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Whitney FI

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Whitney FI’s best-reads-2026 shelf

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

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Whitney FI’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (379)
currently-reading‎ (5)
read‎ (437)
did-not-finish‎ (11)
non-fiction‎ (107)
audiobook‎ (89)
sci-fi‎ (80)
horror‎ (70)
memoirs‎ (51)

classics‎ (50)
ya-kids‎ (48)
well-read-bc‎ (42)
curious-minds-bc‎ (32)
page-to-screen‎ (27)
school‎ (25)
short-stories-essays‎ (20)
favorites‎ (19)
the-cup‎ (18)

gift‎ (15)
poetry‎ (14)
graphic-novel‎ (13)
gothic‎ (12)
rereads‎ (10)
timeout‎ (10)
made-me-cry‎ (9)
read-again‎ (8)
absolute-nonsense‎ (7)

best-reads-2026‎ (7)
grimm-readers‎ (7)
birthday-book‎ (5)
cookbooks‎ (5)
prof-dev‎ (2)
giveaway‎ (0)

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Whitney FI is Currently Reading

Whitney FI is currently reading

Wild Dark Shore

by Charlotte McConaghy

bookshelves: made-me-cry, well-read-bc, currently-reading, rereads

Reading for the 2nd time

read in April 2025

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Whitney FI said: " When I was seven years old, I was put in charge of watching my infant brother while my mother took a shower and dried her hair. I was playing with him, and he got excited, and he slammed his head into metal bar at the base of the couch. What resulted When I was seven years old, I was put in charge of watching my infant brother while my mother took a shower and dried her hair. I was playing with him, and he got excited, and he slammed his head into metal bar at the base of the couch. What resulted was a trip to the emergency room, and a permanent scar that is still visible on his head nearly 40 years later.

It also resorted into a lot of anger from my mother, who accused me of picking him up, dropping him, and lying about it. I still don't think she believes me, even though my story hasn't changed. I carried a lot of guilt about that. Through adult eyes I look back and think, though, I was only 7. I was a baby myself. It also didn't stop my parents from putting both younger siblings in my care at too young an age, and being told constantly how I wasn't doing a good enough job, or making the correct choices.

I cannot fathom what it would have done to me or the dynamic of my family if my brother had died in my care.

Now that I am a mother, I can understand sometimes we don't have good choices. We make do, but we worry constantly. I have taken a shower while my baby laid in a bouncer right outside the tub, with me looking out every few seconds to make sure he hasn't fallen out.

I say all this, because the motherhood themes of this book deeply resonated with me.

Beyond that, what I loved about the story was, firstly, the beautiful poetic prose! I love an expertly written book. The characters felt very flawed and real to me. There was a point when I sent a text to a friend and asked of one character "Why would he do this??!!" as if he was a real person. Because all too often (heavy sigh) I am questing the decisions of actual people in the same way, which is a testament to the storytelling.

But what I loved most, is it addressed the very real fear of climate change, that did not allow for placated comfort, but for hope if we can change, learn, and grow - Orly's seed intelligence. The beauty and brutality of the nature we make, whether that is in the wild, in ourselves, in those we love, in the ghosts of the violence and trauma that haunt us.

My favorite part:

I look at this whale's skin, all the scratches and the barnacles I can recall so clearly in my mind. I place a flat hand on her body and I try to feel the beat of her heart.

"I washed up on the beach," I tell her softly. "My body was brought here by the sea and lived. Yours will too."

Her eyelid falls closed and in this moment she seems so weary. But it opens again, and she looks at me and I know why.

"What do you want me to tell it?" I ask her, but I already know.

I don't want to go to the baby. I can't bear the thought of it, have been trying to pretend it's not even here. But I think this mother needs me to and I think I would do anything for her. So I walk over to this smaller whale and I place my hand gently on its head, near its open eye that is looking at me. "Little one," I say softly, "you are not alone." ...more "

progress:

(page 1 of 298)
"We'll see if this holds up as well the second time around." — 44 minutes ago

Apr 26, 2025 06:01PM · see review

Whitney FI is currently reading

Trad Wife

by Sarah Langan (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, audiobook, horror

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progress:

(43%)
"Jesus worm?" — 41 minutes ago

Oct 26, 2026 11:31AM

Whitney FI is currently reading

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

by Stephen Graham Jones (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: horror, currently-reading, grimm-readers

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Oct 22, 2026 01:11PM

See all 5 books that Whitney FI is reading…

Whitney FI’s Notes & Highlights

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

44 highlights

The parties at the Tuñóns’ house always ended unquestionably late, and since the hosts enjoyed costume parties in particular, it was not unusual to see Chinas Poblanas with their folkloric skirts and ribbons in their hair arrive in the ...more

See Whitney FI’s 107 books with notes and highlights…

Whitney FI’s Quotes

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer

tags: inspirational, talent

8202 likes

“A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.”
― Oscar Wilde

tags: belief, death, ideals, martyr, truth

8226 likes

“The body apologizes to the soul for its errors, and the soul asks forgiveness for squatting in the body without invitation.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

235 likes

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays, Vol. II: 1926-1929

tags: fact, ignorance, truth

10574 likes

“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

tags: books, morality, reading, writing

7484 likes

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