Books from February 2025
Reviews and recommendations from my month of reading.
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After flying through the books in January (what can I say? I was really excited!), February was a much slower month of reading for me. I picked up Annie Bot and The Greenlanders in a flurry of excitement in the Kindle Monthly Deals, and instantly ploughed into both: one being a much faster paced book than the other. Like I said last month, I tend to have an over-productive January and then the cadence of my reading mellows out, and that was definitely the case with trying to read amidst moving, unpacking and being generally uprooted from my usual routine in February.
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February books
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
The Lost Century by Larissa Lai
The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley
May You Have Delicious Meals by Junko Takase
In review
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Rating: 4 stars
A sapphic vampire fiction that feels moody, ominous, cloudy and romantic? Yes please. Loved this little novel, full of beautiful nature writing, gorgeous landscaping and rich prose and dialogue. Damn I need to read more classics. Also, Bram Stoker: you really loved this book, huh?
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Rating: 4.5 stars
Having seen many friends read this book in recent months, I knew I wanted to give Annie Bot a go. Annie (Bot) is a human-like robot, custom-created by Doug, one of many companion bots in the Stella-Handy range. In this dystopia, these robots are made with functions that should suit any of their owner’s needs. Doug can even adjust Annie’s weight, clothing, libido, her way of processing thoughts and actions. But after a personal encounter greatly changes Annie’s cognition, she begins to evolve and adapt, changing the way she sees herself, as well as her ‘relationship’ with her owner.
As Annie learns more from Doug’s controls and commands, she slowly becomes more sentient than imagined. It’s clever how their dynamics peel back Doug’s layers: yes, he’s unlikeable, but it’s definitely interesting to start to understand his reasonings for buying Annie and the fallout of his divorce, his insecurities and shame. There’s a conversation going on here, too, about power and coercive control. Even though Annie is a robot, she is learning from her interactions and slowly begins to feel her own emotions in response to Doug’s. Annie Bot is a fascinating, dark dystopian fiction that wrestles with themes of loneliness, companionship, power and control, humanity, and the future of AI. I had a few issues with pacing and thought it could’ve done with a good round of edits for conciseness, but this was a really enjoyable and thought-provoking read that was oddly moving – I really felt for Annie.
The Lost Century by Larissa Lai
Rating: 3.75 stars
It’s the eve of the handover in Hong Kong, 1997, when young Ophelia asks her great aunt Violet about the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. From Violet, she finally learns the story of her grandmother Emily. In this meandering novel, we learn about Ophelia’s grandmother, her marriages, how class, race and status impacted her life, and the fallout of the Japanese army’s invasion of Hong Kong.
Upon a violent backdrop, this was a fascinating and moving story that explores Asian relations in an important moment of history, underground resistance, the daily life of those in Hong Kong, and the ascent of modern China. My own family are from Hong Kong and, since I can no longer ask my own grandparents, I really loved tracing ‘old Hong Kong’ through this sprawling story. At times, the pacing really lost me, but there’s so much humanity poured into this novel; Lai paints a memorable picture.
The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley
Rating: 4.5 stars
I’ve been meaning to read The Greenlanders for months, especially since hearing rave reviews from my peers in The Unseen Review Book Club. This one won’t be for everybody, yet I really do appreciate the quiet beauty of a vast, family saga and The Greenlanders is certainly that. Set in the fourteenth century, Jane Smiley brings to life one of the world’s toughest terrains, that of Greenland.
Smiley’s writing of Greenland is just beautiful. You can really be transported through her descriptions of the fjords, the stretches of plain land, the dark mountains, the wind, the sheer inhospitable conditions of their homeland. We follow one family, descendants of Nordic settlers, through their everyday life, into hunts, feasts, feuds, and beyond. Asgeir Gunnarsson owns Gunnars Stead, and his family are intertwined amongst the neighbouring families and their farms. I’d say the two focal protagonists in The Greenlanders are Asgeir’s daughter Margret – fearlessly independent, quiet and headstrong – and his son Gunnar – unlucky, a little violent, but who hosts a compelling quest for knowledge.
Like I said, this is a quiet and unassuming novel. We observe the everyday minutiae of a pretty vast set of characters, indulging in the little moments that make up their life in a harsh country with harsher neighbours. There is drama, but it is low stakes. Cleverly, Smiley weaves in major historical events that touch Greenland, thus creating a dazzling real picture of how this fictional family lived and how their real descendants might have lived too. In a busy and frantic modern world where life is about the big picture, The Greenlanders is a masterpiece in telling a story through the smaller moments. I also did a quick Google about 50 pages in that confirms the slightly formal and nearly cold prose style is in that of a Nordic or Icelandic saga. Nice.
May You Have Delicious Meals by Junko Takase
Thanks Random House UK and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: 2.5 stars
A short novel that deals with office dynamics, power play, modern life and the routine of food, May You Have Delicious Meals piqued my interest since I really enjoy cosy translated Japanese fiction… especially if food is involved!
Dreamlike and dreary in equal measure, May You Have Delicious Meals is a funny little slice-of-life novel that simply doesn’t make it anywhere. The cast of characters are awfully unlikeable and the protagonist seems misogynistic, never missing a beat to speak badly about herself and about women. Takase uses food and meals as a device to synthesise with office politics and dynamics. Ashikawa is the sort of woman that Nitani believes he’ll marry. After all, she’s sweet, meek, mild, and she’s trying to convince him to stray from his Cup Noodles addiction. Yet the more time they spend together, the more Nitani struggles to respect her. In fact, it’s uncomfortable reading at times. I can see what the author is trying to do here, but it falls flat and the workplace is a mighty boring setting for an equally boring story.
What was your favourite book from February? And, please share your own monthly bookish wrap-ups in the comments.
My favorite read of February was The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin. That lady can write a damn good story!
The Greenlanders sounds so good!