I've mentioned before that I have been on a very slowly progressing odyssey to acquire the entire Seasonal Quartet by Ali Smith. To recap: in 2017 I read Autumn and loved it. I noted that she was writing additional books as follow ups to that and resolved to read those other books as well.
Time passed.
In 2019, I bought Winter, the second book in the series, I noted that Spring was coming later that year and that Summer would be out shortly after that. I resolved to read all three books once they were out and available.
Time passed.
In 2021, I was in a bookshop in White Bear Lake and noticed that they had all four books of the Seasonal Quartet available. Being unprepared, I misremembered my previous purchases and bought Winter and Summer. Upon returning home I discovered that I now had two copies of Winter and zero copies of Spring. I resolved to buy the missing book and start reading the series.
Time passed.
In 2024, I was in a used bookshop and found a copy of Spring! The series, now complete, I just needed to set aside some time to read all four books. In September, I posted, "Now I just have to get around to reading these."
Between September and now, I listened to a podcast episode of Across the Pond with an interview of Ali Smith about her new book, Gliff, It is a wonderful interview and it reminded me of everything I loved about Autumn and so I resolved two things.
- March of 2025 would be the month that I read the entire Seasonal Quartet (I started re-reading Autumn on March 1, and I still love it)
- I went out and bought Gliff, and I resolved to read that one and its companion novel Glyph when that one comes out, I'll just have to keep an eye out for it, hopefully it takes less than 8 years to follow through on this one.
All the books I read in February:
Well, I'm annoyed that my header image didn't work out as envisioned. Ah, well.
Books I bought this month:
Gliff by Ali Smith
Waterblack by Alex Pheby
Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-Zi Yang (translated by Lin King)
You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue (translated by Natasha Wimmer)
I'm reading the Enrigue book as a themed read to correspond with our trip to Mexico, which is exciting because I liked the weirdness of Sudden Death (the first book of his translated into English)
Waterblack is more super-weird horror fantasy from Pheby - the first two books in the trilogy were an experience. Time to see how it all plays out.
Taiwan Travelogue won the National Book Award and looked interesting.
My efforts to read all the books that I bought? Took a hit this month with the influx of birthday cash and a trip to the bookstore directly after.
Books read: 3
Books bought: 4
The month of Ali Smith should help in this quest - I've got 5 of her books on my bookshelves, hopefully I get to all of those plus the Enrigue book.
Speaking of slow progress, the only book I got through in February (hey, it's a short month!) was George R. R. R. R. R. Martin's Fire and Ice. It's a "history" of Westeros from Aegon the Conqueror through Aegon III.
It was a bit ponderous. I didn't realize that it was a "history" instead of a proper novel until I got it home from the library. I guess if you are a completionist (like me 😬) it is worth your time.
Also, the Targaryens really sucked.
Finished off Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy last month; waiting on a couple ebooks on hold currently
Broken Earth is really something. I still remember so much of the trilogy 8 years later.
It was ambitious for sure, and consistently enthralling
Melville by Rodrigo Fresan wins the US Republic of Consciousness Prize (books published by small presses).
Loved that book, cool that it was recognized.