by Maryam (@thecurioussffreader)

February Wrap-Up & March Reading Plans

February was an odd reading month, I read a couple amazing books but I also read a few books that I didn’t enjoy back-to-back and that put me off reading for a few days. Thankfully, even if I didn’t read as much as I wanted, I still managed to read quite a bit and I have to say that the read-along of Kushiel’s Chosen and buddy-reading Kindred with Mayri helped a lot! Discussing books with other readers is always a great motivation to read! 😀

I also moved at the end of the month for my new job as a quality engineer in the food industry (actually, when you’ll be reading this, I will have started already!). I now live in a beautiful region in France not too far from the sea. I have to say that the location was an important criterion for me and even if I don’t know anyone in this part of the country, I hope I will meet new people and make new friends. Hopefully, I will be able to even in the midst of a pandemic!…

BOOKS READ

NOVELS & NOVELLAS

  • Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor ★★★★★
  • On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu ★★☆
  • A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole ★★
  • Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor ★★☆
  • Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi ★★★★
  • Kindred by Octavia E. Butler ★★★★★
  • Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden ★★★★☆

SHORT FICTION

I read 35 short stories in February and I will discuss my favorite stories in my next Short Fiction Sunday post! Here are the magazine issues and collections of short stories I read last month:

  • Apex Magazine #119 edited by Jason Sizemore ★★★☆
  • Lightspeed #122 edited by John Joseph Adams ★★★★
  • Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyat ★★★★☆
  • Speculative City #10 edited by Stephani Cox & Meera Velu ★★★★
  • Clarkesworld #167 edited by Neil Clarke ★★★

FAVORITE BOOKS OF February

The first book I loved this month was Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor, it was such an amazing story about love, loss and magic. Okorafor masterfully blended science fiction with magical elements. The characters were amazing and after reading the first chapter, I knew it was going to be a five-star story for me. (It’s funny because I read another story by the author in February, the last installment in the Binti trilogy and I didn’t like it very much. Oh well.)

My other favorite was Kindred by Octavia E. Butler and I’m soooo glad I was able to discuss this book with Mayri because oh my gosh, THIS BOOK. It’s a masterpiece, it broke my heart over and over and I couldn’t stop reading. I never cry while reading but it made me cry. This book is a classic for a reason!

TV Shows

I will write a separate post about the TV shows and media I consumed in February because I have a lot of things to mention and it would be way too long for this post!

POST RECAP

I posted 8 posts in February of which only 3 were reviews. For some reasons, I really struggled with writing reviews last month. It took me way longer than usual to write my last few reviews… 😦

March READING PLANS

As you may know, I want to read the 2020 BSFA Awards shortlist before the winner announcement in April so I have quite a bit of reading to do. I also have a few ARCs to read for March and I also need to read Kushiel’s Chosen for the Read As Thou Wilt Read-along. I’m already a bit behind on Kushiel’s Chosen but I will hopefully catch in the next few days. Since I want to read a lot of novels in March, I am not planning on reading a lot of short fiction (I will probably read a few short stories here and there but I’m already being very ambitious with my reading considering I will have to adjust to a new job, I will probably not have a lot brain power left at night!)

Here are all the books I would like to read in March. Will I be able to read every single one of them? I doubt it but we’ll see!

How was your month of February? Any plans for March? 😀

22 thoughts on “February Wrap-Up & March Reading Plans”

  3. Congratulations and all the best wishes for your new job and your relocation! May I ask where that new place is?

    Your short fiction recap and plans are wonderful (ok, with the exceptions of those romance titles 😁)!

    Liked by 1 person

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      2. It’s quite beautiful, I plan on exploring this region on weekends! 😀 I don’t know if French people here speak English or German well (since we French tend to suck at learning foreign language 😂) but I suspect you can find information in the places with the most tourists like Saint Malo, Quimper, Rennes and Carnac!
        😂😂😂 nop, it’s not enough! 😛

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Wow, love all of these books! I’m excited you’re reading Piranesi in March, because I really like this author’s work. And I see that Seanan McGuire has recommended Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters — which means I just have to read it. Thanks for spotlighting these.
    All the very best for the job, transition typically takes up to 2 weeks in my experience, but soon you’ll be an old hat at things 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’m currently reading Piranesi and so far it’s very, very weird and I don’t really know what the story is about after reading 25% of the book but I’m still enjoying it quite a bit LOL.
      Thank you! So far the transition is taking me longer that I expected but I hope my fourth week is going to be a little calmer. 😅

      Liked by 1 person

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