Shimmermarie's 2025 - Looking Forward, Looking Back

I have been in a very nostalgic mood recently and what better time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future than the beginning of the new year. So for this year's theme I've picked old book covers that I have fond childhood memories of! I think of it as being inspired by my old favourites to go and find new favourites in 2025 :D

This will be the first time I have the chance to spend the whole year recording my reads on LibraryThing and taking part in challenges. Compared to last year my goals are quite a bit more ambitious but we'll see how I do. I'm planning on taking part in CultureCat and BingoDog as well as reading the books I have received as gifts this Christmas or through EarlyReviewers.

2025 Reading List
Here I'm going to keep track of all the books I read this year. Compared to last year's goal of just reading 12 books, I'm being very ambitious this year, thus the choice of "The 12 Labors of Heracles" for this list. There are a couple of different phases and obsessions that are very common amongst kids. I had no interest in dinosaurs, was not obsessed with horses and was only kind of interested in ancient Egypt. Nope, I was a Greek mythology kid through and through!

1. DallerGut Dream Department Store by Mi-Ye Lee
2. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
3. Dream Land by Lily Hyde
4. Empire of Light: The Spirit of Innovation by Carcer Kane
5. The Thing in Christmas Town by Iseult Murphy
6. Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves
7. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
8. Carmilla by J. S. Le Fanu
9. Korstnapühkija Ove ja Tartu uputus by Meelis Kraft
10. Untitled Goose Game by James O'Connor
11. Rainbows and Lollipops by Mo Fanning
12. Keev veri by Aleksander Trilljärv
13. Death of a Bookseller by Bernard J. Farmer
14. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
15. The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves
16. Next of Kin: A Novel by Hannah Bonam-Young
17. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
18. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
19. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
20. The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club - Book One by Ann Warner
21. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
22. Au prochain arrêt by Hiro Arikawa

CultureCat
This book of Bulgarian fairy tales is from a series called "Saja rahva lood" or "A Hundred People's Tales". We had a bunch of them at my home growing up and I think reading these was the first thing to make me interested in learning about other cultures and their traditions.

January - Migration/Displacement. Dream Land by Lily Hyde

CoverCat
November - Celestial Objects on cover. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

BingoDog
One day when I was around 12 or so my father dropped this book in front of me and told me I should read it. I was quite a stubborn child so I pretended to hate it but couldn't keep it up for long as I became fascinated by White Fang's struggles and adventures. It quickly became a favourite and was the first dog-related book I thought of.


1. DallerGut Dream Department Store by Mi-Ye Lee
2. Empire of Light: The Spirit of Innovation by Carcer Kane
3. Au Prochain Arrêt by Hiro Arikawa
5. Dream Land by Lily Hyde
6. The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club by Ann Warner
7. Next of Kin: A Novel by Hannah Bonam-Young
8. Untitled Goose Game by James O'Connor
10. The Thing in Christmas Town by Iseult Murphy
12. Death of a Bookseller by Bernard J. Farmer
13. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
18. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
19. Korstnapühkija Ove ja Tartu uputus by Meelis Kraft
23. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
24. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
25. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin

Gifts and Early Reviewers
"12 Gifts for Santa" is an adorable and funny book by Mauri Kunnas with such detailed illustrations that little me could never get enough of it. It felt like I discovered a new detail each time I looked through it!

1. DallerGut Dream Department Store by Mi-Ye Lee (received as a gift from secret santa)
2. The Spirit of Innovation by Carcer Kane (Early Reviewers)
3. The Thing in Christmas Town by Iseult Murphy (Early Reviewers)
4. Carmilla by J. S Le Fanu (received as a gift from a secret santa)
5. Untitled Goose Game by James O'Connor (Early Reviewers)
6. Rainbows and Lollipops by Mo Fanning (Early Reviewers)
7. Turn of the Screw by Henry James (received as a gift from secret santa)

Happy New Year and good luck with your reading.

Enjoy your 2025 reading!

>6 lowelibrary: Thanks and Happy New Year!
>7 thornton37814: Thank you :D

What a wonderful theme! I have such fond memories of my childhood reading, too, and I loved looking at the covers you chose. Happy reading in 2025!

Have a wonderful reading year!

First book of the year! This was a SantaThing gift from my lovely secret santa. It's been on my to-be-read list for a long time now so I was super happy that they picked this book for me :D The DallerGut Dream Department Store universe has a couple of interesting fantasy creatures in it, including Leprechauns, who are tiny flying creatures so this book also went on my BingoDog for the square features winged creature(s).

I found the philosophy in the book very interesting. The discussions about why you shouldn't live fully in the past or the future but why you also need something that is in between the two but not just reality. The chapter about avoiding the urge to compare your life to others' or the one about overcoming past trauma through nightmares. These were all super cool and I really enjoyed the fantastical dream world Mi-Ye Lee built.

