February was my last month of basketball travel ever. Our daughter finished her senior season and graduates in May. I hope that doesn’t mean I’ll be ready much less, but it certainly may since I won’t have all that audiobook time in the card.
My Favorite Books of February 2024
I read 15 books in February. Of those, I gave four perfect grades, including one nonfiction book. Here are my reviews.
The Cure for Burnout
The Cure for Burnout: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life by Emily Ballesteros did not automatically cure my burnout. But what it did do was give me some excellent ideas on actions to take.
The book starts by talking about how prominent burnout is and why. Nothing really earth-shattering there. Then, it goes into the types of burnout, which I frankly didn’t really need. I read Christina Maslach’s book, Burnout: The Cost of Caring, during my Ph.D. research, so I felt like I had a strong understanding of burnout from the researcher on the subject. I didn’t really need it broken down into arbitrary categories. However, the breakdown did help me consider where and why my burnout originated, which was helpful.
What was even more helpful was Ballesteros’s advice on things to do to combat burnout. The practical tips (which I love) are why this book was one of my favorites of February.
The Measure
If you could know how long you would live, would you want to know?
It’s the underlying question in The Measure by Nikki Erlick.
Imagine getting an unexpected package on your front porch. The package is a box with a string inside. The string tells you exactly how long you’ll live.
Now imagine that everyone gets one.
You know what’s inside…
Do you open it?
How does the knowing (or not) change you? How does it change others around you? How does it alter how society operates?
The Measure is the story of a group of people and how they handled the knowledge that came with their strings and how they were all somewhat tied to each other.
I love how many questions it gave me to ponder.
That’s Not My Name
Mary thinks she’s been saved when a police officer finds her on the side of the road. But when her father comes to claim her, saying he’s been searching for her, something doesn’t seem quite right.
The longer Mary is with her father, the more unexplained memories she has. Are these memories parts of dreams or something else?
I love an unexpected plot twist, and That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally certainly delivered a few.
The Teacher
Freida McFadden has become one of those writers. If she writes it, I’m going to read it.
But all Freida books aren’t the same. I seem to either love them or be basically indifferent about them.
I loved The Teacher, even though a lot of other people didn’t.
Addie is a troubled student. Last year, she was involved in a scandal when a teacher was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with her. The teacher was like Eve’s work dad, so she’s not thrilled when the new year rolls around, and Addie is on her class roster. She’s even less happy when she discovers that Addie is one of her handsome husband, Nate’s, students.
Will Addie set her eyes on Nate? Is Nate smart enough to see the danger this student might present? Will Eve’s jealousy and suspicions get the best of her?
I didn’t like a single character in this book, but I loved the multiple plot twists.
Happy Reading!
There they are, my favorite books of February. I hope you find something on the list to read and love.
As always, happy reading!
