February reading recap

Four quick fiction books plus nonfiction reads about light pollution, therapy, endangered animals, creativity, and internet scams.

I’ve been listing my recent reading at the end of larger monthly recaps and in my “Books” story highlights on Instagram—but both those places have started to feel cramped (and my social media sharing is especially inconsistent nowadays).

So, enter a new way to talk about the books I’ve had my nose in: A dedicated monthly post! Sometimes I have so much to say about a particular title that it gets its own full reflection, of course, but for all the others… this monthly shindig is their place to shine. (Or not shine, if I didn’t like them.)

Here’s February!

(I get asked a lot if I’m on Goodreads or StoryGraph—I’m sorry I’m not. If you’re curious how I’ve tracked my reading since 2023, this is my homemade spreadsheet!)

Nonfiction reads

• The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms that Sustain Life by Johan Eklöf ★5
  Finished 2/2, read mostly in a yellow lawn chair on our second day camping in the Florida Keys, then in the bed watching sunset with Scout.
  I loved loved loved this one. (Of course reading it during a few days where I completely disconnected from the digital world did not hurt.)

• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb ★4
  Finished 2/7, read largely sitting in the sand at a public park.
  Surprisingly enjoyable—I’d really hedged my expectations going in—and loosely inspired these musings about “finish lines”.

• Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell ★4
  Finished 2/8, read aloud with Sean in the Keys, the Everglades, and various parking lots in between.
  Lovely. I pitched a piece to Outside Online centered on my reactions to it coupled with recent experiences in the Everglades, so tbd on if that goes anywhere. 🤷🏼‍♀️

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert ★3
  Finished 2/17, mostly read lounging in bed during our second stint in the Keys.
  Oh, am I torn about this book. Parts of it I liked very much. Parts of it I cringed at. If I was going to recommend a title on creativity, I’d probably opt for Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act instead—but there were many similarities. A good opportunity for “take what resonates and leave the rest”!

• Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert ★3
  Finished 2/25 on the way north from a bakery in Pompano Beach.
  Despite knowing about Eat Pray Love from pop culture references, I’d never actually read it (or seen the movie). Mostly it wasn’t for me—I feel lucky to have already had many of the realizations Gilbert did on her year of travel, and I’m not sold on her writing style—but there were some nice insights. I’m also trying to remember it was a bigger deal “in its time” when first published twenty years ago?

• The Woman Who Fooled The World: the true story of fake wellness guru Belle Gibson by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano ★4
  Finished 2/28, read mostly at a public park on the Space Coast.
  Sean and I watched a few episodes of Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar before I realized I could just read the book. (The show was well done, though! I concur with mass opinion that Kaitlyn Dever crushed it.) The early-days social internet interests me as someone involved in it all these years later. There is so much straight-up quackery (in the dog world and outside of it) and as the daughter of someone with severe rheumatoid disease, the false hope offered by “magic cures” makes me want to cry and scream and punch somebody.

Fiction reads

• What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan ★3
  Finished 2/2, read on our first day at Bahia Honda State Park.
  A reasonably twisty, engaging thriller read. Lots of familial emotions.

• Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka ★3
  Finished 2/4, on our third day at Bahia Honda.
  I hoped I would gush about this the way many fellow readers did… but maybe my expectations were too high. I did like it (even loved some parts) but it just didn’t blow me away.

• The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins ★3
  Finished 2/12 in Everglades National Park.
  Particularly beautiful prose and setting. Struck me less than The Girl on the Train.

• A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey ★3
  Finished 2/13 in Everglades National Park.
  Maybe more of a 3.5. I enjoyed reading this more than I expected to, but some of the plot irked me. (Looking at you, adorable cat who goes missing and is barely mentioned. 😅)