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The 4 Books I Read in February 2024

The 4 Books I Read in February 2024

February was another solid reading month for me, and I followed through on some of my new reading rules on giving up on books I wasn’t interested in.  This month was different though because the two books I didn’t finish weren’t bad, it just wasn’t the right time for me to read them or they weren’t helpful for a subject that applied to me.  I only read half of Chuck Palahniuk’s “Consider This” because it was advice for fiction reading, and I solely write nonfiction.  I also stopped Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara because even though the concept of unreasonable hospitality was intriguing, I could never picture myself working in that industry or even in a high-paced customer service industry, so it didn’t apply to me.  I was genuinely enjoying the book, but I thought my time was better spent reading something that related to my current interests.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

My fiction book for February was Gardens of the Moon which is the first book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson.  This is my favorite fantasy series of all time and I always return to it every couple of years.  I decided to listen to it again because the “Book Reviews Kill” podcast was doing a read along and it’s always entertaining to look at a new reader’s perspective, especially because this series spans hundreds of thousands of years.  I won’t go into the book too much because I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say that Malazan is not for the light of heart, and I consider it an “advanced” fantasy as nothing is handed to you.  It is worth the reward though, and it still holds its place at #1 for me. 

Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour

Nothing brings me more cheer and happiness than reading stories about great men who loved to read.  If you ever asked me, “What do all the great people in the books you have read have in common?” I would say they knew the importance of reading, and Louis L’Amour might be at the top of that list.  The man was a voracious reader and would spend every single moment of his leisure time reading or writing.  He would strategically plan his life and jobs to give him just enough money to be able to buy books with the most amount of free time to be able to read them.  L’Amour spent most of his childhood traveling the Midwest with his family doing odd jobs, eventually venturing off on his own doing more of the same.  Education of a Wandering Man follows the portion of his life from his teenage years and into his 20s where he spent his time traveling the United States doing seasonal work to get by to fund his reading habit and have experiences he would later use for his writing.  This is one of the best books I’ve read in the last few years and recommend it to everyone.  I look forward to reading some of L’Amour’s novels moving forward.

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

As part of Black History Month, I decided to read a book that’s been on my TBR for many years.  Twelve Years a Slave follows the story of Solomon Northup who was born a free man but was kidnapped and transported to the Deep South where slavery was still the standard.  The book follows the challenges he faced trying to gain his freedom while also having limited resources and fewer allies to help him.  One of the problems in these times was that many slaves would turn on each other to gain favor with their owners, which made it difficult for Solomon to find anyone to help him.  My biggest takeaway from this book was how little we value our freedom; we think our lives are hard until we read.  Don’t take anything you have for granted because some people used to die for some of the luxuries we have today. 

How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens

The great author Niklas Luhmann used a method he called “The Zettlekasten” which means the “Slip Box” method in English to gain ideas and insights from his reading to write over 70 books and 400 scientific articles in his writing career.  His Zettlekasten method consisted of index cards making connections between all his ideas. How to Take Smart Notes dives into this method and explains its benefits in writing, learning, and thinking. Even if you do not plan on using the Zettlekasten method for your creative endeavors it’s still a great read to gain good tips on becoming a better reader, note-taker, and creator. I would strongly recommend it and plan to use a hybrid version of Zettlekasten as my note-taking method.

My Reading Journey

I’ve been making great strides in the concept of quality over quantity in my reading life.  I’ve slowly been transitioning with being content reading books slowly and gaining as much value as possible from them instead of rushing through books to add a number to my “read” count.  I’ve been practicing being an active reader and trying to understand the material and gain as much value as I can from it.  This slows down my reading as I try to take quality notes in my own words, write short summaries after each chapter, and save passages with an eye to how they can apply to a topic I want to write about in the future.  It’s a lot of work for one book but the rewards are great, and I gain true value from everything I read.

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