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Posting the February wrap-up a bit earlier for those who have already finished their book of the month! Let us know how your reading went in February, if you had trouble completing this month's task, if you enjoyed the book you read and whether you'd recommend it!

I had a hard time getting through my January pick, so I went with something short and sweet this time: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I think it's a nice primer on feminism, something you could recommend to anyone unversed in the subject matter, like an ignorant family member or friend.

My first choice for February was actually King Leopold's Ghost but after a few chapters in I was starting to get bummed out at the lack of Congolese testimony from that period... And after reading The Handmaid's Tale for January I don't think I can go through another book (a non-fiction one at that!) describing one nation's oppression over another :/ I'll probably have to save it for another time!

Oh man, I did not do so great this month, only twenty pages in still. I thankfully own my choice (Court-Martial) so I will continue to read it as I breeze through the shitty mm action-adventure novels that have taken my interest lately. On the plus side, I did learn plenty from my non-topical books in February.

So, I started Devil in the White City for February. Despite thinking I enjoyed reading it at the time, after my first reading session ended, I never picked it back up. Every time I thought about reading, it felt like a chore I was putting off. So, I picked something else that I felt more compelled to read!


Troublemaker by Leah Remini

Easy to read, informative, funny, and brutally honest! Leah's book pulls back the curtain of Scientology and reveals many of the shady practices and downright abuses of the "church." In addition to talking about general practices, she describes in detail the treatment she received from the "church;" which, while it pales in comparison to the stories of abuse mentioned in the book and on her A&E miniseries, is still a stunning example of the brainwashing and gaslighting the "church" is capable of.

I actually didn't learn too much new information from this, as I'd already watched her series before reading, but I did gain a better understanding of the brainwashing Scientology does, because Leah talked about it a lot as it related to her life, relationships, and career. The guilt she felt, the feeling that she's a terrible, evil person, that she wasn't trying hard enough...all that paints a very clear picture of what it's like to be a Scientologist, especially one as strong-willed as Leah!

In true ONTDer fashion, I really enjoyed reading about her relationships with other celebrities. She had nothing but great things to say about Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Kevin James, and others, but certainly didn't hold back when talking about Tom Cruise. I definitely recommend this book for everything it brings to the table: celebrity gossip, entertaining anecdotes, and yes, even a little bit of education about the innerworkings of Scientology.

My pick was The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908 - 1923. While the subject matter was interesting to me since I knew nothing about the Eastern front of WWI nor that much regarding the Ottoman Empire, the bulk of the book was military/battle history so it was very tough to slough through. But it was very interesting to read about all the political maneuverings going on between all the countries even while battles were being fought.

I actually want to read more on the Ottoman Empire itself as well as Arab history.

I haven't finished A Brief History of Time yet, booooo.

i've got about 90 pages left in The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, and i'm gonna push through but it is waaaaay too long in my opinion. it has such high ratings but i find myself losing track of whats going on because some of it is rather dull. And i feel terrible saying that because it's people's lives but man i feel like they are far more fascinating than reading about them has been.

The first book I had in mind for the month ended up getting lost somewhere in transit from another library in my state to mine. So I ended up reading Ian Mortimer's 'The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England' instead since my library had that at least. I actually rather liked it which is pretty rare for non-fiction for me.

In two days I snuck in Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics! I used to run the sexuality and gender section in a used book charity organisation and it was one of the few books I took for myself lol. I love women's history!

Not the most academic non-fiction book lol but that made for super easy, interesting reading. The author definitely takes liberties with characterising these historical figures at points, and the writing can be soooo dramatically embellished lol.
I was a bit disappointed when there was a huuuuuge focus on certain ladies and maybe a page about others, (1 page for Eleanor of Aquitaine vs about 50 for Catherine the Great) but it made sense considering availability of sources and relevance to subject matter. and, I definitely learned a lot about ladies I'd never known much about or had never heard of before, like Sophia Dorothea of Celle. I felt pretty miserable for her and a lot of the ladies, which is unsurprising really :( the only one whose affair ended well was , who had a short life and sad legacy.

IMY wrote: "My pick was The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908 - 1923. While the subject matter was interesting to me since I knew nothing about th..."

from my ME studies degree, I liked Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire and A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire! definitely academic tho

I read Battleground for the Union: The Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848-1877., a topic I knew next-to-nothing about, but was interested in after visiting some museums in American in 2015.

It was a pretty dense read, even only being 300 pages, and took me the whole month. The book spent 4 chapters setting up why the war happened and secession, and 3 on reconstruction, while only spending 2 chapters on the war itself. These chapters were perhaps a little broad, so everything moved very quickly and there were a ton of names thrown at me that I can't really remember who was involved with what. I think I'd still like to read something that focuses more on the battles as well, but probably wait a while before starting on that.

Having said that, I probably am more interested in the 'why' than the 'what', as that obviously has more implications on society at the time.

I feel like I did learn quite a lot from it, and mostly enjoyed it, even if some days I had to push myself to get through the pages I'd allocated myself for the day.

I've got maybe 150-200 pages left in The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra because I haven't read much outside of my lunch break. I am thoroughly enjoying the book especially because the Anastasia conspiracy theories have always interested me. Also, I'm a huge history nerd. For some reason, I keep choosing 300+ page books.