However this was also the source of my biggest frustration with this book - the protagonist, Penny. She just seemed so uninterested in her own world and how it worked thus blocking me from finding out more through her point of view either. At the end of the book there was a note from the translator, Sandy Joosun Lee, who noted that she really enjoyed Penny as a character and really related to her. So maybe the issue was just that I am a different sort of person than either of them. For example, I was so excited when Weather started explaining the technical system for receiving and cataloguing dream payments! I thought it sounded fascinating! But Penny couldn't care less and mentally exited the conversation immediately so we never got to hear about those systems again!

She also managed to be instantly (and entirely obliviously) rude to my favourite character in the book, Maxim, the dreammaker who specialized in making nightmares. I found him so sweet! With his goal of helping people get over their past trauma through re-experiencing it through nightmares to help them realize that they overcame those difficulties, they were stronger than that and even though they never have to do it again, they would be capable of it. And the bravery of producing nightmares in a society focused on making dreams and especially making good or pleasant dreams. Making nightmares even though you know that the rest of your community or your peers most likely won't understand that and will even look down on it!

And then Penny gets invited along on a visit to his home by her boss and the only two things she says to him are so rude! First, she says that he should open the curtains and redecorate so his house isn't so dark and gloomy when this was her first time meeting him and her first time visiting his home! Then she says 'oh, you know what you should do if you want people to buy your dreams and appreciate your work? Stop making those yucky nightmares and instead just make nice dreams like everyone else! You're welcome :)' and she doesn't even realize that that is a insanely rude thing to say! Not even in later chapters! And this all happens AFTER Dallergut has explained to her what the nightmares are for and AFTER she sees that they actually do work! And Maxim still continues to be super nice to her in the future and even has a crush on her!

In any case, I really enjoyed the world and seeing peeks into the lives of various dreamers! The writing was really good, even if I have my issues with pretty much all of the reoccuring characters (not you Maxim, you're perfect. and Weathers is cool in my book too. the rest of them are on thin ice). This book is never going to be a favourite of mine but I am glad to have read it and for having gottten the chance to know what it was all about!

>9 MissBrangwen: I'm so glad to hear you like them :D Thank you so much!
>10 MissWatson: Thank you!

I love your images! I think I've found my first 'book bullet' (am I using that right?) — I've never heard of Dallergut Dream Department Store but it sounds like a fun world and an inspirational tale! Happy reading.

"The Moving Toyshop" by Edmund Crispin

The translation of this book came out at the beginning of 2024 and I was immediately intrigued by the description. However at the time I had too much on my plate to feel like I could justify buying another book when I wouldn't even have time to read it. With the new year, things have calmed down a lot at work so I felt it was time! One of the main characters of this novel is a poet so I counted it for the BingoDog square 'writing about writers'.

The funny thing is that, probably because Edmund Crispin's works have never been translated into Estonian before, the author himself is pretty much completely unknown over here. So I went into this wholly convinced that he was some modern, possibly even indie, author who was getting his start in detective novels *facepalms*. Let me tell you, the style of writing clued me in pretty quick and I felt quite silly after going ahead and googling the author. But it was a very pleasant surprise! I loved being able to surprise myself with the gift of a classic detective novel haha!

I really, really enjoyed it! The story was hilarious and full of twists! At no point was it predictable. At several points I thought I had figured out the twist only to be proven wrong again and again. I think it fully won my heart when the main character, Richard Cadogan, showed up at his friend, Gervase Fen's office unannounced and pretty much the second thing he said to him (right after "So how are you doing, Richard?" "Miserably.") was "Gervase... I lost a toyshop." without elaborating any further until prompted.

The writing was very clever and witty, although I was not familiar with most of the references the characters made. Thankfully the translator and editor were kind enough to add footnotes naming all of the referenced works. Although, I wish they had provided context for what the character meant by referencing said work. A footnote explaining that "The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold" is a line from a poem written by John Keats, doesn't clear up what the character meant by suddenly reciting said line. I guess I'll just have to go familiarize myself with all the other works referenced in the novel and then read it again so I can better understand the jokes!

I really enjoyed the translation too! A lot of good phrases, evocative, with great mouthfeel. Especially these days, with how fast books must be translated and printed in order to make it onto the shelves before an international bestseller has already become irrelevant, Estonian translations can be a bit touch-and-go as far as quality goes. A lot of word-for-word translations as if you had just typed the sentence into google translate, you know? But Piret Lemetti did a great job with this one.

Great book! I hope that they translate more of the Gervase Fen novels into Estonian, but if not, I'll just have to read them in English. Because I definitely want to read more!

>13 GraceCollection: Thank you! Picking and choosing between the books and making a collage for the header really helped hype me up for a new year filled with new books :D

>14 shimmermarie: Oh, that one sounds like fun! It looks like it's #3 in the series, so I may have to start at the beginning...

>14 shimmermarie: I love this review, especially your experience of reading the book and discovering its context. And I'm glad you've found a good Estonian translator!

