From Bill Gates to MLK鈥檚 mother: Dig into the best books of February
This month's fiction offerings span the globe 鈥� with stories set in Tunisia, Chile, and Britain 鈥� while the nonfiction titles tackle climate change and the labor movement.
1.听The Narrowboat Summer听by Anne Youngson
Anne Youngson follows her charming epistolary novel, 鈥淢eet Me at the Museum,鈥� with another soothing, heartening read about the possibility of forging new connections and changing one鈥檚 life at any age. Two women, new acquaintances and both at a crossroads in their lives, agree to help a stranger by skippering her narrowboat some 300 miles north along England鈥檚 canals.听In the course of their adventure, they meet some unusual people and untangle their thoughts about how they want to live going forward. Read the full review here.
Why We Wrote This
Books provide an oasis for contemplation and reflection, as well as the opportunity to commune with well-versed thinkers. Our picks for February touch on life passages, famous lives, and plain talk about climate change.
2.听How to Order the Universe听by Mar铆a Jos茅 Ferrada
When 7-year-old M skips school to accompany her father on his rounds as a traveling salesman in Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, the two embark on an adventure that alters their lives. Their successful partnership soon deteriorates, and along with it, a way of life. Mar铆a Jos茅听Ferrada, whose previous work includes children鈥檚 books, imparts a tale that captures a child鈥檚 perspective on a world created and disrupted by adults.
3.听The Ardent Swarm听by Yamen Manai
In a beautifully written novel that blends poetry with politics, Tunisian author Yamen Manai explores the era that followed the Arab Spring in the 2010s. In an allegorical tale, he writes of a devoted 鈥渂ee whisperer鈥� who finds one of his hives destroyed. Searching for answers, he ventures beyond his village and discovers a world filled with people with competing interests.听
4.听My Year Abroad听by Chang-rae Lee
Tiller Bardmon, the antihero of听 鈥淢y Year Abroad,鈥� returns to the U.S. from an international escapade. His discombobulating journey becomes an outstanding bildungsroman confronting identity, familial bonds, misplaced loyalty, and consumption culture.听
5.听The Girl From the Channel Islands听by Jenny Lecoat
Jenny Lecoat鈥檚 World War II novel follows Hedy Bercu, an Austrian Jew who escaped the Nazis in Vienna only to find herself working for them as a translator. Inspired by true events, this sweeping story of humanity and hope celebrates courageous individuals surviving oppression.
6.听Mike Nichols: A Life听by Mark Harris
This entertaining, illuminating biography of famed director Mike Nichols stays focused on his work, spanning his comedy improvisation duo with Elaine May and his direction of several Neil Simon plays along with movies such as 鈥淭he Graduate鈥� and 鈥淪ilkwood.鈥�
7.听The Three Mothers听by Anna Malaika Tubbs
This eye-opening debut corrects the erasure of Alberta King (Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 mother), Louise Little (Malcolm X鈥檚 mother), and Berdis Baldwin (James Baldwin鈥檚 mother) from the historical record. Each woman was a strong influence on her famous son; all three buried their sons as well.
8.听Tom Stoppard: A Life听by Hermione Lee
In this near-perfect combination of author and subject, Hermione Lee crafts a biography of one of the greatest living playwrights. Stoppard鈥檚 work includes not only plays (鈥淎rcadia鈥�) but also films (鈥淪hakespeare in Love鈥�). The book will surely be the jumping-off point for all future studies of Stoppard.
9.听Midnight in Vehicle City听by Edward McClelland
Fed up with erratic pay and dangerous working conditions, workers at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan, went on strike in late 1936. Edward McClelland vividly recounts how the strikers fought off local law enforcement to maintain control of the plant, enabling the fledgling United Auto Workers to negotiate one of the biggest labor victories in U.S. history.
10.听How to Avoid a Climate Disaster听by Bill Gates
Bill Gates offers a clear summary of the climate crisis and argues, unsurprisingly, that technological innovation is the solution to the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. The book is a treat for technophiles, and a crash course for nature lovers on how our civilization works. Still, the book provides little guidance on how to mobilize the political will or the personal resolve to live more sustainably. It is a sobering yet hopeful assessment, and a call to arms.
