February was a mix of genre fiction, literary fiction, memoir, and steamy romance with some banned books thrown in.

The Devils (Amazon/Bookshop) by Joe Abercrombie. February’s pick for my boys book club. It reads like a well-executed Dungeons & Dragons campaign, which is a good thing. A Suicide Squad-like group of ne’er-do-wells are press-ganged into service by a fictionalized, women-led Catholic Church in a fantasy medieval Europe where Carthage’s witchdoctors built Venice, the Pope is a ten-year-old girl (and the most gifted magic user in her generation), and human-eating elves have taken over the Holy Land. I laughed more during this book than any other read in recent memory.

Kitchen Confidential (Amazon/Bookshop) by Anthony Bourdain. One of my favorite memoirs and also the rare book that perhaps works even better as an audiobook, delivered of course by the inimitable Bourdain. The book captures Bourdain’s life as a chef before he became a global phenomenon, and if you’re unfamiliar with that period of his life, I highly recommend giving it a read (or listen!).

The Edge of Sadness (Amazon) by Edwin O’Connor. I read this book with TikTok’s excellent Panic_Kyle as part of his ongoing series in which he is reading all the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. This winner from 1962 follows an Irish-American Catholic priest who finds himself unexpectedly entangled with a sprawling family from his past. I loved this book, which has been largely forgotten, and I highly encourage you to give the description a read and see if you might like it too.

Ejaculate Responsibly (Amazon/Bookshop) by Gabrielle Blair. This book should be taught in schools. Truly, you can read it in under an hour and—in particular—I think it will change the way men look at certain responsibilities.

More Heated Rivalry, specifically Game Changer (Amazon/Bookshop) and The Long Game (Amazon/Bookshop) by Rachel Reid. What can I say? They’re fun brain candy to listen to while I’m doing dishes. I do a lot of dishes. Game Changer is actually the first book in the series, although it’s adapted into Season 1 of Heated Rivalry as a sub-plot, and The Long Game is the sixth book, but the most direct continuation of Ilya & Shane’s story. Having listened to it, I’m ready for Heated Rivalry season two!

The Snowy Day (Amazon/Bookshop) by Ezra Jack Keats. Apparently everyone on Earth except me knew about this beloved 1962 children’s classic, following a young boy named Peter during an unexpected snow day in the city. I found out about it during a visit to the New York Public Library’s Polonsky Treasures exhibition, where the most checked out copy is on display, because The Snowy Day is the most checked out book in the history of the NYPL.

Gender Queer (Amazon/Bookshop) by Maia Kobabe. I’ve started a regular series reading and discussing banned books over on social media and I kicked it off with this graphic novel, which has become one of the most banned books in America. Kobabe is nonbinary and uses e/eir pronouns. Gender Queer is eir memoir of coming to terms with eir identity and is about as harmless as can be. I also happen to think it’s a great introduction to aspects of the gender spectrum many people might not have a lot of familiarity with.

Flamer (Amazon/Bookshop) by Mike Curato. The second banned book we looked at, Flamer is a semi-autobiographical story influenced by Curato’s own experiences as a closeted teen with a Catholic upbringing and his experiences with the Boy Scouts in the summer of 1995. Another quick, great read which doesn’t deserve any of the pushback it’s gotten.