February Books: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

I received a number of recommendations from several of you after last month's post. Thanks so much for adding to my "Books to Remember" list - I'm currently up to forty-nine books...and counting. 

This month was a bit rough when it comes to books (you'll notice several one and two star reviews). I finished several that I started reading, literally, years ago, and I was reminded (on many of them) why I put them down. And even though I am not a quitter when it comes to books (even if I'm really not enjoying it), I've almost doubled the number of books I've quit in my entire life, just in the first two months of the year - one last month, one this month. 

While I'm all about sharing the good stuff, I feel it's equally important to share the not-so-good reviews, and you can make up your own mind about whether you will try them or not. In some cases, the things that bothered me (say, the language in book #3) might not be an issue for you. Or perhaps you're just really, really interested in the politics of trains in Great Britain (book #2), in which case you might be intrigued to read more, even though it only received one star from me. 

For all of those reasons, if you skim to the bottom of the post this month. I'm sharing my thoughts about the book/series I didn't finish, just in case it's something you've been considering. I always think it's good to hear all points of view and various reviews, because we readers are a diverse lot! 

Photo by Claudia Wolff on Unsplash

February 2024 Book Reviews

1. Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language by Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman - ★★★★ I first started this book ten years ago, lost interest, set it aside, picked it up again at the beginning of the month and finished it in two days. I don't know what caused me to pause a decade ago, but I giggled my way through the last third of the book. Highly recommended for those who don't want to lose the original meaning of a word, English majors, editors, and general word nerds. Don't wait ten years to give this one a shot! Four stars. (Amazon Affiliate Link)
2. Eleven Minutes Late by Matthew Engel - ★ I wanted to love it. When I first heard about it, it was described as a "Bill Bryson-esque" book about train travel in Britain. There were small sections where Engel attempted to share stories about the rides he took, but he doesn't have the Bryson-like humor to capture the reader's attention. Bottom line: if you are super interested in the politics behind the train system in the U.K. this is the book for you. But I am not the correct audience. One star. (Amazon Affiliate Link)
3. The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald - ★★ If you've watched the 1947 film of the same name, you might assume, like me, that the book would be even better. Spoiler: it wasn't. In this instance, the movie was superior. Don't let the 1945 copyright fool you - I was surprised by the amount of vulgar language, misuse of the name of Christ, and other slack morals allowed in print at that time. All of that aside, the author is good at bringing stories to life and reminding us of - if not a simpler time, at least a more physically challenging one. Two stars. (Amazon Affiliate Link)
4. Prodigals and Those Who Love Them by Ruth Bell Graham - ★★ This one was all about expectations. I expected it to be a memoir of Ruth's experience as a mother of prodigals. It wasn't. Five brief stories about prodigals in history, and several sections containing hymns, poems, parental thoughts, prayers, and scripture. In the valley experiences with our own prodigal, I've found that God gives us what we need and it's very personal, not something found in a book. It's a song on the radio at the right time, a verse in the middle of your daily reading, the cry of your own heart when words are not enough. Some might be encouraged by this book, but it was not for me. Two stars. (Amazon Affiliate Link).
5. The Appeal by Janice Hallett - ★★★★ You might recall that I read the Christmas Appeal last month, and gave it three stars due to the writing style (entirely made up of emails, texts, letters, and WhatsApp messages). But as I had already purchased this book - in fact, it was my last book purchase of 2023, I went ahead and gave it a shot. I think it helped knowing, ahead of time, what the writing style would be like, because I found myself sucked into the story and finished it in a matter of a few days. Right to the end I didn't suspect the guilty party, so props to the author! Give it a shot. Four stars. (Amazon Affiliate Link)
6. The Plague and I by Betty MacDonald - ★★★ Since I already had the series on my shelf, I figured I'd give book #2 a try since I *thought* I knew about The Egg and I, but it turns out...the movie was better. With low expectations, I will say that the second book, covering MacDonald's nine-month stay in a TB sanitarium in the 1930s, was much more interesting. Be aware that she does misuse Jesus's name several times (quoting herself and others), but otherwise the book is clean. Although it's her personal story (told with flair and humor), I also enjoyed it from a historical perspective. Three stars. (Amazon Affiliate Link) 
7. Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser - ★★★☆ I'm really not sure how to review or rate this one, because if you just take it on the writing and research alone, it's a solid four star book. But I have to take the subject into consideration, and honestly, while well written (and long at 515 pages of book copy - the rest is all notes), it tainted a series I have loved since I was reading my first "big girl" book in Kindergarten. I knew the stories were fiction based on fact, but that didn't make reading the real story any easier. And...Rose Wilder Lane was four-plus crazy. The Ingalls/Wilder families had hard lives, beyond the hard we see in Laura's series for children. If you're looking for the real story, from before her birth until well beyond her death, I would recommend this as a starting point. Three and a half/four stars. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

DNF: His Majesty's Hope (A Maggie Hope Mystery) by Susan Elia MacNeal. The premise of this book (and the entire series) was interesting. A young woman during WWII, drafted into MI-5, trained to use her skills as a spy in Germany. You should know, first, that I generally stay away from historical fiction. I don't mind fiction books, but I want my history to be real. Give me books like The Watchmaker's Daughter, The Monument's Men, or Boys in the Boat any day, with real people, who did real things, and made a real difference in the real world. History is interesting enough, I don't think we need to dramatize and fictionalize it. That being said, I was sucked into this series by the subtitle...a Maggie Hope MYSTERY. Personally, based on the 85 pages I read of the third book in the series, I would not classify this as a mystery. It's just historical fiction. I quit on page 85 after the third sexual encounter (two heterosexual, one homosexual). While not graphically described, they just don't add anything to the story for me. Additionally, I felt the writing was lacking depth. The premise was interesting, and it held my attention long enough to get 85 pages into it, but there are definitely better books out there. Which means it has the distinction of being one of a handful of books I have ever walked away from without completing. 

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Hit me up in the comments or find me on Goodreads or Instagram and let me know what you've been reading this month, what you loved, what you disliked, or share what makes you walk away from a book. After seeing my IG posts, one friend shared that if a book doesn't grab her within the first five pages, she walks! What about you? Five pages or eighty-five?