February Month End Stats+

Alright, another month and let's see if I can keep up with these mini-reviews along with my stats. (Spoiler,  I did!)

I don't really know what to say about this month. I will say I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my neck by just sitting at my desk working. It was so painful, and surprisingly so when I did, to the best of my knowledge nothing, that I called my mom the nurse to have her assure me I wasn't actually dying. I was doing a video call for work when I hurt myself and I very much wonder if the others on the call wondered wth was going on with me as I kept very still and tried not to grimace. So if anyone is wondering about my age, I am "pulled-my-neck-moving-my-computer-mouse-can't-move-my-neck-for-two-days" years old.

Number of books read

5

A Game of Cones by Abby Collette

Loving Day by Mat Johnson

First Bite: How We Learned to Eat by Bee Wilson

Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World by Fredrick Backman

A Game of Cones by Abby Collette

This is the second book in this cozy mystery series about Bronwyn Crewse, who returned to her small home town to run the family ice cream parlor Crewse Creamery. Except wait, there's another murder! There's a lot about the ice cream (though far less than the first book) and different shops around the village and perhaps other tropes of the cozy mystery genre which I am less familiar with. So whether this is a trope I cannot say, but one thought I repeatedly had while listening to this is that Wyn and especially her friend Maisie are basically the worst possible detectives. I'm not sure if they actually solve anything or if they just happen to be in the right place and even then, sort of have to be hit over the head with the answer. I don't necessarily know if this is a deal-breaker. I mean, it wasn't for me. This isn't my fav book but I did read both books in the series and odds are I'll read more. I mean, I'll complain again, but I'll read it.

Goodreads rating: 3 stars

Loving Day by Mat Johnson

Things aren't going great for Warren. His comic shop and his marriage in Wales have failed. He's returning back to America to deal with the death of his father, or more accurately, to deal with the crumbling mansion in the Philly ghetto. Warren himself is half black and half white, though he's spent his life identifying with the black community, despite his light skin (often having to prove himself that he was in the right space). While back in Philly he discovers a piece of his past he didn't know existed, his own daughter who has been raised as white. So that's the setting to this book, navigating a world as a mixed-race man and explaining this world to his daughter who didn't know she was mixed race. Instead there are lots of subplots that involve maybe ghosts and a cult and a love story that didn't really work for me. Things get muddled, and these less-than-stellar moments start to outweigh the good ones.

Goodreads rating: 2.5 stars (and I know you can't do half stars on GR but I am)

First Bite by Bee Wilson

Things I like: Interesting look at "children's food" vs. "food", idea that you can learn to like dif tastes whether you're a child or adult, these things aren't set in stone

Things I dislike: talks about a healthier relationship with food and not dreading eating but consistently talks about "good food" rather than just..."food. Is very judgey at the idea of adults deigning to eat "children's foods" like birthday cake ice cream

It's difficult to rate because the parts I liked, I really liked. It's just that there were an equal amount of parts that I really didn't like. And these sections kept going back and forth.

Goodreads rating: 2.5 stars which I already acknowledged I can't do on GR but I can here and the parts I didn't like annoyed me a lot so it outweighs the parts I did like (which I would rate a 4)

Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore

Another installment of adventures of Pocket of Dog Snogging, following Fool and Serpent of Venice. This time Pocket finds himself (along with his apprentice Drool) on the shores of Athens and in the forest where there seems to be some fairy business. Pocket wanders into the world of A Midsummer Night's Dream except in this one Robin Goodfellow has been murdered and if Pocket wants to save himself and Drool he'd better figure out what's going on and fast.

If you like Moore and you like Shakespeare, this is a fun one. Not as good as Fool but it's still a good time and it was one I didn't want to put down

Goodreads rating: 4 stars

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World by Fredrik Backman

Maybe to make up for the fact that I started but decided to stop Bear Town but moreso because my library hold came in, I listened to Fredrik Backman's collection of essays to his young son about the things he needs to know. They were funny and I felt like I knew where some of his fictional characters and situations came from. it's very much in that genre of parenting books where the parents are honest about not knowing what they're doing but just trying to do their best. 

Goodreads rating: 4 stars

Number of pages read

1,437

Fiction

60%

Female authors

40%

BIPOC authors

40%

US authors

60%

Book format

audiobook: 80%

paperback: 20%

Where'd I get the book

library: 80%

indie bookstore: 20% 

Decade published

2010s: 60%

2020s: 40%

Resolution books

80%

A Game of Cones is by a Black author

Loving Day is by a mixed race author

First Bite is by an English author

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World is by a Swedish author