibrates in Whitehead’s hands. I pictured him putting together Crook Manifesto like a carefully crafted diorama, meticuloulsly laying out the city and everything inside it, including Ray Carney’s furniture store. I love all the references to specific pieces of furniture and the mentions of specific pieces that people have purchased from him! Zippo and Pepper jump off the page.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the characterization of the fanfare of the upcoming 200th anniversary of the U.S., and reading those passages with the 250th bday imminent, as well as through the lens of Ray Carney owning a furniture store that advertises holiday sales. So good.

This book was too male-centric for me (as was the case with Harlem Shuffle) and the plot did not propel me forward from the first to last page (unlike Harlem Shuffle that started as a slow burn and then took off). Even so, Whitehead is a master storyteller, I love the world he has created in the Harlem trilogy, and I’ll be reading the last installment whenever it comes out.

And that’s it for February! Better late than never, okay?

What have you been reading? I always have room for one more book on my list so let me know! And of course, if you’ve read one of these titles, I would love to know what you thought.