>14 shimmermarie: An excellent review. I am planning on reading The Moving Toyshop next month for the Mysterykit and I am really looking forward to it.

>16 scaifea: Thank you! Apparently, the Moving Toyshop is considered a good starting point despite not being the first of the series? I can't say I felt like I was missing too much context as far as the characters were concerned so it certainly wasn't a bad place to start reading.
>17 christina_reads: Thank you! I'm glad too, now I can keep an eye out for other books she's translated and know that at the very least the translation is most likely going to be good quality :D
>18 DeltaQueen50: Oh, I hope you enjoy it! I've already convinced a coworker to give the book a try too, so hopefully I'll get to hear two other perspectives on reading it!

"Dream Land" by Lily Hyde

"Dream Land" is a book about a Crimean Tatar family returning to Crimea after perestroika told through the perspectives of the family's grandfather, who is the only one to truly remember what it was like to live and grow up in Crimea, and twelve-year-old Safinar, who has only known Crimea through her grandfather's stories.

Although initially excited to finally see the wonderful country she has grown up hearing about, Safi and the rest of her family are dismayed to see that everything has changed and that the Soviet goverment had done their best to erase all traces of the Crimean Tatars and their culture. With people looking upon the Crimean Tatars with hatred and disgust and doing their best to drive them away, returning to their once-home is not at all as joyful as Safi had imagined.

I have heard of the Crimean Tatars in history classes, mentioned among the many cruelties committed by the Soviet authorities. However, when thinking of how to approach the theme for January's CultureCAT (Migration/Displacement), I realized I only had a very superficial understanding of their culture and struggles. So I decided to look for books about the Crimean Tatars and found "Dream Land".

Although often bittersweet and full of grief, I did really enjoy reading this book. The grandfather's stories were great and it really did give me a better understanding of their culture. Their religion, their traditions, their values and the ways they tell stories.

There were bits that were very familiar. Although the Soviets didn't usually take whole cultural groups, deportations were taking place all over the occupied territories. We also grow up hearing stories of soldiers knocking on peoples' doors in the middle of the night and giving them just a few minutes to gather their stuff. Stories of the cattle trains that were used to transport humans and how most died on the trip. But most (who survived) were allowed to return home after Stalin died. The Crimean Tatars were not.

In my opinion the book deals with these heavy subjects quite well. It shows how difficult it can be to reclaim land that was taken from your people when new people have already moved and built their life there. When your home for centuries has been somebody else's family home for multiple generations by now. How easy it can be to get used to seeing the enemy in anyone who resembles the people who hurt you, even if they are trying their best to help and understand. It is a lot more complicated than simply returning home.

"Dream Land" was written in 2008 and since then things have gotten worse once again for both Crimea as well as the rest of Ukraine. I read the hopeful (for a given definition of "hopeful") ending with a heavy heart.

Despite the heavy subject matter I am very glad I picked this book and would definitely recommend it.

"Empire of Light 1: The Spirit of Innovation" by Carcer Kane

This is the first book I've received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers and man, am I happy to have requested it! It also suited the BingoDog square 'Featuring fire' because quite a few things, creatures and people catch or use fire throughout this book.

The Spirit of Innovation is a historical fantasy adventure taking place in a world filled with malicious monsters as well as horrible and malicious people. Our protagonist doctor Elphias Root was a field medic during the Purge, a great war meant to drive these horrid creatures away from the Empire of Light, and he is still suffering from the trauma of what he went through years later. Now going around the country as a travelling doctor he happens to meet an Inquisitor named Zediah Oulcott who invites him to join the man on a mysterious venture in the region of Verdun. They will travel there on the Empire's new pride and joy - the sky train named the Spirit of Innovation. However there are sinister plots afoot and not all the passengers can be trusted...

The author did a great job of slowly revealing new information about this new world bit by bit and making it seem truly vast. So much of their world was unknown even to the characters themselves and it ignited in me a curiosity to see what could be found if they managed to explore it further. The book drops you in with little prior knowledge but little by little you get a clearer idea of how this world functions.

The characters were also great! I loved all the main characters, although I have to admit Cobb was definitely my favourite! His backstory added so much depth to his character and his attitude was charmingly straightforward in the midst of all these academics speaking in theories and hypotheticals. But all the characters were very well developed and three dimensional. Each of them had their own issues and ghosts that they wished they could leave behind. The only one we didn't find out that much about was Zediah so I hope we find out more about his life and backstory in the next book.

While reading there were a couple of points where I was disappointed that certain reveals were made so fast. For example the conversation about Bella's true goals between her and Zediah, that resolved any tensions it could have created between them immediately, and the reveal of the Empire's true machinations in the middle of this book, which I would have assumed to be the shadow hanging over the series only revealed in some later, possibly even final, book. However, by the end of the book I realized that that was just not the kind of series the author was intending to write and once I recalibrated my expectations accordingly I was fully satisfied. I think it is going to be more like a series of different adventures by the same cast of characters in the same universe but not necessarily with a big overarching plot they are trying to solve.

