Finished this the other day on audio. Really liked the ideas of whether or not vampires are “worthy”. Are they inherently evil because they need to kill? How different is that from people who also kill to eat? What if you‘re a vampire just trying to get through her internship at an art gallery? What if you struggle with your identity? Who owns art? Who gets to love? Also, puppets …

I‘m disappointed to report that I just didn‘t vibe with this book. It may have been too sweet or maybe the translation didn‘t hit just right? Basically June is a magical being who has lost her family. She has a gift to grant wishes and help the grieving. She opens a mind laundry in which she is capable of washing away bad memories and thus making people happier. Great idea, but I found some of the messages and timeline confusing.

This was an incredibly complex story. From a bird‘s eye view, we can see a predator and a child get caught up in a relationship for different reasons. We can see all the justifications, all the manipulation, and all the yearning. Close up though, we can also understand how either side let it get so far. Gave me some of the same feelings as The Girls by Emma Cline. Gives understanding in a situation where it‘s easy to think, “How could she?!” 5⭐️

This was a wonderful companion to The Giver. I believe it takes place at the same time, just in a different village. The vibe here is so different than that of Jonas‘ home. The people basically live without technology in a dystopian society. We follow the disabled, orphan Kira as she learns to sew and dye threads into beautiful colors and patterns. All colors except blue…

My first 5-star read of 2025 🤩
Nate and Koru seemed so real. All their family drama, cultural confusion, not wanting to have kids, pressures from work/parents/siblings, and especially just tension in their marriage - all of it was well-written and intense. Not intense like yelling and fighting, but rather like getting to the real heart of a person. A deep, deep book where people are just piddling about on vacations

This memoir details Eddie‘s life attending Oxford. We see a little before, during, and after his college days as Eddie deals with ableism, assholes, terrible caregivers, an unsupportive faculty, and a few really, really great friends. I was blown away by how many roadblocks he ran into with funding, especially given the wealth of a school like Oxford. Great, short, and surprisingly funny/charming (given all the terrible situations Eddie was in.)

This was such a cool, little book. Employees (both human and humanoid) working on a spaceship are interviewed. The interviewer asks questions about productivity, the items the ship carries, and relations between humans and humanoids. At times we don‘t know whether an human or humanoid is speaking. Sort of an “us verses them” story, told in sound bites. This allowed the story to unfold slowly and in random pieces. Slow, but catastrophic.

First audio of the year! So many things to say on parenthood, especially motherhood, and the division of labor inside the home. We follow four couples in a sort of new, experimental government apartment complex. They have all pledged to have three children in ten years and raise the children communally. Of course opinions differ on the best way to rear children, be a neighbor, and be a partner. No one minds their own business, but that‘s the plan.