books

read in 2026

  1. watership down - richard adams (reread): this was my favourite book when i was a child and it still is, even though this has to be at least the twelfth time i've read it. i never seem to get tired of reading about these brave little buns. i took it on a trip to australia and fortuitously my mum has been getting into book binding as a hobby so she re-covered my hardback which was falling apart!
  2. matrix - lauren groff: i hadn't read any lauren groff since fates and furies which i was OBSESSED with when it came out, and while this novel about 12th century french nuns was very good and had lesbians and a medieval setting--two of my favourite things--it didn't quite meet my expectations. there was a lot i did like and the small little slice of life details were lovely but the whole story felt oddly impersonal, i fear i did not really 'get' what she was going for here
  3. joyful - ingrid fetell lee: picked this up from my mum's local library after cute games club recommended it in a list of books good for game devs. it's about the 'aesthetics of joy' and a lot of it was pretty basic (round shapes are cute, etc) there were some really interesting chapters about the author's experience researching for the book. it inspired me to buy a cute little ceramic bunny to hold my BFF necklace when i take a shower, so that's something!
  4. the lottery and other stories - shirley jackson: the only short story from this collection i'd read previously was of course the titular one, which remains a classic (and which you can read online for free). i read this back in january or february and it's may when i'm typing this and unfortunately i can't remember a single other story so they clearly weren't life changing :/
  5. the gate to women's country - sheri s. tepper: hoo boy. i bought this cause it had a goofy cover but it ended up being quite an intense read about a dystopian future where women control society--sort of handmaid's tale meets herland, through the lense of second-wave feminism & dealing with stuff like eugenics and biological determinism. very unnerving but also very moving in places. i feel like this would be a good book club book cause i'd love to hear what other people took from it

gave up

  1. couple of trashy second hand historical fiction books i bought & abandoned on vacation in aus
  2. spellhorn - berlie doherty: this was weird but not in the fun way i usually like
  3. heidi - johanna spyri: i remember loving this as a kid and then becoming kinda critical of the ablist themes as i got older but still thought it'd be a nice cozy read on those days i can't get out of bed... honestly couldn't get past the first few chapters it was so boring. maybe i can find a different translation online (my childhood copy is a 1976 edition translated by m rosenbaum but surely there's a bunch)

read in 2025 that i can remember lol

  1. the safekeep - yael van der wouden
  2. slugs: a manifesto - abi palmer
  3. reasons she goes to the woods - deborah kay davies (reread)
  4. jenny & the jaws of life - jincy willett
  5. breaking rules - sarah lin
  6. the story of the treasure seekers - e. nesbit (reread)
  7. the lady and the unicorn - tracy chevalier (reread)
  8. gideon the ninth - tamsyn muir (reread)
  9. harrow the ninth - tamsyn muir (reread)
  10. nona the ninth - tamsyn muir (reread)
  11. the snow child - eowyn ivey (reread)