Book Lovers Chat - February 2025
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss
This voiceover is an audio version of my Book Lovers Chat below. It is unedited, so may have some stutters, imperfections, and background noise. I hope you enjoy listening to it anyway!
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Welcome back to another Slow Sunday Letter! I hope you have had a slow and gentle week.
In this month’s Book Lover’s Chat, we are going to explore how our reading habits can be encouraged by our curiosity, and I will give my first four reviews of 2025! And we take a look at how you can go ‘book shopping’ at home! I hope you are sitting comfortably, grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s settle down for a read together…
Please note - this post may be too long to read in your email so click through to read on your browser or read on the Substack app.
Follow Your Curiosity
Do you love reading and learning new things?
I am pretty curious by nature and I think that is why I love books and reading so much. As we ease into the second month of the year, I thought it maybe nice to have a look at how we can follow our curiosity when it comes to our reading. This could mean exploring a new genre you've never read before, or delving deeper into a subject that interests you.
Here are my three tips for staying curious with your reading!
Set Gentle Goals
Setting goals or challenges is such a fun part of reading and can also be a great motivator. This could mean setting a reading challenge for yourself, like a genre relay or reading a certain number of books a month or year. Whatever works for you, make sure to celebrate your achievements and don’t get bogged down in rules. Reading is entirely personal and fun, enjoy exploring.
Keep A Reading Journal
One great way to track your reading and stay motivated is to keep a reading journal. This can be a physical notebook or a digital document where you record the books you've read, the ones you want to read, your thoughts, and reactions to each one and I also really enjoy recording memorable quotes. This not only helps you remember what you've learnt or experienced, but also gives you a sense of accomplishment and progress. If you're more of a digital reader, you can use the Goodreads app or website to track your reading. Goodreads also lets you create reading lists, rate and review books, and see what others are reading and recommending too.
Join A Book Club or Discussion Group
Reading doesn't have to be a solitary activity! Joining a book club or discussion group can be a great way to stay motivated and engage with others who share your interests. There are so many here on Substack, and of course here at Generosity of Spirit we are always ready for book lovers chat! This can also help you discover new books and perspectives you might not have encountered on your own.
My January Reads
(all my summaries and reviews will be spoiler free)
Winter Solstice - Rosamunde Pilcher
3.5 STARS
Elfrida Phipps loves her new life in her pretty Hampshire village. She has a tiny cottage, her faithful dog Horace and the friendship of the neighbouring Blundells - particularly Oscar - to ensure that her days are filled with companionship as well as independence. But an unforeseen tragedy upsets Elfrida's tranquillity: Oscar's wife and daughter are killed in a terrible car crash, and he finds himself homeless when his stepchildren claim their dead mother's inheritance.
Oscar and Elfrida take refuge in a rambling house in Scotland, which becomes a magnet for various waifs and strays who converge upon it, including an unhappy teenage girl. It could be a recipe for disaster. But somehow the Christmas season weaves its magic and the winter solstice brings love and solace.
My Thoughts:
This was the perfect book to read at the start of a New Year. It is a hugely comforting read, the characters are so well written and so likeable. It is a simple premise, as our ensemble cast all find themselves in the same little Scottish town, with connections to a house where they all end up spending Christmas. It is a gentle story, best enjoyed under a blanket with a warm cup of tea- I adored every moment between these pages. Winter Solstice is a book to be enjoyed, and is a perfect Winter read. It demands nothing of its reader, other than showing up and enjoying some comfort reading.
Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
3 STARS
Listeners of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert's books for years. Now this beloved author shares her wisdom and unique understanding of creativity, shattering the perceptions of mystery and suffering that surround the process and showing us all just how easy it can be.
By sharing stories from her own life as well as from her friends and the people who have inspired her, Elizabeth Gilbert challenges us to embrace our curiosity, tackle what we most love and face down what we most fear.
Whether you long to write a book, create art, cope with challenges at work, embark on a long-held dream, or simply to make your everyday life more vivid and rewarding, Big Magic will take you on a journey of exploration filled with wonder and unexpected joys.
My Thoughts:
I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for over a year, and I finally read it this month. It was as expected, very inspiring and made me feel so empowered when it comes to living a creative life and really encouraging my inner writer. I will re read this book often - it genuinely felt like a conversation just between me and Elizabeth, and so many times I felt really seen (how did she know I felt that way!?). This is a hugely popular book and for good reason, if you want to give more focus to your creativity I couldn't recommend this book highly enough.
