I read 30 books in February. It was a bit too much even for me.

Learn French with Paul Noble – Complete Course by Paul Noble

I learned about Paul Noble from a Japanese friend of ours who recommended his Japanese course. She knew couple of people who had successfully used his Japanese books and audio. I got the Japanese audiobooks for my husband and I since he is learning it. I found the French books as well and borrowed this one on Libby. My French level is more advanced than this course. It’s not for absolute beginners but more for beginners who have some grasp of the knowledge. I knew most of the vocabulary. While Noble does not focus on written grammar, there was enough grammar which challenged me a little. I’ve always been best with vocabulary and comprehension and bad with things like reflexive and indirect object pronouns and conjugation. The book was repetitive and likely necessary for language learning. I really liked the native speaker Marion’s pronunciation. It was great oral practice. I am attending a weekly French conversation but most of the speakers are not native. Overall, I found this a useful language learning audiobook. I expect it will be more challenging in the next courses and I am looking forward to it.

1.75x. February 8-22, 2025.

Africville by Shauntay Grant, Eva Campbell (Illustrator)

Children’s book about Africville, a community outside of Halifax, NS. The art was not my favourite and the writing was more nostalgic memory.

Feb 23, 2025.

Crossing the Line: A Fearless Team of Brothers and the Sport That Changed Their Lives Forever by Kareem Rosser

I learned about this book from the Books Unbound podcast last year and it has great reviews on GoodReads. I found and bought a discontinued library copy of the book at my library’s monthly book sale. It was fate. I really enjoyed this memoir. The author recounted his very difficult upbringing in Philadelphia and how he learned to ride and play polo with the local non profit Work to Ride. The book navigated his family and school life until he graduated from high school. The writing was not dense and it was simply done. It was not a long memoir but very powerful. I really empathized with his anxiety and panic attacks. It was flabbergasting how he was able to live through certain things. The story told here is at times very sad and ultimately very hopeful and inspiring. I am really glad I got to read this true story. It was very moving.

Listened to 20% on audiobook narrated by Landon Woodson while walking. Recommended if you cannot get the print as well.

1.5x. Feb 17-23, 2025.

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

This was a novella about a young British-Ghanian man falling in love. The book had some good lines and reflections about being Black, masculinity, and young UK life. It is really nicely written at times, but the writing was overwrought. It was written in the second person and not much happens. When things do happen, it felt surreal because of the writing. It was short at least.

February 22-24, 2025. Read on all three Kobos.

To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights by Angela Dalton, Lauren Semmer (Illustrator)

Cute. I really liked the 60s art and the story of Nichelle Nichols.

February 24, 2025.

Hagstone by Sinéad Gleeson with Tara Flynn (Narrator)

Last year I read a number of books by Irish authors (most set in Ireland too) and they were all consistently 4 or 5 stars for me. I set out to read 12 more books by Irish authors this year. I knew glancing at the rating that this book was not necessarily going to be as good as those. This was a debut novel and while there were a couple of interesting moments, the book had too much going on. There was an eerie supernatural feeling to this island setting but it’s not helped by the characters being underdeveloped. I feel I didn’t really know the protagonist Nell. The romance was not necessary and should have been cut out. The book was written from third person omniscient with focus on Nell; however, the perspectives did switch between the characters. This was inconsistent and clunky. We barely got their perspective and it felt like a waste of time. It should have suck to Nell and developed the characters in other ways. The main reason I decided to give this book a try was that I really like the narrator Tara Flynn. She narrated The Rachel Incident and she elevated this novel for me.

February 23-25, 2025.

My Animals, and Other Animals: A memoir of sorts by Bill Bailey (Narrator)

A lighthearted and charming memoir by comedian Bill Bailey. I listened to this on audiobook as read by the author and flipped through the print copy which has cute illustrations of various mentions. This memoir was such a breath of fresh air after a couple of lacklustre novels. Recommended if you enjoy animal stories and a palate cleanser.

1.5x. Feb 25-27, 2025.

Ascendance of a Bookworm (Light Novel), Part 3 Volume 3 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina (Illustrator), Quof (Translator)

I took my time with this one and read mostly other books. I will usually start a volume right after finishing the previous one. I will try to read TBR and/or library books before finishing though. I started the third Emily Wilde book when I was finishing this one. There were similarities between the courtly faeries and the nobility in this series. While the book continues the thread of spreading books and inventing the movable type press, it also has a lot more politics now. I can’t believe I’m not even one third into this series. I still have 23 more volumes go.

Feb 17-28, 2025 on Kobo Libra 2 and Clara BW.