I read Bad Feminist. It was ok, I enjoyed some parts but many parts were a drag to get through. I meant to read White Trash too but only read a few pages.

Susan wrote: "from my ME studies degree, I liked Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire and A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire! definitely academic tho"

Thanks for the recs. I'll give these a look.

I read 3 books for this month's challenge: Cafe Europa: Life After Communism, which I loved and learned a lot from, What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, which I didn't care so much for as most of the science really went right over my head, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, which was a lot more medical/technical than I thought, but was a really good read. I definitely learned a lot about the mind and its possible disorders, it was very interesting.

Didn't finish Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America or Racism: A Short History on time, but will continue to read them!

I read 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, which is not exactly what happened! It's an accessible popular history introduction to how Late Bronze Age Mediterranean and Aegean societies came to an end in the late 13th and 12th centuries, but it's still well-grounded and up-to-date on research on the subject.

I'm trying to keep it short, but I really found the subject and the approach to analyzing the collapse fascinating. (view spoiler)[The title comes from the currently-agreed upon year that Ramses III gives the best account of Egypt repelling invasion (not just military, but migrant) by the Sea Peoples', who are a group of nine peoples that had allegedly ravaged other Mediterranean kingdoms, and because so many cities in the region were destroyed and/or abandoned at the time, for a while the commonly accepted theory was that they caused the collapse of LBA civilization. But, with new archaeological discoveries and analysis over the past several decades, that's no longer the case!

Several cities were probably destroyed by invaders, but some like Hattusa are so far from the Med. that they were probably attacked by nearby rivals and not the same groups that attacked Egypt. Some show no signs of warfare (and you can start into the whole "absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence" thing here), some were simply abandoned, and some were resettled, but with evidence that the previous and new occupiers mixed in a new society. Some show evidence of earthquakes (and there might have been an "earthquake storm" in the period) and some only showed destruction around the palaces and temples, opening up the possibility of internal unrest. There's evidence that points to climate change, drought, and famine. And just as importantly, all of these kingdoms and empires were connected to and dependent upon each other through trade and diplomacy.

Anyway, a monocausal explanation works about as well here as do the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand or economic anxiety in their contexts. He argues for "complexity science/theory" instead, looking at all the moving parts in these interconnected societies, and how destruction, piracy, drought, famine, whatever in one or more area would effect the interconnected societies as people adapt to the new circumstances (and maybe kick-off a positive feedback loop causing even more disturbance?) Also, because we have so little concrete evidence at the moment, we can't come up with a concrete explanation. There's also the important note that while LBA society collapsed, that collapse gave rise to Iron Age cultures that are massively influential on our own, so humans tend to survive and grow despite our best attempts. (hide spoiler)]

Despite that you can draw many parallels to our current state, I appreciate that he's not saying that the exact same thing will happen to us because it is fated to be (other than the fact that all civilizations collapse) but really that we should be open to new evidence and not stick to preconceived notions and easy answers, and that we should use our knowledge of human history and how complex societies interact and collapse to keep from destroying ourselves rather than passively awaiting the apocalypse (though I think he might want to add a second afterword to include people using that knowledge to actively destroy civilization...). It's an enjoyable, quick read (only about 180 pages without the notes and bibliography) that's relevant and made me feel slightly better. But I also haven't checked the news in a few hours, so I reserve the right to lose all perspective again.

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I also just got Ullrich's Hitler, but I've barely made a dent in it. The introduction opens with a 1938 quote from Thomas Mann: "The fellow is a catastrophe, but there's no reason not to find him interesting as a personality and a destiny."

So. I might pop a vein before I finish.

Mine was Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, which kind of tied into this whole space thing I had with Hidden Figures last month. It's a Mary Roach book, if you're familiar with her work. It's entertaining and was a quick read for me.

I tried to get another book in this month and non-fiction is not my jam. I always want to try and read more, but never quite make it. Maybe I'll have better luck in the biographies month.

I read The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence and it was a big improvement from my January choice. It was really interesting (if not a little horrifying in parts) and I feel that I'm a little more aware of my surroundings now and have a better idea of what to do if I find myself in a less than ideal situation.

Undine wrote: "I read 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, which is not exactly what happened! It's an accessible popular history introduction to how Late Bronze Age Mediterranean and Aegean societies came..."

omg, this sounds fascinating and right up my alley!! I've had an interest in that subject for a while anyway (Invasion by the Sea Peoples just sounds so cool lmfao) and it's really interesting to hear that it resonated in our current political climate. I'm defs checking it out

Susan wrote: "Undine wrote: "I read 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, which is not exactly what happened! It's an accessible popular history introduction to how Late Bronze Age Mediterranean and Aegean..."

I hope you like it! It really is introductory, but if you want more when you're done, there's a 30 page bibliography so you'll know where to look!

I read 3 books for this month's challenge; In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom, which was heartbreaking and inspiring, and The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus, which was completely terrifying. Rape is Rape: How Denial, Distortion, and Victim Blaming are Fueling a Hidden Acquaintance Rape Crisis was good but very infuriating to read.

Late, but I read Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking, which was a graphic novel that discussed the clothing industry and its connection to trafficking women. It was a good intro to the topic, I think, but was a little muddled and I wished it had been executed better.

I read Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions for the feb challenge. Yup, super late but I am slowly catching up. I really enjoyed this book. It's short, easy to read and just wonderful <3