Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for February, 2014…

The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You, by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin – No matter what your particular problem might be, you’ll find a cure here.  Berthoud and Elderkin, two exceptionally well-read friends, recommend fiction as cures for every ailment known to man… and maybe one or two that they made up.  My favorite cure?  The Hobbit, to cure “short, being.”  This was a witty and creative premise, and I’m hooked on the books-about-books sub-genre, so it was a clear win for me.  (Not perfect, though.  I had a few complaints: referring to Jess Walters, author of Beautiful Ruins, as “Jesse Walters” – grrrr, typos; calling Beth March a “goody-goody” – no, Beth was just a naturally sweet person; and mistakenly identifying Briony and Cecilia Tallis as cousins when in fact they’re sisters, which is kind of important to the plot of Atonement.)

Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap #1), by Adriana Trigiani – I’ve been meaning to read Adriana Trigiani for ages now, and I decided after walking by her newest release on a “new and notable” table at Barnes & Noble, that it was time.  Big Stone Gap is the first in a series of four books about Ave Maria Mulligan, town pharmacist in a rural Virginia mountain hamlet.  Ave Maria has made it through 35 years of life without anything particularly exciting happening to her.  But all that changes when she receives a letter from her recently deceased mother.  Suddenly Ave Maria is the subject of the hottest gossip in town, the center of a firestorm of family feuding, and the object of two marriage proposals.  Oh, and on top of all this, Hollywood light Elizabeth Taylor is coming to town on a campaign stop for her husband, Senator John Warner.  I loved every moment of reading about this not-so-sleepy town, and I’ll be checking back in with Ave Maria for the second installment just as soon as I can get my hands on it.

These High, Green Hills (Mitford Years #3), by Jan Karon – I have this thing with these books.  Every so often I get a little overwhelmed and I want some emotional candy in the form of a book where everything is guaranteed to turn out for the best (even if it’s a little bumpy there along the way).  That’s when I reach for a cozy mystery or a Miss Read book, most of the time, but the Mitford books work too.  Sometimes I feel like these books are a little too perfectly packaged – know what I mean?  (I mean, for heaven’s sake, the town homeless guy is named “Homeless” and actually lives in a cottage and doles out soup to his neighbors.)  But I did like this one better than the first two.  Father Tim is now married to his erstwhile next-door neighbor, Cynthia, and he’s showing a little bit more self-awareness than he did in the earlier installments, so he didn’t drive me nearly as crazy this time.  Cynthia is a delightful character and I loved watching her dance around the old church biddies as they tried to strong-arm her into leading every committee.  I actually checked the fourth book out of the library along with this one, but I’m undecided as to whether I’ll read it or return it and wait for the next time life gets overwhelming.

The Writing Class, by Jincy Willet – I’d been meaning to read The Writing Class for at least six months, and I’m so glad I finally got to it!  Amy Gallup is a reclusive, bitter has-been: an author who reaped instant critical success with her first few novels and hasn’t been able to bring herself to write one since.  Amy passes her time doing freelance content creation and copy editing, writing her blog “GO AWAY.”, and teaching a writing class at the local university extension.  Most of Amy’s writing classes are awful, but this semester’s group promises to be a pretty good bunch… until a few unsettling events occur, that is.  First, Amy gets a weird phone call.  Then, a student receives a cruel, biting parody of a poem she’d shared.  Things get stranger and stranger until one member of the class turns up dead.  And then another.  Amy is determined to find out which of her students is the sick ticket, and she’ll need them all to help her – including the writing class “sniper.”  This was one of those books that really had me torn.  On the one hand, I kind of wanted to crawl under the covers with it and read all night.  But on the other hand, I didn’t want to read it at all, because that would mean I’d finish it and then it would be over.  A good problem to have!  The Writing Class is going to be a 2014 highlight for sure.

The Happiest Toddler on the Block, by Harvey Karp, M.D. – I’d read Dr. Karp’s first book, The Happiest Baby on the Block, back when Peanut was itty bitty, and found it pretty interesting and informative.  (It wasn’t the most helpful for me this time around, because it was mainly written for parents with colicky babies, which Peanut – thankfully! – was not.  I might need the info more with baby #2.)  The Happiest Toddler shares some great insights into what makes toddlers tick (and why they act like little maniacs from time to time) and how to connect with them, minimize problem behaviors and encourage good ones, and come out on the other side with a child who is well-behaved, confident and independent.  Like with The Happiest Baby, I found that a lot of the advice would be more helpful for parents with a more troublesome kid.  I’ve been lucky in that, much like Peanut was not a particularly challenging baby (NICU notwithstanding), so far she’s a very easygoing toddler.  We don’t have a lot of tantrums or meltdowns, may it continue this way.  That may be, in part, because I’ve put in a lot of time “feeding the meter” as Dr. Karp calls it, but I think Peanut’s easy disposition is the main reason.  Still, even though we’re not desperately in need of help managing an unruly toddler, I found The Happiest Toddler as interesting, informative, and useful as its little brother volume.  Hubby and I have been using the tactics recommended and experimenting with what works best for Peanut.  I’d definitely recommend this read for fellow toddler parents.

I’m sort of surprised I read as many books this month as I did.  My total is down, though I’m sure I’ll read more in March.  February is a short month, and my reading always takes a bit of a hit when the Olympics are on.  (Go Team USA!)  The string of comfort reading continues and probably will until the weather outside is a little warmer and less dreary.  The Writing Class was the highlight of the month, for sure – I love me a good poison pen mystery, and this one was full of both wit and suspense.  I’m not sure what I’ll be reading next month, but I’m looking forward to a blank slate on which to fill in my readerly impressions.  (And I’m also looking forward to SPRING!)