Books are small universes—affordable and easily carried, filled with mind-expanding possibilities. Through their pages, I explore new experiences and worlds, meet unforgettable characters, and deepen my understanding of…everything.
These are the books I read in February 2026, listed chronologically, and graded by recommendation (highly recommend, recommend, and do not recommend).
Cold Canning
I really want to be a person who cans things, but I have factors against me: a small kitchen, not enough time, and a deep fear of killing everyone I love by botulism.
This book eliminates that last hurdle! Cold canning (as I understand) doesn’t involve as much heavy equipment, measurement, etc. And, because the recipes make much smaller batches, not as much time and expense.
However. It’s still a bit too much time and expense for me, during this season of my life. But I would be interested in looking into this in the future, purchasing it, and making my own little fancy jellies, recommend.
To Live
Ready to absorb one of the saddest stories ever?
Banned in China for decades, this novel unspools the unraveling of its protagonist (and his family) from the privileged, land-owning class to serfdom over years of China’s Cultural Revolution.
The plot is based on a sorrowful story Hua heard. Inspired by the man’s positive outlook (despite a lifetime of unimaginable adversity), he strove to commit that internal world (rather than an indictment of his external world) to paper.
He changed the setting to China to “write what he knows,” not necessarily to criticize. It just happened to be a time ripe for criticism (army conscription, death by blood draw, etc).
The Chinese government doesn’t care for subtleties, let alone literary devices, thus this novel was outlawed. Be a (despondent) rebel by checking out this haunting book, highly recommend.
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe
Wanna know a crazy historical coincidence? The same lady who wrote “The Grapes of Wrath” also wrote a special play for Edwin Booth (a famous mid-nineteenth century stage actor) that ended up never being produced cuz, you know…Edwin’s brother shot President Abraham Lincoln.
Howe’s life was full of contradictions: educated but extremely sheltered, ambitious but shuttered, Julia penned one of the most famous poem-turned-songs about freedom, a condition she herself didn’t experience until her husband’s death.
The mid-to-late nineteenth century, after “the vote question” became part of the zeitgeist but before “Suffragettes” did, was a fraught time for women, read Civil Wars to learn more; highly recommend.
Little House, Long Shadow
I looooved “pioneer stuff” like the Little House series in my girlhood (also: The Bears of Blue River, a child’s biography of Annie Oakley, Tom Sawyer, and Kiersten from American Girl), so I was disappointed to learn that these books aren’t (just) a wholesome depiction of the last gasps of manifest destiny: they’re propaganda.
Cuz it’s untrue, or, at least, fudged. Which is to be expected, really, of a fictionalized memoir written sixty years later.
The bombshell is that these books were a response to the New Deal. Both Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder (her daughter, also an author, who did more than the “editing” Laura credited her) hoped to remind America of its self-reliant past, and they didn’t need no government to live through The Great Depression.
The Ingalls and Wilders made it, didn’t they? As evidenced by this charming series? (Except that they left out that they lived in large family groups, with shared resources, extra hands, and social contact, not alone in the wilderness. Oops.)
Long Shadow is interesting, but not well written. It only gets a recommend from me. But you should check it out, just to learn how Rose invented American libertarianism.
I Was A Doctor In Auschwitz
One night, I couldn’t go to sleep (thanks, perimenopause!) so I read this slim book, describing Perl’s time in WWII German concentration camps, in one sitting. Don’t ever, ever do that.
But you should still read it. This record is harrowing, disturbing, shocking, important to understand, and increasingly hard to find. Read it while you still can, highly recommend.
I Loved Her In The Movies
A much more enjoyable quick read, Movies is just Robert Wagner cataloging stories about famous actresses to a ghostwriter. But, what stories! I could have listened to Weird Grandpa for hours.
If only he would have…elaborated his Natalie Wood stories; still, highly recommend.
In Such Good Company
Another showbiz luminary reminiscing about stars she met through her work (hosting the musical comedy/sketch show The Carol Burnett Show), but without the stigma of being involved in the strange death of a spouse!
Her stories about Lucille Ball are treasures, let alone the dozens of others; highly recommend.
Destiny and Desire
This brilliant book may showcase magical realism, but Josue is a reliable narrator, immediately informing readers of his recent decapitation.
Destiny follows two mysteriously provided-for orphans (Josue and Jerico), through a scrabbling, twinhood boydom to divergent adulthoods; with Josue working in Big Tech and Jerico in government (as a propagandist).
Though Jerico has a more jet-setting, dangerous lifestyle, both end up dead. How? Let the severed head explain; highly recommend.
The Real Work
We’ve all heard the adage about 10,000 hours: spend that amount of time doing an activity and you will become a master. But is that all it takes? An extreme chunk of time?
If only it were that simple.
As Gopnik goes on to write, mastery involves many factors, including the perception of others and cultural mores.
But this book is not meant to discourage! If anything, it provides much needed context, the kind that will help readers stop beating themselves up for “laziness” or lack of inspiration; highly recommend.
The Rise
The main idea of this work is that one cannot steadily “rise” (get it that’s the title), without “falls” (or failure).
Now, we’ve all heard some sort of platitude that echoes this, but Lewis gets into the nitty-gritty: providing examples of “near-misses” that preceded phenomenal success, defining grit (including how to increase it), and how surrendering can look like failure (but isn’t).
Rise is not as well-written as The Real Work; recommend.
Moderation
If more romance books included biting critiques of The Technocracy, maybe I’d be into that fiction genre.
Moderation opens with our protagonist, Girlie, getting a promotion. Which is great; she and her family are broke, still reeling from 2008.
Girlie brings in steady money as the world’s greatest internet content moderator. She’s the greatest because she is (seemingly) unphased. While co-workers quit, delete themselves, become drug addicts, etc, due to the daily-seen horrors, Girlie keeps trucking.
Her cavalierness catches the attention of the top global tech corporation (cough cough Meta), hoping to poach her skills for their new virtual reality platform. Upon seeing her take-home pay, Girlie agrees immediately.
Now she’s rich, working in a plush office with a cool gym that offers fancy drinks from free vending machines. Her new boss, William, is pretty cute, too. What could go wrong?
Read this excellent book to find out, highly highly recommend.
Unbreakable
Another book about menopause!! I know, I know, but it’s really important for us (Elder Millennials) to learn and prepare.
If we don’t learn and prepare now, right now, the change-of-life is gonna bring us to our knees. It probably will anyway, cuz changing estrogen levels wreck havoc on bodily systems.
Therefore, it’s important to have awareness and a plan; highly recommend.
Blood and Ink
You true-crime people are gonna love this.
The double-murder case isn’t nearly as salacious through our current lens, making the crime itself uninteresting, but the history of tabloid newspapers and reporting styles was enriching indeed, recommend.
Conclusion
In the quiet company of these February 2026 reads, I found stories and echoes of the human experience: resilience in the face of despair, the enduring power of connection, and timeless wisdom woven into words.
I hope this bite size book reviews open up new literary adventures for you. What books are you reading? I’d love to hear!
Want More?
Check out more bookish content here:
- February 2025 Bite Size Book Reviews
- Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: A Rock and Roll Love Story
Happy reading!
Love,
