Gerbera Daisy Diaries: 2025

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Catherine Newman may be my new favorite author.
After Sandwich and Wreck, I read her first book, We All Want Impossible Things. It’s heartbreaking and emotional, and while I thought the main character, Ash, was incredibly selfish and destructive, I still loved the book.
But it’s definitely not for everyone.
*content warning for cancer death

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The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The ending was completely ridiculous.

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Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow - totally unexpected and entertaining, and yet a critical meditation on immigration, assimilation, racism, the roles we play, and being an American.

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Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5⭐
This is my first TJR - I'm the only reader who hasn't read either Daisy Jones or Evelyn Hugo.
I'm in the minority - but this was like a mash-up of the The Women and The Martian.
The ending was good.

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Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

May be one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read.

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Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Was this a literary Survivor reality book? Two writers called to an island to battle it out over a book?
With an alternative story mashup of the Hearsts, Buddy Holly, & Princess Diana?
I could have easily skipped the entirety of the Ives story and saved myself hours of reading.

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The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7 by Beth Brower
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Re-read 3.16.2025
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Islington’s illness
The letter
The Emma/Pierce consideration
The fortune teller
The foreshadowing (Pierce hurting Emma? Lady Silver?)
So much to love and contemplate.
On to Stonecrop.

10.2024
I think the impact of this series is greater reflecting on it as a whole, instead of it's individual parts.
I loved Emma, Hawkes, Islington, and Pierce more than any characters in recent memory. They truly felt like real people and I couldn't wait to see what escapades this quartet encountered.
I'm unsure when the next volume will be released - but will hold on to the memory of these characters until then.

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The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I especially loved how libraries are apart of a “serviceberry economy.”
I’ll be picking more berries next year.

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Good Material by Dolly Alderton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jen breaks up with Andy.
Andy doesn’t understand why.
He spends the rest of the novel trying to win het back and indulging in juvenile behavior.
The reader finally learns Jen’s side of the story - and that was the best part of the novel.

I read this because it was New York Times Best of 2024 Book. I’m not sure why. I almost DNFd. But glad I read Jen’s side of the story.

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Pages

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Friday, November 14, 2025

Monday, November 3, 2025

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Friday, July 25, 2025

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Monday, June 30, 2025

Monday, June 16, 2025

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Monday, June 9, 2025

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Monday, April 21, 2025

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Monday, March 31, 2025

Friday, March 28, 2025

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Monday, March 10, 2025

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Monday, March 3, 2025

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Thursday, January 2, 2025