Leperdbunny's 2021 Reading Room

Well. . I'm a little late to the party but better late than never, right?

For those of you who don't know who I am, I was an active member many years ago and I've missed coming in here! 2020 was well . . . quite frankly awful so I'm all for doing things that make me happy! Some things that have happened in my life since the last time I was actively posting - I'm now a mom (my daughter is turning 4!) and I married my longtime partner in July of 2019.

My reading is pretty eclectic. I'm active in 3 book clubs so I read what they read and then what I feel like reading. I've been trying to read more science fiction and find myself enjoying more non fiction lately.

2020 List:

The Library Book By Susan Orlean

Educated by Tara Westover

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken

I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel

A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

Good Omens by Gaiman/Pratchett

Supernova Era by Cixin Liu

Death Overdue by Allison Brook

Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

The Late Bloomers’ Club by Louise Miller

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian

Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence

The Murder At The Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

The Man In The High Castle by Phillip K. Dick

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Outworld by N. Harold Donley

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

Then there were None by Agatha Christie

A Man Called Ove Fredrick Backman

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Giver Of Stars by Jojo Moyes

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

Currently Reading:

How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson



Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole



Austen Years by Rachel Cohen



The Usual Santas by Peter Lovesey



Completed:

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez 5 Stars

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson 5 Stars

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell 4 Stars

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates 5 Stars

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 4 Stars

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander 5 Stars

11/22/63 by Stephen King 5 Stars

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue 5 Stars

The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan 5 Stars

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman 4 Stars

Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen 4 Stars

Murder is Binding by Lorna Barnett 4 Stars

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley 4 Stars

My Own Words by RBG

The House in the Cerulean Sea By TJ Klune

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

One by One by Ruth Ware

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Whistling Past The Graveyard by Susan Crandall

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

The Radleys by Matt Haig

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Dry by Jane Harper

Walking Through Needles by Heather Levy

The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix

The Broken Girls By Simone St. James

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

The Burning by Tim Madigan

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

The Haunting Season

The Good House by Tananarive Due

Welcome back! I'm glad you're joining us again. Your 2019 list has some good books on it!

And keep up with my friends here. Have a great 2021.

Happy reading in 2021, Tamara!

>3 PaulCranswick: Lovely to see you! Welcome!

>4 FAMeulstee: Thank you! Nice to meet you!

>2 drneutron: D'OH! I meant 2020. 2020 was so terrible I can't remember what year it is. Thank you for the warm welcome! Its good to see you!

Finished Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. What an interesting read. Waffling between 4 and 5 stars I guess I'll give it 5 Stars. I've never read anything by Kevin Wilson. I would like to read The Family Fang at some point. This was a book club read.

>8 leperdbunny: I read his collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth a few years ago and admired his talents. I also have Family Fang on the shelves and - like you Tamara - would like to get to it reasonably soon.

Have a great weekend.

Happy New Year, Tamara! Happy New Thread. Congrats on your daughter. That is wonderful. Great to see you joining the group again. You were missed. I am also a Kevin Wilson fan.

Hello! Looks like a fun list!

>9 PaulCranswick: Thank you for stopping by!

>10 msf59: Thank you!

>11 false-knight: Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Inauguration Day!

Finished Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. What a beautiful book! Now that I am a parent this really hit home hard. I was suprised that the author focused more on the wife and children than of Shakespeare himself. A heart wrenching study in grief. 4 Stars

Finished The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It was soooo good! The author used some terms to describe enslaved as "Tasked" and the ruling whites as the "Quality". Felt somewhat like Handmaid's Tale or something. There was also a sci fi element to the story that was amazing! 5 stars

I almost forgot to post a picture for Millie's birthday (January 26th).



This little girl had such a good 4th birthday!

>18 leperdbunny: Aw, what an absolute sweetheart! Happy birthday to her!

Hi Tamara! Lovely choice of books - I finished Der Anschlag by Stephen King very quickly because I got sucked into it. Hope you will enjoy it! I am currently reading about Jim Crow as well and I stumbled over the book you are reading - looking forward to your opinion. I love the cover of Furiously happy so much!

And a late happy birthday to Millie!

>19 scaifea: Thank you!!!

>20 PersephonesLibrary: Thank you!!

>18 leperdbunny: Belated salutations from me too.

She is a cutie.

>23 PaulCranswick: thank you!!!

Well, the weather is crazy and I feel so discombobulated. Looks like I'll be leaving work early and most likely be working from home tomorrow. I was a bad girl and started ANOTHER book (shakes head) this weekend. In fairness to me, I have about 100 pages left of Furiously Happy, so I'm hoping to finish that this week. I also have about 6 hours left on The New Jim Crow.

Today I learnd a new word: "discombobulated"...
I hope you feel well, soon - but staying at home tomorrow (even if you work) is for sure a good plan. Just to get things straigt again.

Well, I can't blame you.... there are just too many great books...

Hi, Tamara. Hooray for Hamnet! The New Jim Crow was one of my top reads of 2020. I also remember enjoying the audio of Furiously Happy a few years back.

>26 PersephonesLibrary: glad I helped you learn a new word!!

>27 msf59: Thanks for stopping by!

My coworker!

My gosh, that is so adorable! That smile!!

>29 scaifea: Thank you!

I'm going to try to go into the office today. Roads are still kind of bad but we are expecting record snowfall on Sunday/Monday which may shut us down for several days. I'm anticipating on having to work from home those days.

>28 leperdbunny: Awww, she looks very happy!

>28 leperdbunny: Funny, my coworkers are usually only half as adorable but equally productive. ;-)

>32 FAMeulstee: She loves pretending to be on a laptop like mommy!!

>33 PersephonesLibrary: LOL.

I finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. A fun thriller soft sci fi read. About 3/4s of the way through I was like this is crazy! Felt like an episode of X-Files. Would love to read more from this author. I loved the Wayward Pines show. 4 stars

Trying to decide what to read next. Read a little more of Furiously Happy. She's obviously very funny but I guess I'm not in the mood for it today. I hope to finish The New Jim Crow soon.

Thanks for the Furiously Happy mentioning, Tamara! I have read about half of the book now and enjoy it a lot! Have a lovely reading weekend!

>37 PersephonesLibrary: No problem! I'm going to circle back around to it this week!

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. WOW! What a fantastic dive into mass incarceration. I'm now in the mood to read a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. Also, she brought some points up towards the end about allies and litigation that I had not thought about so I particularly enjoyed those parts. 5 stars!

I'm a reading machine! Finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I haven't read much King but I've watched a lot of his movies/series over the years including this one. It was great and much more detailed than the series. I don't exactly remember the series ending but I found this ending fascinating. 5 Stars

Yay! Two great reads - congrats!

>41 PersephonesLibrary: Thank you!

Good to see you back again, and with a cute little girl to boot!

>43 PaperbackPirate: Thank you!! I'll come by and "visit" you.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. Wonderful! This novel centers around the 1918 flu pandemic and specifically focuses on a nurse in a maternity ward. She spends a good amount of time in the story talking about healthcare and childbirth and the technologies of the time and also the affects of both the flu and the war. My only disappointment was that it wasn't longer. 5 Stars

>45 leperdbunny: I have wanted to read something by Emma Donoghue for a while - and The Pull of the Stars sounds perfect to begin with!

>45 leperdbunny: Topical read, Tamara! I'm a bit under the weather myself today so I will try to avoid the subject of illness just for now but I could add that book soon.

>46 PersephonesLibrary: Yes, it was great!

>47 PaulCranswick: I hope you are feeling better!

Hi, Tamara. You are on a nice reading roll. I also loved the King novel & Dark Matter. I still have to get to The Pull of the Stars. Glad to see you gave it 5 stars.

>49 msf59: Glad to see you!

The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan. I mostly listened to this one on audio. Very good! The story focuses on the town and people at the Normandy invasion 2 years prior and up to the day. The author kept referring to the German Army as the "occupying" army which was interesting. I don't think he ever referred to them as the german army and I don't think he ever referred to Hitler by name. 5 Stars

One more item of note! I got my COVID vaccine last week (Moderna) and I'll get my second dose on April 7th. Hubby got his first dose on Tuesday. I'm so excited to see a light at the end of the tunnel!!

>52 leperdbunny: Yay!! We'll be able to sign up for our shots starting March 29 here. I'm so ready!

>52 leperdbunny: That is great, Tamara.
Over here it will take a while. If all goes as planned, I hope we wil get our vaccination before summer. My father is fully vaccinated now, as the elderly got them first.

>52 leperdbunny: Yay, that is very good news! I really hope to get vaccinated soon, too. But I don't count on it before autumn. Congrats!

Two reviews today!

Sense and Sensibility 4 Stars now I know what the fuss is all about. Never finished a Jane Austen before. I loved the 90s movie. I had heard that Jane Austen was feminist but I didn't know to what extent. The story focuses on two sisters who deal with the fallout of their father's passing and being essentially left penniless. Some of these characters!! Ugh. I was righteously angry. Austen did a great job at skillfully explaining a lot of the social issues that affected women.

4 Stars

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman. Again, loved the 90s movie and I remember liking the book Practical Magic but honestly I can't remember much. I may be in the mood to reread that one at some point. The story centers around Maria Owens who was an ancestor during the Salem witch trials. Loved the time period and all of the travel the character did.

4 Stars

I'm going to wend my way through the threads this weekend. Sorry I haven't been too talkative!!

Yay for Austen! Will you read more of her stuff, do you think?

>57 scaifea: I think so. I'll probably go in order by publication.

>58 leperdbunny: Well, I mean, is there really any other way?

Good morning!

I forgot to post that I finished Murder is Binding. 4 Stars This is a nice start to a cozy series that focuses on a bookseller in a book themed tourist town. She's accused of murder and must find the actual killer.

Happy Weekend!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley 4 Stars. This was a reread from years ago. My book club wanted to read it and honestly I didn't remember anything about the story so it was totally new to me! Great if precocious main character. I would like to continue with the series.

One more review to add. My Own Words by RBG. 4 Stars. The format of this book was a little bit non traditional. Partly it focused on her upbringing and her relationship with her husband and how she got into a law school but a lot of it focused on her work including her dissents from the bench. She also spent some time talking about collegiality and her positive relationships with her coworkers.

Two more reviews!

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell 4 Stars Non fiction account of one undercover operative in Nazi occupied France. Not only was she a woman but she was an amputee. She was such fascinating figure and I'd never heard of her until this book.

The House in The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune 5 Stars Loved loved loved this book. I hope the author makes it into a series. A social worker who works for a magical agency goes on special assignment to a group childrens home to investigate whether or not they are being properly cared for. This is a book that you just want to cuddle up with a hot bevvy and a blanket. LOVED IT!

One more Review to add:

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott 3.5 Stars. Loved a lot of the mythology backstory in this one. The main YA characters felt a tad flat to me so I hope that the series develops them more in later books.

>65 leperdbunny: Oh, yeah, I read those a few years back. Pretty good!

One by One by Ruth Ware 5 Stars

I guess I need to read more thrillers. Its not a genre I normally pick for myself but I seem to enjoy them. I loved the format of the perspective switching between two main characters.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow 5 Stars

I loved the fantasy and almost magical realism and gothic horror that a lot of books I have enjoyed have. There's a lot of literary reference as well. I would really love to see the author make this into a series.

Recursion by Blake Crouch 4 Stars

This is my second Blake Crouch read and I love the thriller/sci fi mix he does. It felt like an episode of X Files.

2 Reviews!

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall

I finished this one this past weekend for an upcoming book club. It dealt with a lot of social issues in the 1950s/1960s including racism. It wasn't as funny as I was expecting it to be but enjoyable. 4 stars

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

I finished this one today. It was about a time traveling serial killer and the author wrote it from the perspective of several characters and it jumps around a lot but it was not confusing at all. Very good but very creepy! 5 stars

2 more reviews!

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy book! Reminded me of the Magicians show and I know I would like to read the book it was based on. 4 Stars

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman I enjoyed the intertwining, sometimes sad stories of these characters and there were some good, funny moments. Everyone was so testy. The author tended to meander a bit so if that's not your cup of tea just keep that in mind. 4 Stars

1 more review!

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee I enjoyed reading a non traditional book about romance from the perspective of a transgender boy. I loved how the author presented some of the other pronouns floating around and I learned a lot. Overall, I'm not a huge romance reader but this was a fun read. 3 Stars

2 more reviews!

Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones A cute read. I didn't know this was a book series until a few years back. I wasn't a big reader when I was a kid so I missed a lot of books like this. It kind of felt like Neil Gaiman writing. 4 Stars

Bel Canto by Ann Pachett This is on a lot of summer reading lists so I wanted to enjoy it before the summer got away from me. It was beautiful and an unexpected ending. I would like to watch the movie soon. 4 Stars

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict. This makes me want to read more Agatha Christie. This was an interesting take on her disappearance but I will warn that it was depressing at parts. I don't want to get too much into it because it might spoil it. 4 Stars

2 more reviews. .

The Radleys by Matt Haig 4 Stars. Even though this was a book about vampires, I think you could have taken that element out and still reworked it to be about family dynamics and even addiction maybe? The husband and wife protagonists try to shield their vampire children from their past and what they are really are and it comes back to bite them (har-har). I loved the Midnight Library and would be interested in reading more of Matt Haig's work.

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper 4 Stars. This story focuses on Andrew, who's past leaves him broken with loss and death. While the author never explains it explicity, he experiences ptsd/panic attacks and the root cause is not really explained until about 3/4 through the book. I was rooting for him the whole time.

