February 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

 

BOOK THOUGHTS

February 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

Oh, the short month of February, when there are not enough days to read all the books! I managed to finish 13 in my birthday month, but there were several left behind.

I am normally a planner when It comes to my reading. I love to pick books ahead of time, either for the year, like with my TBR 26 in '26 books, or by the month when I pick a stack for my nightstand that I want to get through that month. Because my birthday was in February, I decided to "treat" myself to reading more by whim. I had a couple of book club books I had to finish, but otherwise, I thought I'd pick them as I went. It turned out to not be as fun as I hoped. I think I like the anticipation and planning as much as I like reading the books. 

• The Veiled One by Ruth Rendell, number 14 in her Inspector Wexford series, my new focus. I love Wexford's droll demeanor and the way he's always quoting literature.

• Riders by Jilly Cooper. I loved every 912 page of this rollicking, raunchy chunkster. It’s book 1 of her Rutland Chronicles and I can’t wait to read the others. This was a real birthday treat.

• Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood, a Hogarth Shakespeare retelling of The Tempest. I picked this for book club and am so glad I did. Excellent!

• The Affair by C. P. Snow was a slog, but I’m determined to finish his Strangers & Brothers series. I love mid-century campus novels so want to love this series. But it is dry as dust.

• Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of WASP Splendor by Tad Friend, a fascinating memoir and social commentary about growing up in an extended East Coast, WASP family in the later 20th Century. It reminded me a lot of my first husband's family, which fortunately was humorous to me at this point. One of my TBR 26 in '26 books.

• The Paris Directive by Gerald Jay. A dud for me. Good premise, but I was yelling at the book for the unbelievability of every detail of the murders. Supposedly the best assassin the the world botches the first murder, tries to frame the local handyman, hangs around the tiny French village, and decides to murder the investigating cop and the daughter of one of the victims because they might solve the crime. Seriously? Why doesn't he just leave? Another TBR 26 in '26 book and one I'm glad to have off my shelf. 

• When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter. An entertaining memoir about the magazine business in its heyday, but the name dropping got to be too much. Specifically, he would introduce someone by full name -- which is good, knowing the people he rubbed elbows with is why you read a book like this -- but then all subsequent references were to first names. I couldn't keep up. There was no way I could remember that Henry Smigglesworth at the Oscar party was "Henry" at Paris Fashion Week 200 pages later. 

• The English Country Town by Russell Chamberlin. I thought this was a fluffy coffee table book and discovered it is a readable but serious history of English towns back to pre-Roman days. A surprise highlight of my month. I was fascinated.

NOT PICTURED

• The Appeal by Janice Hallett, a fun, popular mystery told through email and text messages. I read the sequel, The Christmas Appeal, in December and wanted to go back to the original. I actually thought the sequel was better because it was a novella and packed a lot into the shorter format. The original novel felt too long in comparison. 

• Prelude to Terror by Helen MacInnes is one of her later Cold War thrillers and very good. It is the first of three books she wrote featuring CIA spy Robert Renwick. Apparently this was a reread for me, but I remembered none of it, so it felt brand new. 

• Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just by Timothy Keller, a recommendation from our pastor and definitely worth reading.

• St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton. I read this classic as a group read on Instagram. Chesterton's commentary was as interesting as the details of the saint's life. 

• White Noise by Don DeLillo has been on my list forever but just confirmed I am not a fan. It won the 1985 National Book Award and I'm working my way through the winners. I don't plan on picking up any other DeLillo books. 

Did any of your February books stand out?

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The house lights dim. The audience quiets.

-- from the Prologue to Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood.

Hag-Seed is a novel by Margaret Atwood that retells (in prose) William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. It is part of of a series of Shakespeare retellings from Hogarth Press. "Hogarth Shakespeare" began in 2015 with Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time (The Winter’s Tale) and now includes Howard Jacobson’s Shylock Is My Name (The Merchant of Venice), Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl (The Taming of the Shrew), Tracy Chevalier's New Boy (Othello), Edward St. Aubyn's Dunbar (King Lear), and Jo Nesbo's Macbeth (Macbeth, duh).

I read Shylock is My Name and loved it. It's one of my favorite books and one I am looking forward to rereading. I also liked Vinegar Girl a lot. I picked Hag-Seed for my book club's next read. We'll see what the other ladies think. I'd like to read all of the books in this series.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Hag-Seed:

Leaving the Festival parking lot, Felix didn’t have the sensation of driving. Instead he felt he was being driven, as if blown by a high wind.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Felix is at the top of his game as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. Now he’s staging a Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, but it will also heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge, which, after twelve years, arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison.

Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own.

Late Book Beginning: Shylock is My Name

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Sorry to be so late! I thought I had scheduled this post before I left for Montana for a court hearing in one of my sex abuse cases, but apparently not. My apologies!

When the post was supposed to go up last evening, I was waiting for a plane in the Missoula airport, reading this book.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It is one of those better-to-be-dead-than-alive days you get in the north of England in February, the space between the land and sky the near letter box of squeezed light, the sky itself unfathomably banal.

-- Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson.

Jacobson's re-imagining of The Merchant of Venice is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, where famous authors have written novels reinterpreting famous Shakespear plays. I love this one and now want to read them all.

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING