Books I Read in February 2023 | Book Reviews
This month I managed to read seven books. Not bad, seeing as my reading slump continues. Most of the books I read this month were part of a series so this post is likely to be short but I really enjoyed everything I read in February 2023.
Books I Read in February 2023
Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase
After watching Lockwood & Co on Netflix in early February I became interested in reading the young adult series. It’s a really interesting concept about a world that never went through a digital age, because in the late 60s ghosts – or Visitors – suddenly started to appear. Only children and teenagers have the ‘talent’ to see them, so they are responsible for fighting them.
Cue the creation of Lockwood & Co, an independent agency run by the charming but secretive Anthony Lockwood. The series is narrated by Lucy Carlyle, an extremely talented Listener – someone who can hear ghosts before they appear as well as hear their death loops to find their ‘Sources’, i.e. the thing that ties them to life and needs to be destroyed.
Lucy becomes a member of Lockwood & Co, alongside George Cubbins, and turns out to be more talented than the whole group realises.
There are five books in the Lockwood & Co series, and I read all five in February.
It’s a super fun series that was very well-written, easy to follow and strangely addictive. The TV series is a perfect adaptation of the books – the script and the dialogue in the books are practically the same. And the casting of the series was perfect!
I’m now very sad there are no more books to read. But I really enjoyed the experience of reading this series:
- Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase
- Lockwood & Co: The Whispering Skull
- Lockwood & Co: The Hollow Boy
- Lockwood & Co: The Creeping Shadow
- Lockwood & Co: The Empty Grave
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
Entirely on the flip side of fiction, I also read a literary novel by Elena Ferrante. I’ve never read her most famous works, the Neapolitan Novels, starting with My Brilliant Friend. She’s been on my list of 100 Women Writers to read for a while so I’m glad I finally got to read some of her work.
This literary novel follows a woman on holiday in Italy. She’s an accomplished English Literature Lecturer on a break, and she comes across a rowdy Neapolitan family and is slightly obsessed with one of the good-looking women and her young daughter. She ends up stealing the child’s doll and befriends the mother stressed by motherhood.
It turns out the woman is mentally fragile and previously left her family – specifically her young daughters – for three years before returning. She didn’t enjoy parenthood and clearly suffered some form of post-partum depression. The story focuses heavily on the effects of motherhood, on failure and personalities. It’s a heavy read but one I enjoyed as it’s beautifully written.
Heatwave by Victor Jestin
And finally, I read another literary novel. Heatwave is a french-translated novel set over a weekend during a summer holiday.
The story opens with a harrowing scene of a teenage boy witnessing another boy accidentally – or intentionally – hang himself. Instead of stopping, helping or getting help, the teenage boy watches and then buries the body in the sand dunes. The story is about his guilt as the search for the boy begins. He befriends the dead boy’s friends, girlfriend and mother, all whilst never telling anyone anything. It’s visceral and dark, set against a happy-go-lucky setting.
It was interesting but it didn’t get into the nitty-gritty, which for some will be a good thing but for me made me feel like I didn’t get to the bottom of the plot.
What did you read in February 2023? Let me know in the comments below.
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