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BooksPlanted: 02 Aug 2025
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My favorite books are horror and fantasy but I love exploring all sorts of genres. If you are on StoryGraph, let me know!
Reading Log
This is going take a (LONG) while to update because according to Storygraph, as of August 5, 2025, I have read 417 books. I plan to add new books as I read them and then slowly post my older reads randomly as I feel like it.
For sake of some sense of organization, the books are sorted by date read, not date added to this page. I think I may eventually separate my book log by year... or by genre? idk we'll get there when we get there
NEW: Check out my Bookbug page!
Swamplandia!
by Karen Russell
Genre Filter
Click on a cover for more information and my rating/review.
Penguin Highway
Date read: 09/05/2025
Rating:
Whimsical and surreal. I went into this book knowing there is an anime adaptation, but I knew nothing of the story other than it has penguins in it. I loved the mystery. I loved feeling like a 4th grader again. I loved the characters and how their relationships changed and flourished. And, as a stationery nerd, I loved all the notebooks ;) There were some meandering parts in the story (like the week-long grandparents visit—speaking of anime, these kinda felt like filler episodes lol). And I thought all the boobs were a little much. But the boobs were more silly than annoying to me haha.
Overall, I really loved this book.
And oh! The ending was surprisingly so sad! I'm sad it is all over and I'm sad to return this book to the library. I need to watch the anime to cope!
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
Date read: 08/31/2025
Rating:
UGHHHHH
It’s sweet and cozy, sure. But boring.
1 star bc characters were overall shallow, there was very little conflict or consequence, and the plot and relationships were farfetched and unbelievable.
+ half star because the set up was dramatic and interesting.
+ half star because after reflection I now see how complicated Caroline actually is—she is not fundamentally a “church lady,” she was only using religion as a coping mechanism for her self-consciousness and insecurity. Religion was only a shell to protect her from judgement and ridicule. This is why she was so easily persuaded by Sara to take home a book. And how her relationship formed so quickly.
The Haunting of Hill House
Date read: 08/22/2025
Rating:
The hand-holding chapter was one of the most chilling moments I've ever read in a book. Masterful writing omg.
Incredible. I had high hopes and this did not disappoint. More of a psychological horror than a ghost story, although the house does play a major role. I think the true horror is experiencing a mind slowly unraveling. There are a lot of uncanny/surreal moments and interactions that I think a second read is needed to catch the subleties.
Dark Tales
Date read: 08/09/2025
Rating:
My introduction to Shirley Jackson's work, aside from the time in high school when we read The Lottery.
Some stories were incredible, some were okay, none were bad. I loved the slow burn and unsettling realization that something is off.
My favorites in order of appearance:
1. The Possibility of Evil
2. Louisa, Please Come Home (quite possibly thee best of the bunch)
3. All She Said Was Yes
4. The Bus
5. The Good Wife
6. The Summer People
Bunny
Date read: 10/13/2024
Rating:
Unhinged and like reading a fever dream. One of my favorite reads from 2024.
It's like Mean Girls or Heathers but with twee milennial grad students and lots more bleeding and hallucinating.
Gideon the Ninth
Date read: 12/20/2023
Rating:
This was so awesome I could scream. Everything escalated so quickly and I devoured this book in only a couple of days.
It was sort of difficult to read and follow what was going on, partly because of the writing style and partly because there are so many characters. I didn't get a chance to read the next book in the series yet, and so much time has passed that I'll probably give it a re-read before I do. And then I'll understand better haha
Annihilation
Date read: 10/13/2022
Rating:
Atmospheric and haunting. I could vividly imagine navigating Area X: the tower, the lighthouse, the base, and all the flora and fauna in it. I loved the mystery and the inexplicable, and can't wait to explore more of this world in the next two books.
I started collecting these sick holographic editions in 2024.
Sabriel
Date read: 05/14/2015
Rating:
Tween Heather's favorite book. I actually read the sequel, Lirael, first after buying it on a whim at the Solano County Mall because the cover looked so cool lol. Anyway. Necromancy. Badass female lead. Very clever magic system with bells. A cat. This book has everything.
10 or so years later, in 2015, I listened to the entire triology on audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend because it's narrated by Tim Curry. That's all I need to say about it. It's fantastic.
It's been another 10 years since I read the book so I think it's about time for a reread. In 2021, I purchased the 25th anniversary hardcover edition with the iconic illustration by Leo and Diane Dillon but then Harper Collins decided to NOT rerelease the other books in in hardcover??? I even emailed them and they ignored me! So I bought first-edition hardcovers of Lirael and Abhorsen on eBay and now they look awesome on my bookshelf. Anyway this wasn't really a review so thank you for putting up with me and reading me yap about my nostaglic fav.
Rating System
For many years I would rate my books, shows, movies, etc. completely on vibes alone, until I saw a rating system, below, created by aromanticduck on Tumblr. All my media reviews on Yogo Magpie will use it because it's incredible and simple to use. I won't specify if it's spicy or bland tho
| Nothing really wrong with it | A few things wrong with it | So many things wrong with it | |
| Lots of awesome things | 5 stars | 4 stars (spicy) | 3 stars (spicy) |
| A few awesome things | 4 stars (bland) | 3 stars (mild) | 2 stars (spicy) |
| Nothing really awesome | 3 stars (bland) | 2 stars (bland) | 1 star |
The idea is that you rate the thing on how much stuff you loved and how much stuff you hated, and those things weigh against each other. There's only one way to get 5 stars or 1 star, so those should end up as the rarest ratings, with 3 stars being the most common.
'Spicy' means that the thing inspires emotion, whether positive or negative, while 'bland' means it doesn't affect you much either way.
An example of a 3-star (spicy)—for me personally—would be the Twilight series, beacuse there's plenty of garbage in there but also some things that are like crack to me. I can't think of an example of a 3-star (bland) because by nature they don't stick in the mind.
(This also assumes giving 0 stars isn't allowed. That'd throw it out of whack...)
I started building this page during HTML Day 2025!
