dear reader,

One of the things I’ve been going back and forth on these past few months is whether to add bookish content to my YouTube channel. As much as I would like to deny it and say I don’t think about the algorithm- I do. So, for better or worse, altering the content I present on my channel isn’t something I take as lightly as I’d like.

After lengthy discussions with friends, I’ve decided that the best step for me is to talk to you about this particular part of my interests through these letters.

Providing reviews and discussing books in any comprehensible way isn’t a strength of mine yet. I’m more of a reactor than a reviewer and oftentimes am emotion-forward when speaking about the media I’ve been consuming. I don’t consider this a weakness, only a difference in perspective, but I’d like to develop the skill before diving headfirst and avoid making content I don’t feel comfortable sharing.

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This year, to increase the time I spend reading, I’ve decided to set up TBR lists. I used them in 2022 and read over 80 books that year so I know they’re effective. But they aren’t concrete or set in stone. Being a mood reader means I can’t hold myself to such rigid plans when it comes to media, but having a plan keeps me focused and intentional.

That means trying to participate in a few reading challenges and themeing my reading around any particular heritage being celebrated in the month.

Things I’ve kept in mind while setting up my TBR for February:

• It’s black history month so I’d like to prioritize reading books by black authors talking about the black experience.

• Kayla’s Buzzword challenges:

  • Title Challenge: Water-related words (ie water, sea, lake)

  • Cover Challenge: Cover featuring a Skyline (an outline of land and/or buildings defined against the sky)

• Previous month’s unfinished Books

With that in mind, here’s what I’ve set up as my February TBR. If you’d like to read the synopsis and genres, you can check out my TBR challenge on storygraph or my bookshop.org list if you’d like to purchase any of them (it is an affiliate link, so if you purchase from there, it helps support this newsletter at no extra cost to you).

February 2025 TBR List + Covers

1. Orbital by Samantha Harvey

2. It by Stephen King

3. Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

1. Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families by Judith Giesberg

2. When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

3. Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

4. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

5. Sula by Toni Morrison

6. Lakewood by Megan Giddings

7. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

8. Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry

9. Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

10. Stay with Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

11. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

12. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

1. We had to remove this post by Hanna Bervoets

2. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

3. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

4. Strange Beasts of China

5. Motherfield: Poems and Belarusian Protest Diary by Julia Cimafiejeva

6. The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi

7. The Lake of the Dead by André Bjerke

1. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

2. Lakewood by Megan Giddings

3. The Lake of the Dead by André Bjerke

4. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates

February 2025 TBR Overview

As you can see, there are a lot of books- too many for me to finish in the month, realistically. That’s fine because my goal isn’t to finish every single book only to have enough variety that, depending on my mood, I can still pick up one of these books and meet my reading goals for this month. It’s an attempt at being more intentional with what I’m consuming, even if sometimes I throw it all out the window.

Books that repeat categories

Some of the books fall within multiple categories which is both fun and helpful. For example, Lakewood would be a book written by a black author that also helps me check off the Title challenge, while Lake of the Dead and Water Moon help me take care of the Title and Cover challenge in one go.

Books I’m most excited about

I fell in love with the concept of the book Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry. I came across it as an audiobook on Spotify and started listening, only to realize I’d like to read it to annotate/ highlight my favorite passages. Out of all the books, this one is probably the one I’m most excited to get to.

But I would also really like to finish Orbital this month. I’ve read the first few chapters through the ebook and audiobook and love the poetic prose. The quote about the painting Las Meninas has stuck with me and made it onto my commonplace notebook.

Longest time in my TBR shelves

Alternatively, books like The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, The Office of Historical Corrections, When No one is Watching, Lakewood, Get a Life Chloe Brown, and We Had to Remove This Post have been on my radar/TBR shelves since around 2021/2022 so it would be great to cross them off the list this month.

The only Physical Book on my list

Of the 22 books, the only one I have in my physical collection is Writing Down the Bones, which I purchased at a thrift store last year. I will be reading everything else as an ebook on my Kindle or as an audiobook.

And that’s my February TBR! I hope you enjoyed this supplemental letter about books and how I plan my monthly reading. Hopefully, I will get to many of these, but I don’t hold myself to the standard of expecting most of them to get checked off.

What are you reading this month? Do you curate a TBR or let yourself read whatever you’re drawn to?

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Until next time,