Educated by Tara Westover
I read this because Reading Group Guides said it was (one of) the most discussed books in 2018. Reminded me a lot of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, only more horrifying. I'm amazed that Tara, her parents, and some of her siblings didn't die with all the accidents they had and foolish decisions the parents made. A story of covert parental abuse.
Danger Eagle by Jesse Wente, illustrated by Shaikara David
Danger Eagle is a stuffed penguin toy who thinks they are an eagle that can do stunts, with their human owner sending them on death-defying toy car jumps, and swinging over stairs. A friend visits with a stuffed ostrich toy that challenges Danger Eagle to actually fly.
At first I was worried this story might actually encourage little kids to try dangerous stunts. Then I watched my two great-grandsons, almost two and almost four, on Christmas Day, climbing the (slick!) wooden stairs with socks on, and using the banisters as monkey bars, and I decided this book is just right for them.
The cartoon-like illustrations were done with pencil, paper, and Procreate, an iPad drawing and animation app.
The Age of Calamities by Senaa Ahmad
There wasn't much that I liked to choose from in the November 2025 LibraryThing Early Reviewers batch. I requested this one because it is a collection of short stories involving characters from history, which intrigued me. However, the book's title, The Age of Calamities, should have tipped me off that I might not like this collection - it was a bit too dark for my still-grieving self. I found I really only liked the first story, "Let's Play Dead," in which Henry VIII has Anne Boleyn killed over and over, and she won't stay dead. In a way, that was the only story with a happy ending. I think fans of fantasy or speculative fiction might enjoy this book more than this historical fiction aficionado did.
The Last Father-Daughter Dance: A Short Story by Lisa Wingate
It was too cold and windy today to go for a walk, and I was looking for something short to read (to add to my count for 2025), so I decided on this 57-page short story that was a bonus read in the December Amazon First Reads program. A famous Olympic runner goes home to see her dad (and first coach) when his heart condition worsens, and helps him "relive favorite memories from all four seasons in just one month at their old farmhouse in the Blue Ridge Mountains."
It's a touching story - especially since the dad, who's only 52, is suffering from congestive heart failure, and uses oxygen (hits close to home!). However, I found the ending a little too predictable, but also a little too abrupt and surprising, given some of the messaging earlier in the story.
The One That Got Away: A Short Story by Mike Gayle
Another short story, 101 pages, that was a bonus read in the Amazon First Reads program, this one from April 2025, that I read to end 2025 with 42 books read. This was a sweet little sorta-romance written from the guy's point of view, with a bit of a surprise (but not entirely unexpected) ending.
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