16 Books in Two Months:What February & March Taught Me

A designer's honest tour through a reading sprint — the page-turners, the comfort reads, the ones I'd skip, and why all of it feeds my creative work.

February and March were good months. Not "I finished one book I'm proud of" good — I mean sixteen books in sixty days good. If you know me, you know I read a lot. But even by my standards, this felt like a sprint. Here's the honest, unfiltered tour of everything I picked up — the ones I loved, the ones I'd hand to a stranger, and the ones that didn't quite make the cut.

The world I kept coming back to

I anchored most of these two months in the Dungeon Crawl Carl series — and I have zero regrets. Matt Dinniman has this rare gift of pulling you so fully into his world that you forget you're reading. His writing doesn't just describe a place, it makes you live in it. Carl's chaotic, ridiculous, weirdly heartfelt dungeon felt like home after a long day. I kept finishing one book and immediately picking up the next. As a designer, I think about that a lot — what does it mean to build something so immersive that people don't want to leave? Dinniman figured it out.

"What does it mean to build something so immersive people don't want to leave? Matt Dinniman figured it out."

The reads that surprised me

Breaking up a long series requires the right palate cleanser, and We Who Will Die (Book 1) was exactly that. Starting fresh with a new world mid-sprint took commitment, but it paid off. The Lost Apothecary was another strong one — historical fiction with atmosphere to spare. And then there's The Unmaking of June Farrow, which hit differently knowing it came from a North Carolina writer. There's something about a story rooted in the same red clay and summer heat you know that makes it land harder. Proud to have that one on my list.

Thrillers, romance & the cozy corner

I needed thrillers, so I grabbed a couple. The Midnight Fest — the birds. THE BIRDS. I don't want to say more than that, just read it and you'll understand the all-caps. The Paris Apartment earned a solid four stars from me — the pacing was tight and the setting did exactly what a good Paris-set thriller should do. Hunting Party, though? Personally, not the one I'd reach for again. It had its moments but didn't quite stick.

When I needed to shift gears entirely, I reached for Things We Never Got Over — a little romance, a little chaos, very readable. And for cozy-cottage energy, The Spellshop delivered. Sometimes your brain just needs something gentle with good vibes, and that book knows exactly what it's doing.

The memoirs that stayed with me

I always make room for memoir and nonfiction, and this stretch was no different. Sister Wife and The House of My Mother were both quietly powerful in different ways. There's something about sitting with someone else's truth — their real life, their actual choices and consequences — that no fiction can fully replicate. These are the reads that make me slower, more thoughtful. As a creative, that kind of slowness is a gift.

The honest ones (two stars and under)

Not every book earns its place on the shelf — and I think it's worth being honest a

bout that. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying and Red (untold tale) both fell into two-star territory for me. They weren't unreadable, just not what I needed or hoped for. Every reading sprint has a few of these, and I'd rather name them than pretend otherwise. The contrast actually makes the great reads feel greater.

Sixteen books. Two months. A dungeon, a Parisian apartment, a North Carolina field, a cozy spell shop, and a whole lot of birds. Each one — even the two-star ones — gave me something to carry back to the studio. That's why I keep reading.