The Reading Room

Being Caribou

Surprise December FIVE STAR book…

Summary - What began as a wildlife research project became much more as the author and his wife learn to hear the earth, pay attention to their dreams and slowly change, beyond their expectations, into being caribou. Both gripping adventure and stark portrayal of an Arctic cosystem threatened by oil development.

Karsten Heuer, a wildlife biologist and his newlywed wife and filmmaker, Leanne Allison embarked on a five month journey to track and follow the caribou. Why? To try to save them from the greed of lobbyists trying to begin oil production on land meant for conservation. What they experienced truly changed who they were and let me tell you, I never would have thought a book about caribou would ever move me the way this one did.

Book of Longings

Does this photo seem strange…

It is from June 2020, when I first attempted to read Book of Longings. Flash forward to the day after the election and it didn’t take for a second time. One week later it finally stuck and I finished it!

Summary - A not-so-religious reimagining of Jesus’ life that beautifully tackles the question: What if he had a feminist wife?

Sounds pretty great, right??

Buuuut I ended up not loving it. The plot sounded so strong but to me, using Jesus as a character was more of a ploy to shock potential readers into reading it. Jesus wasn’t in much of the book and I never connected to the main character, Ana Maybe it was still a timing thing or maybe this just wasn’t a book for me.

Cleopatra Frankenstein

Another LitFic win…

“But the people who did get that love, they grew up to be different from us. More secure. Maybe theyre not as shiny or successful as you and I feel we have to be. But its not because theyre not interesting. They just dont feel they have to do the tap dance, you know? They dont have to prove themselves all the time to be loved. Because they always were.”

In An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day…

For many Indigenous peoples, Columbus Day is a controversial holiday. This is because Columbus is viewed not as a discoverer, but rather as a colonizer. His arrival led to the forceful taking of land and set the stage for widespread death and loss of Indigenous ways of life.

In 1990, South Dakota currently the state with the third-largest population of Native Americans in the U.S. became the first state to officially recognize Native Americans Day, commonly referred to as Indigenous Peoples Day in other parts of the country.

2025 Read to Learn Book List

Here are the 2025 Read to Learn books!

After months and months of research, narrowing down, choosing, searching for the best deals these are the books I’ve chosen:

January - The Anxious Generation examines the rising levels of anxiety and depression among young people.

February - Everyone Who is Gone is Here is an epic, heartbreaking, and deeply reported history of the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

March - Water Always Wins is a compelling exploration into the fundamental force shaping our planet and our lives: water.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

It is a terrible thing to want something you cannot have. It takes you over. I couldn’t think straight because of it. There was no one else, I realized, whom I could possibly tell.

Summary - OFarrell takes us back in history to a dark time when husbands, fathers and even brothers could commit women to asylumsoften for absurd reasons.

A haunting story full of family secrets.

O’Farrell is wonderful. I haven’t loved every single book I’ve read by her but that doesn’t take away from what a talented writer she is. Her structures can sometimes be too confusing, in my opinion, but when they work, they are masterful. Because of her complicated structure/timelines I think O’Farrell should always be read, rather than listened to – especially in instances like Vanishing Act where there are no chapter breaks and storylines switch at random times.

Perris

UNDERRATED GEM ALERT

Summary - Gritty, yet beautifully written, this literary novel takes on such tough topics as addiction, mental health, and physical and sexual abuse with grace and dignity, portraying Tessa as a compassionate and resilient survivor. Despite the violence and trage there is also a lot of love and hope in this.

It had been a while since fiction blew me away like this - this book was so powerful and well written. There are dark parts (mostly in the beginning) but it is also a beautiful book with some unexpected relationships and moments that make this a book you don’t want to miss.

Annie Bot

A sizzle to a fizzle…

Annie Bot started off so strong and so propulsive but around the thirty percent mark it turned into a completely different book.

Summary - Doug an uptight, withholding, misogynistic, vindictive neat-freak has recently split with his ex, Gwen (a successful, ambitious Black woman). This setback has pushed him to purchase Annie, a ‘Cuddle Bunny’ he paid handsomely for to customize to his exact specifications.

You will be infuriated with Doug in every which way, there is no doubt about that. Greer did a great job at setting this AI world up and executed rather well. The plot and pacing was a little off and went to place I wasn’t expecting and didn’t particularly like but I still recommend this book because AI is coming and it is terrifying.

We All Want Impossible Things

It took me a bit…

Life is messy. I certainly dont expect tidiness from yours or anybo elses.

Summary - We All Want Impossible Things revolves around the lives of two female best friends. Ash is a recently divorced, single mother and the narrator of the novel who cares for her best friend, Edi, a woman of ovarian cancer and currently living in a hospice care center.

For the first 20 or so percent I was pretty unsure about this one, everyone and I mean everyone loved it so I was super confused. I realized that my distaste was coming from the not-sick main character, Ash’s poor life choices and selfish behavior. Once I got around halfway I took my opinions of her out and was then able to see that she was grieving her absolute best friend, people grieve in different ways and Ash was looking for an outlet, a reprieve from the unhappiness.

Summer Romance

“When Im quiet I can hear my heart yearning for impossible things. I want a perfectly pared-down home, and I want to hang on to every scrap of the past. I want a break from my kids without missing a single minute of their lives. I long for a partnership, and I long for freedom. I long to be enmeshed with someone without losing myself. I want all of it.”

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