I was also mildly concerned if this was going to be one of those male author historical fantasy books that is weird about women but again, by the end of the book I am reasonably sure that it is simply the Empire that is filled with institutional sexism and a few characters that are creeps, rather than the author himself. Though I will warn that there are moments of sexual harassment and assault in the book although they don't last longer than a page or so.

But I would definitely recommend it and I myself am going to be keeping an eye out for the next part of the series "The Spirit of Discovery"! Carcer Kane is building a fascinating world and I already can't wait to explore more of it!

>20 shimmermarie: Excellent review! I'm adding this one to my ever-growing wish list.

So! This year went by in a flash! And I did not manage to actually get around to properly posting about most of my reads, whoops😅

So here's a lightning round of my thoughts on the books I've read this year:


The Thing in Christmas Town: An Early Reviewers read. I also counted this for the BingoDog square 'holiday in title'. Fun short little horror story! Perfect reading for the holidays, yes, but as every day is Christmas in Christmas Town it is a great book to read no matter what time of year it is ;) I liked the characters and in such a short story it managed to give us a good look at their individual hopes, dreams, fears and relationships.

Warning: maybe don't read this if you have a phobia of bugs!


Harbour Street: I really like the Vera TV series so I had wanted to read one of Ann Cleeves' books for a while. I really like how detailed the police investigations were. I also liked the relationships between Vera and the other characters(the camaraderie between her and Joe, the tension between her and Holly). Overall the writing was great! However the fatshaming comments kind of bothered me and I did not like the final resolution (I felt like it came out of nowhere). I'm still planning on reading at least one more Ann Cleeves novel just in case this happened to be one that I just didn't vibe with.


The Secret History: This was recommended to me by a girl I was chatting with and she said this was one of her favourite books. So I counted this for the BingoDog square 'recommended by a friend'.

I had heard of it before but it had never really grabbed my interest. However when I started reading I also became obsessed! So far I have convinced two of my friends to also read it. The slow burn is so good and the paranoid unravelling in the second half is so well written. It reminded me a lot of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, however unlike Crime and Punishment, which I read in Literature class back in high school, I actually enjoyed this book because the main character wasn't such a weenie!


Carmilla: I got this book through Bookcrossing last year and have wanted to read it for a long time! As a big Dracula fan it was obviously on my to-be-read list! I saw a lot of similarities between the two and you can really tell how Carmilla influenced Dracula. I also really liked it although it was pretty short!


Korstnapühkija Ove ja Tartu uputus: A short Estonian mystery story. The title would be 'Ove the Chimney Sweep and the Flooding of Tartu'. Thus I counted this for the BingoDog square 'profession in title'.

Ove is a normal office worker who is driving to work one rainy morning but happens to get stuck in traffic under a bridge and that section of road ends up getting flooded. He is rescued from his car and very annoyed by his horrible morning, only to later be contacted by the police - when the water receded a dead body had was found on the road and the police think it floated out of Ove's trunk!

The book was fine :/ I could tell who had done it pretty quickly and even though the story tried to tempt me with various red herrings and false leads the resolution was still obvious. The story was short enough that the quality of the mystery didn't really bother me. However the fact that Ove did basically 0 actual detective work to clear his name was annoying. All of the leads, hints, context, etc. were found by a side-character - a female journalist who then explains it all to Ove.

There was a funny moment where I thought to myself 'Ah, this was clearly written by a man'. The main character is with the female journalist and gets a call from his wife. He knows that his wife assumes from the female voice she hears on the call that he is cheating on her, because he knows she is insecure and tends to accuse him of cheating often. Then in the next chapter he goes home (note that it is only a few hours later and he has not talked to his wife in the meanwhile!) and after observing his wife for a while manages to deduce from her cold behavior that she is upset with him! Now he just needs to figure out why on earth she might be upset🤔 A real head scratcher!

At the end of the book the one thing that was still a mystery to me was what this all had to do with chimneys, as neither chimneys nor chimney sweeps were mentioned once.


Untitled Goose Game: An Early Reviewers read. I also counted this for the BingoDog square 'totally random' because I can't imagine anything being more totally random than finding a book you didn't know excisted and that you wouldn't even have thought of putting on a wishlist before finding it when scrolling through Early Reviewers. A short, light-hearted book about the development of the global phenomenon - the Untitled Goose Game.

I was familiar with both the game itself and the excitement surrounding it on the internet during what the author at one point coined 'the Goose Mania', however, I didn't know anything about the indie studio behind the game. After reading this, I was wholeheartedly charmed by the author's descriptions of the team and their wonderful friendship!

As House House is a company dedicated to having fun, learning new things about game development, and just being plain nice, this was not a dramatic story of developers clawing their way to fame by working insane hours(not even with crunch culture being so widespread in the industry!) Neither was it a story about intrigue and arguments between company founders when success comes calling. No, this was just a story about four friends, who love games, deciding to make games for themselves and sharing them with the rest of the world.


