February Reading wrap up!

 Well. February is a short month, but I still managed to finish a whopping 21 books.  I'm not really "trying" to be a power reader, but I admit, the library only having a 14 day loan on a lot of audiobooks has put a bit of a fire under me. 

Credit: https://lccn.loc.gov/98508191

Of course, reading a lot of books at a rapid pace really can ruin the enjoyment and not leave a lot of time for thought.  Lucky for me, some of my choices were purely enjoyment novels and didn't tax my noggin. Others though... Well... lets see what happened! 

Some Statistics!

Books in translation:  2/21  A low number indeed, but that brings my total for 2025 to 5 books in translation, so I've got room for more! 

Books by Diverse Authors: 57% of my reading was a book with an identified diverse author.  I had a bit of help from Black Booksky  over on bluesky for finding books by black authors that I really wanted to read (you can check out Black Booksky too!)  

What was my TOP read? 

Well... after some thought (like about 8 minutes of thought...)

 It's a TIE! (I make all the blog rules so why not!)

I could not decide between Cordova's The inheritance of Orquidea Divina or  Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen. 

Both books feature a unique narrative featuring magical realism and some introduction into cultures that are not the normative culture that I live within. I have not stopped thinking about either one, and when pressed to really decide, I just couldn't. So there they are.

Non-Fiction- not my favorite genre, but I did read one non-fiction book. 

Black water by David Robertson. This is an interesting memoir of a Creen man growing up unaware of his indigenous heritage. While an important piece of writing, I think I highly preferred Tomson Highway's work of fiction, which just flowed better for me and was much more engaging. 

I started few other non-fiction water books but never quite got into them and they all remain unfinished. 

Speaking of my Water theme! 

Books read for the great 2025 Water theme! 

To be honest,  none of these topped my list for really awesome reads.  I will put of a review for McKinney's Noir book set in a future world where instead of building to the sky, we build down in to the ocean, in just a bit.  This month's Watery reads really had me questioning my choice of themes, but I've since gotten some recommendations, so hopefully my enjoyment level will rise in March! Water City is really worth a read, if you like Noir detective type novels, and it is a series, it was fun, but somehow didn't grab me like I had hoped. 

Advanced Reader Copies :

I was able to read one Advanced reader copy- 

This is the United Planetary Systems Book one To Avenge a Fallen Star.  It goes out on sale on March 25th and I wish Qillana Quinn all the best with the release of her novel. 

This lead me to requesting... errrr... several more books on NetGalley, breaking my Audio only rule and I am sure in March I will regret it. 

Book Club Books: 

 I read one in a series of Sci -Fi that I won't mention on the blog. I enjoyed the book, but the author is problematic  and thus... no discussion of that. 

Within the Stabby and Smoochy Book club, we have been CONSUMED  by The Broken Bonds series by J. Bree 

This isn't great literature, but the pacing is pretty good, and the story is so engaging. I have yet to figure out why we have the insects on every cover, so if someone knows, please let me know! 

We will be finishing off Book six soon and starting a new series or book. So far, a member has suggested  A Broken Blade - the Halfling series and I'm definitely ready for that. As always we love readers at Stabby and Smoochy so, feel free to hop in. Fable is free to join and it's a really responsive reading site with great visuals! 

BUDDY READS:

We loved reading the conclusion to the Ruinous Love Trilogy, it was everything and more.    This was definitely a good time featuring all sorts of things, cocktail olive picks, clowns, fortune tellers, crochet, and LOVE, of course. 

We have started to buddy read an ARC entitled Well, Actually  which we have dubbed "the hot dog book". So far, I think it's super polished and very funny, not sure how/what my reading buddy thinks/feels yet. 

 A book that sort of fell out of all of my "categories"  but deserves a mention is the heist novel Hammajang Luck. 

This book was so excellent on audio, the pacing was great, and it just moved along through a heist, which involved so much trauma, love, found family and trust, that I really found a lot to love about it, I just... didn't love it quite as much as my two tied favorites. 

The only other HUGE accomplishment for me was finishing off Bester's The Demolished Man.  That book has dogged me for months! We have moved on to 1953's Hugo award winner, which is a huge one, and I'll be sure to put up a review when I finish that - let's just say there are Firemen involved. 

