February 2025 in Books

Overall a very good month of reading, with a bunch of five stars. I enjoyed this mix of books also.  Here are the recaps:

Behind You Is the Sea - Susan Muaddi Darraj - fiction - five stars - I thought this was quite good. It's essentially a collection of short stories with adjacent characters. The common theme is that they are all Palestinian, and are dealing with life/immigration to the U.S. and assimilation into this country in different ways. As a first generation citizen, I could relate to the issues that some of the characters had with their parents and heritage. Some really thought provoking stories. 

The Murder of Mr. Ma (Dee & Lao, #1) - John Shen Yen Nee - detective - four stars - Judge Dee Ren Jie has arrived in London to investigate the murder of a man he knew during WWI when he was in the Chinese Labor Corps. He teams up with local professor Lao She to help solve the murder, only additional murders begin to occur. The two men get to know each other and their strengths and weaknesses to get to the bottom of the crimes.  This book reminded me a little of the Enola Holmes books, written in a somewhat nostalgic style, but light and easy.

The Frozen River - Ariel Lawhorn - historical fiction - five stars - This was such a good book.  It's about Martha Ballard, a midwife and healer in Maine in the late 1700s. When a man is found dead in the river, she's the first to examine the body and declares it a. homicide. The dead man is not well loved in the community, was involved in an alleged rape, and is set to be put on trial with a co-defendant who happens to be the most powerful man in town. Ballard's life is intertwined with this man in multiple ways. Well written and compelling, Lawhorn weaves together multiple story lines filled with well-developed characters.  Excellent read.

Husbands & Lovers - Beatriz Williams - historical fition - five stars - I feel like the dual-timeline literary device is overutilized and often not that effective. There's usually one timeline hat is much stronger than the other.  This book is the exception to that. I really enjoyed both of the storylines in the book.  In the present day, single mom Mallory Dunne is dealing with her son's failing kidneys while in the past, Hannah, a Hungarian refugee marries well a wealthy Brit following WWII as a means of escape, but not love. I was drawn in by both of the storylines, and am definitely planning to read more from this author. 

Clean: A Novel - Alia Trabucco Zeran - fiction - three stars - This was kind of the dud of the month. Estela takes a job as the maid for a well to do family. The family has issues, particularly the child who seems to be socially stunted, but Estela also seems not quite with it. She should probably have left, but stayed because the needed the money to help with her mother's medical issues. You learn early on that the child has died, but not how. The story slowly unravels as Estela tells the listener, who I assumed was the police, but by the end I was not quite sure. Overall this one was a bit of a drag. There were some good parts, but it was slow. I actually think this would have been one hundred percent better as a short story.

The Midwife of Auschwitz (Women of War #1) - Anna Stuart - historical fiction - five stars - The story of Ana, a Polish midwife who is sent to Auschwitz for helping Jews. Her friend Ester, a Jewish woman, is sent with her and the two of them are put to work as midwives in Auschwitz. Babies do not survive long there, those with Aryan looks are taken and given to German families. Ana and Ester can't stop this, but they begin tattooing the number of the mothers in the babies' armpits so that they might one day be reunited. Well worth the read.

The Rest Is Memory - Lily Tuck - The imagined story of Czeslawa Kwoka, a Catholic Polish girl who was sent to Auschwitz when the Germans invaded Poland and displaced their citizens, giving their lands and homes to Germans. The author's imagination was captured by Czeslawa's photograph when she saw it in the obituary of Wilhelm Brasse, the photographer of Auschwitz. Tuck has set out to learn all she can about Czeslawa, which is not a lot given the scant archival evidence available. She has taken those facts and woven a story about the girl, which I'd call more a novelette than novel, but it's an interesting premise and a quick read.

Good Dirt - Charmaine Wilkerson fiction - five stars - - Ebby Freeman's brother is killed by robbers when she is ten. This act changes the trajectory of her and her parents' lives. Years later, she is left at the altar by her fiance, and she travels to Paris to get away for a while. Things don't go as planned. Woven through the story, via that dual timeline device, is the story of her ancestors who escaped from slavery to settle in New England. Wilkerson did an excellent job of tying in the historical story, showing how that heritage also shaped the family. Another excellent read.

PS: I Hate You - Lauren Connolly - fiction - four stars - I really liked this book until about halfway through and it got very romance novel-ey.  Which was fine, that's just not normally my genre of choice. It's about Maddie Sanderson, whose brother Josh has just died. Josh is really Maddie's only family as her mother and grandmother are pretty toxic and they have functioned without them for the most part. Maddie is left somewhat adrift, and then learns at the funeral that Josh is sending her and his best friend Perry on scavenger hunt of sorts. The only problem is that Maddie hates Perry because he broke her heart many years before. The characters were funny and made me laugh, and there were definitely some twists that I did not expect. Cute light read.

It was hard to pick a favorite this month, but I think The Frozen River is probably it.  I'm off to another good start this month, currently reading Pictures of You which is not bad so far and a very quick read. What are you guys reading?