Oh wow I kind of forgot about posting my updates for a bit. September was a bit busy for me. Here's my finished reads:

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 5 Stars

I loved the unassuming retirees filling the role of Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple (Elizabeth in particular). If you love cozy, well written murder mysteries this is for you.

The Dry by Jane Harper 4 Stars

I loved this murder mystery set in a small Australian community. As we've been dealing with droughts as a result of global warming (hello Midwest), I really sympathized with the characters in the book.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix 5 Stars

My first spooky read of the season This is a fun twist on the Final Girl trope in horror. I really sympathized with Lynette. She was so lonely she had built up this sentient relationship with her plant.

Walking Through Needles by Heather Levy 5 Stars

I'm rating this one 5 stars because it is really well written. It combines a murder mystery, coming of age story, and a woman who grows up to enjoy masochism. It is definitely not for everyone but it is dark and twisty and so, if that's your kind of read you might enjoy this.

October was pretty crazy again! Here's my next set of completed reads:

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James Definitely 5 Stars. Such a great horror/mystery/suspense author. This story focuses on girls at a boarding school in the 1950s and a main character in modern day trying to understand her sister's murder and a murder of one of the boarding school girls.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner 5 Stars. This story focuses on a woman who travels to England and discovers the story of an apothecary when she finds her glass bottle.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab 5 Stars Just a beautiful and sad story about a girl who is cursed by an ancient god who makes her unmemorable to everyone.

Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn 5 Stars. I really appreciated having a cohesive narrative about what issues Native Americans have experienced because of racism. This book was written almost 30 years ago and all of the issues brought up then are still relevant today.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 5 Stars I love gothic horror. This was a great take on the classic genre.

A Thanksgiving to Friends (Lighting the Way)

In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road

At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.

Tamara, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving

>78 PaulCranswick: Thank you!

Y'all. I got in a pretty bad car wreck (I was rear ended) on Tuesday, November 16th. Broken my nose and my face. My car is totaled but I'm okay. My kiddo was not in the car so I'm very grateful. I had surgery right before Thanksgiving to fix my poor nose so I hope to get my stitches out next week.

Here's what I read last month:

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman 5 Stars. I love Alice Hoffman. This story centers around a Jewish family and a Golem created to protect the daughter in the family. It was beautiful and sad.

The Burning by Tim Madigan. 5 Stars. I'm from Oklahoma and I didn't know how bad the race massacre in Tulsa was. We don't learn about this in school and we just hit the 100 year anniversary. This is a must read.

Oh, wow. I'm glad you're recovering. Hope the nose comes out well!

>81 drneutron: Thank you!!

>80 leperdbunny: I hope you recover quickly! Sorry to hear it happened.

Have a lovely holiday, Tamara and I hope you are fully recovered from the car accident.

>83 PaperbackPirate: >84 PaulCranswick:

Thank you! I'm getting my final check up in January! Happy Holidays all!

Hi friends!

Here's what I've been reading lately:

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig. Definitely 5 stars. I normally don't read a lot of YA fiction but this was really an interesting premise. It really felt like an M. Night Shyamalan-esque story.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender. 4 Stars. Again, YA. This was a book club read. It touched on a lot of modern teenage/young adult issues especially considering the main character was transgender/questioning/gender nonbinary. I recommend people read this with kids to talk about issues of empathy, bulling, and lgtq themes.

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim. 5 Stars. There were definitely times while reading this that I identified so much with the main character and it was just so in line with my own relationship with my mom that I had to take breaks and come back to it. The author did a fantastic job. I did not understand a lot of the nuanced parts about being an immigrant but I definitely felt a lot of empathy for the characters.

The Haunting Season 5 Stars. This was just exactly what I needed. I love reading seasonal works and this just was great. There were 8 very distinct stories and I really enjoyed all of them. Since they were roughly 30ish pages a piece it didn't really feel like too much of a commitment and I just read the collection in a couple of days.

I have to go into the office tomorrow so I hope to finish The Good House by Tananarive Due. I'm starting The Usual Santas and I'll probably start my 2022 thread soon.

Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Tamara.

>87 PaulCranswick: Happy New Year, Paul!

I finished The Good House by Tananarive Due. 4 Stars. I definitely enjoyed the spooky nature and atmospheric writing. I found this author because she writes a lot of horror mixed with historical fiction but features POC. I came across her because she has been compared to Stephen King. The story was great but I saw someone else say there was a lot of unnecessary filler. I kinda agree it seemed a tad long for the story. (The audio book was 21 hours). Overall though, still an enjoyable read.