Welcome to February 2025, and boy I am glad to be saying that.  I’ve never been that person who really “hates” January – especially considering it’s my birthday month, my wife’s, and a few close friends.

But this January?  It just dragged and dragged.  For the first time, I’d see those memes on Facebook like “Welcome to the 74th of January” and just nod knowingly.
 
I think a large part of that is because I got ill.  I rarely get sick so when I do, it hits hard.  I mentioned in the January newsletter that my wife and kids were hit with COVID.  Despite my best attempts to avoid it, hit me hard and it took me the best part of January to recover from it.
 
The worst part is when I am sick, it affects my reading as well.  People have comfort foods.  Comfort TV shows.  I have comfort “reads”.
 
I had all these plans for books I wanted to read this month.  Big plans. Due to being sick, I was cuddled up on the couch reading old John Grisham novels, then watching the adaptation, if there was one, immediately after.
 
I’m not sure why it is – but old Grisham novels are my go-to when I’m feeling sick, or down.  I read eight different Grisham novels during that time.  The King of Torts continues to be my favourite.

The only book I actually read and finished in the month of January was The Roommate by Kiersten Modglin.  This was a psychological thriller about a man whose marriage is breaking up, and he stays with an old acquaintance from high school who may not be what he seems.
 
I try and stay positive in this newsletter, but I have to be highly critical of the “big twist”.  I was forgiving of many things about the book – like when a big company gets hacked, their IT support person to fix it “defrags the hard drives”.  I’m a forgiving person and rarely judge that sort of thing.  But that twist?  Ugh.
 
Spoiler alert for The Roommate as this paragraph talks about it.  The big twist is that the 40-ish-year-old old who was an acquaintance from high school, is also the boyfriend of the protagonist’s 14-year-old daughter.  Uh – what?  It just made no sense.  And then there was no follow-up to that to try and justify it.  The plot just jumped on to more nonsense and yeeeeah – not a good book.
 
I never judge people for what they read, I hate that sort of thing, but anyone giving that a 10/10 or 5/5, I’d definitely think just a little bit less of! 

On the bright side, that is her second worst-rated book on Book Notification, so maybe it’s a rarity.  There were certain aspects I enjoyed, and I love that genre so I’ll definitely give Kiersten another shot.

Speaking of Book Notification, it’s been an incredible month there. We’re now at over 66,000 authors audited and listed. For reference, Order of Books has 5011. Quite the difference!

The work that goes into auditing these lists is incredible, and something I am very proud of. There are many other book websites out there but they either leave their books in a disorganized mess or have so much clutter such as books that were never released, random “collections” pulled from someone’s personal Amazon listing, duplicate titles, etc, etc.

Reader’s Roulette also has proven very popular. Be sure to check it out if you’re looking to discover a new book, and if you want to get notified of books by your favourite authors, be sure to register at Book Notification.

I’ve started reading Eleven Numbers which is actually releasing today. It’s a short story by Lee Child. I obtained it as part of the Kindle First Reads in January, but only getting to it now. I have big plans for this being a big reading month as there is so much I want to sink my teeth into.

I finished listening to Hidden Bodies, the second in the “You” series by Caroline Kepnes. Storyline-wise, I’d say it’s even better than “You” and I rated it slightly higher.

I’m now listening to You Love Me, the third in that series. I’m about 30% of the way in and it’s just starting to get good. The first part of it you’re sitting there thinking a third installment was unnecessary, but I think I’m about to be proven wrong.

I said this last month but don’t read that book – listen to it. Absolutely incredible narration. I’ve been able to get all of the books via the library too which is always a bonus.

One book I’m certainly going to read soon is The Women by Kristin Hannah. In last month’s mailbag, I asked what the best book read in 2024 was. Over half the responses cited that, it felt like. Incredible to see that sort of response.

I think that’s about it for me so let’s get on with the rest of the newsletter.

Each month we give away 5 $25 Amazon gift certificates to random subscribers. 

To win all you have to do is be a subscriber. Nothing more! When we go to hit “Publish” we take a list of all of our subscribers, throw them into a random draw and those are the winners.

Our winners this month are:

Connie F. from Wilmington, OH
David G. from Powell River, BC
Lucy from Windsor, CA (Email begins with madg)
Heidi from Englishtown, NJ (email begins with htk)
John R. from Rapid City, SD (email begins with jsr)

All of you have been e-mailed. If you don’t see anything, check your junk folder or contact me.

Graeme
OrderOfBooks.com

Quotes of the Month

“A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.”

– Chinese proverb found on a bookmark.

“It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.”

– S.I. Hayakawa

“Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”

– Paul Auster

Submit your own quotes; just hit reply. Book-related is great but happy to share non-book related too! Love seeing quotes from books! Thanks to Bettie and Louise, for this month’s quotes.

Book Recommendations

In this section, I give 3-5 random book recommendations from readers of the newsletter. They can be old books, they can be new. Feel free to e-mail suggestions to me. Just hit reply. If you wish to add a description for the book around the same size as the ones below that’d be great too! 

Box 88 Trilogy by Charles Cumming: Ed wrote in to recommend this series. There’s a potential fourth book coming in 2026. Ed called Charles “one of the best spy writers today”, and here’s what he wrote about the first book:

“The first book, Box 88, begins in 1989 and revolves around an intelligence network established by the UK and the USA called BOX 88. It tells the story of the recruitment of Lachlan ‘Lockie’ Kite, a young UK student at an exclusive boarding school. The challenge entices Lockie, and he agrees to go to France to spy on a friend. The narrative is interwoven with various subplots.”

