For such a brief month, February’s weather sure provided a lot of reading time, from The Handmaid’s Tale to Pinocchio. Eight books in all.

Here we go:

Book 1: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Another frequently banned book.

You know why? This female dystopian novel is based on the truth. It’s based on individual happenings from the history of America and around the world.

It hit me a few books later in the month: female slaves were treated this way. Shamefully, in some ways, this can be considered a history book. Hence, the censorship.

Book 2: The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

On my way out the door to a hair appointment, I grabbed this diminutive volume thinking it would be a good palate cleanser following the dark Handmaid’s Tale. Clearly, I didn’t read the blurb on the back cover first.

Or check out the front cover artwork for that matter …

Historical fiction, The Little Liar traces the story of a little Jewish boy who is tricked into helping Nazis fill trains destined for concentration camps. His story, as well as that of three others, is traced through the decades as family and friends struggle with the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Book 3: Murder Is Easy by Agatha Christie

After hearing me describe those two distressing reads, Gary suggested yet another attempt at a palate cleanser: Why not Agatha Christie?

Since Dame Agatha’s murder mysteries always include – uh, a murder or two, this seemed like a brilliant idea!

Although I missed my favorite inspector, Hercule Poirot, the twists and turns in this story were lots of fun. But no, I didn’t figure out who the murderer was until the very end.

Book 4: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Although most of this novel is set in the 1920s and ’30s, the issues feel very current.

The character development in this book is nothing short of exquisite. Toward the end of the story, I hoped for a happy ending, but braced for the opposite.

Book 5: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Boy, this one was painful. Even with the time-travel component, the story felt very real.

Toward the end of Kindred, it struck me how many similarities there are in the brutal behavior in this antebellum story and in the dystopian Handmaid’s Tale. Do we never learn?

Kindred is widely banned in U.S. prisons.

Book 6: How We Learn To Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde

You may recognize the author’s name. She’s the bishop who spoke so eloquently in her Inauguration Sermon last month.

She wrote a book about bravery a few years ago:

Bishop Budde spoke truth to power: “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people — the people who pick our crops, and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat-packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals — they may not be citizens, or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors.”

Book 7: Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

This should come as no surprise, but the original tale of Pinocchio is nothing like the 1940 animated Disney flick.

The little wooden puppet sure has a hard time remembering to be good. Some of the punishments that come his way are remarkably cruel. The good and decent people in his life, though, offer him second and third chances. And then a fourth. I was frankly glad to reach the final page. (The Folio Society edition’s illustrations, though, are par excellence; they made Pinocchio a worthwhile reading experience.)

Book 8: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

It’s hard to resist taking a look at a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

The author wrote a series of short stories with characters who sometimes connected with Olive, a retired math teacher, in a major way and other times just in passing. It’s been a while since I’ve read book passages aloud to Gary, but we made up for it here.

Bonus points for the neighbor’s praying parrot.

That’s it for February. March will be packed with Irish authors once again.

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