February is fast approaching and I’m thinking about books! I didn’t finish my January TBR as of this writing, and I will not unless I stay home and do nothing but read for the next three days (one can dream), so I will have to move those books to another month, or the end of February is there is time. Ordinarily I would just move the books to the following month, but I placed my February library orders last week based off random picks from page 124 of my Goodreads list and all of them have come in already! Thanks CWMARS, you’re the best!

Here is my February TBR (all synopses from Goodreads.com, per usual):

Microjoys by Cyndie Spiegel: Microjoys are a practice of uncovering joy and finding hope at any moment. They are accessible to everyone, despite all else . When we hone the ability to look for them, they are always available. Microjoys are the hidden wisdom, long-ago memories, subtle treasures, and ordinary delights that surround A polka-dot glass on a thrift store shelf. A dear friend’s kindness at just the right time. The neighborhood spice shop. A beloved family tradition. The simple quietude of being in love. A cherished chai recipe.
Cyndie Spiegel first began taking note of microjoys during the most difficult year of her life—when she experienced back-to-back unprecedented and devastating losses—and she found that these fleeting moments of hope helped her move through each day with a semblance of comfort and a lot more joy.
Through beautifully written narrative essays and prompts, Cyndie shares the microjoys that have kept her going through tough times and shows us how we can learn to see the microjoys in our own lives. Microjoys don’t change the truth of loss or make grief any more convenient, but they allow us to temporarily touch joy, keeping us buoyed and moving forward, one moment at a time.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young: In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors. It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own. After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood: Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope’s twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago. But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand. The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult (I do own this one as an eBook): Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym. In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Only four on the planned list—February is a little month, after all. All of these books are new to me; if you’ve read any, let me know what you thought! I will also be continuing to read The Woman They Could Not Silence with my sister, and Margaret Atwood’s Paper Boats if I finish my planned four before the end of the month. I picked up an autographed copy while out on a Sister Day last fall. We have another one coming up next week in Portsmouth, NH, I can’t wait!

Books I’m trying to wrap up by the end of the week are Ezra Pound’s Literary Essays and Virginia Woolf’s Writer’s Diary. Woolf’s diary is a bit of a slog, and her overt classicism overshadows the interesting and valuable points she makes about writing. I am very torn about reading Ezra Pound. He makes brilliant statements about the craft of writing, but his background makes me wish these were written by someone else. Last year I listened to a podcast that discussed if it is okay to appreciate work created by terrible people; the author was speaking of a musician whose work she loved, but as she became an adult and learned about what kind of person he was, listening to his music made her question her own morals. I feel the same way about my books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. She was a brilliant wordsmith and created a realm of fantasy that I spent many wonderful hours wandering, but she was a vile person. Ezra Pound’s background is equally upsetting.

A 2021 article from The New York Times, written by Jennifer Finney Boylan addresses the question of whether one can separate the art from the artist, and I do feel it is a weighty question. (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/opinion/music-pop-culture-justice.html) Disturbingly, we are seeing more and more creatives being held up for unacceptable behavior; I fail to understand why anyone thinks they are above the rules of law and common decency. But this is not what this post is about. This is about the fact that I am reading essays by Ezra Pound, and while his personal beliefs give me the ick, he was a gifted writer, and I appreciate his work.

What are you planning to read in February? Have you read any of these books? Let me know! Stay well, be blessed, and I’ll be back soon.