The rest are all a blur of romance, space based romance,  and honestly some books that, I dont think I liked enough to want to re-mention them! 

What did you enjoy most in February?  What are you looking forward to in March! let me know in the comments! 

New Book Tuesday! But make it Water!

 In 2025, I'm reading about water! It is life sustaining, can absorb quite a lot of heat, and can dramatically, or imperceptibly shape an environment, so - there's a lot there to unpack. 

  New books from major publishers typically come out on Tuesdays! (Here's a good look at why and how that isn't for every new book.) 

        

So, lets talk about a book coming out TODAY! that features water, that I'm a little bit excited about! 

Kell Woods is an Australian author, and Upon a Starlit Tide is releasing in North America TODAY! 

This is a re-telling of 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Cinderella' fairy tales set in eighteenth century Brittany, It is one of the options for my Online SciFi/Fantasy book club that I belong to and so I am quite interested in seeing how this goes.  Typically, I am not a huge fan of re-tellings, but this one is promised to be a wholly different tale of Love , Power and Betrayal.  I mean, clearly it won't be wholly different, or it might be marketed as a tale of Love, Power and Betrayal, without the fairy tale association.  

The Brittany setting is unique, and I admit, I don't know much about that region and it's history, but I found this blog entry that filled in a lot about the times that Upon a Starlit Tide is set in! 

Will you be picking up Upon a Starlit Tide? 

Have you read Kell Woods other book? Let me know your thoughts? and recommendations?  Got any books coming out that you're excited for? I'd love to chat about them! 

How Many is TOO many?

    Reading friends - how many books do you usually have "going"  at one time?  Do you have a limit? 

How much can we reasonably process from our outrageously enormous To-Be-Read piles? Do you have a strategy, or just wing it? 

Thank you to Tim's public domain pictures for this gem. 

  I used to be a one book at a time person, and was pretty happy if I finished 12 -15 books a year.  I was also - at that time focusing on a certain type of reading material. Books that made me think, made me take action, or otherwise somehow make a change in life, gain a new perspective, or learn something. Not Self-Help,  but more along the lines of Isabel Wilkerson, or Min Jin Lee.  Then I discovered  books that are on the frivolous side like Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians,  Viano Oniomoh  and Marilyn Barr  and I added those into the mix.  These books also make me think and see things from a different perspective, but they require a bit less mental energy from me. 

So... there is a lot of space between Spooning my Chuchunya (5 stars in that genre)  and   say, James Baldwin's  The Fire Next time (Also 5 stars)   and - YES - pretty much the only thing those two books have in common is that they are books.  But, I believe all reading is valid,  one just gets something different from every reading escapade. And YES if you're only going to read one book, I'd go with James Baldwin every time.   

But as I was reading around, I realized that I really did want to be reading more than one book at a time because there are ALOT of books to be read out there and there is only so much time.  I wanted reading experiences that made me think, expanded my horizons, but also ones that I could giggle with my friends about over brunch, and those that we could just loathe together. 

  And then!  Friends.....  I DISCOVERED AUDIO BOOKS! 

This opened a whole new avenue of reading to me, and I was suddenly able to read audio in the car, at the gym, you name it. It became my preferred way to read most material, and due to Libby and Cloud Library, I am constantly supplied with books of all sorts and genres. 

So currently, I have one book on my Kindle for my "Stabby and Smoochy"  bookclub at Fable .  One physical book I'm making my way through (The Demolished Man)  and about 4 different audiobooks going.

Is it too many?  Not really.  I don't know why but I rarely get confused, as long as I get a bit read each day, I can recall the plot lines.  I try to make sure they are all different genres-  but I do wonder if I'm just gorging too much.  I see some popular Influencers making jokes about how they forgot everything they read, and I find I don't generally have that problem. 

How many are you reading?  What's your strategy for getting through the massive TBR? Do you switch up the genres? Do you listen to audio at 2/25x? read a chapter of each book daily? Do you dedicate yourself to one book at time and just zip through each one and on to the next? Feel free to share this post around, and  Let me know your strategy in the comments!