February 2022 Wrap-Up: We Don’t Talk About Bruno– I Mean, February

I think (hope) we can all agree this month was not the best. February never seems to be a good month, but at least it’s short. I was quite stressed out for most of the month, and also, I’m getting a bit sick of winter.

On a serious note, I’m sure you’re all aware that there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now. I’m trying to stay tuned into the news on Ukraine and as I’m sure everyone does, I hope the situation will improve in the coming days.

Anyway, let’s talk about books.

Reading:

Unfortunately I did not have a stellar reading month in February. I ended up reading three books and one short story, which is the “worst” reading month I’ve had since January 2020. However, I liked the majority of the books I did read.

2.5-3 stars

The Portable Phonograph by Walter van Tillburg Clark (short stories, sci-fi/dystopian)– a post-apocalyptic short story I read for school that didn’t really seem to have much of a point.

3.5-4 stars

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal sci-fi, alternate history– an interesting blend of sci-fi and alternate history, which I reviewed on my blog here

4.5-5 stars

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (YA, historical fiction, thriller)– one of my most-anticipated releases for a while, and it did not disappoint!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (sci-fi, humor)– I really liked this book, a new favorite (read my review here)

Movies, Podcasts and Other Miscellanea That’s Not Reading

Um, I was so overworked from school that I didn’t really watch any movies this month or really listen to many podcasts… I continued listening to the Darknet Diaries podcast, though.

Blogging

I spent a lot of time this month drafting future posts. I have a lot of discussion posts in my drafts folder about stuff like separating the art from the artist, J.K. Rowling, cancel culture, etc., which I hope to post soon. They all require a lot of research and writing, so they’re taking a while to finish. But get ready for more of my unpopular opinions coming in the next few weeks.

Here’s everything I posted this month:

Book Reviews:

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal: Feminist Alternate History and Space Travel

Book Review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Other:

Dear Book Snobs: It’s Okay to Read YA

I also reached something of a blogging milestone this month:

My blog just reached 20K all-time views and 10K all-time visitors! pic.twitter.com/56iQQKSpyu

— Emily (Frappes & Fiction) (@frappesandfic) February 19, 2022

Around the Blogosphere

Here are some of the great posts I read this month:

Riddhi @ Whispering Stories wrote about reasons why she feels old at 17 and things in American and British books that used to surprise her as an Indian reader

Siena @ Booksophobia explained why she quit Instagram

Rue @ Full of Grace answered questions she’s gotten about autism

Pages Unbound published a post on whether book subscription boxes are bad for the environment

The Orangutan Librarian recommended books she didn’t like (because we all have different tastes!)

Goals

February Goals (Last Month)

1) Find time to read every day/use my free time for something other than scrolling on the Internet– I didn’t really use this time to read, but I did do quite a bit of writing

2) Do more blog hopping!– I sort of accomplished this goal, but I think I could do more in March.

3) Figure out some sort of SEO strategy– I am once again deferring a goal to the next month due to procrastination-related reasons

March Goals

1) Continue to focus on writing quality content for my blog – As opposed to non-quality content, of course

2) Put some thought into my blog SEO– I still don’t understand it as well as I truly should. Any tips?

3) Try posting consistently on Pinterest– I’m still skeptical on how useful Pinterest is for blogging, but I’ve heard time and time again that posting consistently leads to results. So, I suppose I should start doing that more in order to see results.

That’s all for my February wrap-up. How was your month? Did you read any particularly good books? Let me know in the comments!

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