My four books of February almost didn’t make it. The month being shorter on top of still settling into our new house and new routines, I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to reading as I’d like. I finished up on the last day of the month. But that still counts as a win in my book. I was also able to check off another book on my overall reading list.
The Snow Gypsy by Lindsay Ashford
I picked this book off the First Reads list on my Kindle. I have a fondness for historical fiction, and it stuck out to me as something I would enjoy. It’s set right after WWII in Spain and France and follows two women’s journey. Rose is trying to find out the truth to her brother’s disappearance after he went to fight in the war and Lola is trying to make a life for herself as far from her past horrors as she can get.
The story is filled with beautiful descriptions of the landscape and great characters. Their lives took twists and turns that kept me hanging on every word. I was only able to guess what was going to happen once or twice, the rest of the time I was taken completely by surprise. A very thrilling read and the ending wrapped it up in a nice bow.
Would recommend to anyone that has an interest in history.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Anyone who has read DIY MFA knows why I read this story. The chapter on character development talks about it to such an extent that you need to read the story to really understand all the references. A few paragraphs in, I realized I already knew the story from high school when people in my theatre department adapted it into a short play.
The story describes how women’s mental health was dealt with in the past. The young woman is diagnosed with “nervous disposition” or “hysteria” instead of what would now be known as postpartum depression and she slowly falls into madness while trapped in a room with ugly yellow wallpaper.
I read this story with the character development chapter in mind and mostly made notes of how the wallpaper comes to life throughout the story and becomes a character of its own. It was a genuinely creepy story.
Apocalypse Winds by Angela White
The latest installment in the Life After War Series! This book was the reason I almost didn’t finish my four-book goal, because every part of this series is well over 1000 pages. But I finished it on the 28th after dinner 😊
Safe Haven is on their ship, taking on the ocean to get to the island where they will be able to rebuild civilization. They encounter troubles along the way, both from people and from nature. They soldier on in spite of everything and try to make the best of things like they usually do. We get new character relationships to follow and deaths to deal with. We get one step closer to the end of their stories and get left on another cliff hanger (as usual) that leaves us biting our nails wondering about the outcome.
The only trouble I’ve had with this series is the abundance of characters to remember. But at the same time, they all have independent troubles to deal with and traits that make them unique. Still in love with this series and can’t wait for the next one.
This was the book I was able to mark off my reading list and it was my resource read for the month. I picked it because of how much I enjoy the DIY MFA website and because she launched the book club last month.
I’m happy to report I learned new techniques and pointers from this book. The exercises have been helpful, and I will employ some of her tactics in my future work.
Write with focus. Read with purpose. Build your community.
I can’t wait to see where this month’s books take me. What have you been reading?