Chele's Reading List

Fiction

K.A. Linde:

The Wren in the Holly Library

The Robin on the Oak Throne

T. Kingfisher:

Illuminations

Ray Bradbury:

The October Country (short stories)

Kasey LeBlanc:

Flyboy

Non-fiction

Robert McFarlane:

Is a River Alive

Don Martin:

Where did Everybody Go?

2026 Physical Books Part 1

Gabriela Garcia:

Via Libby and Hoopla

Fiction (by Author)

Emelia Hart:

Weyward

Naomi Novik:

Buried Deep and Other Stories (short stories)

Heather Fawcett:

The Grace of Wild Things

Alice Hoffman:

The Red Garden

Tehereh Mafii:

Furthermore

Whichwood

A Very Large Expanse of Sea

Seanan McGuire:

The Wayward Children Series (10 books)

N.K. Jemisin:

How Long til Black Future Month (short stories)

The City We Became

Sokaiya Daud:

Mirage

T. Kingfisher:

A Sorceress Comes to Call

Hemlock & Silver

What Feasts at Night

Stephen King:

Elevation (short stories)

Non-fiction

Robert McFarland

The Lost Words

2025 Physical Books cont’d

Don Martin:

Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Performed by Jennifer Blom

Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher

Performed by Justine Eyre

Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

Performed by Tara Sands

The House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

Performed by Mary Robinette Kowal

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

Performed by Nora Hunter

Green Witch by Alice Hoffman

Performed by Nora Hunter

While I much prefer physical books, I have started listening to audiobooks during the workdays that my shop is closed to the public. I’m getting titles through my Hoopla account, but it’s limited to 10 titles per month., and I also use it for movies and tv series. I’ll probably investigate additional options in the near future as they do reduce how often I stop working to look at a screen when I should be taking advantage of no interruptions.

1st Quarter (cont’d)

1-7 of the Dragonbreath series by Ursula Vernon.

Fun adventures with Danny Dragonbreath and his friends.

2nd Quarter

8-11 of the Dragonbreath series by Ursula Vernon.

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett.

This is the 3rd & final book in the series. It is my favorite of the trilogy.

3rd Quarter (so far)

1st Quarter (so far)

Becoming Animal by David Abram (nonfiction)

I enjoyed this, but I believe I might have enjoyed it more as an audiobook. Completed 2/26/25

Enchanted Tales and Twisted Lore & Once upon a Twisted Time (reimagined fairy tales, folklore, and fables)

These short story collections are my car/waiting room reads, so it will probably take me most of the year. I have been a regular backer of CabbitCrossingPublishing, and these are the latest collection. They don’t disappoint.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

This one’s been on my “future reads” library list for years. It was pretty good, but I think I enjoyed Beauty Queens just slightly more. She has other titles I’ll likely get to someday as well. I’m determined to clear the majority of older titles from that list this year (while constantly adding new titles every week).

Nurk: The Strange, SurprisingAdventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew by Ursula Vernon.

After backing and reading the Digger Unearthed: the complete omnibus edition, I have been slowly reading more of her work. I recently decided to start at the beginning, and that meant Nurk, which has been followed by the entire series of…

Hamster Princess by Ursula Vernon

Giant Days 10, 11, 12, 13, & 14

With these, I’ve finished the series. Gonna miss those characters.

The Fault in our Stars, by John Green

Read this in basically one sitting.

Lost Tales, a collection of short stories compiled by Marx Pyle (Cabbit Crossing Publishing) and others.

I’ve backed all of the Kickstarters from this group. The latest collection is in 2 parts and arrived recently. I plan on savoring them by keeping at least one in my car to read while waiting for carry-out or doctor appointments.

Conjure Women, by Afia Atakora

Story jumps back and forth through time on a plantation in the US South before and after the Civil War. About a mother and daughter who were healers, and the community they sought to protect. Loved this one!

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee.

So much knowledge! A collection of the many ways Black Americans have been targeted by the government and capitalist’s machinations to the detriment of us all. Totally worth the read.

Transit, by Rachel Cusk.

June included several comic collections, a short story collection, the 2nd and 3rd books in the Winternight Trilogy (I read book 1, The Bear and the Nightingale, last year), and 4 novels. A couple weren’t as good as the others, but I still happily finished them all.

Other than reading my “waiting on things” books, Homer’s Odyssey & The Artificial Man and other Stories, I didn’t pick up and read an entire book until late April this year.

These are the titles I finished in April and May.

Books 1 & 2 Destined and Illusions were the last two books in the Wings series by Aprilynne Pike. I read the first two in either 2022 or 23.

Next up, Book 3, was Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett. Received this one as a gift from my MIL.

Book 4, The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler was left on my free to a good home bookshelf by a client.

Book 5, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is the sequel to the previously shown title by Heather Fawcett.