Rainbows and Lollipops: An Early Reviewers read. Great book! The characters were all charming and sympathetic and their struggles really tugged on my heartstrings (especially Jake's first episode :( ). Their struggles were very realistic issues in today's world, especially for queer people. But the friendships formed between them all (as well as the side characters) were heartwarming! There was some mystery as well and it was quite interesting and definitely helped tie together the plot. The end was a tiny bit abrupt, but it was still a satisfying ending. I would definitely recommend it!


Keev Veri: Another Estonian mystery! This was apparently one of the earliest examples of the murder mystery genre in Estonia! The editor had tried to keep it as true to the original as possible, only editing the grammar to be consistent or replacing words that the modern Estonian reader wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of.

A young lady is shot one evening in Kadriorg (a lovely park in Tallinn). The young policeman who is charged with investigating the case recognizes her as his ex-fiancée! And during the investigation he finds himself now drawn to her beautiful sister...

Both the romance as well as the mystery were fun, even if they weren't exactly masterful. Still I really enjoyed reading it and the final reveal took me by surprise!


Death of a Bookseller: I counted this for the BingoDog square 'published in language not your own' because English is not my first language.

I really wanted to read this because I have worked as a bookseller and thus this title made me constantly giggle to myself. The actual book ended up being much less giggle-worthy and much more of a slog to work through. There were of course some morals and values of the time that did not hold up, that was not unexpected but still not pleasant to read. What really bothered me was how long it took for our main character Wigan to actually get anything done! He only caught the murderer in the end because the guy ended up coming back to the scene of the crime for the THIRD TIME! He did not collect many useful clues, mostly he just had tea and lunch with various book collectors.

As for the positives, I really liked all of the characters. Even characters who were a bit sleezy or mean ended up charming me soon enough! This however made me very stressed out for 2/3 of the book as a hot-headed bookcollector prone to mean outbursts ended up falsely accused and sentenced to hang for a murder he didn't commit! And by the time he was accused I had already started liking him despite his rough behavior! So I was just stressed about this poor man's fate the whole rest of the book which did not lend itself to having a fun time reading it.

The book was well written and it was interesting reading about the world of book collecting in 50s Britain, however I was really too stressed out to enjoy it.


The Restaurant of Lost Recipes: I counted this for the BingoDog square 'place you've never been' although I would really like to visit Japan one day!

Finished this just today! This is a sequel to The Kamogawa Food Detectives that I read last year and I've already got the third part of the series waiting on my shelf for next year! It had the same premise and structure as the first book, just with different foods and characters. Each chapter a person comes to the restaurant looking for a significant dish from their past. The father-daughter duo running the place then figure out how to recreate it by talking to people who might remember anything about the dish or by visiting the locale where it was made. In the process we get some beautiful descriptions of various delicious foods, a peek into each visitor's past and present life and emotional struggles and a hearty helping of Japanese culture! Just like the first book I loved every bit!

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And that's all of them so far! The year's not over yet and I am already really happy that I've already read more books than I managed to read by the end of last year :D I'm hoping to read at least 20 books by the end of this year! Although next year I am going to keep aiming higher and also maybe try to be more of an active poster in the busy summer months as well hahah!

Welcome back -- I enjoyed catching up with what you've been reading!

"The Moth Catcher" by Ann Cleeves

So as promised, I gave Ann Cleeves' Vera books another chance, however in the end I still prefer the TV series :/

"The Moth Catcher" begins with a man's body being found in a ditch on the side of the road in a peaceful valley. However as police start investigating, another body turns up at the big country house in the nearby Valley Farm community. These victims seem to have only one connection - their interest in studying moths.

As with "Harbour Street", I really enjoyed the author's general writing style and the realistic depictions of police investigations. I have found both of her books very engaging up until the last few chapters. However, it all goes downhill when the murderer is caught. I'm not sure why but neither of the final resolutions managed to convince me! They seem to come out of nowhere and the explanations don't manage to make me believe that those characters actually did what it says they did for the reasons it says they did. To me, it is like there is a disconnect between the resolution and the rest of the book.

Another thing that bothered me were all the comments about Vera's weight. I don't mind character flaws! The best thing about Vera as a character are all her flaws - she is nosy and gossipy and it is always her way or nothing. However Ann Cleeves seems to consider 'being fat' her biggest character flaw. Not 'issues with her self worth because of her weight', not 'issues with body image', not even 'being treated with prejudice because of her fatness'. Just 'existing as a fat woman'. The comments seeped into every description and even various moments where they felt like a foreign body in the middle of a scene and it made me feel quite uncomfortable.

However, I did really, really enjoy the complicated relationships between Vera and the rest of her team, especially Joe and Holly. Joe is the favourite son, the teacher's pet, the work bestie. Vera shows obvious preference to him. Holly however is the only other woman on the team with a completely different approach to life than Vera. She is vegetarian, she prefers dealing with the media, she wants to approach detective work in totally different way from Vera's methods. In this book Holly often debates whether she even wants to work at this police station, in this department, even this line of work. Holly doesn't understand or even really like Vera and Vera doesn't understand or like Holly.

