The Year in Books: February

For the first time in ages, I have a specific book to read this month!  The idea behind Laura's The Year in Books is simply to make the effort to read, and to share with others what you have read, not necessarily for everyone to read the same thing.  It's a little different for February though, as she's chosen for people to read (should they wish) The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon.  The publisher and Laura were giving a few copies away, and I won one!  Book post is a favourite sort of post (along with yarn post - that's also pretty good).

What did I read in January?

A Little Life* by Hanya Yanagihara got my attention pretty much from the beginning, and I really enjoyed the first 50 pages or so.  It follows four main characters and their friendship over a number of years, but it's never really clear which year they're in.  Whilst it's beautifully written it is so slow and quite long (about 700 pages, although as I read it on my Kindle I'm not entirely sure - but the percentage at the bottom of the screen didn't increase very quickly!).  I ran out of patience and admittedly skipped most of the end of the book.  It's also incredibly depressing.  Possibly a book to read if you have long periods of time to devote to it - as I only read for 20 minutes or so before I go to bed, this isn't a book for me right now.

The Birth of the Pill by Jonathan Eig was incredibly interesting - I think science and medicine are amazing and fascinating, and I realised, when I saw this book in the library, how little I know about something that pretty much every female friend I have has taken for at least some part of her life. 

Margaret Sanger is a feminist (when the word 'feminist' wasn't really around) and desperately wanted to develop some form of reliable birth control which would allow women to enjoy spontaneous sex.  She had rather a lot of money, and met Gregory Pincus, a slightly eccentric yet dedicated scientist who believed he could stop ovulation.  Add in Katharine McCormick, who had even more money, and John Rock, a Catholic doctor (that's interesting in the birth control debate!) and the book takes the reader through several decades of trial and error and cultural battles.  It's very well written and easy to read and definitely a book I'd recommend.

Also this month I have read 36,000 words of student assignments I had to mark - but I won't dwell on that!

*This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley.   All thoughts and opinions are, of course, my own.