2023 Book 10 & (half of) 11

Tales of Monstrosity: Monsters, Myths, and Miscreants

Another short story collection from the same publisher as Dragons of a Different Tail (my 3rd book of last year). 19 stories from 19 storytellers about monsters and mythical creatures that don’t usually have their myths and legends told in modern fiction.

Cabbit Crossing Publishing, LLC

The Artificial Man and Other Stories by Clare Winger Harris

I picked this collection up from a small press bookseller a few years ago after I saw a post on social media. This is a collection of short stories from an author who got her start in the 1920’s. Until this collection, I had never heard of this author so it was nice to learn in the introduction by Brad Ricca, that Weird Tales magazine published Harris’ “A Runaway World” in 1926, making her the first woman to have an American science fiction story published under her own name.

I’ve been savoring these stories, reading a couple every month since January, and it remains on my current TBR pile.

Giant Days volumes 5 & 6

Comic compilation by Allison, Sarin, Fleming, & Cogar

2023 Book 10

Nightbird

YA tale by Alice Hoffman

A Secret History of Witches

A Novel by Louisa Morgan

This novel follows a line of Romani women from the time they escape from France in 1821 through the end of WWII. Narrow escapes, doubt, and lost love hit nearly every generation, but they carry on.

Giant Days Volume 4

By John Allison

A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking

By T. Kingfisher

Libraries are great. I was able to easily get the next volume of Giant Days shortly after finishing volume 3. Placed a hold for 5 & 6 today.

This T. Kingfisher story has been on my list for a while, and it’s my 3rd from this author (some as Ursula Vernon). I enjoyed this, but it also made me a bit sad reading it, in light of the world we live in.

Giant Days: Volume Three

Bad Machinery: The Case of the Fire Inside

Both by John Allison

2023 Book: 2 Fairy Tale by Steven King

2023 Book 1: Digger by Ursula Vernon

After I started following Ursula Vernon & Kevin Sonney on social media, I binged their fiction podcast, The Hidden Almanac, and started listening to Kevin’s Productivity Alchemy. At that point, I hadn’t read any of Ursula’s writing, but soon knew I wanted to. My first was last year’s Nettle & Bone.

When the Kickstarter for a 10th Anniversary complete collection of Ursula’s webcomic Digger was announced, I immediately submitted my pledge for a copy…even though I had no idea what the story was about. My copy arrived in late 2022, but I wasn’t able to really get to reading it in earnest until a few days ago. I never new I could love a wombat, a little feral demon child, or a beat down and lonely hyena so much.

I didn’t read much more in 2022, but did add 4 more to the original 4 I posted about. These were read in June & July.

2022 Book 5: Love…One Lump or Two?

Not normally a book I would have picked up, this one was written/self published by a client. She shares some of the trails and tribulations she experienced after a divorce. Having known her for years, the book reads exactly likes she speaks, so I heard her voice in my head the whole time. A fair number of funny stories, albeit in need of an editor to help with a lack of punctuation and a lot of repetitive phrases.

She’s donating all proceeds to charity.

2022 Book: 6 Wren’s Quest

One of my Friends of the Library book sale finds. It had been on my TBR pile for a number of years, and I finally picked it up to take along in the car to read when I’d be waiting at appointments or for our carry out to be ready. I didn’t realize it was part of a series, but it was fine as a stand alone.

2022 Book 7 The Lovely & The Lost

2022 Book 8 The Wonderous & The Wicked

After reading the first of this Trilogy in 2021, I was interested enough to order these from an online used bookstore. Yes, I picked up the first at a library sale without noticing it was a series. I do that a lot 😅.

2022 Book 1 The boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse

By Charlie Macksey

I received this lovely little illustrated book as a gift from my MIL at Christmas. I set it aside for a few weeks (as I had just started reading book 2 on this list). It literally took me just about 10 minutes to finish, but then I spent another 20 going back to admire the illustrations while reading it again.

2022 Book 2 Foxfire, Wolfskin, and other stories of shapeshifting women

By Sharon Blackie

I searched out this book after hearing an interview with the author last November on the podcast To The Best of Out Knowledge. I wanted to read it bad enough that I ordered a copy because my library didn’t have it available locally or through the interlibrary loan service. It’s a wonderful selection of short stories, most based on European myths and fairy tales.

2022 Book 3 Dragons of a Different Tail

By 17 different, very talented storytellers.

A collection of not-quite-your-run-of-the-mill dragon tales. With stories set in a variety of times and places, the stories in this were fun, quick reads. I have a favorite, but I’m biased as I’ve known one of the authors for a number of years. She was so excited to tell me about the project, I couldn’t wait to order my own copy. It didn’t disappoint.

2022 Book 4 Nettle and Bone

By T. Kingfisher

This is my first Kingfisher. It will not be my last. In no great surprise to anyone who knows me well, when I heard this book described as a fairytale with a twist, I preordered it the day it became available. I was hooked from page 1 and finished reading it in two sittings over a weekend. Heart tugging and funny. 5 stars!