Reading Round-Up: February 2021

February is a short month to begin with, but it seemed even shorter this year. This month I’ve been so busy with edits and redesigning my website (and trying to clean out my attic) that I’ve had less time than usual for reading. Here’s the round-up:

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Amazon Decoded: A Marketing Guide to the Kindle Store by David Gaughran is going to be one of those books I read over and over again. If it wasn’t in ebook form, it would have sticky notes on three-quarters of the pages. If you are trying to sell books, do yourself a favor and get this book. The author is a genius at marketing and the ins and outs of various platforms. This book is about understanding why Amazon does what it does, and it’s a great read. My 5-star review is here.

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Next up was the book my book club read for February. And what a spectacular book it was. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi is one woman’s story of ambition, caste, love, friendship, and dignity as India emerges from British Raj rule. I was swept away by the descriptions of the people, the places, and the fragile relationships that exist between members of different castes, and I can’t wait to read her next book, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, when it comes out later this year. Read my review here.

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I didn’t like anything about Super Host by Kate Russo. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t charming, it wasn’t “compulsively readable,” as some reviewers suggest. Instead, I found it rude, offensive, and vulgar. I tried, but I just couldn’t finish it. Read my review here, though I don’t really think you need to read it to know what I thought of the book. Please remember that this is only one person’s opinion—there are plenty of reviewers who loved the book.

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In Tainted, From Farm Gate to Dinner Plate: Fifty Years of Food Safety Failures by Phyllis Entis, readers will find a wealth of information about the foodborne illness outbreaks that many of us will recall from the news. The author presents the information in a way that is easily understandable and quite scary when you stop to think how many processes have to work in tandem and without glitches in order to bring the food we eat from the farm to the dinner table. Read my review of this important work of non-fiction here.

I hope you’ll share in the comments what you’ve been reading!

Until next time,

Amy