happyplaces

254 points

0% overlap

Reading...

My Taste

happyplaces commented on Judytudey's review of The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers, #4)

Judytudey

Apr 23, 2025

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 4.0

I'm sad to leave this series, but I continue to love being in Chambers's weird little Galactic Commons universe 🥲 This one had so many great moments digging into characters' preconceived notions and biases, and the somehow non-urgent emergency setting was great for exploring those! Maybe not my favorite in the series, but still a delight, and still that beautiful mix of profound and ordinary and silly that I love so much from the Wayfarers 💖

happyplaces wants to read...

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus. After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late. Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

happyplaces DNF'd a book

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life

Tom Robbins

Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins's long-awaited tale of his wild life and times, both at home and around the globe Tom Robbins's warm, wise, and wonderfully weird novels–including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction, and Jitterbug Perfume–provide an entryway into the frontier of his singular imagination. Madcap but sincere, pulsating with strong social and philosophical undercurrents, his irreverent classics have introduced countless readers to hitchhiking cowgirls, born-again monkeys, a philosophizing can of beans, exiled royalty, and problematic redheads. In Tibetan Peach Pie, Robbins turns that unparalleled literary sensibility inward, weaving together stories of his unconventional life–from his Appalachian childhood to his globe-trotting adventures–told in his unique voice, which combines the sweet and sly, the spiritual and earthy. The grandchild of Baptist preachers, Robbins would become, over the course of half a century, a poet interruptus, a soldier, a meteorologist, a radio DJ, an art-critic-turned-psychedelic-journeyman, a world-famous novelist, and a counterculture hero, leading a life as unlikely, magical, and bizarre as those of his quixotic characters. Robbins offers intimate snapshots of Appalachia during the Great Depression, the West Coast during the sixties' psychedelic revolution, international roving before Homeland Security monitored our travels, and New York publishing when it still relied on trees. Written with the big-hearted comedy and mesmerizing linguistic invention for which Robbins is known, Tibetan Peach Pie is an invitation into the private world of a literary legend.

Post from the The Bee Sting forum

happyplaces

Thoughts from 13%

I'm having lots of flashbacks to drinking with much older boys (men) at much too young an age 😅 it's a bit slowly paced but I'm enjoying it nonetheless

happyplaces earned a badge

Level 3

250 points

happyplaces started reading...

The Bee Sting

Paul Murray

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart. The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil―can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written―is there still time to find a happy ending?

happyplaces wants to read...

Death Valley

Melissa Broder

A woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrow—for both her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening. What the motel provides, however, is not peace but a path, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike. Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash through its side that beckons like a familiar door. So she enters it. What awaits her inside this mystical succulent sets her on a journey at once desolate and rich, hilarious and poignant.

happyplaces commented on a post

minsuni

Thoughts from 0%

Been wanting to read this for a while, and since this is one of the books from the Spring 2025 Readalong, I feel like it's the perfect time to start this book!

Post from the Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life forum

happyplaces

Thoughts from 10%

Just learned of his passing so I borrowed whatever I could on Libby, and I love that I ended up with his memoir as my first rediscovery of Robbins. His writing is magical ✨

happyplaces commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

marissa

Can you remember everything you read?

I personally can’t, despite my best efforts haha 😅. I used to worry about and honestly still do sometimes, the lack of my book memory. Thinking that maybe I should slow down, read less. I really don’t want to though because I prefer reading over watching tv shows or movies. If you’re like me, I came across this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson today and I hope you can take solace in it like I have.. “I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

happyplaces commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

Lizzyfoureyes

Why Did You Pick Your Pagebound Avatar?

I’m curious—how did you decide on your avatar when you joined Pagebound? I originally picked the goth/emo-looking girl because her haircut was similar to mine. I almost went with the little green witch because she has such a cool vibe, but in the end, I chose my current avatar since I’m a total sucker for romance books. Don’t be surprised if I switch to the little green witch at some point, I just feel drawn to her! I’d love to hear your stories! Did you pick your avatar because it looks like you, fits your favorite genre, or just because it’s cute?

143

happyplaces commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

sailorsoftgirl

Tracking Resources

I'm curious what services/apps/resources everyone uses in addition to Pagebound, if any, to track their reading. I personally made the transition from Goodreads to Storygraph a few years ago, and I'm still using it in addition to Pagebound to get information on my reading stats. But does anyone have any nifty apps, resources, or personal methods they've found fun and/or useful for tracking various aspects of their reading?

happyplaces started reading...

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life

Tom Robbins

happyplaces commented on a post

MoonlitStar

Evelyn's Seven Husbands Had Me Hooked😳

I thought the book was really great. I appreciated how it followed two timelines, as it gave me a deeper understanding of how Evelyn viewed her marriages over the years and the passage of time. It added so much depth to her character.

Post from the I Who Have Never Known Men forum

happyplaces

Edited

What a good one

There's so much left to be desired in the story with open questions but it's also a very fulfilling book at the same time. Highly recommend!

happyplaces earned a badge

Spring 2025 Readalong

Read at least 1 book in the Spring 2025 Readalong.

happyplaces commented on a post

happyplaces

Thoughts from 32%

I can't read this fast enough literally and figuratively, it's due back on Libby tomorrow and there's a hold, and also I just love it so much I cannot wait to find out what happens

Post from the I Who Have Never Known Men forum

happyplaces

Thoughts from 32%

I can't read this fast enough literally and figuratively, it's due back on Libby tomorrow and there's a hold, and also I just love it so much I cannot wait to find out what happens

happyplaces finished a book

I Who Have Never Known Men

Jacqueline Harpman

‘For a very long time, the days went by, each just like the day before, then I began to think, and everything changed’ Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

happyplaces commented on a post

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)

kassablanca

Chapter 60- Feyre

GIRL IT TOOK YOU 577 PAGES INTO THIS BOOK TO REALISE THAT TAMLIN TREATED YOU SOOOO BAD!!! BFFR

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