daniphantom

she/her • public library enthusiast

2080 points

0% overlap

My Taste

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

Reading...

How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 (The How To Talk Series)

daniphantom made progress on...

Half His Age

Jennette McCurdy

57%

daniphantom commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

20h

owlibrary

Hopecore books

I hope this wasn't asked before. I tried searching Hope and I didn't see anything related to what I want to ask.

Initially I wanted to ask if there are books you'd recommend with the vibe of the Good Place (I just finished a rewatch), but as I realise this might be too specific, I wonder if you have hopecore books recommendations. (Or hopepunk) Basically what it sounds like, books that give you hope. If the prompt with the Good Place helps in any way, I welcome those recommendations as well. Basically I want books that I can read when I feel down or hopeless and to remember that as long as we live we can try again and again and again and do better. I hope this makes sense. Looking forward to any recommendations!

PS: my first thought about this category would be Lord of the Rings but I've yet to read the books, sadly.

daniphantom made progress on...

Half His Age

Jennette McCurdy

37%

daniphantom is interested in reading...

The Tortoise's Tale: A Novel

Kendra Coulter

A century of American history unfolds through the eyes of a giant tortoise with a heightened awareness for live music, the location of edible flowers, and the nuances of human behavior in this spellbinding debut novel. Snatched from her ancestral lands, a giant tortoise finds herself in an exclusive estate in southern California where she becomes an astute observer of societal change. Her journey is one of discovery, as she learns to embrace the music of jazz and the warmth of human connection. The tortoise’s story is enriched by her bond with Takeo, the estate’s gardener, who sees her as a being with thoughts and feelings, not just a creature to be observed. The tortoise’s mind and heart are further expanded by Lucy, a young girl who names the tortoise Magic and shares a friendship that transcends species. Together, they witness the estate’s transformation into a haven for industry titans, politicians, and rock stars, each leaving their mark on the world and on Magic’s heart. The tortoise embraces her role as a muse with gusto and witnesses how diverse human harmonies and the mighty winds of social change both uplift people and tear them apart. Over the course of her lifetime, the estate changes ownership, bringing raucous Hollywood parties, and animals both familiar and unexpected. There are also threats, as the estate’s idyll is not immune to the ravages of a damaged planet. Through each era, the tortoise remains a refreshingly honest, humble, and endearing narrator whose unique vantage point illuminates the transcendent power of compassion, the unexpected connections that shape how we see ourselves and each other, and the wide-reaching effects of choice—or the lack thereof. The Tortoise’s Tale is a whimsical yet profound exploration of humanity’s entangled journey, a call to recognize the interconnectedness of all life, and the potential for healing. Kendra Coulter’s debut novel is a moving portrait of resilience and hope, perfect for fans of Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures.

daniphantom commented on daniphantom's update

daniphantom started reading...

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

T. Kingfisher

2021 LODESTAR AWARD for BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

daniphantom started reading...

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

T. Kingfisher

daniphantom finished reading and wrote a review...

daniphantom

Jan 08, 2026

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 3.5

🏳️‍🌈

✍️

👒

I really enjoyed this latest queer historical romance from TJ Alexander! I barely remembered the first one outside of knowing that I liked it but thankfully the context given within this book was enough to get by without feeling like I was missing anything.

The shenanigans were high, with the circumstances of the plot lending themselves well to full-blown farce, and I thought they were done well. It felt like this book took a little while to really get off the ground for me but once I was hooked I was in all the way.

The stakes feel real, the characters are vibrant, and queerness abounds (there's also plenty of Lord Byron being, well, himself). Definitely recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage for the arc ✌️

daniphantom made progress on...

A Lady for All Seasons: A Novel

T.J. Alexander

100%

daniphantom made progress on...

A Lady for All Seasons: A Novel

T.J. Alexander

80%

daniphantom made progress on...

Half His Age

Jennette McCurdy

21%

daniphantom started reading...

Half His Age

Jennette McCurdy

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died comes a sad, funny, thrilling novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths we’ll go to in order to get what we want. Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does. Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.

Post from the A Lady for All Seasons: A Novel forum

daniphantom

Thoughts from 15%

spoilers

View spoiler

daniphantom commented on a post

daniphantom

Thoughts from 3% (page 9)

I usually try not to be This Person but there's a line about Anna singing along to a Michael Bublé Christmas album in the year 2000 which didn't feel right to me so I spent four seconds googling his discography and sure enough, he didn't have any albums out until 2001 and no Christmas album until a decade later...

It's not that I care this much about Michael Bublé, it just doesn't bode well for how much the authors care about the specific 2000 setting other than the triple holiday coincidence - time will tell!

daniphantom is interested in reading...

Ionheart

Lukas Kummer

daniphantom commented on daniphantom's review of Hamlet

daniphantom

Nov 19, 2025

5.0

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

💀

👑

⚔️

I mean, it's Hamlet. What am I supposed to say?

I listened to the Folger full cast dramatization for this reread and I really enjoyed that. I'll be thinking about their Hamlet's delivery of "I loved Ophelia" for days.

daniphantom started reading...

