Love is blossoming in books this month, and not just in romantic comedies. Sure, we recommend a good rom-com to celebrate this season of love, but we also encourage you to explore other kinds of love, from friendship to familial to self-care. Here are a few of The Snail’s favorite selections for February. Find them all at www.snailonthewall.com, and let Huntsville’s local bookstore deliver your reading right to your doorstep.
Say You’ll Be Mine, by Naina Kumar, is a heartwarming romantic comedy to curl up with on a chilly day. The plot centers on a faked engagement between Meghna, an engineer turned theatre teacher with a secret crush on her friend Seth, and Karthik, a grumpy engineer tired of his mother’s matchmaking attempts. You’ll be charmed by these two characters who end up finding love without losing themselves, and their meddling but well-meaning families provide many fun moments, too.
You’ll hear much about the new novel by Kristin Hannah, known for her bestselling The Nightingale. The Women, releasing February 6, takes a historical look at the Vietnam War through the eyes of a 20-year-old nurse who leaves behind her comfortable, idyllic California home to join the Army Nurse Corps. Once in Vietnam, and then later back at home in the US, Frankie learns to lean on her fellow nurse friends, who understand better than anyone else the courage and sacrifice required to serve their country and so many wounded soldiers.
Shakespeare may not have meant family when he penned the line “The course of true love never did run smooth,” but it certainly applies. Laurie Frankel’s humor-filled novel Family Family features a movie star who is an adoptive mom to twin 10-year-olds. When India Allwood’s new movie about adoption doesn’t mirror her real-life experience, she decides to tell the truth to a popular magazine, which sets off a media storm. This is a warm, page-turning novel with witty characters and surprise cliffhangers that Shakespeare would applaud.
Maybe your focus this February should be on showing a little more love to yourself. The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living, by Bonnie Wan, is for those ready to chart a new path, whether in your career, relationships, or personal life. You’ll start by figuring out your values and beliefs, then determine what you really want, and finally start taking actual steps toward achieving it. This is the guidebook you need to jumpstart 2024 — and the rest of your life.
If, like so many readers, you find true love in books, then add this one to your library: Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page before Lights Out, by Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher and contributor to the New Yorker. This hilarious collection of essays isn’t for snobby bibliophiles, but rather for anyone and everyone who has found pleasure in a book, whether it’s Jane Eyre, Pet Sematary, or Gone Girl. As the author looks back at formative books of her own childhood, you’ll find yourself reliving your own reading life and appreciating all the ways literature has comforted, encouraged, and transformed you.
You’ll be charmed by these two characters who end up finding love without losing themselves, and their meddling but well-meaning families provide many fun moments, too.
