February is the worst month of the year in my opinion. It’s the last solid month of winter in which all the fun things about cold and snow suddenly become terrible. It’s the month every year during which winter overstays its welcome. Good thing February is short! Now March, March is a month of wild weather swings that can bring us t-shirt wearing weather one day and a blizzard the next. But the thing about March is, no matter snow, ice, sleet, or cold, there is an end of winter in sight.
In mid-February I came to a realization about my reading this time of year. Starting around the end of January when the cold begins to wear me out, my reading begins to go all wonky. Any classic or serious book, any heavy nonfiction is impossible for me to focus on. This pretty much happens to me every year but I have just now bothered to recognize it instead of fighting it. So I gave myself permission to not bother with a couple books I have on the go and totally indulge in what made me feel good. Mostly that has been gardening books and science fiction and fantasy.
Even though I had been enjoying it, I decided to give up on Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style. When I kept picking up everything but that book it became clear that I lost interest. I feel bad about that because it is a good book, but I just need to move on to something else right now. Maybe I will pick it up again another time.
I didn’t read more than a few pages in Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything, and I didn’t read one page of Proust.
What I have been immensely enjoying is Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword. I am about twenty pages from the end and oh, do I love this book! I also started reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. When I finish it, which will be a little while, I will be all caught up and waiting with the rest of the world for Martin to finally finish the next book. I fear when that book comes out Bookman and I might have to arm wrestle to determine who gets to read it first. Or we will each have to buy our own copy.
I am reading a number of books for review in other places. It makes things a bit complicated for writing about those books here since I am reading and writing for someone else. It’s fun, but I have to figure out some kind of balance so I don’t get overwhelmed. One of the books I am reading is for Library Journal and is called The Great Detective: the amazing rise and immortal life of Sherlock Holmes by Zach Dundas. It is off to a marvelous, nearly perfect start which has me so very excited about it. I hope it manages to sustain that excitement. Don’t worry, I will let you know, I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that.
Just as in February I spent time reading about chickens, I will be reading more about chickens this month too. I’ve also got a couple gardening books to peruse. One of them is about biodynamic gardening, Culture and Horticulture by Wolf-Dieter Storl. I am only marginally familiar with biodynamic gardening so the book should be interesting. Part of this gardening practice is to plant according to the lunar calendar. I do not believe in astrology, but I am curious to learn more because it also emphasizes an integrated practice of soil fertility, plant growth and animal care to create a sustainable system. Stay tuned.
Technically I can now also start placing library hold requests again. I am pretty surprised I managed to make it two months without putting any new books on hold. I still have six or seven outstanding hold requests though and haven’t even begun to make a dent in the books I own that are sitting on my reading table. So I have decided to not go crazy and request books. I’m going to try very hard and limit myself to no more than five outstanding library hold requests at a time. That means until two or three of my current requests make their way to me, I will not be placing any new ones. Seems like a good idea, right? We’ll see if I can stick to it.
I hope March turns out to be a happy reading month for everyone!
This is so true! I always imagine myself getting tons of winter reading done – and by the time February rolls around, I’m so antsy that I can’t settle down to actually do it.
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everydayhas, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has trouble reading in February! I do great in December and early January but then it all falls apart until about the end of March when I am able to start picking up all the pieces again. It is definitely a sort of cooped up, antsy lack of concentration thing.
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You are so right! February is somehow always a disastrous reading month! It just hit me as I read your post! I do sooooo dislike this month!
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cirtnecce, another person who has a hard time with February! I’m glad I’m not imagining it.
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Hello Stefanie,
I have enjoyed reading your comments on ‘Whispering Gums’ and so I thought I would visit your blog. Living as I do in the southern hemisphere, February means the last month of summer. I find that I enjoy all the seasons and none is more conducive to reading than the others – but that may be because the seasons are mild on the southern coast of Victoria (Australia).
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I’m glad March is with you at last! In a winter like you’ve been having your reading strategy sounds just right.Hmmm….the Zach Dundas sounds interesting.
Recent reads from the library include Michael Fabers’s Book Of Strange New Things which I really enjoyed (I managed a SF book!) and Janet Morgan’s Reading the World which is a fascinating book based on a fascinating blog project to read a work of literature from every one of the countries on the planet.
