February was definitely a reading-heavy month where I read a variety of great books! There really isn’t anything better that snuggling up with a cup of coffee, a blanket and a good book on a cold winter day. So, without further adieu, let’s take a look at what I read during the month of February!

Artemis by Andy Weir

Jasmine Bashara never signed up to be a hero. She just wanted to get rich.

Not crazy, eccentric-billionaire rich, like many of the visitors to her hometown of Artemis, humanity’s first and only lunar colony. Just rich enough to move out of her coffin-sized apartment and eat something better than flavored algae. Rich enough to pay off a debt she’s owed for a long time.

So when a chance at a huge score finally comes her way, Jazz can’t say no. Sure, it requires her to graduate from small-time smuggler to full-on criminal mastermind. And it calls for a particular combination of cunning, technical skills, and large explosions—not to mention sheer brazen swagger. But Jazz has never run into a challenge her intellect can’t handle, and she figures she’s got the ‘swagger’ part down.

The trouble is, engineering the perfect crime is just the start of Jazz’s problems. Because her little heist is about to land her in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.

Trapped between competing forces, pursued by a killer and the law alike, even Jazz has to admit she’s in way over her head. She’ll have to hatch a truly spectacular scheme to have a chance at staying alive and saving her city.

Jazz is no hero, but she is a very good criminal. Source

I really enjoyed the book Artemis, so much that it was included in my February Favourites post last week! Not only was I wrapped up in the protagonist and the story, but I was also very intrigued by Artemis itself. It really makes one wonder what the future has in store. Is a colony possible on the moon? Maybe!

Word Count: 78,155

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She’s also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the “Queen of Spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth…no matter where it leads. Source

The Alice Network was another great read and I’m really not surprised that I’ve been seeing it all over social media lately. The main characters were both very interesting and the way the story weaved together was both exciting and kept me hooked until the end.

Word Count: 131,515

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

It’s the year 2045, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape. Source

My husband read Ready Player One while we were on vacation at Christmas time and he suggested it for my next read. I wanted to read this as well as I like reading books movie seeing movie adaptations and the movie for Ready Player One is due to come out soon. I really enjoyed the book – it’s full of 80s references and full of geeky-gamer-goodness. However, in saying this, after seeing the movie trailers again, I can’t see the movie being able to capture the magic of the book. I can already see some pretty major changes and though I’ll watch it, I’m not really looking forward to it anymore.

Word Count: 136,048

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

Even before she made a name for herself on the silver screen starring in films like Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air, Twilight, and Into the Woods, Anna Kendrick was unusually small, weird, and “10 percent defiant.”

At the ripe age of thirteen, she had already resolved to “keep the crazy inside my head where it belonged. Forever. But here’s the thing about crazy: It. Wants. Out.” In Scrappy Little Nobody, she invites readers inside her brain, sharing extraordinary and charmingly ordinary stories with candor and winningly wry observations.

With her razor-sharp wit, Anna recounts the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture as only she can—from her unusual path to the performing arts (Vanilla Ice and baggy neon pants may have played a role) to her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her initial “dating experiments” (including only liking boys who didn’t like her back) to reviewing a binder full of butt doubles to her struggle to live like an adult woman instead of a perpetual “man-child.”

Enter Anna’s world and follow her rise from “scrappy little nobody” to somebody who dazzles on the stage, the screen, and now the page—with an electric, singular voice, at once familiar and surprising, sharp and sweet, funny and serious (well, not that serious). Source

I enjoy reading autobiographies from time to time, especially if they seem like they will be more on the humorous side. I’ve always thought Anna Kendrick was funny in a very down to earth kind of way. I didn’t really know much about her prior to reading this but I definitely want to see more of her movies after reading this. I found it to be an enjoyable and quick read.

Word Count: 52,200

Total Read in February: 397,918

Goal Progress

The pink represents the goal for each month(s) and the purple is what I actually read. I didn’t include it this time as it would have been a duplicate, but the final column will show my progress compared to where I should be with my yearly goal (reading 320,000 words per month). Last month I fell a tiny bit short of my goal, however after February I am back ahead!

Have you read any amazing books lately that you would recommend? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo,

Robyn

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