daniellereads

30s, she/her. mostly sci-fi, fantasy, horror, nonfiction. becky chambers' biggest fan

2695 points

0% overlap

My Taste

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2)

Reading...

50%

daniellereads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

CaitlinByHerShelf

Show me your weekend vibes! ✨

Happy Friday, Boundlings! 💜

Do you have plans this weekend? Are you doing something adventurous and bold or keeping it lowkey and chill?

Drop your weekend vibes with a gif or string of emojis!

Wishing everyone the best weekend! ✨

240

daniellereads wrote a review...

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

daniellereads

May 22, 2026

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: Plot:

🔭

🌌

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Mostly I just wanted to hold Lilah tight as she made signs to the world around her, and I wanted to tell her: You are the most extraordinary thing in the universe.

I had never heard of this book and probably would have never picked this up even if I had if it weren't chosen for book club. And wow, it was sooo good! I think it's hard to find a balance between science and memoir, and this one did it perfectly, plus Brown is a fantastic science communicator. The way he explains concepts really clicks, especially with the real world comparisons he uses and all the little jokes he inserts. He also has a lot of respect for all the scientists he's worked with, both men and women, and even gives a lot of grace to those who wronged him, all of which was really nice to read.

I was in middle school when Pluto was demoted from planethood, and I realized while reading this that I had never known why. All I had ever heard was the half-serious complaints and jokes about it. I also didn't know that the solar system used to have 12+ planets until the early 1900s?? And that many of them were demoted, including one (Ceres) after a century of being planet, due to the discoveries of many asteroids in the asteroid belt. And that's essentially what happened to Pluto, being in the Kuiper belt.

I loved the description of how Brown and his team found planets. It all sounds so tedious and yet the way Brown described it makes it sound like the most exciting thing in the world. His enthusiasm really bleeds through his writing and reminded me why I've always loved learning about outer space. It was so fun to really immerse myself in astronomy and learn more about the many objects Brown has discovered. Though I'm still a little mind blown at what happened with Haumea!

But what really hit me was Brown's depiction of what it's like to be a new parent. I had no idea going into this that that would be such a huge portion of this book, and it really resonated with me as a new parent myself. Brown's obsession with tracking the sleep/feeding/mood data for his daughter in an effort to assert some control over it was SO RELATABLE, and it was extra fun to see how he DIYed it himself in the mid-2000s considering there are a million apps for that now. Reading the website that he created to do so is like walking down memory lane for me. I said previously that Brown's enthusiasm for space is so obvious here but his sense of wonder, excitement, and deep love for his daughter is even stronger. The way he reflected on her growth had me in my feels!!! I actually cried a bit at this: "I'm sad now because as the memories have faded I can no longer go back and relive all of those moments of that time of Lilah's life. If I could, I would. I would do it all over." And I tear up every time I read it. (But also: his wife Diane is the backbone of his family and I loved all her little jokes and his obvious love for her. She is a supermom watching her 3 week old daughter while her husband dealt with all the tenth planet craziness!)

I have a few minor complaints: there were a few too many jokes about how Quaoar is hard to pronounce, and there was a little bit of repetition in explanations that could have been edited out, but they're so minor that they didn't affect my rating at all.

Overall, this book is fantastic and well worth reading, even 15+ years after its release.

She is exceptional, because early childhood development is about the most exceptional thing that takes place in the universe. Stars, planets, galaxies, quasars are all incredible and fascinating things, with behaviors and properties that we will be uncovering for years and years, but none of them is as thoroughly astounding as the development of thought, the development of language. Who would not believe that their child is exceptional? All children are, compared to the remainder of the silent universe around them.

daniellereads wrote a review...

spoilers

Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries, #8)

daniellereads

May 21, 2026

3.5

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.0

🤖

🛰️

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daniellereads finished a book

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

Mike Brown

The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of its resulting in one more planet being added to our solar system, Brown’s find ignited a firestorm of controversy that riled the usually sedate world of astronomy and launched him into the public eye. The debate culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. Filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is Mike Brown’s engaging first-person account of the most tumultuous year in modern astronomy—which he inadvertently caused. As it guides readers through important scientific concepts and inspires us to think more deeply about our place in the cosmos, it is also an entertaining and enlightening personal While Brown sought to expand our understanding of the vast nature of space, his own life was changed in the most immediate, human ways by love, birth, and death. A heartfelt and personal perspective on the demotion of everyone’s favorite farflung planet, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?

Post from the How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming forum

daniellereads

Thoughts from 75% - ch 11

"She is exceptional, because early childhood development is about the most exceptional thing that takes place in the universe. Stars, planets, galaxies, quasars are all incredible and fascinating things, with behaviors and properties that we will be uncovering for years and years, but none of them is as thoroughly astounding as the development of thought, the development of language. Who would not believe that their child is exceptional? All children are, compared to the remainder of the silent universe around them."

"Mostly I just wanted to hold Lilah tight as she made signs to the world around her, and I wanted to tell her: You are the most extraordinary thing in the universe."