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Ian, Ooh, how did yo like the Faber? That is one of my library holds and I just discovered my turn is next. I’ve heard about the Morgan book too. Did you like it or is it just another gimmicky kind of book for readers?
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I would recommend both books. I think you will enjoy the Faber ( the Amazon write ups are either very pro or very anti – bit like Never Let Me Go). I really like Michael Faber’s novels because he is a genuinely inventive novelist. I wonder if perhaps you might be more critical of it with your greater experience of reading SF. Morgan’s book is no gimmick and it is an interesting challenge for readers to widen literary horizons. Has very interesting chapters on the universe that is oral literature, translations and the internet and world literature. I liked it.
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The Faber just arrived for me at the library so we’ll see how it goes! I’ll add the Morgan to book to my library list and when my hold requests are getting low I’ll give it a whirl 🙂
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Hi Dorothy! Thanks for stopping by! You are lucky to have mild seasons, there isn’t much in Minnesota that is mild! I’ve always operated under the belief that the seasons don’t matter when it comes to reading but I finally had to admit that it does.
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You’ve convinced me; I’ve gotten hold of copies of Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword.
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Jeanne, ooh, I hope you like them!
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If you figure out how to get the right balance between reviews for elsewhere and reviews for home, do let me know! I hear you on that. And February is a dull, tedious month. Though one thing about having a lot of reviews to do – I have read some good books lately, being forced to power through them in a way I normally would not!
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Litlove, you’ve been doing it longer than I have and if you haven’t figured it out yet then I am doomed for sure!
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One of the reasons my bookshelves are clogged with so many unread books is because of the number of library holds I insist on placing. I’m not sureI have the strength to stop though.
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Alex, it was really hard the first couple of weeks but it got easier. It will probably be hard to not have more than 5 outstanding holds at a time, but if it helps my sanity then it is worth the effort!
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What is it about winter that lends itself so well to reading classics? This time of year, though, I begin to turn my attention away from classics and towards things like fantasies and graphic novels. When I’m wilting in the dead of summer, I can’t survive without light, humorous reads and mysteries. I’ve discovered, though, that too much of any one thing doesn’t work for me, so I’ll still say, keep a classic going while reading fantasies or light mysteries. The book about Sherlock Holmes sounds really good.
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Emily, I think it’s the short days and feeling like we’re hibernating – nowhere to go with not as many distractions. Oh yes, too much of one thing doesn’t work for me either. The Holmes book continues to be entertaining.
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I’m having a bit of a reading slump myself right now and can’t quite figure out what’s going on. I just can’t settle into a book. Maybe it’s the time of year! Maybe I should just put down my books for a few days and catch up on my TV shows. 🙂
Congrats on two months with no new hold requests – that is a real achievement!
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laila, yes! I bet it is the time of year. When I have slumps it’s generally always in February but I never wanted to admit the season/weather had anything to do with it. When I finally did everything felt so much better. So indulge in catching up on TV shows, you will probably feel better for it. And thanks! Not placing hold requests was hard at first but it got much easier the longer I went.
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I just said the other day how I’m glad it’s March since it means the winter can’t hold on forever. Nice to read someone else thinks that, too.
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Jennifer, oh yes! March is like a sigh of relief. The worst is over! 🙂
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Finally, it’s warming up where I am. Thank goodness! I was losing my mind!
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I just received word 4 of my holds are ready for pickup at the library: City of Savages, The Sleepwaker’s Guide to Dancing; Things I Don’t Want To Know, and The Love Song Of Miss Quennie Hennessy. Here’s my dilemma. I purchased The Nightingale because I heard it was oh so good and I’m on p. 85 (not even 1/4 through) Big disappointment in the writing. (The character “growled” her response at least twice in the space of several paragraphs.) So I want to put it down and read one of the books I have on hold since I won’t be able to renew all of them. But if I put The Nightingale down I know I won’t pick it up again. It would be torture to start from the beginning again since I’m not enjoying the first go-round. But I spent money on it. It would be such a waste. But maybe it will get better, right? But in the meantime the clock is ticking on my holds. So, what should I do? Aaargh.
