February in Books

I’m pretty happy with my reading in February, eleven books is a lot for me. Here’s the complete list:

The Blindfold (Siri Hustvedt)

Embroideries (Marjan Satrapi)

The Winter Garden Mystery (Carola Dunn)

Howl’s Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)

High Wages (Dorothy Whipple)

The Manual of Detection (Jedediah Berry)

Aya (Marguerite Abouet & Clément Oubrerie)

When Ladies Go A-Thieving: Middle-Class Shoplifters in the Victorian Department Store (Elaine S. Abelson)

A Rare Interest in Corpses (Ann Granger)

Crime, Gender and Consumer Culture in Nineteenth- Century England (Tammy C. Whitlock)

Bury Her Deep (Catriona McPherson)

 

I’m also glad about the variety of these books. I read two comics, Embroideries and Aya, which I both enjoyed a lot. I’m actually proud of myself for finally reading comics without feeling like a fish out of water.

Then I read two non-fiction, academic works (for my paper mostly): When Ladies Go A-Thieving and Crime, Gender and Consumer Culture. Both were fantastic, and between them I have most of the shoplifting going-ons during the 19th century in the USA and England covered. I suppose I’m moving from fictional crime to its social history 😀

Doesn’t mean I neglected mysteries though, I read the first Lizzie Martin mystery, A Rare Interest in Corpses, which is also set in Victorian England (my mother didn’t quite believe the research argument here) and then the third Dandy Gilver book, Bury Her Deep, and started another series with Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple, though The Winter Garden Mystery is not the first installment.

The Manual of Detection is also something of a mystery, very post-postmodern, and though the ending could’ve been better, I loved most of it. The Blindfold is really the only book I didn’t like too much, perhaps Hustvedt’s later works are better, but the summary of this one was more exciting than the actual story. Though if you’re a fan of Auster’s writing, you might love it.

My favorite of the month is Howl’s Moving Castle, how great is that book and why did I only recently find out this book existed? And I finally got my hands on a Whipple novel, High Wages was fantastic, and I even found out more about retail and consumption. Luckily, my expectations were completely met and all the hype is deserved.

This month I hope to put a dent into my LL pile, and finally write-up some reviews.

 

What was your reading month like? And what are your plans for March?