Olive - Emma Gannon
4 STARS
Olive and her friends have shared every milestone.
From first loves and first heartbreaks to flatshares and the first scary steps into the real world, they’ve been through it all – together.
But in the maze of life, through the winding paths that lead to different choices and different futures, will the bonds of friendship hold strong when Olive needs them most?
Moving, memorable and a mirror for anyone at a crossroads, OLIVE is a love letter to the life raft of female friendship and reminds us how, with a little courage, we can all follow our own paths.
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed my time with Olive, I found it so incredibly refreshing to read a novel from a childfree perspective. I found all the characters really relatable and a really good representation of female friendship, and the realities of growing up alongside our loved ones whilst honouring individualism and choice.
is one of my favourite Substack creators and I was so excited to read this (I now can’t wait for Emma’s second fiction novel ‘Table For One’ which is out in April 2025). I found exactly what I was hoping for in Olive, a book all about the seasons of life, changes in relationships, and staying true to your hopes, dreams and desires. It was a light read that brought up a lot of validation and introspection for me personally.Take My Hand - Dolen Perkins-Valdez
3.5 STARS
Montgomery, Alabama. 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference in her community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies.
But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a tumbledown cabin, she's surprised to find that her new patients are just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling their welfare benefits, that's reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her new responsibilities, she takes India and Erica into her heart and comes to care for their family as though they were her own. But one day she arrives at their door to discover the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same.
Inspired by true events and a shocking chapter of American history, Take My Hand is a novel that will open your eyes and break your heart. An unforgettable story about love and courage, sisterhood and solidarity, it is also a timely and hopeful reminder that it only takes one person to change the world.
My Thoughts
This was the ‘January’ book from my Twelve Months of Reading Hamper, and what an incredible book. One of the reasons I wanted to try the hamper was to stretch my reading and try books I wouldn't ordinarily pick up, and this books falls into that category.
Take My Hand is an incredibly written, devastating book - it depicts real-life historical events and a landmark case that took place in the 70s regarding the forced sterilisation of girls and women, primarily of African-American and non-Anglo descent. Spanning 40 years, Civil our protagonist and narrator moves between the present and past as she tells her adopted daughter the story of her lineage and tries to convey "where she comes from". I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 2 days. It's the type of book that stays with you long after you reach the last page, it changes how you think, and opens your eyes to some really difficult truths.
I have set myself the challenge of reading each book from my Twelve Months of Reading Hamper - during the month I receive it. Each book is wrapped up and assigned to a month of the year, so is full of surprises. I hope to find some new favourites and really stretch my reading this year through the hamper. Check back here next month to see what book I receive for February!
From My Book Shelf
Book shopping at home!
In line with my mindful spending year, and attempt to not buy so many books this year. My old feature ‘new on my bookshelf’ is now ‘from my bookshelf’. Each month I will go book shopping at home, searching through my own bookshelves and boxes of books - and I invite you to do the same!
Each month I will search through my own books and find a book I either would like to re - read or one I haven’t read yet.
This month, I chose Enough by
I bought this book last year, read a couple of chapters (in fact the book mark is still in place!) and then got distracted and never returned to it.So this beautiful book is moving from my bookshelf, to my book basket beside my bed and I am finally going to read it.
What book did you find to read?
Next Up on my TBR List:
Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell
Versions Of A Girl - Catherine Gray
Bookish Substacks I’ve enjoyed this month…
I hope you have enjoyed this month’s Book Lovers Chat! This is my favourite post to write - I just love putting it together and thinking and talking about books and reading! If you would like to see anything at all featured in Book Lovers Chat, please let me know as we grow this community together.
As always, I’d love to know if you have read any of the books we have discussed here, what you are reading now, or if you have enjoyed any books recently you want to shout about! I’ll see you in the comments!
Thank you for being here,
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I can strongly recommend using Storygraph instead of Goodreads! It's a Black woman-owned business, while Goodreads is owned by Amazon. Also, imo the recommendations on Storygraph are better!
That’s two more for my list! Big Magic and Enough..
I don’t think I will ever catch up with myself…. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Hamnet- I loved it and so wanted to be Agnes.