February 2020 books

February didn't quite live up to my reading "goals" because I got hit with a couple weeks of basically solo parenting, and I can just never seem to read a significant amount when I'm exhausted from solo parenting even though I should have "extra" free time in the evenings. But I read some! And here they are!

As always, links are Amazon affiliate but you should use your library or local bookstore! :)

The New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander
★★★★★/5

Starting off strong with a very heavy nonfiction. It took me a couple months to finish this one, because I could only read a little bit before getting super depressed, but if you haven't read this yet I highly recommend. Alexander goes into the ways that the system of mass incarceration and the justice system in the U.S. are directly functioning as a race-based oppression system, and her evidence is SO clear and SO damning that it's hard to believe I hadn't thought it through like this before. Really, really worthwhile of a read, 5 stars for a reason.


Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way
by Tanja Hester
★★/5

David and I have been talking long-term goals together recently, and researching FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) processes have been a part of that, so I figured I should read about it. I can only give this book 2 stars because I didn't learn a ton, and I felt like it was written much more as a sales attempt rather than written with passion, so that was kind of disappointing. I learned a little, though, and if you're completely unaware of FIRE it's not a bad introduction. I think it could have been distilled into like 5 blog posts though. So. Not highly recommend.


The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2)
by Brandon Sanderson
★★★★/5

4 stars for the second in this series! Last month, I said I thought this series wasn't as strong as his Stormlight Archive series, but I thought this book was MUCH stronger and I really dove into it completely. There is really nothing like an insanely well-written fantasy that keeps you wrapped within it so incredibly well that you forget it's fantasy. I made myself wait a couple weeks after finishing this one and just picked up book 3 at the library this morning. :)


Catcher in the Rye 
by J. D. Salinger
★★★★/5

Ah man, what can I say about Catcher in the Rye. The Close Reads podcast group was reading this together, and in the name of personal mortification I decided to pick this one up and join again, even though I HATED this book in high school when I read it. Surprisingly -- to no one more than myself! -- I did not hate it this time. (Is there hope for me? Can my opinions actually grow and change, like a real adult person? Who knew.) If you haven't read this, or you hated it like I did, I definitely would give it another shot. I felt so badly for Holden by the end of this book. (Enough props cannot be given to Close Reads for making me give it another shot! Their thoughtful discussion in each episode was paramount to me changing my mind.)


Middlemarch (21%!!!) 
by George Eliot

I don't have a full review of this yet, hence the lack of stars, because I'm STILL somehow only 20 some percent through it. This book is so dang long. I really like it so far, though! Gonna keep plugging away.

Currently reading:
Middlemarch (as mentioned above)
Silence by Shusako Endo (wow, intense!!!, thanks for the Christmas present, Sam ;))

What are you reading in March? Something spring-y? Hit me with it.
HG