February has been a challenging month. It’s short, and, at least for me, somehow it never feels like there’s enough time to get everything done. Between extended cold weather from January, Valentine’s Day, working on a Celebration of Life for a friend, and preparing for a signing at the end of the month, not to mention standard work tasks like getting in monthly initial orders which always feels like it’s sapping my very last brain cell, it somehow felt like I barely had time to read anything at all. Looking back at what I did read, somehow I got through more than I realized.

I think this month I managed to encounter some new all-time favorites, and tried some titles from authors I’m already familiar with (in one case, completely by accident!)

As a habitual reader who has barely left the house without a book close at hand for the last 30 years, I thought it would be fun to chronicle what I’m reading every month as the year goes by. I won’t claim to have the most educated opinions on things, nor the hottest takes — as they say “my opinion is my own and doesn’t reflect the opinions of anyone else” etc. But one of my favorite things at my job as a bookseller is getting to develop a relationship with readers — people who see my recommendations around the store, try something new, and love it, and come to me to talk about it. Maybe it’s naive to think I could extend that kind of community here, and the internet is a generally hateful place these days, but still, I’d love to share what I’ve been loving (and not loving) lately, and maybe my thoughts and opinions could guide someone out there too.