Everything I Read in February 2025

A debut Irish novel, memoirs from 1976 and 2025, and more.

Woman with Yellow Necklace Reading (1912) by Félix Vallotton. Image via

While I very much enjoy writing the weekly post — The Week That Was — and will often note the current books I am devouring, I think the books deserve slightly more space and their own moment to shine. Enter a monthly post dedicated to the books I read the previous month. This is a round-up of every book I read—the good, the bad, the fun, the academic—with more thoughts than I can fit into the weekly post and extra bookish bits. These posts are for paid subscribers! To read more of my newsletters and access the archive, consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month or $50 a year.

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February Books

I’ve found myself slowing down with my reading this year—partly by design, partly out of necessity. Waking up early for the gym before work has meant sacrificing late-night reading marathons, and as a result, I finished five books in February rather than my usual six to eight. Although that is not good news for the ever-growing number of unread books on my shelves, there were months last year when I raced through books at a near-obsessive pace. So a more considered approach feels like a welcome (and maybe needed) change.

My standout read of the month was Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell, a remarkable debut from an Irish author that has already earned a spot on the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist (a prize I always follow closely). A gripping, profoundly affecting novel, it tells the story of a woman and her children trying to escape—and stay free from—an abusive husband.

I also attempted Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda, from the International Booker longlist, though I’ve struggled to get into it. However, I think it is because it requires more energy than my late-night reading allows.

Read on for reviews of all five books I finished in February, the new March releases on my TBR, and a bookstore to visit around the world.

(As always, my curated selection of recent reads and anticipated titles is available in my Bookshop store—where a purchase may send a small commission my way.)