The Best Books Read In February 2023

Not a big dent, but it’s something

Is it me, or did February feel like it dragged? For being the shortest month of the year, it felt like the longest.

It felt like that trying to read some books this month, too. I had some books I needed to finish from the library, so I didn’t read the books I planned on reading. I can save those for next month.

I still read five books this month and saved $60 from using the library! I even got a free copy of one of the books this time too! Let’s talk about the best books of February!

The Mitford Affair By Marie Benedict

I don’t care what book I’m reading. The moment I hear Marie Benedict has a new book out, I’m dropping what I’m doing and reading the new book. I love her writing style and learning about women forgotten by history.

The Mitford Affair didn’t disappoint. It’s different from her other books too. This time, she’s taking the point of view of three women instead of one.

The book revolves around three Mitford sisters, Nancy, Diana, and Unity. The Mitford sisters are the ‘It’ girls in the years between WWI and WWII. When Nancy starts noticing her sisters being drawn to fascism she starts worrying about their safety. When the rest of her family starts supporting fascism, she feels like the Black Sheep with her social democratic views.

Then, she discovers documents that could implicate her sisters. She has a choice to make between country and family.

I haven’t read many books between WWI and WWII, so I don’t know much about them unless we’re talking about American pop culture. It’s an interesting look at the political atmosphere in England during that time.

I noticed many similarities between the book and what’s going on in the world today. You’d have to be lying or obtuse to not see the similarities between then and now.

The Mitford Affair is a book history buffs need to get their hands on. It’s also a lesson for what’s going on today.

Mudbound By Hillary Jordan

I wrote about this book earlier, so I’m not spending too much time talking about it. You can click here if you want to look at a more in-depth discussion about the book.

The story revolves around two families living on the same farm. Henry is the landowner who has tenants helping him harvest cotton. One of these families is a Black family determined not to become sharecroppers.

When Henry’s brother comes home from the war, he begins a friendship with Ronsel, the son of the Black farmers. The string of events brings the two families together.

What I liked about this story was that it didn’t try to sanitize the South in the 1930s. It wasn’t a, “Suddenly everyone’s not racist” story anymore. I don’t think anyone’s viewpoint changed at the end of the story. Everyone made their crappy excuses for what happened and moved on.

This book was the Book Club pick for the month, and it lead to an interesting discussion about the history and the way things are now versus back then. It’s worth a read.

Rebecca By Daphne DuMarier

I told you we’d talk about this book this month! I finally finished it at the beginning of the month, and now I’m more than happy to talk about it!

Set in the late 1930s, Rebecca is the story of a nameless female protagonist. She’s working as a companion to an older woman when she falls for an older man who asks to marry her. When she moves to the man’s home, she finds it’s haunted by the ghost of his late wife, Rebecca. Everyone talking about Rebecca nearly puts our protagonist over the edge.

The book is one of the creepiest stories I’ve ever read. The protagonist is more relatable than I expected. I understood her annoyance with everyone being too hung up on Rebecca to give her much thought. Constantly getting compared to an ex can make anyone lose their shit.

Rebecca is one of my favorites this month. It’s one of the classics that’s worth reading.

Eleanor And Park By Rainbow Rowell

Of all the books I read this month, Eleanor and Park turned into the most surprising. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did, and I’m glad I read it.

Eleanor and Park is the story of two teenagers in the 80s falling in love. At first, they don’t seem like the perfect pick for each other, but as the story evolves, you can see the love for one another growing. All it took was a bus ride and a comic book.

I wrote an article about this book too, so I’m not going to go into too much depth about it. I’ll say this though. It’s nice seeing a fat female protagonist.

Fat female characters often get pushed to the side as villains, comic relief, or symbols of misery. When I see a fat female character become the protagonist, I can’t help but smile. It’s about time someone who looked like me got the spotlight in a story.

Honorable Mention

This month, there’s only one book getting the honorable mention. It’s not a bad book, but there’s a reason I don’t consider it the best.

• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: It’s much better than I thought it’d be. At times it got so wordy, I had a hard time finishing it. I stopped reading it twice so I could read the Book Club books.

I’m reading the Book Club entry for March right now, but I don’t want to give it away in this article yet. I’m still in the beginning, and I want to save it for March’s Book Club pick.

Final Thoughts

February wasn’t a bad month, book-wise. I didn’t find a book I didn’t like this time.

Next month is Women’s History Month, and I have at least three books lined up for it already. One of these books I meant to read this month, but I can still save it for this one! I can’t wait to read these books!

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