A staff pick and a beautifully written short book by poet Aimee N. While not poems, the short stories written about flora and fauna are poetic in nature. The author picks specific subjects that have meaning in her life and intertwines scientific facts with stories about her family as well as about world issues. The stories about the Potoo and the Octopus were favorites.

I enjoyed the overall concept of this book, especially the conclusion of the adventure at the end. However, I found it lacked in enough action and suspense to keep me truly engaged.

I loved this book because Emily was so funny! I felt bad for Roger and the dog.

Set in the mid-1990s, this novel felt both of its time period and timely for today: then, the early popularilty of the Internet, and today's similar feeling around AI. Jane grew up in an isolated, off-the-grid cabin in Montana with her father. She knows little of the outside world, just that her mother died in a car crash and they used to live in the California Bay Area. But as she gets older she wants to know more, and she starts to question her dad's teachings and ever-more-disturbing actions. Technology vs. nature; isolation vs. society; innocence vs. knowledge — this book is suspenseful, poignant, and a great read.

I like this beef because I can read it myself

I thought the part with the pill and the cake was really funny.

It’s taking me a long time because I’m learning to read it by myself!

I read Bill’s book about the Appalachian Trail and found it hilarious, so I decided to read this book. It wasn’t as funny as A Walk in the Woods, but it was amusing. It was really about the history and geography of Australia. Very interesting.

I chose this book as part of the 2024 reading challenge for July, a book by an author born outside the Unites States, and it was also in the "New Fiction" area which I always peruse. This was an excellent read by the author who lives in Japan and who had this work translated. The chapters of the book were tales of life stories with life lessons and interconnections told in a very interesting, unique, and moving way. Every tale had a central figure, Mrs. Komachi. She was the local community center librarian with a penchant for felting and selecting just the right book for her patrons. Mrs. Komachi's felting materials were kept in a Honeydome cookie tin which was central to the book. I could continue to write more about how I liked this book, but suffice to say, it really made me think and reflect, and I will be looking for more books by this author if translated!

It was so silly! I loved it.