I’m pleased to announce that the Rebecca Reads family has grown by one! My second child, a little girl, was born February 22 at 6:25 in the morning. She was 7 lbs 7 oz and is doing well at being a newborn baby. I feel fantastic. This pregnancy was a lot more uncomfortable than my first, so I’m delighted that baby Strawberry Shortcake is here to cuddle and that I am no longer pregnant!

I have a personal policy to not post pictures of my children on this site, since it is public, so I apologize that I cannot share with you a picture of my beautiful little girl! I will tell you that she has red hair like I do, like my husband does, and like my son does. And given the fact that she’s half a pound larger than my son was, she looks positively chunky to me! Very squishy and adorable.

I had intended to name her Monkey as a nickname on this site, but it just didn’t seem to fit her. Strawberry Shortcake, on the other hand, is just perfect. So…Raisin and Strawberry it is for my kids here…he he he.

As can be expected, I haven’t felt much like reading the last two weeks since Strawberry made her appearance. But I did get a few things read and reviewed in the first half of the month! Everything I list below was finished before February 22. I even had the reviews started for the last two, I just didn’t get to posting them.

Reviewed in February/Read in January

• Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson
• Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto (African fiction from Mozambique)

Read and/or Reviewed in February

• Frozen Secrets: Antarctica Revealed by Sally Walker
• Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Faucet (Harlem Renaissance reading)
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (to celebrate Valentine’s Day)
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (for my Classics Book Club)
• Fleas, Flies, and Friars: Children’s Poetry from the Middle Ages by Nicholas Orme (Review copy)
• Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary (for my “learn about Islamic history” project)
• A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond (read aloud to my son; no review coming.)
• Quicksand by Nella Larsen (Harlem Renaissance reading; review in progress)
• The Mormon People by Matthew Bowman (Review copy; review in progress)

My March will mostly be spent cuddling my newborn and cherishing these first days. I am reading her The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett during some of our many feeding times. I’m also reading a Boxcar Children book aloud to Raisin.

Yesterday, I finished Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare (brief plot summaries written in 1807 for children), about which I have mixed thoughts. I may read another Harlem Renaissance novel this month (Cane by Jean Toomer). I’d also like to read a Victorian novel: I’m aiming for something short with Erewhon by Samuel Butler. If I’m up to it, I’m starting Vanity Fair next month. My classics book group is reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame this month, which I read in preparation a few months ago. I may start reading The Great Arab Conquests for my “learn about Islamic history” project, and I have a few review books that I may begin on my nook. I may read some African short stories (I have Adichie’s stories, as well as a slim volume with four stories by both Bessie Head and Ngugi Wa Thiong’o).

I’m really trying hard not to make too many “goals” here. I’m sure the urge to cuddle my baby and nap are going to override everything else. But it’s nice to have options in case I do feel like reading. That’s what I intend this post to be: a list of reading options for me if I do feel like reading when I happen to be awake in the middle of the night with my baby.

What’s new in your home this month?

What books have you read and/or posted about that I may have missed? Obviously, I’m a bit behind on reading blogs. Let me know if I missed something fantastic from your blog!