February Reading Roundup

 Happy Leap Day! So far it's a good one, although it is only 8:30 a.m. here on the east coast -- perhaps my goal should be to leap wholeheartedly into everything I do today -- just like I did with my reading this month.

Before I get started, I'd like to mention the successful pledge drive for the  Words Without Borders Mexican Drug War Issue -- WWB was trying to raise $10,000 to get this important issue out and managed to get 165 backers to fund it.  Congratulations!  It was a nailbiter for a while, but eventually WWB's supporters came through. Now I sit and wait not so patiently for it to come out.

Here's another bit of literary info: The longlist for the Best Translated Book Award is out at Three Percent's website -- several of these are currently on my shelves but who knows when I'll get to them. I'm currently at the midway point one of them, Purgatory, by Tomás Eloy Martínez, and it's simply amazing.

Lots of reading time this month -- although I must admit, much of it was during the wee morning hours when no one else was awake, the phone wasn't ringing and it was dead quiet, very conducive to reading.  I used to be a morning person, got over it, and now I remember why I liked it so much.  So here's what I have to show for February:


fiction from the U.S.
The Last Storyteller, by Frank Delaney
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey (read, not reviewed)


fiction from Sri Lanka
Chinaman, by Shehan Karunatilaka



fiction from India
The Sly Company of People Who Care, by Rahul Bhattacharya


fiction from Australia

After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, by Evie Wyld
 
fiction from the UK
The Silent Oligarch, by Chris Morgan Jones


Russian Crime Fiction
The Diamond Chariot, by Boris Akunin

Italian Crime Fiction
The Potter's Field, by Andrea Camilleri
A Death in August, by Marco Vichi
Involuntary Witness, by Gianrico Carofiglio
A Walk in the Dark, by Gianrico Carofiglio
Reasonable Doubts, by Gianrico Carofiglio
Temporary Perfections, by Gianrico Carofiglio

Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Detective Inspector Huss, by Helene Tursten
Night Rounds, by Helene Tursten

other book-related stuff:
1) my book group read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey.   We all really liked it, and it's wonderful to see that a book written in the 1960s still has a great deal of relevance for today.

2) Added to the Amazon wishlist this month: (once again, some pretty obscure stuff!):
Red Lights, by Georges Simenon
A Private Affair, by Beppe Finoglio
The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness, by Kevin Young
Gender Violence at the US-Mexico Border: Media Representation and Public Response, by Hector Dominguez-Ruvalcaba


3) Books bought this month:
Pure, by Andrew Miller
Budapest Noir, by Vilmos Kondor
I Am God, by Giorgio Faletti
Night Rounds, by Helene Tursten


Obviously I'm still trying to stick to my pledge to lessen my tbr load, although this month's bought books outnumber last month's list.

4) Currently reading:

finishing up Purgatory, by Tomás Eloy Martínez
Budapest Noir, by Vilmos Kondor
The Torso, by Helene Tursten

and last but not least, during the month of February, I gave away or donated 36 books, put several on my giveaway shelf at Paperback Swap and managed to divide up the books on the floor in my office into boxes so I can walk in here again.

All in all - a good month -- I'm liking this quiet morning thing -- it's very productive!