Ed also writes “The characters in these books are well-developed, and the storylines are filled with mystery and intrigue, all tightly packed. Like many top spy authors, Cumming has a genuine feel for the nature of espionage; it can be mundane at times, but also filled with hair-raising excitement. These books are definitely worth the time to read.”

DC Smith Series by Peter Grainger: A series recommended before, but happy to recommend again.

Judy wrote in to talk about this series, and she said: “I have been meaning to email you about this great series I found by Peter Grainger. Main character is DC Smith in Kings Lake in Norfolk. The supporting chapters are all great and each book is its own case. Lots of humor.. I have only listened to them because I am in love with the gentleman who narrates who is fabulous.”

It might be one to listen to for sure, as when I recommended it a few years ago it was because of this write-up which again mentions the narration. from Jody: “Peter Grainger writes detective/police mysteries that take place in modern-day Great Britain. I would like to recommend his DC Smith Investigation series and its follow-up series, King’s Lake. The books must be read in order and are so good that I have read each of them twice. ”

“Grainger’s writing is intelligent and thoughtful, with relatable characters. The books are likely to appeal to Louise Penny readers who may enjoy the general type of novel, but not the repetitive writing style or ridiculously increasing eccentricities of her main characters.” 

“This author is worth expanding one’s repertoire. In fact, I strongly urge listening because the narrator — Gildart Jackson — is beyond outstanding.”

Hiroshima by M.G. Sheftall: Recommended by Tom, who wrote:

“I just finished Hiroshima by M.G. (Bucky) Sheftall. He is an American that has lived in Japan since the 80’s and he teaches at one of the country’s Universities. This is a detailed account of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. He has another book coming soon called Nagasaki,  where he will detail that bombing as well.”

If anyone is interested in World War 2 history, this book is an excellent read. Here is a quote from the book that precedes Chapter 1:

“What were those tens of thousands of people doing when they died? I wondered…I did a lifetime of wondering in that fragment of a moment when we waited for the blast. And I’ve wondered ever since.”
-Abe Spitzer, B-29 radio operator, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions

Only the three this month. Our mailbag last month was the best books people read in 2024, and there were an incredible amount of recommendations. So keep reading for that!

February Book Of The Month

Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz: February is an incredible month for books. It took me a couple of minutes to decide which one to feature.

I’ve went with Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz, the latest in the Orphan X series.

This is the tenth full length novel in this highly popular series.

Evan suddenly finds himself facing off against his best friend, Tommy—a man who’s built many of his weapons but may have just crossed an unforgivable line. As Evan hunts Tommy down, determined to make him pay, a far deadlier threat looms, and survival is anything but guaranteed.

10 More Notable Books Releasing in February

Brought to you by BookNotification.com where you can get updated on all the upcoming books by your favourite authors with your own personalized calendar! See the most popular book releases in January 2025.

February Charities

While I appreciate all offers of donations to show your appreciation for the site and newsletter, I’d much rather you do that by supporting some great causes.  Each month I pick a few select charities broken down by our most popular countries or topics that you can support instead.   Thanks! Feel free to donate to a similar charity but in your own area.

I rotate this list each month.  Feel free to suggest a favourite charity – hit reply.

Pictures of the Month:

Submitted by Cathi

Submitted by Gemini

Submitted by Neil

Send in your own to site@orderofbooks.com or by replying! Images, jokes, etc. We’ll take it all! Bit of a backlog but working my way through it.

Your Thoughts!

Last month I asked of any books you had at home that you would never get rid of.  The answers are later in the newsletter.
 
This month’s question is: if there is a chronological order of a book series and it differs from the publication order, do you read that instead?
 
Some people don’t fully understand what that means so let me briefly explain: a chronological order is when the timeline within the books is different from when they were published.
 
The book American Assassin by Vince Flynn was the 11th published novel in the Mitch Rapp series.  However, it is the origin story of Mitch Rapp and thus is currently first in chronological order.
 
This came up in a discussion with one of our readers, Elaine.  The author hadn’t made it clear that there were two prequels in the series (published much later) and she found it frustrating as the prequels explained how the main character got there, and their history in becoming the Sheriff.  She also didn’t understand how someone would want to read a series in the publication order when there is a chronological order to follow along with.
 
It’s an interesting one.  Personally, I read them in publication order.  The only way to truly read a series in chronological order is to wait for it to be finished.  The Jack Reacher series for example currently has four novels that take place before Killing Floor.  So if you were reading them year after year, you would have no choice but to read them chronologically.
 
I used the Mitch Rapp series as an example because that was the book Vince said he “wanted to write for 10 years”.  Having read the first ten books before it, it just made that book much more powerful.  I think if you had read it first, it wouldn’t have the same effect.
 
I also like to read a book and see the author grow as a writer.
 
So – I’m in the “read in publication order” camp in general.  Although for something like the books by Wilbur Smith, I could see reading it more chronologically.

What about you? If you have the choice, will you read in chronological order over publication order? Why or why not?

E-mail us your feedback to site@OrderOfBooks.com or just reply to this e-mail, and we’ll pick the best comments and feature it in next month’s newsletter. Five people will also randomly win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.

Reader Mailbag!

Click here to read.

Book Notification
Order of Books » Newsletter » OrderOfBooks February 2025 Newsletter

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