June Reading Roundup!
Jun. 28th, 2023 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kpopwinemomHalfway through the year, I thought I'd take the time to discuss the books I've been reading this year!
At the start of the year I had a pile of 24ish nonfiction books I intended to read. I read a few! But after I starting working at the bookshop, my priorities changed. Now, I'm mostly reading pre-release ARCS and other recent releases we have in the store to help sell books. You'll notice as this list goes, the releases get more and more recent for that reason!
Secondly, while I didn't set out to read a ton of manga...I have been reading so much manga. Mostly trashy BLs, but a few good ones, too! This was my nonfiction break reads, but then I remembered there were a few I loved...and also just started having fun picking up trashy plastic wrapped volumes at the local bookshop where my in-store credit nets me free books.
So here is what I actually have ended up reading this year, as of June 20th, 2023.
Actual Books
Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy by Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano
This is a nonfiction book about the Paradise forest fires. Very well written and heart wrenching, I highly recommend it!
Bias by Lucy Gold
I have to admit self-pub idol romances are my guilty pleasure. I gobble them up like potato chips. That being said I literally remember nothing from this book. I think it was probably fine.
The Fortune Cookie by Jennifer 8 Lee
The second nonfiction book I read this year, this is about the history of American Chinese food, and a look at the culture of Chinese food in America! This was really interesting, and I enjoyed reading it.
Knot My Type by Evie Mitchell
This was so bad and I recommend it to no one. Sex therapist and accessible sex podcast host gets a question about how to do accessible rope play and to answer the question, she has to take a rope play course...and falls in love with the teacher. And then the rope play is just. Dropped completely. And that was the theme of the whole book: plot points were brought up, we're told they are important, and then dropped completely. I hated this.
Idol Burning by Rin Usami
The first book for T. Herman's kpop book club! Very interesting look at jpop fandom culture and how fans can both use it to cope with their day to day life and also how it hinders them.
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
Loved this book. Fascinating snapshot of being a millenial gay man in SK!
The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power
This book took me three years to read but in the end it was worth it. It's Sam's autobio, from growing up in Ireland to then moving to the USA after her mom's divorce, through her career. It's a fascinating take of one woman's life and her efforts to make the US, her adopted country, one she's proud of.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
This book is SO weird. I highly recommend it, it will take you an hour. Murata explores the effect of sexual trauma and family abandonment on one young woman and takes it to an absolutely insane ending. Very good and thought-provoking. I also loved her book Convenience Store Woman, which I read a few years ago!
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
Queer YA. After his twin sister dies in a horrific accident, Mars asks to go back to the very gender segregated camps they spent their childhood to unravel what went wrong. This book is SO good, soooo spooky and fun to read in the summer! Another book I tore through.
My Big Fake Wedding by Jessica Hatch
I read this bc I know the author and think she is lovely, but the book didn't click for me. Cute romcom about a young woman who wins a wedding after her fiance leaves her...and can't pass up a good deal.
Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens
Queer YA. SO cute, the first ARC I read for work. It took me a while to get their voices but both MCs were precious, and the story was a gripping and contained fantasy novel.
I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel
Kids' picture book I read for the library contest. About trans activist Jazz Jennings. It's cute, I know I was cheating here but it fit the category qualifications so.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Adult romance. Me and Talia Hibbert don't jive. I didn't hate this book but I didn't love it either, a perfectly fine book I can acknowledge was just Not For Me!
My Summer in Seoul by Rachel Van Dyken
Self-pub Kpop romance. This book was DEEPLY unreal. The whole time I was reading it I was just taking screenshots like WTF is going on. Nothing made sense.
Heaven Official's Blessing #4 by MXTX
I wish this series had a better translator. The sentences are soooo clunky and are really contributing to why I'm dragging through these books. The story is good but the reading isn't smooth.
China in Ten Words by Yu Hua
Another one of my intended nonfic reads! This talks about modern China and the words that are most important. Really interesting read, and made me think about the different types of media literacy in China and the US.
