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, 2019…

Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope – Finally continuing my sojourns in Barsetshire; getting back there is like taking a big breath of fresh air that smells like country walks and old churches and a cream tea with scones all at the same time.  I won’t go too much into detail, because I reviewed Doctor Thorne at length here, but will just say that it was everything I have been needing right now, and may be my favorite Barsetshire novel (Trollope or Thirkell) yet.

The Lost Vintage, by Ann Mah – No matter what I read after Doctor Thorne, it was going to suffer in comparison, and The Lost Vintage did.  But you shouldn’t let that stop you from reading this novel, which was actually quite fun.  The story alternates back and forth between modern day sommelier Kate, visiting her family vineyard in Burgundy and maybe rekindling an old flame, and a long-buried secret about Kate’s family, told through the World War II journal of a relative Kate didn’t know she had.  There’s history, adventure, and LOTS of wine.  It reminded me of Steve’s and my visit to Burgundy, and made me want to go back to France immediately.

The World As It Is, by Ben Rhodes – You can tell it was a stressful February (between work, school drama and snow days) because this Obama staffer memoir took me almost a week to read, when I would normally have burned through it in a few days.  I don’t regret the extra time spent with Rhodes and Obama, though.  As I’ve come to expect from everyone who was connected to the Obama Administration, Rhodes’ memoir was smart, thoughtful, insightful and fascinating.  I learned a ton about foreign policy, and brushed away tears thinking about how much I miss President Obama and the bright, caring people who staffed his Administration.

Time’s Convert, by Deborah Harkness – Here’s what Time’s Convert is not: great literature.  Here’s what it is: a fun addition to the world of the All Souls Trilogy.  If you’ve enjoyed spending time with Diana, Matthew, Marcus, Miriam, Sarah, Ysabeau, Marthe and the gang, you’ll be glad to see them again.  This book mostly focuses on Marcus, which I enjoyed because he’s one of my favorite characters from the trilogy.  Marcus’s human love, Phoebe, is about to be made into a vampire (terrifyingly, Miriam is her vampire mom, which, I think I’d stay home) so that she and Marcus can be together for eternity.  Time’s Convert tells the story of Phoebe’s transition, interspersed with flashbacks to Marcus’s own early days as a vampire after Matthew plucked him from the battlefields of the American Revolution.  Also, Diana and Matthew’s toddler son gets a familiar, and hijinks ensue.

The Western Wind, by Samantha Harvey – Harvey has been described as this generation’s Virginia Woolf, and I suppose I can see the parallels in writing style (I hope her life is longer and happier than Woolf’s) but The Western Wind didn’t really speak to me.  Normally I would be all over a murder mystery set in medieval times and starring a priest, so maybe it was a case of right book, wrong time?

The Shepherd’s Life: Modern Dispatches From an Ancient Landscape, by James Rebanks – Helen Macdonald (of H is for Hawk fame) called The Shepherd’s Life “bloody marvelous” and I’d have to agree.  Rebanks weaves in a bit of everything here – lots of memoir, some real talk about life on a farm, a history of the Lake District, and a poignant musing on how the people who were native to the landscape were erased from the region’s story when the Romantic poets and backpackers descended.  It was a short, quick read, but I loved it.  And it made me yearn for another rainy hike around Buttermere.

The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland – For a Little While, by Catherynne M. Valente – Let this beautifully-written, vibrantly-imagined standalone short story stand as a testament to the fact that everything Cat Valente does is perfect.  The story of how Mallow, also known as the Empress (she has a hat!) came to rule Fairyland “for a little while,” was vintage Valente.  Her writing can be an acquired taste, but here’s the trick: you have to give yourself over to her imagination, let her take you where she’s going to take you, and bask in the gorgeous, glowing language.  I did, and I loved every moment.

Only seven books this month, but it was a short month, with a heavy workload, several snow days, and a lot of school drama.  (These days, snow days mean chasing two kids with cabin fever as they bounce off the walls and trying desperately to squeeze work in around their shenanigans – not relaxing with a cup of tea and a good book, alas.)  But there were some good ones in there.  Doctor Thorne was the highlight of the month, of course.  But The Shepherd’s Life was wonderful, and The World As It Is was fascinating.  And I read TWO books that took me back to adventures past, which is always a delightful thing.  So – a good month.  Now onward to March, to buds on the trees, hopefully no more snow days, and the beginning of spring reading.