Books I Read (and Loved) in February 2023
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February is always a particularly strange month for me, and this year was no exception. We had two major emergencies (both of which have been resolved, and everyone is doing much better now!) and time felt like it was simultaneously glued to the wall and moving faster than light.
Each day made it harder to hold onto the hours before they disappeared, and even basic tasks felt heavier than they usually do. I struggled to concentrate on anything but the most immediate and pressing demands and as a result, I arrive in March feeling behind.
However, I want to continue making strong habits and sticking to them, so here I am with another book round-up of what I read and loved last month. I didn’t read as much as I did in January, but what I did read has stuck with me in big ways. Without further ado, here are my four favorite February reads.
Black Girl, Call Home
I don’t often read poetry, but when I worked at a bookstore in 2021-2022, I frequently picked this up to peruse it during my shifts. Jasmine Mans employs rhythm and intentionality in truly stunning ways, with each of the poems in this collection feeling like it both builds upon and undoes your expectations from the last.
I read this one twice over and devoured every word both times. Read it and you’ll see why.
Feed Them Silence
This near-future sci-fi tale follows a woman whose obsession with getting inside the mind of one of the last living wolves in the US comes at the cost of everything in her life, including romance, intimacy, trust, career success, and health. Decidedly violent in a creeping way, this novella is haunting for how it explores queerness, gender, and patriarchy through the lens of parasocial, anthropomorphized relationships.
This one is not light reading despite its short page count, but I cannot stop thinking about it. I think it will stick with me for a long time to come.
Wolfish
The way we mythologize wolves and use them as metaphors for fear is as deep-seated in western storytelling as it is problematic. Here, Erica Berry examines specific and strangely famous wolves, how learning about them forced her to re-examine her own relationship with predation, privilege, and fear, and why we are so afraid of these creatures when realistically, we’re more violent against them than they are against us.
This is an intricately-woven and beautifully-crafted narrative that mixes the personal with the political in a truly gripping and informative read.
Fat Off, Fat On
Clarkisha Kent writes so candidly about her experiences in her debut book, and every page is as good as the last. This memoir examines selfhood through the lens of race, fatness, queerness, gender, and religion without ever losing its edge. Kent’s razor-sharp wit and incisive commentary are on full display in what is sure to be one of the most celebrated books of 2023.
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