Yellowface by RF Kuang
Another book I had an advanced reader copy of. It just simply didn't work for me. The mc felt like a 2D villain, and I wish she had been a bit more complex or a bit more evil. This is supposed to be a satire, but to me it felt mostly like ID reading, to satisfy a craving. It simply didn't go hard enough to make any incisive commentary at all. I think it says a lot that it's supposed to be a cutting take at the publishing industry...and the publishing industry loves it.
Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald
CUTE and fun wlw romance! Our MC wants to be a cinematographer but is stuck in a job she hates with a boss that hates her, and she's just realized she's queer. But Sexy Starlett might help her with both. VERY fun, and a great summer beach read.
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Modern Pride and Prejudice retelling where one of the guys is a former star of the bachelor, one of the sisters is a yoga instructor, and the runaway lover is a trans man. This book is popcorn. It's so fat and you can finish it in one hour. I loved it.
Game Changers by Rachel Reid
Book 1 in a gay hockey series! Our MC is stuck at a barista job but his new customer is Sexy Hockey player. Um, when will a sexy female hockey player show up at my bookstore and romance me off my feet? Very jealous. This was a fun and sexy read!
Happy Place by Emily Henry
This year's Emily Henry! Her writing is really improving. I liked this one a lot: a group of friends get together one last time at the cabin they've always vacationed at, but things aren't as they seem - for one, our mc and her fiance broke it off six months ago, and now have to pretend they are still together. Fun and sweet, I really loved this story about how friendships change as we grow up!
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Sexy hockey book 2, about two closeted hockey players who have been hooking up for years. Their relationship was steamy but the pacing of the novel was WILD. I liked book 1 better! I have heard great things about the rest of the series though.
Killingly by Katharine Beutner
I did NOT intend to read this but a rainy day at the store when I forgot my novel found me picking this up, and by the time I had access to my other books I was hooked. Killingly explores what might have happened to a girl who actually went missing in late 19th century MA, and the things women and queer people do to fit in and make their lives liveable. SO good.
Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
A yummy atmospheric thriller about what happens to a close knit neighborhood community when two of their own die a suspicious death. Easy breezy beach read!
Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
Historical fiction about a female doctor in fifteenth century China. This book was inspired by a real woman, and it was SO well written and researched. It was so fascinating to read, and so compelling to see Lady Tan grow into herself. I want everyone I know to read this.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Very MEH on this buzzy romantic fantasy. Feyre annoyed me, and I wasn't all that into Tamlin, and I thought their chemistry was meh. Also this felt like two different books. I've been told book 2 is better, and I loved Rhysand, so I am hopeful. I'll pick it up eventually.
DNF
Y/N by Esther Yi
Absolute MESS of a novel. Beautiful turn of a phrase. No idea what she is trying to do.
I Like Me Better by Robby Weber
Queer YA. Again, I know the author. Nice guy. VERY juvenile book. Not for me, but great for young queer boys.
Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington
Absolutely brainless. This book makes no sense. It's genuinely incoherent.
In Progress
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Heaven Official's Blessing #5 by MXTX
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go by Cleo Qian
At The End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche (will probably DNF)
The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore
Short Stories
The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly by Alix E. Harrow
The Big Glass Box and The Boys Inside by Isabel J. Kim
The Narrative Implications of Your Untimely Death by Isabel J. Kim
You'll Understand When You're A Mom Someday by Isabel J. Kim
Zeta-Epsilon by Isabel J. Kim
Unknown Number by Azure_Husky
Calf Cleaving in the Benthic Black by Isabel J. Kim
Termination Stories for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Protagonist by Isabel J. Kim
Manga
Shounen Note vol. 1
Loveless vol. 1
Idol Dreams (Arina Tanemura) 1 & 2
Oshi No Ko vol. 1
Phantom of the Idol vol. 1
I've Become an Omega Today
Scattering his Virgin Bloom 1 & 2
The Dragon's Betrothed 1
I Didn't Mean to Fall In Love
At the start of the year I had a pile of 24ish nonfiction books I intended to read. I read a few! But after I starting working at the bookshop, my priorities changed. Now, I'm mostly reading pre-release ARCS and other recent releases we have in the store to help sell books. You'll notice as this list goes, the releases get more and more recent for that reason!
