- Multitudes Contained
- Posts
- On Reading In February 2025 (Best Of)
On Reading In February 2025 (Best Of)
The shortest month that packed a lot.
February was a whirlwind that started as a massive relief that the decade long January was finally over and then, I’m pretty sure, I blinked and now it’s March.
January is always my best reading month—so I don’t compare any other month in the year to it—though February was another great reading month and my Fave / Best of 2025 list is already taking shape.
If you’re interested in the behind the curtain of my reading: I read 25 books, almost all audiobooks but I managed to read three physical copies (2 were graphic novels) and three ebooks (upcoming 2025 titles I was super excited to get my hands on). And I had 2 DNF’s that were just not holding my attention/ I wasn’t in the mood to read.
Now for the standouts.
Best of 2025 (already!)
“Books, like people, should not be asked to save us. It’s not a fair demand.”
I say this as a person who is not a rereader: While reading this book I realized that I wished I’d been able to read it as a teenager, and then every decade since because it’s a book with so much to think on but also one that I know the way I feel, think, and see different moments would have evolved throughout my life. I did the *audiobook, which I highly recommend, and will also be purchasing the paperback (when it releases—I hate hardcover books) and it’s going to get assaulted by highlighters, pens, and sticky tabs.
*I loved Traci Kato-Kiriyama’s narration on the audiobook, and actually thought it was the author until I looked at the names when I finished.
Every. single. thing. about this book is excellent, including that Dion Graham narrates the audiobook. This is a journalist researched and written book that brings a specific NY in the ‘80s to life—including Madonna—to look at Michael Stewart’s life, killing, and the court case against the officers charged. Green does a fantastic job introducing everyone that was somehow tied to Michael during his life or after he was killed, including figures like Spike Lee, a juror who kept playing amateur sleuth, and the coroner who made an autopsy choice that seemed suspicious to many.
Even the author interview at the end is worth reading and while I hate that events like this exist, may Green keep finding them and writing about them.
“I don’t want to be someone who huts people. I don’t think I was meant to be that.”
I loved this one so much that it inspired last week's post: Surprise Me!
Tiffany D. Jackson is an automatic read for me and the second I got my hands on an egalley I sat down to read it. This is her first middle grade title but it fits perfectly in her catalog, where she writes in the mystery/thriller/crime/suspense genre for, and about, Black girls.
Why Did I Wait So Long?!
This is a beautiful book about a group of queer women in Uruguay who not only create their found family but buy a house on an island to maintain their relationships and escape from their daily lives. It’s also about having your country fall into a dictatorship and then fight its way out, as you try and build a life for yourself.
And I love that the author narrated the novel!
Colson Whitehead is an exceptional writer (The Underground Railroad; The Nickel Boys), so him writing a crime trilogy that is set in Brooklyn and focuses on a different decade each time is as great as it sounds. The first book, Harlem Shuffle, introduced readers to Ray Carney in the ‘60s: a family man, furniture store owner, who looks the other way when his cousin brings in stolen items which ultimately brings a lot of trouble his way. In Crook Manifesto Carney is back, this time in the ‘70s when owing a favor to get Jackson Five tickets for his daughter really throws his non-criminal life into a spiral. Once again Dion Graham’s narration on the audiobook is gold.
I Can’t Explain It
Caught Up by Navessa Allen (June 10)
If I’d read anything about the first book in this series (romance series means same universe, different leads) I would not have read it. And even more so, ditto for this one. But that’s the thing with picking up books without knowing anything about them, you can find things you greatly enjoy but would have missed out by prejudging.
Standout Memoirs
“She broke, trying to keep us together, because everyone pushed her to be strong.”
I really liked Gomez’s memoir High-Risk Homosexual so this was an automatic read for me. In this memoir in essays he shares stories about growing up queer in Florida with a through line on his relationship with his mother. If this was turned into a sitcom it would be a dark comedy with a great voice.
"Dolls and animals are the sort of company I prefer."
The fact that this memoir was published in French 75 years ago and never got an English translation until now is what made me pick it up. And I’m so glad I did, Josephine Baker was a character!
That’s all for February. On to March’s TBR!
Reply