I did not expect a book about killing Pluto to get me in my new parent feels 😭

Post from the How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming forum

daniellereads

Thoughts from 95% - size of Pluto

spoilers

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daniellereads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

blueishcloud

bucket-list recs!

hi boundlings!! 🫛🐝 there has been a similar post recently by @Allonsythornraxx, so pardon me if this sounds a bit repetitive! sooo, a few fellow PBs inspired me to make a bucket list of 100 books to read ✨sooner or later✨ (that's genuinely gonna be the name of my list lmao), so i wanted to ask for advice! the reason im making this post despite there being a similar one is that i didn't find many recs under it 🥹 so my question is, what's a book you think everyone MUST absolutely read once? it doesn't have to be a classic, but if it is id lean on the "digestible" ones more! and i can't read romantasy for the life of me (not straight at least) but other than that I'm open to pretty much any suggestion! i have a few in mind already, but I'd like to build this list based mainly on community recs 🫶🏻 hit me with your favourite book(s) or the book(s) that changed your life !! 🪻🔮

daniellereads commented on shanethe_readingrat's update

shanethe_readingrat TBR'd a book

The Only Band in the World

Ryan Bird

daniellereads commented on a List

nonfiction to listen to

by dykeflowers

6 books

these are some of my favorite read-by-the-author memoirs and nonfiction :) these are just titles i can personally vouch for, but i would welcome recommendations of books you’ve listened to and can vouch for as well!! (i have some ideas of books i want to list but won’t add them yet since I haven’t finished them)

🎧

📰

📝

daniellereads commented on onigiriume's update

onigiriume DNF'd a book

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Ed Yong

A grand tour through the hidden realms of animal senses that will transform the way you perceive the world--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes. The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into a previously unfathomable dimension--the world as it is truly perceived by other animals. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth's magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and humans that wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile's scaly face is as sensitive as a lover's fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries which lie unsolved. In An Immense World, author and acclaimed science journalist Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. Because in order to understand our world we don't need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes.

daniellereads commented on chris's update

chris earned a badge

Fantasy and Sci-Fi with a Side of Romance

Platinum: Finished 20 Main Quest books.

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British & Irish Classic Literature

Silver: Finished 10 Main Quest books.

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daniellereads is re-reading...

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)

Becky Chambers

ASIN B08H831J18 moved to the more recent edition Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend. Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

daniellereads commented on daniellereads's update

daniellereads made progress on...

Taiwan Travelogue

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

26%

daniellereads made progress on...

Taiwan Travelogue

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

50%

daniellereads commented on daniellereads's update

daniellereads made progress on...

Taiwan Travelogue

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

26%

daniellereads commented on a post

robyn00

Edited

Recommendations here please

If you strongly feel like there is a book missing from the list, put it here.

And if, at any point, there is a new release you think I should be aware of, I’d love to hear about it! Please include if it’s a new release in the comment:)

Please remember to be kind when recommending.

Posted 19. Jan 2026

daniellereads commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum

jenniferPagebound

Edited

Community Updates + New App Update (5/19/2026)

Hi everyone, we have some community updates to share. Pagebound has grown significantly since the app launched in October, and to support this larger group we're revamping our Quest creation and community recognition programs.

We have decided to sunset the Top Contributor program. We started the program in the early days of Pagebound to recognize active community members and help build the culture. TC's created Quests, welcomed new users, answered questions, and helped us behind the scenes with beta testing, user interviews, and feedback. We are so grateful to the 80+ TC's who were crucial in helping shape the platform & culture as we built the v1 of so many features.

To make Quest creation and community recognition more democratic and community-oriented, we will have two paths for Quest creation:

We will continue the community-voted List initiative, where each quarter Royalty members nominate Lists to be turned into Quests, and the entire PB community votes on the nominated lists. We will have 3 winners per quarter for a total of 12 list-to-quests a year.
We will start a new program, community-voted Member of the Month (exact language TBD). Each month starting in the Fall, the entire PB community can nominate a user they believe embodies PB values. The user with the most nominations will be awarded a badge and the ability to create a Quest.

We will have more details on this new program when voting nears :)

Editing to add: Former members of the Top Contributor program who had Quests in-progress will be able to release those Quests. We have not put a time limit on this since curating a Quest takes a ton of work, and many hours have already been invested in these Quests. You'll continue to see some final Quests created by former TCs be released over the next months.

App + Product Updates The Discover People section got an upgrade: at the top, you'll see a Featured My Taste book that rotates daily, similar to the Featured Emoji. We highlight active users with that book in their My Taste section

We also fixed some small edge-case bugs related to progress updates + tracking. Reminder: you need to track your progress to see daily pages/minutes updated in your stats! So if you start & finish a book in the same day, you'll need to track progress still to see that graph updated (this is because there are some folks who don't track daily, and if we auto-tracked, stats would look very incorrect).

Thank you everyone for keeping this community thriving, PB wouldn't be what it is today without everyone's support & engagement. We can't wait to recognize new community members with these new initiatives, and are so excited to see what Quests y'all cook up. And of course, a special thank you to our Top Contributors who invested so much of their free time, love, and energy into this community. A round of applause for the (retired) TCs 👏👏👏

Happy Reading, Jennifer + Lucy 💜💙

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daniellereads commented on daniellereads's update

daniellereads started reading...

Taiwan Travelogue

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear. Soon a Taiwanese woman―who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name―is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South and also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides and braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is. Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 and won Taiwan’s highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.

daniellereads commented on daniellereads's update

daniellereads TBR'd a book