Secondly, while I didn't set out to read a ton of manga...I have been reading so much manga. Mostly trashy BLs, but a few good ones, too! This was my nonfiction break reads, but then I remembered there were a few I loved...and also just started having fun picking up trashy plastic wrapped volumes at the local bookshop where my in-store credit nets me free books.
So here is what I actually have ended up reading this year, as of June 20th, 2023.
Actual Books
Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy by Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano
This is a nonfiction book about the Paradise forest fires. Very well written and heart wrenching, I highly recommend it!
Bias by Lucy Gold
I have to admit self-pub idol romances are my guilty pleasure. I gobble them up like potato chips. That being said I literally remember nothing from this book. I think it was probably fine.
The Fortune Cookie by Jennifer 8 Lee
The second nonfiction book I read this year, this is about the history of American Chinese food, and a look at the culture of Chinese food in America! This was really interesting, and I enjoyed reading it.
Knot My Type by Evie Mitchell
This was so bad and I recommend it to no one. Sex therapist and accessible sex podcast host gets a question about how to do accessible rope play and to answer the question, she has to take a rope play course...and falls in love with the teacher. And then the rope play is just. Dropped completely. And that was the theme of the whole book: plot points were brought up, we're told they are important, and then dropped completely. I hated this.
Idol Burning by Rin Usami
The first book for T. Herman's kpop book club! Very interesting look at jpop fandom culture and how fans can both use it to cope with their day to day life and also how it hinders them.
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
Loved this book. Fascinating snapshot of being a millenial gay man in SK!
The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power
This book took me three years to read but in the end it was worth it. It's Sam's autobio, from growing up in Ireland to then moving to the USA after her mom's divorce, through her career. It's a fascinating take of one woman's life and her efforts to make the US, her adopted country, one she's proud of.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
This book is SO weird. I highly recommend it, it will take you an hour. Murata explores the effect of sexual trauma and family abandonment on one young woman and takes it to an absolutely insane ending. Very good and thought-provoking. I also loved her book Convenience Store Woman, which I read a few years ago!
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
Queer YA. After his twin sister dies in a horrific accident, Mars asks to go back to the very gender segregated camps they spent their childhood to unravel what went wrong. This book is SO good, soooo spooky and fun to read in the summer! Another book I tore through.
My Big Fake Wedding by Jessica Hatch
I read this bc I know the author and think she is lovely, but the book didn't click for me. Cute romcom about a young woman who wins a wedding after her fiance leaves her...and can't pass up a good deal.
Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens
Queer YA. SO cute, the first ARC I read for work. It took me a while to get their voices but both MCs were precious, and the story was a gripping and contained fantasy novel.
I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel
Kids' picture book I read for the library contest. About trans activist Jazz Jennings. It's cute, I know I was cheating here but it fit the category qualifications so.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Adult romance. Me and Talia Hibbert don't jive. I didn't hate this book but I didn't love it either, a perfectly fine book I can acknowledge was just Not For Me!
My Summer in Seoul by Rachel Van Dyken
Self-pub Kpop romance. This book was DEEPLY unreal. The whole time I was reading it I was just taking screenshots like WTF is going on. Nothing made sense.
Heaven Official's Blessing #4 by MXTX
I wish this series had a better translator. The sentences are soooo clunky and are really contributing to why I'm dragging through these books. The story is good but the reading isn't smooth.
China in Ten Words by Yu Hua
Another one of my intended nonfic reads! This talks about modern China and the words that are most important. Really interesting read, and made me think about the different types of media literacy in China and the US.
