February Book Haul

I feel as though February came and went and I missed it. 28 days isn't nearly enough to fit life into and I haven't read nearly as much as I planned to! This month has been filled with some stressful events and I wish I'd been able to escape more into my books; alas, I'm back again with a smaller book collection but there are some incredible ones here so I hope you can find something that makes you want to pick up a story.

 The reason my collection is shorter this month is that I began February with half of A Discovery Of Witches to finish. Having already wrote about this last month, I won't go on for too long; however, I have a better understanding of the book now having finished it. I love the idea of it and I admire how much research was put into it regarding the alchemy etc. The thing that lets it down is that there's very little attention paid to the main events in the story line. I'm not sure if it's an intentional use of bathos, but it seems as though every time things start to build up, it just drops. The friend who lent me the book gave me the second one today and said she was really disappointed with it, but I'm not one who can leave a series unfinished so I'll give it a go.


 The second book I read last month absolutely broke me. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler tells such a beautiful story of family and ethics. I have never been one to cry at a book. I tend to always be aware of the fictional element to a novel; but this had me choking up in the college cafe.This was recommended to me by a friend in my Creative Writing group and I was gripped from the first few pages. I finished it in under a week and was so moved. I can't explain much about it without ruining the effect but any one who loves twists would love this book! It's so good and is guaranteed to move anybody who loves someone.

 I have a lot to read for college and so I tend to have to schedule my reading each month to make sure I get everything in. Seeing as I had spent so long reading my own selections, I figured it was time to get started on the pile of Sharon Penman books I have to read for History. Time and Chance is a fictional account of the events that are known as the dispute between Henry II and Thomas Beckett. Chilling stuff... 

 It is actually really interesting; however, in my opinion, this book was not. Sorry Sharon. I didn't really get much from it that I didn't already know or couldn't have revised in about an hour, as opposed to two weeks worth of reading. Regardless, I pride myself on being able to read anything and I did get through it. It made me feel better about the fact that I will probably fail A Level History. 

 To reward myself, I decided to get into some Angela Carter seeing as my Creative Writing coursework is based on her short story collection The Bloody Chamber. I was drawn to The Magic Toyshop because the title reminded me of the Enid Blyton Amelia Jane collection which I used to read when I was little. Really, this is nothing like that. It's a stunning, coming of age novel with a few twisted elements. It was shocking and beautifully written. I absolutely adore her writing and while this is the kind of story I can see a lot of people not enjoying, I really did. The cover also reminded me of The Night Circus which I desperately want to read again. 



 I'm sorry that I don't have more to share this month but I am planning a lot of reading for March already.