Books Read in February

Bare branches and blue skies in February

Another good reading month for me, with lots of variety! Here's what I finished reading in February:

• State of Wonder by Anne Patchett (MN, Brazil) - adult fiction on audio
• An Indigenous People's History of the Unites States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese) - YA nonfiction
• Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais (South Africa) - adult fiction

• Saturday by Ian McEwan (UK) - adult fiction
• Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (CA, Ghana) - YA fiction on audio

That's five books total--not bad for a short month! I read one nonfiction book and four novels and listened to two of them on audio. Two of the five were teen/YA books, and the rest were for adults. My favorite has to be Hum If You Don't Know the Words, (a re-read), but since that was my favorite book read in 2019, it's not quite fair to the others! I enjoyed all five books, but Solo really blew me away, with its mix of poetry, a moving story, and music (which was especially good on audio). It's an outstanding book, though I would recommend all of these.

Progress in 2020 Reading Challenges:
You can see all of the reading challenges I am participating in and full lists of the books read for each at the link above. I have some fun ones going this year! Here's how February stacked up:

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020 - I only read 2 books from my own shelves since some of my "TBRs" last month were audios (which I am allowed to count, but I usually just focus on physical books taking up space on our shelves). But I think Saturday should count double since it's been on my shelves for over 10 years!

2020 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - February was Seeing Red (red in the title or on the cover), so Solo works. 

Back to the Classics 2020 - no classics in January or February, but I am determined to do better than last year!

PopSugar Reading Challenge - this is a unique one! I fit all five of my books into categories last month, filling in 11 categories so far this year:

1. A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics: Saturday by Ian McEwan
2. A book with a map: An Indigenous People's History of the Unites States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 
3. A book about a woman in STEM: State of Wonder by Anne Patchett (pharmaceutical research)
4. A book with a bird on the cover: Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais
5. Your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar Challenge (2019) - A book I meant to read in 2018: Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess

2020 Nonfiction Reader's Challenge - An Indigenous People's History of the Unites States for Young People fit the History category.

2020 Diversity Reading Challenge - Four of my five books were diverse last month (all but  Saturday), and both Hum If You Don't Know the Words and Solo fit the Black/African American monthly theme.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - Another global reading month, with books set in Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, and the UK.

2020 Literary Escapes Challenge - I read books set in two states: Minnesota and California.

And finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along. In February, I filled 21 spaces on my bingo card--excellent for only five books!

Spaces Filled:

State of Wonder - free book, set in a small town, flowers, mystery, hidden treasure
An Indigenous People's History of the US for Young People - library book, read a physical book
Hum If You Don't Know the Words - candy, made you smile, best friends
Saturday - not in a series, shelf love, less than 400 pages, contemporary
Solo - red on the cover, audio book, romance, poetry, band, concert
Free Space

What was your favorite book read in February?