Yellowface by RF Kuang
Another book I had an advanced reader copy of. It just simply didn't work for me. The mc felt like a 2D villain, and I wish she had been a bit more complex or a bit more evil. This is supposed to be a satire, but to me it felt mostly like ID reading, to satisfy a craving. It simply didn't go hard enough to make any incisive commentary at all. I think it says a lot that it's supposed to be a cutting take at the publishing industry...and the publishing industry loves it.
Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald
CUTE and fun wlw romance! Our MC wants to be a cinematographer but is stuck in a job she hates with a boss that hates her, and she's just realized she's queer. But Sexy Starlett might help her with both. VERY fun, and a great summer beach read.
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Modern Pride and Prejudice retelling where one of the guys is a former star of the bachelor, one of the sisters is a yoga instructor, and the runaway lover is a trans man. This book is popcorn. It's so fat and you can finish it in one hour. I loved it.
Game Changers by Rachel Reid
Book 1 in a gay hockey series! Our MC is stuck at a barista job but his new customer is Sexy Hockey player. Um, when will a sexy female hockey player show up at my bookstore and romance me off my feet? Very jealous. This was a fun and sexy read!
Happy Place by Emily Henry
This year's Emily Henry! Her writing is really improving. I liked this one a lot: a group of friends get together one last time at the cabin they've always vacationed at, but things aren't as they seem - for one, our mc and her fiance broke it off six months ago, and now have to pretend they are still together. Fun and sweet, I really loved this story about how friendships change as we grow up!
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Sexy hockey book 2, about two closeted hockey players who have been hooking up for years. Their relationship was steamy but the pacing of the novel was WILD. I liked book 1 better! I have heard great things about the rest of the series though.
Killingly by Katharine Beutner
I did NOT intend to read this but a rainy day at the store when I forgot my novel found me picking this up, and by the time I had access to my other books I was hooked. Killingly explores what might have happened to a girl who actually went missing in late 19th century MA, and the things women and queer people do to fit in and make their lives liveable. SO good.
Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
A yummy atmospheric thriller about what happens to a close knit neighborhood community when two of their own die a suspicious death. Easy breezy beach read!
Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
Historical fiction about a female doctor in fifteenth century China. This book was inspired by a real woman, and it was SO well written and researched. It was so fascinating to read, and so compelling to see Lady Tan grow into herself. I want everyone I know to read this.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Very MEH on this buzzy romantic fantasy. Feyre annoyed me, and I wasn't all that into Tamlin, and I thought their chemistry was meh. Also this felt like two different books. I've been told book 2 is better, and I loved Rhysand, so I am hopeful. I'll pick it up eventually.
DNF
Y/N by Esther Yi
Absolute MESS of a novel. Beautiful turn of a phrase. No idea what she is trying to do.
I Like Me Better by Robby Weber
Queer YA. Again, I know the author. Nice guy. VERY juvenile book. Not for me, but great for young queer boys.
Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington
Absolutely brainless. This book makes no sense. It's genuinely incoherent.
In Progress
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Heaven Official's Blessing #5 by MXTX
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go by Cleo Qian
At The End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche (will probably DNF)
The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore
Short Stories
The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly by Alix E. Harrow
The Big Glass Box and The Boys Inside by Isabel J. Kim
The Narrative Implications of Your Untimely Death by Isabel J. Kim
You'll Understand When You're A Mom Someday by Isabel J. Kim
Zeta-Epsilon by Isabel J. Kim
Unknown Number by Azure_Husky
Calf Cleaving in the Benthic Black by Isabel J. Kim
Termination Stories for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Protagonist by Isabel J. Kim
Manga
Shounen Note vol. 1
Loveless vol. 1
Idol Dreams (Arina Tanemura) 1 & 2
Oshi No Ko vol. 1
Phantom of the Idol vol. 1
I've Become an Omega Today
Scattering his Virgin Bloom 1 & 2
The Dragon's Betrothed 1
I Didn't Mean to Fall In Love
