books read: 2022 january

Somehow, it's February, and we survived this year's freeze in Texas -- though everyone clearly held on to anger, stress, and anxiety leftover from last year's power grid failures. (Well, deliberate rolling blackouts, but failure of bureaucratic preparedness.) Good thing they did nothing in the past year to fix anything! We just lucked out in the freeze not being as bad.

Celebrated Lunar New Year personally and at work, with our big festival. It was an exhausting but fun day to work, and now a quieter period as I try to focus on the things I find meaningful, worthwhile, when the world around me feels like it's on fire. I'm reading a lot for escapism. Hockey is also escapism in some ways, but hockey also makes me depressed and angry a lot given the people/league/fans that make up the sport, so really, again, reading for escapism.

The Winging It Holiday Special by Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James - A sweet little novella sequel to Winging It, featuring a Christmas setting and an established relationship. The tension comes from some strain one of the main characters is dealing with, which the audience and the love interest (understandably) think is about A Specific Issue but is actually about another. But not in a bad way! It was a mostly sweet reveal and feelgood holiday story.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman - Follow-up to The Thursday Murder Club, with our returning septuagenarians. Second books in a series often work for me because we've already been introduced to and are now invested in the group and their friendships! So was the case here, and I really do love them all in their own quirky ways. The murder mystery is fun but secondary to the relationships and felt a little thin in believability (almost silly) in the way a heist movie is.

Your Memes are Better Looking Than You by Mao Qiuqiu - The prequel to Your Scandals Are Way Cuter Than You, between an idol group member and a professional esports player (the older brother to the MC in the sequel). Cute but a little more uhhh manipulative regarding the relationship? Though all the characters are fine with it, it's not exactly acknowledged. In general, this was fun, but I liked the sequel better. Jiang Ying was a riot as a background character in this.

The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo - (Detective Kindachi series) I didn't know Japan loved its murder mysteries so much. I'm into it! Learn more about that cultural history with bonus murder mystery. Atmospheric in its village setting, with the lore of its murderous history, and hints of spiritualism but nothing outright supernatural. Fun enough that I'll check out others in the series.

Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide vol 1 by Mone Sorai - A BL travelogue, except I'm not sure I'm sold on the relationship. It's only volume 1 so I assume there will be character/relationship growth, but right now I'm not sold. The visits are nice but kind of quick/surface-level. I did like the stop in Georgia though, mostly because I don't know as much about it and getting to see some of the food/culture being highlighted was nice. May check out the next volume, but may not purchase...

Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en & Julia Lovell - It's been ages since I've seen Journey to the West, so I wanted to read the full translation! Well, the full thing is four volumes long. This is a newly released translation with thoughtful explanatory notes about what was cut and the approach to translation to best capture the essence of the stories. It read really fast and was really entertaining, and almost everything was familiar from my childhood, so I'd say a job well done. I may purchase a copy to keep around; it's a classic.

A Quiet Life in the Country by T. E. Kinsey - (Lady Hardcastle #1) Looking for a cozy mystery series, this follows a gentlewoman/lady and her maid (who has secret martial art skills) after they kind of retire from a life of espionage to the country. But still end up solving murders! A fun cast, and absolutely unrealistic dynamic between classes, but I nonetheless enjoy it as a cozy comfort read.

The Kaepernick Effect by Dave Zirin - Focusing far less on Colin Kaepernick himself, but rather the athletes across the country who were inspired by him to also stand up for racial justice -- either by themselves, with their team's support, or without. Lots of really interesting stories from high school, college, and professional levels, with some more heartwarming and others more heartwrenching. Lots of backlash. Lots of grown adults and parents acting like absolute inhuman garbage toward teenagers.

A Will to Kill by R. V. Raman - (Athreya #1) First book in a new mystery series by an Indian author featuring an Indian sleuth! The murder wasn't bad, probably on par with Christie's weaker ones, and I can see the similar framing with a house party cast of potential murderers. But the prose was a struggle and oftentimes a distraction. I will probably still give the next book in the series a shot, though; it's nice to see how authors outside the stereotypical Anglophone countries tackle these common tropes. (Though this book was not translated but written in English.)

Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow - A memoir that is also almost narrative fiction with the construction of the mother in the author's mind. I wasn't sure I would like this, but I did. It's always an interesting exercise in seeing parts of my own life and self in other Asian Americans' experiences, and seeing which parts absolutely were so different. For instance, we've never celebrated LNY religiously, burning incense or joss paper. It was also interesting to see her father -- someone I resented on her behalf and a familiar figure in my experience in the community, though a total opposite in many ways of my own dad.

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman - I forgot how I came across this book but it might have come from someone who was reccing the worldbuilding, which I mostly enjoyed though I still spent a lot of time mapping to real-world partners. I liked specific unique details such as the fixation on horses (and the loss of them) and the in-world explanation given for women in so many positions of power. I have doubt about any plan for saving the world that revolves around putting the "correct" person on the throne though. But there was a great blind cat I loved a lot and which did not die!! Very important.

With This Ring by Carla Kelly - A sweet historical romance -- regency, I think, but far less typical in that it didn't focus much on London or the ton. A wonderful growing relationship between a girl with more strength and grace than her family could ever recognize, and a lord who proves his worth in battle and by caring for his men as people. It's very Cinderella-esque characters where the good are met and rewarded with good, and indulges in the woobieness of good, maligned characters being rescued lovingly from OTT situations, but I enjoyed the couple's real love/respect for each other. A delicious bit of emotional angst at the end too before the happy ending, hah.

Resorting to Murder by Martin Edwards - A collection of short murder mysteries from Golden Age authors as part of the British Crime Library, all around the theme of being killed on holiday (e.g., at a resort). They were...fine. Largely forgettable.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - A short novella set in a idyllic futuristic world where a monk still needs to go on a journey to find themself, and meets a robot who helps them figure it out...kinda? Like, it's not depression, but they just need to find the meaning of life and also accept that part of the meaning is the journey? Pretty feelgood, somewhat pointed around the message of the meaning of life and purpose of existence and mental health. I felt slightly lectured to, but in a nice cozy scifi atmosphere.

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - An essay which seems like it should be obvious? But it is not, because I am a feminist and many, many people are not. We flinch less from the word and descriptor than before, though.

Without Reservations by J. L. Langley - (With or Without #1) I'm a sucker for m/m werewolf mates...in that regard, this met those expectations and I liked the dynamic of the characters, despite the instalove (necessitated by the soulmate trope, to be fair). The inherent heterosexuality of one of the MC's was played for angst for all of like 3 chapters, before everyone was very happily engaging in m/m sex acts, but they tried! And the plot was kind of a soap opera, the secondary characters were more archetypes than fleshed out, the prose was pretty rough, but it all falls within the general scope of what I expect. That said, the biggest hurdle for me was the twinky blond MC being called Bit, Bits, etc. and I could not fucking get away from Check Please!'s Bitty, who is, well, not my fave. I'm actually looking forward to the second book in the series, though, because that's more of an antagonistic couple dynamic, which I'm more interested in.

In the Market for Murder by T. E. Kinsey - (Lady Hardcastle #2) Still a quaint, charming village murder! The police would never be this kind to amateur detectives butting into their crime-solving, especially when they're two women, but I like the idyllic escapism of this series.

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun - Translated from Korean, billed kind of as a murder that needs solving but far more literary in the exploration of guilt, grief, and trauma that follows a murder. Told from the perspective of a few different people over the course of the 13 years since the murder. There's no in-text explicit resolution of who did it, but it's strongly implied, and really, that's not the point. I thought it was an interesting story but in many ways the girl who was killed felt more like a stand-in for the other characters' reactions than a real person on her own.

The Best Men by Sarina Bowen & Lauren Blakely - I really liked Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy's partnership in writing Him and Us, but alas this m/m story not only fell short for me, it also made me actively dislike the characters. Not for me. It made me hate Miami and also New York and also weddings. Also not enough emotional tension! (There never is.)

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman - The inauguration poem, still beautiful, but I really think the power of her delivery made it unforgettable. Reading the words is not quite the same (though interesting to see in ebook format which lines people highlighted the most; they're not necessarily what I would have).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I DNF'd The Thursday Murder Club last year but I'm thinking it may have been the wrong time for the book rather than the book itself.

Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow seems interesting! Will see if available.

Sometimes a DNF is worth returning to for another shot, but sometimes I think about all the other books waiting on my TBR list... But trying not to see it like a checklist, and more just finding something to enjoy (which can be a previous DNFed book, at the right time).

books read: 2022 january

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