After building up the tensions between Holly and Vera throughout this whole book, Holly being the first to figure everything out at the end really had me cheering for her. And immediately after that I was very moved by Vera being truly scared for Holly's safety and her life when she disappears to chase down her hunch without telling anyone.

>24 christina_reads: Thank you so much Christina! Time just flew by and although I always kept notes for what I wanted to mention in a post about whatever I was reading, I somehow never got around to actually writing the posts themselves :p

"Next of Kin: A Novel" by Hannah Bonam-Young

I found the perfect book for the BingoDog square 'non-traditional family' and I had a great time reading it!

Chloe's relationship with her birth mother is complicated, because her mother wasn't able to be a good parent to her as she struggled with drug use. When she was four Chloe was removed from Connie's custody and eventually adopted. Chloe is 24 when she is once again contacted by CPS because her mom has given birth to a baby girl and has been deemed unfit to care for the baby.

But Chloe isn't a perfect fit to be the baby's caregiver either - she is a freelance illustrator and doesn't really have a stable income. However CPS offers up a solution: a new program called TeamUp, which would pair her with another prospective caregiver so they could cover each other's weak spots.

Chloe is paired with Warren who wants to get custody of his teenage brother, Luke. Warren's weak spot is his living situation because his apartment would not be suitable for the both of them, especially because Luke is deaf and Warren's apartment is too far away from the school he attends. So the two would move in with Chloe and her baby sister, Willow, offering financial security in return.

At first Chloe and Warren really butt heads however after a while they truly become a team and eventually their relationships develops into something more...

The book really showed how much parents can affect their children's lives. Connie truly trying hard to get sober but not being able to keep it up and failing to take care of her daughters in the process. Warren and Luke's dad kind of caring about his sons' happiness but mostly caring about the financial support he would get from the government for being Luke's caretaker. Even Chloe's adoptive parents who are ready to give her anything she needs but are still emotionally distant and leave her chasing after their approval. Versus Chloe and Warren who are still not perfect but are trying their best to give their siblings the kind of upbringing they deserve.

The TeamUp initiative was a very interesting idea although I would assume it is not in any way based on how CPS functions in reality. I think this is a nice idea, it would definitely give caretakers a bit more grace if they are otherwise willing and ready to care for and love a child but are impeded by circumstances out of their control.

The romance was quite nice as well. There was a bit more spice than I would have wanted from this specific book, but that is mostly due to me being more drawn in by the adoption storylines than the romance.

In conclusion: great book, super interesting characters and I would definitely recommend giving it a read :D

"Water Moon" by Samantha Sotto Yambao

For the November CoverCAT - Celestial Objects on cover and the BingoDog square 'Read a CAT'
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A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike fantasy novel.
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I don't often treat myself to an Illumicrate box - the shipping costs nearly as much as the box itself, so I try to be really sure that I would like at least some of the items and be interested in the book itself. The January box had enough items inspired by books I was familiar with and a book that I had been eyeing in bookstores anyway so I took a chance. And I am ever so glad that I did!

It still took me a while to get around to reading it but the November CoverCAT theme was the perfect motivator!

I really really enjoyed it! I got to admit I was expecting a romance with just a sprinkle of fantasy thrown in for flavour but I got so much more fantastic world-building than I was expecting! When describing the book to a friend of mine I said that Water Moon was basically 50% romance and 75% fantasy. And the characters truly dive in to this other world and its history and culture! I was not forced to just get a glimpse of interesting places or things and then leave them behind immediately!

The romance was very sweet, although definitely very 'love at first sight'. I think if the author had just focused on writing a romance with that small bit of fantasy it would have been a fine romance book, it just wouldn't have reached 'Great'. However she chose to go the extra mile and really flesh out this world and the book was so much better for it. I mean she did not need to think up and describe like 4 different ways for people to die horrific deaths in this other world we were discovering, but she did and it really added so much depth that helped to balance out the sweetness of the romance perfectly.

The ending reminded me of another one of my favourite books.Just like One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, Water Moon had me convinced for the last couple of chapters that the magical love interest was gone, stuck in a place the main character could not reach and that I was reading a book with a bittersweet 'that person had a huge influence on my life and I still remember them even if I have now moved on' ending. And then in the final chapter it is revealed that the magical love interest was merely delayed and everything works out fine. This was just an amusing similarity I noticed when reading Water Moon. Insert the dr. Doofenshmirtz 'I'd have two nickels' meme hahah

100% would recommend!

"The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James

I received this book for SantaThing last year and I wanted to make sure I read both of the books I got last year before this year's books arrive. So in November I ended up reading two books about haunted houses and I thought it might be nice to compile them in the same post because I definitely ended up comparing them a lot as I was reading.