How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 (The How To Talk Series)

Joanna Faber

OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD A must-have resource for anyone who lives or works with young kids, with an introduction by Adele Faber, coauthor of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk , the international mega-bestseller The Boston Globe dubbed “The Parenting Bible.” For over thirty-five years, parents have turned to How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk for its respectful and effective solutions to the unending challenges of raising children. Now, in response to growing demand, Adele’s daughter, Joanna Faber, along with Julie King, tailor How to Talk’s powerful communication skills to children ages two to seven. Faber and King, each a parenting expert in her own right, share their wisdom accumulated over years of conducting How To Talk workshops with parents and a broad variety of professionals. With a lively combination of storytelling, cartoons, and fly-on-the-wall discussions from their workshops, they provide concrete tools and tips that will transform your relationship with the young kids in your life. What do you do with a little kid who…won’t brush her teeth…screams in his car seat…pinches the baby...refuses to eat vegetables…throws books in the library...runs rampant in the supermarket? Organized according to common challenges and conflicts, this book is an essential emergency first-aid manual of communication strategies, including a chapter that addresses the special needs of children with sensory processing and autism spectrum disorders. This user-friendly guide will empower parents and caregivers of young children to forge rewarding, joyful relationships with terrible two-year-olds, truculent three-year-olds, ferocious four-year-olds, foolhardy five-year-olds, self-centered six-year-olds, and the occasional semi-civilized seven-year-old. And, it will help little kids grow into self-reliant big kids who are cooperative and connected to their parents, teachers, siblings, and peers.

daniphantom commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

emilyspages

Edited

books that are better as audiobooks 🎧

hi there!!

in planning my reading for this month and next month, i’m trying to gather a list of books that are better to consume in audiobook format than physical or digital copies. i currently listen to audiobooks on spotify (using my family’s premium plan, so 15 hours a month), and i really enjoy them for when im doing mindless work that doesn’t require much thought. it also helps me with reading stamina to be able to switch between reads with different formats.

do you have recommendations of books that you think were better as audiobooks, or even just titles that you were grateful you consumed as an audiobook?

thank you all so much in advance!! 🫶

EDIT: thank you all for the wonderful suggestions!! i appreciate you all and this community so much 🥹🥹

daniphantom started reading...

A Lady for All Seasons: A Novel

T.J. Alexander

From the acclaimed author of Chef's Kiss and A Gentleman's Gentleman comes a riotous Regency romp, featuring a charming and unforgettable bigender lead.It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single noblewoman who has lost her fortune (no thanks to her father’s terrible business dealings) must be in need (not want) of a husband.It’s the end of the 1820 London season, King George III is dead, and there are no suitable suitors in sight. Beautiful, cunning, formerly wealthy Verbena Montrose must devise a new plan to secure a position for herself and save her odious family from abject poverty. Fortunately, what she lacks in a dowry, she makes up for in the currency of gossip. When she hears an alarming rumor about her very dear, very queer friend Etienne that could put him at risk of ruin (or worse), she comes to his aid with a proposal—for a marriage of convenience, that is. But when Verbena discovers that a mysterious poet by the name of Flora Witcombe has been gaining popularity and publishing poems that hint she is onto their scheme, Verbena has no choice but to pretend to be a poet herself to confront her in a local salon. And—unexpectedly—be charmed by her.Flora agrees to rectify the issue she’s caused, not least of all because she’s terrified by and smitten with Verbena in equal measure. After all, she holds a secret of her she is also William Forsyth, a struggling fiction writer and fifth son of a minor noble family. And if circumstances don’t allow Flora to woo Verbena, perhaps William will. Faced with two suitors and a fiancé, Verbena, who has always had to know everything about everyone to survive in society, may need to learn more about herself to discover whether true happiness actually lies outside of society’s constraints.

daniphantom wrote a review...

daniphantom

Jan 03, 2026

4.5

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 5.0Plot: 4.5

🎄

😭

🐁

This was the romance novel equivalent of the "until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and I mean that as a compliment!

This book captures both the profundity and weirdness of grief and healing during the holiday season in a truly wonderful way with well-written characters, moments of levity, movie references galore, and a clear love for the city of Baltimore.

It really spoke to me, and I think reading it just on the other side of the holidays like this was actually the perfect headspace for it.

daniphantom finished a book

Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon

Matthew Norman

A sentimental advertising creative and a blunt, no-nonsense bar owner find a second chance at love while binge-watching iconic holiday movies in this poignant and heartwarming romance, from the author of Charm City Rocks and All Together Now. The new year barely began when Grace White and Henry Adler both lost their spouses. Now, nearly a year later, the first holiday season since their "Great and Terrible Sadnesses" approaches. Although their mothers scheme to matchmake the two surviving spouses, it’s clear that neither is ready to date again. Yet no one understands what they're going through better than each other, and a delicate friendship is born. When Henry sees an ad for a Christmas movie marathon—once an annual tradition for him and his wife—Grace offers to watch some films with him, despite her aversion to a few of his picks. Her two young kids, Ian and Bella, also join in whenever possible—bedtimes permitting, of course. With each movie, Grace and Henry’s shared grief eases as they start to see a life beyond the sadness. But as they draw closer, other romantic possibilities leave them both uncertain about their future together. Is their bond merely the result of loneliness and shared circumstances, or have they found something that’s worth taking a shot at . . . again?

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