I Got My Boyfriend To Choose My Books For February

Disappointments, average reads, and a new favourite

I’m not usually one to attempt challenges or set myself any strict reading lists to follow, but it was the month of love and I thought — why not get my boyfriend to pick my TBR for February?

Now, he’s more into gaming than reading but he was up for the task and he chose some interesting books! We decided on five reads (a little ambitious perhaps but I wanted to have options to choose from!), and after much internal deliberation, he narrowed down his choices.

I have to say I was most excited by the selection process and seeing what he would pick and why. The stack of five books favoured fiction — there was one nonfiction in the mix — all with varying genres to pick between.

I have to say the majority of my reads this month were average, but one really blew my mind. Here are my thoughts on each of the books in the order that I read them:

‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’ by Sally Rooney

Reason: We had just watched Normal People — my third rewatch but his first! — and he knew I loved the book. He also said he wanted to mix up my month’s TBR with something a little more contemporary.

Rating: 4/5

I was a bit disappointed by this one as I had super high expectations, mostly because Normal People is one of my favourite books. It follows four lead characters as they juggle and come to grips with their relationships, sex, careers, and adulthood. I recognise it’s a great piece of work, and the writing is sublime, but contemporary fiction always has to fight hard to win me over. It’s not my genre of choice a lot of the time!

That being said, it was an enjoyable read and featured so many masterful moments of critical thinking and deep explorations into problems plaguing the world which I found fascinating. I’d be pretty interested in reading an essay collection by Rooney! The four leads are imperfect and flawed which I appreciated and it’s what I love about Rooney’s writing, but for me, I couldn’t connect with them in a meaningful way.

‘No Country for Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy

Reason: He’s read the book and in his words, “anything I’ve read is obviously fantastic”! He’s also a big fan of the film.

Rating: 3/5

Honestly, the book was a bit of a flop for me — not quite fantastic! This dark and gritty story examines the chain of events that occur after a drug deal goes wrong. Now, the book is usually better than the film but this is one of the rare occasions that I preferred the movie adaptation! In fact, I kind of wish I hadn’t known the outcome before watching so I could get swept up in the building tension.

The writing style felt very simple and I had little enthusiasm to pick it up. I’ve since read it was first written as a screenplay so I’d be interested in reading something else by McCarthy to compare. Still, I felt little for any of the characters and got lost at various points throughout the story — mostly because of all the jumping around between the interwoven POVs, but also having characters named Bell & Wells got my brain very confused!

‘East West Street’ by Phillipe Sands

Reason: He wanted to add a nonfiction read into the mix.

Rating: 5/5

This took my breath away and I’m so glad it was selected. At its core, it’s a story of Lviv (a city once under Nazi control) and family, as well as the origins of international law at the Nuremberg trials. Sands brilliantly interweaves the lives of his grandfather; the two legal minds, Lauterpacht and Lemkin, who coined the terms ‘crimes against humanity’ and ‘genocide’ respectively; and Hans Frank, the “butcher of Poland”.

East West Street is deeply moving and incredibly readable. The book is harrowing and emotional, but the expert detective work and exploration into the past will grip you to the end. It’s going to linger in my mind for a long time and I’m sure I’ll pick it up again in the future.

Interestingly, it also sparked a love of marking passages in books — I used to be so against it! But there were moments in pages that I wanted to highlight and keep a record of, and now I can’t stop underlining!

‘Washington Black’ by Esi Edugyan

Reason: He thought it sounded interesting and he knows I love historical fiction. My edition also has a snazzy gold, shiny spine which is what grabbed him initially.

Rating: 3.5/5

This was a slow burn for me, but I did get a little more hooked about halfway through. The story follows Washington Black from his life in slavery to his adventures around the world, and the relationships he builds along the way. Edugyan’s writing is beautiful, but the plot seemed very messy and busy at points.

However, I did feel connected and present with the main character throughout the book, and it was tough to read his struggles with personal freedom, as well as his guilt for leaving all he knows behind. There were characters I wish were explored more, but we were endlessly swept up in a new adventure and it felt a little overwhelmed. Overall, it was a good read — it just didn’t wow me.

‘The City We Became’ by N.K. Jemisin

Reason: The cover! My edition comes with a cool feature that allows your phone to scan a code and bring the cover to life (really fun!). He also knows I love fantasy, and the cover reminded him of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse so he couldn’t resist.

Rating: 3.5/5

Now, I do love fantasy but urban fantasies haven’t won me over yet. The City We Became has a truly great concept behind it, but the execution fell a little flat. Essentially, embodiments of the New York boroughs awaken to protect and save the city from an enemy force. Pretty cool, right?

Though I found the characters and their role as the boroughs really enjoyable, it took me a while to get stuck into the story. I was never rushing to pick it back up, nor did the writing ever really grip me, despite the interesting idea behind it. I’m glad I stuck it out though as it did pull me in a little more towards the latter half.

Still, I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series. I’m intrigued enough to read some of Jemisin’s other works though (I have The Fifth Season on my shelf as well!) and see how I get along with that.

Whilst only one of the books was a real winner this month, I’m glad I stuck with the challenge. A lot of these wouldn’t have been books I would’ve picked myself for February, but I’m glad I got to spread my reading wings a little.

I’m also really impressed I managed to stick to a list of books as that’s not my usual go-to route, and I think the selection to choose from really helped. I never felt like I was stuck or forced to read one as I could decide on my next read from the pile depending on my mood.

Overall, it was a fun task and fascinating to see someone else’s opinions on what to read next. Sure, it was an average reading month, but East West Street really made up for it.

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