"The Turn of the Screw" is a story that Henry James wrote in 1898 about a young woman who is hired to care for two children. After a while she starts seeing apparitions and becomes convinced that two deceased members of the household staff who she never met are haunting the house with the goal of getting to the children and using them for their malicious purposes. She becomes obsessed with protecting the children from these spirits and is thus horrified when she slowly becomes sure that the children have been aware of them all along. The story ends with both of the children dead and the woman convinced that at least she had managed to protect their immortal souls.

Before I read this book I had checked out its Wikipedia page and so I knew going in that I could read it either as a true ghost story or as a sort of psychological breakdown on the part of the governess. I did my best to keep an open mind for either interpretation but pretty much immediately I was convinced that the governess was having some sort of mental health crisis. The story was written in 1898 so obviously it isn't really possible to pin her with any one diagnosis. However, I know that it is very common for psychosis or schizophrenia to suddenly emerge in a person's early twenties and that fits so well with the governesses story.

I did up being unsettled and slightly scared by the story but not by anything supernatural. I was much more concerned with the children and their safety. Their governess was obsessed with their safety and their innocence and goodness, but as she became convinced that they were keeping things from her I was worried her obsession and paranoia would take some violent turn. Thankfully, this did not end up happening.

There were so many scenes where one of the kids simply looked up from a game they were playing and smiled at their governess and it sent her into a delusional tailspin of "Oh, they are so clever, they are telling me that they know that I know that they know that they have me pressed into a corner. I can't tell anyone that I know that they see ghosts because people would react badly and they would never admit to it if asked straight up so it has to be them that start the conversation about the ghosts not me and they won't start the conversation. So they have outmaneuvered me!" And I would reread the scene and just think that the kid is smiling at the lady who is nice to them and takes care of them and plays with them and teaches them and is probably the adult they have the most positive interactions with. Like the kid is just happy she is there with them and they have no idea that in her head she is making up this conversation full of hints and implications between them.

In the end the younger girl is implied to have died of illness because she went out without a coat (the governess is convinced she went out to meet with a ghost and is sick because of ghostly influence on her little body and sends her off to the city and thinks that means she is now safe). Her older brother dies from fright, because the governess finally corners him about an actual secret he has been hiding for months (he was expelled from his school for stealing. The governess was aware of the expulsion from the start, although it took a while for her to figure out why it happened). Then when he admits to his misdeeds that, as an ten-year-old, he has probably been building up in his head for months as he thinks nobody else knows about this, his governess starts yelling about seeing a ghost behind him and not allowing the ghost to have him. Of course the poor thing was frightened to death!

The book I was gifted included two other, shorter, stories called "The Ghostly Rental" and "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes". The first starts as a classic ghost story but turns it on its head in the end by revealing that the woman who was thought to be the ghost had been alive the whole time. I liked it however I did think the narrator was the most insufferable sort of young university student. The type who feels the need to use the most complicated word he knows for each situation. Like, seriousy? Pusillanimity? Dude, just call it cowardice and move on! I don't think "The Turn of the Screw" was filled with these kind of words which left me to conclude that this must have been the author's way of distinguishing his different characters.

"The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" was a full on ghost story you would tell at a sleepover. Two sisters who were torn apart by jealousy over one of them winning a suitor's heart and a life of fortune. That sister then dying and leaving behind a ghost that attacks her sister when she inevitably tries to get her hands on the dresses and clothes that she had desired for so long. Very classic ghost story, but it didn't really leave much of an impression on me.


"Kummituslik Hilli maja" or "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson

Hill House is also a story about a haunted house however it was published much later, in 1959. This book I well and truly loved!

A researcher, dr. Montague, gathers a group of people and rents an old mansion rumored to be haunted to research paranormal sightings. The group includes two young women, Theo and Eleanor, who experienced something paranormal when they were kids. The doctor hopes that this makes them predisposed to noticing the paranormal. Also in the group is a young man named Luke, who is heir to the estate and whose presence is required by the rental agreement.

The group immediately becomes very close although they all feel very creeped out by the old house. Even as frightening things start happening each night they still cling to each other and try to cheer each other up. However, in the end, the house gets a hold on Eleanor's mind and she starts behaving very erratically. When the others realize they try to send her away for her own safety. She pretends to go along with it but at the last moment crashes her car into a tree and kills herself.

I related so much to poor Eleanor who obviously suffered from some type of anxiety and also a lot of FOMO. The chapter where she drives through the country and daydreams about her future was so sweet and I could so clearly imagine having the same daydreams in that situation. And even her anxieties were so similar to thoughts that I have often had. I guess it might seem alarming to relate so heavily to this specific character considering the context of the story, but I mostly found it an endearing kind of familiarity.