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Grad, LOL, the reader’s dilemma! I’d say if you are disappointed in The Nightingale and really not enjoying it and it doesn’t seem like it will be turning around, cut your losses. Abandon it, trade in at a secondhand shop for something else and get to work on the library hold pile 🙂
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I identify so strongly with this! And I too had never bothered to actually notice what was going on–I just felt grumpy about my reading for no apparent reason. I’ve had three review books to get through in the past two weeks or so, which really hasn’t helped, although all of them have been at least enjoyable, and at best, brilliant. Very good strategy to just go with it, though; I’m so glad you’ve articulated this weird February reading phenomenon! Roll on, the spring.
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Elle, yes, exactly! For years I felt grumpy for no reason I could put my finger on. What’s wrong with me? I’d always wonder. Finally figured it out. No one ever accused me of being quick 😉
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That’s fascinating Stefanie … About noticing the reading patterns I mean. Canberra isn’t quite as mild as Dorothy’s neck of the woods, as she knows, but still I haven’t noticed your pattern. August is our last month of winter and I love it. The days are lengthening, albeit still slightly. I often feel that August is calmer than the full spring onslaught of Swptember and October when I’m impatient for warmth but it keeps see-sawing wildly. I hate it … BUT I’m not aware of it affecting my reading.
Love your book hold plan. Will you keep to it??
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whisperinggums, perhaps it is only something that happens to those of us with winters that aren’t very mild? I denied the pattern existed for ages. In early February when I was starting to notice it I remembered how bad I felt this time last year and how I despaired that I wasn’t reading – Balzac was a slog and so was every other book I tried. I couldn’t pretend the pattern didn’t exist any longer and I’m glad because taking a different approach has helped immensely. As for the book hold plan, so far so good though I can’t say I haven’t been tempted!
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I get the same way! As soon as I start looking towards spring, I can’t focus on big books or classics. I don’t know why. I can read them in summer, and especially love them in fall and leading up towards the holidays – back to school time always inspires me to read classics, as does the coziness of the holiday season. What is it about this time of year? Stir-craziness?
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chowmeyow, exactly! I can read big books and classics just fine any other time of year even in July when it seems everyone else is enjoying “beach reads.” I think it must be the stir-craziness this time of year, I can’t think of what else it might be. I’m glad to know I am not alone in it though! 🙂
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Indeed, March seems to always feel like a good turning point, a new place to start something exciting and fresh. Good luck with the holds limits!
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bookgirl, March is a good turning point even though we can still get snow for another three months. Still, it feels like emerging from hibernation. So far so good on the holds limits!
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When you live in the ‘land down under’ all this gets turned upside down. My January reading is amazing – long, summer holidays reading on the beach… then Feb back to school and the good shows aren’t on TV yet so reading still gets a good look in. By March we are well back into full swing and getting too exhausted to pick up a book at night as we near Easter and look for the next break!
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laura, I try to remember that in the fall here when it starts to get colder and colder and your part of the world begins to get warmer. It buoys me up for a little while but then it just gets too cold here and I can’t think of anyone else except to grumble a little 🙂
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I hate cold! Actually, not the cold as much as the dark days. I now live in North aus where it never gets below 30degrees centigrade. We don’t have winter EVER!!!!! I only own a jumper for when I fly elsewhere. I just love it.
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the cold and the dark are nice up to a point but then it just gets tiring. I grew up in southern California where the coldest it ever got was a light frost a few days a year. Sounds like your weather is very similar.
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Never even a frost here! Dark days are great reading days 🙂 Happy reading x
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March does look very promising weather wise. Also, after the Oscars and Downton, I’m ready to slowly get back to Proust, maybe just a few pages a week. Yes, that’s about the right pace. 😉
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Arti, I think a few pages a week on Proust sounds like a sane and possible thing. The weather was so nice yesterday and the forecast for this week very promising that I think hibernation is over and I’m starting to feel more expansive.
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I sort of like Feb because it is my birthday month and this is going to sound weird–I like stitching Feb designs for my needlework–not that much of that went on last month, but there you go. However, I totally know what you mean by winter overstaying its welcome which makes Feb such a hard month otherwise. I think you are wise to make your reading a pleasant happy experience and not a slog since cold just makes us all tired and worn out–not fun when reading brings us down, too! 🙂 And yay–now we are into March and sunnier milder days!
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Danielle, I don’t mean to disparage February! I’m sure having a birthday helps make it a much better month. I like April more than I otherwise would because it’s my birthday month 🙂 I keep remembering we were trying to read Pere Goriot this time last year and I wonder what were we thinking?
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