I had my winter break again in Feb and a friend asked if I read a book a day again. Nope, not this time. H was on vacation too, and I had some other little interests and things to do almost daily in addition to reading – some arts and crafts, going out to see my kids, helping H with the furniture building etc. Perhaps 14 books is a bit more than a regular month, especially when it’s a shortie month, but more or less a normal reading month for me.

• Started the month with the sweet middle schooler story The Lost Library (by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass). It was, well, sweet. A story of books and friends and family. And a bit of mystery.
• Nicole Scarano’s Autopsy of a Fairytale series was the obsession of the month – absolutely devoured it!
• Murakami is Murakami. Norwegian Wood surprised me as it has nothing paranormal in it, whereas Dance Dance Dance obviously is one of the bizarre Murakamis, though not as the first book of the duology, the mindbending as The Wild Sheep Chase.
• Emily Wilde trilogy came to its finale in the Compendium of Lost Tales, a delight, as expected!
• Brynne Weaver’s Butcher & Blackbird dark romance series was, well, I don’t know. I think I gave them four stars – I liked them, while not the mentality of vengeance and vigilance so much.
• The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw was spellbinding, I recommend!
• Fred Astaire’s Steps in Time is definitely worth reading; an intriguing tale of showbiz from theaters to the movies, in a time so different from ours
• The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, by James Patterson, ended the month promptly at 21:30 on the last evening of February. A collection of stories from a myriad of people working with people and books, books and people.

After reading the sweet middle schooler story “The Lost Library”, I switched to something a bit darker: Nicole Scarano’s Autopsy of a Fairytale, which starts a series that goes by that same name. Deliciously dark, in an intriguing and not at all cruel or ugly kind of a way despite the theme, the unreal crimes and whatnot. I mean, if a story has an important dog, a pitbull, it can’t be unlikeable. Though dogs didn’t remedy John Wick for me. Still. So anyway, I started the first book, took a liking, and went and bought the three next ones plus book #5 that will come out in March.

Feb 11, I finished book #4, that ended in a goddanmn cliffhanger and I need to wait for several weeks (but hey, at least not a year) to continue the story of Bel and Eamon!

On the other hand, the long-awaited book #3 of the Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett arrived in my Kindle today, so perfect timing for that!

Feb 28, I finished Patterson’s The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians. So many times while reading these accounts, I wondered if I should be a bookseller. My dream is to own a book café – books, coffee & tea, cozy living room away from home – but I don’t think that’ll ever happen unless I happen to win the lottery (and I don’t even buy the tickets 😀 ).

The only thing that mystified me throughout the book was all them patrons TALKING with the sellers and librarians, interacting and forming relationships. As a teen, I devoured everything in the local libraries, popping in to return read books and check out a pile of new ones weekly, if not multiple times a week. I have no recollection of speaking with any librarians, like ever. At least not beyond any necessities at the counter or so. Same when I visit bookstores.

And then, just today, I realized there are at least SOME exceptions to this for me, too, when I returned to the bookstore I frequent on my way home from work. They have recently done some amazing reorganizing of the store, with a bigger and more enticing English books section, a little sofa nook next to it, and the overall look and feel is more spacious and alluring now. I just HAD to tell them this – and ended up discussing the Belladonna series I was holding in my arms with the clerk too. She hadn’t read it yet, and we agreed that the covers were beautiful, hopefully a true reflexion of the story, “you should come back and tell me how you liked it”. I found myself mumbling that I will (seriously, got me confused, not knowing how to respond), and thinking to myself, oh ok, this kind of interaction actually DOES happen for real!

I ended up reading a lot more than I expected what with all sorts of other stuff going on during weekends and a busy month at work.

• Holly Black was a bit of a disappointment – I expected more enchantment, but the books were all deception, scheming, violence, and ugliness (meaning the atmosphere etc.).
• Deanna Raybourn – Lady Julia Grey was not quite as fabulous as the Veronica Speedwell series was, but excellent reads in their own right.
• Emily Henry is nothing if not guaranteed feel-good.
• Paris Hilton’s story is, I don’t know. I have no words. Just read it.
• Lola Glass’s supernatural smutty romance stories were quite fun.