I was also very much endeared by the other characters. Dr Montague is like a caring father figure for all the youths. On first impression, Luke was a rakish young man who comes from money and has not a care in the world, but he actually took on so much responsibility! He did his best to protect the girls, keep everyone's mood up and all the while grappled with the prospect of one day being the actual owner of this house. And Theo! Lovely Theo, who was so cool that just like Eleanor I was torn between wanting desperately to either be her friend or be just like her. She was also, in my opinion, quite clearly written to be a lesbian in a long term relationship with her "roommate", and this detail was a very pleasant surprise I didn't expect from this ghost story. (Thank you to the Estonian translator who made sure to mention in a footnote the implication of Theo gifting her roommate a work by Alfred de Musset, who among other works wrote a lesbian erotic novel!)

The only characters who I simply could not stand were Mrs. Montague and Arthur, whose sudden involvement almost turned the story from a haunting horror story into a slapstick comedy. They were so overbearing and annoying. Every scene where they took central focus mostly reminded me of that episode of the Moomins where Mrs. Filifjonka visits the Moomins' home and criticizes every single thing about their way of life.

Unlike "The Turn of the Screw", I ended up fully convinced that there was something paranormal about Hill House. Yes, this story could also be read through a more psychological lens, with Eleanor behind all the weird noises and such, but I still prefer the interpretation that the cause was ghosts or spirits of some kind.

When I was talking to my friend about this book, she correctly pointed out that it basically had one of the main things that I so adored in "Dracula" - the characters were an eclectic collection of people but they all immediately cared for each other and had such a warm relationship in the face of the horrors that threatened them all.

All in all, "The Haunting of Hill House" was definitely one of my favourite books that I read this year!

"The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club" by Ann Warner

Read for BingoDog square 'long title'.

A fun little retirement home mystery! Josephine Bartlett does not think she needs to be in a retirement home. However, after the death of her beloathed husband, their son (who turned out to be more like his father than Josephine had hoped) decided otherwise. Now stuck at the Babbling Brook retirement home until she manages to get her affairs in order to move out on her own, Josephine fills her time by playing cards with some of the other residents. It is through them that Josephine learns about the thefts going on in the retirement home and suddenly it seems that her time there is going to be a lot less boring.

The mystery was fun, although nothing too exciting. The real charm was in the characters who the author manages to truly flesh out! I cheered along to their friendships and victories and felt saddened by the hardships they experienced along the way. I also enjoyed the little twist of the initial poker club not actually getting along with eachother hahah

>27 shimmermarie: Adding this one to my list! Thanks for the recommendation.

"What You Are Looking for is in the Library" by Michiko Aoyama

Read for the BingoDog square 'Library or Thing in title'.

Just like The Haunting of Hill House this book gave me the joy of recognition as I very much related to the stories and felt very inspired by them! I am thinking of quitting my job next year and possibly going back to school. These stories about people choosing to take steps to chase their dreams and find happiness in their life and work really found me at the right moment.

The book itself was very enjoyable! I haven't read any of the books mentioned in it but it was so nice to see the way the characters found a message to take from each of the books they read.

I think my favourite chapter was the very first one (probably because that one felt closest to my own life), but they were all very heartwarming!

I 100% recommend it!

"Au prochain arrêt" or "The Passengers on the Hankyu line" by Hiro Arikawa

Read for the BingoDog square 'travel'.

This spring I went to Paris with my family. I've been a few times before and I've learned some French in high school. Not much, I'm far from being able to hold a proper conversation but I did get to B1 at least. So this time I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and actually read a full book in French. I won't lie, part of it was just me being tempted by the adorable pocket edition books that seemed to be sold in every train stop corner store. Look at the cover of this one for example! So pretty! They are all so cute and tiny and convenient and they have pretty covers and don't even cost that much and I simply had to buy one! So I spent a while going through a big shelf filled with them at one of said corner stores and finally decided on Au Prochain Arrêt. And I am very happy with my choice!

It took me a while to read it because it took so much more effort and focus to make it through a single page than usual. I can't say I understood 100% of everything. Some of the phrases, jokes, words, etc went right over my head. But I understood enough to follow along with the plot and I quite enjoyed it!

I always seem to enjoy character-focused novels, especially ones that show lots of different perspectives. This one tied all these different characters together trough two things - the Hankyu train line, with each stop being a chapter, and a running theme of love and relationships. There was young love, heartbreak, love for one's family and love that endured after death. Each of these perspectives were fascinating in their own way.

I am super proud of myself for finishing this book and am already ambitiously planning on reading at least one book in French next year as well!

Also, this gets me a diagonal and a straight line on my BingoDog square this year! Yay!

I didn't do all the things I wanted this year, but overall I'm happy with what I did. 22 books might not be much but it is still a big step forward compared to last year's 13 or the previous year where I didn't even read 10 books. I am a big believer in slow and steady wins the race, by slowly reading a bit much every year I will eventually manage to read more and more books off of my to-read list.

So room for improvement in the coming year, but this year was worth celebrating as well :)

>33 shimmermarie: Well done, you! There were years when I was working and I read far fewer books. And reading a book in a second language is a great accomplishment!

>34 Charon07: Thank you so much for the encouragement! And also a happy new year!