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books read: 2025 december
Well, due to the possibly impending loss of LJ, I did import meiface@LJ to this account, which has overwritten my profile and tags. So be it. (Oh, the years of history are probably worth it.) Also created a mirror of my writing comm, chineseink, to save all that fic I never bothered to upload to AO3. Will I now? Eh.
Meanwhile, it's back to work tomorrow so slowly dragging my mentality back out of tropey cnovels and into caring about the real world. But there's still so many things I want to read!
Meanwhile, it's back to work tomorrow so slowly dragging my mentality back out of tropey cnovels and into caring about the real world. But there's still so many things I want to read!
- The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews - Sci-fi in the near future! A mid-to-late 40s female protagonist with kids! As always with this author, there's an immersive and creative worldbuilding, badass main character with interesting fight scenes/weapons, and interesting non-human characters. Not one of my favorites of theirs, but even when it's not a fave the writing and world and characters are a reliable fun time.
- Equality is a Struggle: Bulletins from the Front Line, 2021-2025 by Thomas Piketty - The first (long) essay is his case for ecological socialism, and the rest are shorter essays -- reproductions of his essays from various global papers over the past 4 years. I don't disagree with his case, but the economic arguments are harder for me to digest (from a statistics and numbers point of view, since I feel like I am wired more toward the moral and philosophical argument). Worth reading though!
- The Forty Elephants by Erin Beldsoe - A fictionalized take on the real girl gang of London that stole jewels; much less heist-focused than family and character focused. I liked the story it as trying to tell, including the messy dynamics of family, the girl gang members, the relationship with the male gangs, but the prose itself was lacking. More descriptive writing (of places! clothes! people!) would have served this better in terms of anchoring it more to the setting.
- My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren't Wicked Vol 1 by Otsuji - A silly trope subversion played over and over for laughs/warm and fuzzy feelings. A poor daughter finds out her rich stepmother and stepsisters, despite looking cold and/or mean, are actually really excited to welcome her to the family and love her.
- My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren't Wicked Vol 2 by Otsuji - Volume 2 of above; still cute but I don't know how I can possibly do more volumes of this. But a fun two books.
- America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee - Audiobook. From the Irish, Italians, and Germans to the Chinese laborers, Mexicans, Japanese internment, and more -- covered many things I knew but linked together with more depth. As a country, we've been saying some of the same things we're hearing today for literal centuries. Infuriating, enlightening, and a reminder that this "nation of immigrants" is also relatively recent rhetoric; we have been a nation against (the right kind of) immigrants for much longer.
- Miss Kim Knows: And Other Stories by Cho Nam-Joo - From the author of Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 but it's a collection of short stories about contemporary women in Korea. I really loved it! The different viewpoints of women of all ages, the different issue they were dealing with (aging parents, or growing older themselves and pursuing their own dreams besides family, gaslighting boyfriends, sexism in the workplace) were interesting and moving and thought-provoking in different ways. Reminder of the diversity of experiences within any one country and culture that can often be homogenized or flattened by generalizations and stereotypes from the outside.
- Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-reum - An impulse buy from indie bookstore Writer's Block in Las Vegas. Translated from Korean, a series of short essays about how the author loves to read, how she reads, and how she relates to books. It just really clicked for me, in that her view is very similar to what mine is -- now, after years of only reading cozy fantasy, mystery, and Regency romance. There's value in reading bestsellers, in niche things, in your spare time, on purpose. I still feel like I am not well read in much of the "classics" or even well-regarded literary authors, but there's still room to grow and explore. As long was we are getting value of it -- however we personally define that value, which for me include escapism, comfort, challenge, new perspectives, being validated/seen, etc.
- Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - A reread and I loved it even more than before. I used to find parts of the beginning an absolute chore because it's before the romantic shenanigans take place, but it really is so funny while establishing character dynamics. This family is full of people who can't stand each other! But Kitty and Freddy remain the delight that carry the book, Kitty with her naivete but kind heart. Lord Ledgerwood always a delight in his few scenes.
- A Man and His Cat Picture Book: Fukumaru and the Spaceship of Happiness by Umi Sakrai - A Christmas gift! Sweet and funny, with random cat-like aliens.
- The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club is a comfort to return to! I like to see them grow and evolve in their relationships. The mystery felt a little contrived but it mostly served as an excuse to further spend time with the characters as they continued in their life journey in grief/joy/etc.
- How Could I Lose to Him by Mo Xi Ke - m/m cnovel - Two high schools are merging, and two school bullies/rivals eventually overcome their enmity to become friends and then doubles tennis partners. There is actually a lot of tennis! The relationship evolution was slow and I liked their overall dynamic/believed they were into each other. Ah the "completely weird about each other and everyone else just accepts this" dynamic I enjoy. I was also rooting for the background couple, but in the end the author wrote them a bit too "slap slap kiss kiss" for my personal tastes.
- Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity by Soo Jin Lee, Linda Yoon - Had one of the authors come in person in April to speak to students about AAPI identity and mental health. The book had good personal stories, a compassionate and intersectional framework, and thoughtful journal prompts I need to revisit and like...do.
- Don't Hide From Me by Xian Jin - m/m cnovel - Well, this is a mixed review because it's an extremely tropey "extremely codependent and weird about each other/you're my only exception" vibe, but it relies heavily on homophobia ("we're not gay we just love each other" at least for one character). The angst and reverse chase is nice, though.
- Dawning #1 by Ice/Bing Kuai'er - m/m cnovel in published paperback form, with a dominant CEO/celebrity pairing, except they're also bitter exes who hate each other but still have feelings for each other, and of course everything was a misunderstanding... Dramatic and sooo delicious in terms of angsty/angry sex + yearning + eventual reconciliation. Very explicit sex scenes, a good mix of D/s during sex and tender moments elsewhere. I think the "never had anyone but you" was unnecessary to prove true love but this genre does love that. Really liked the MC's best friend, will go read his story later.
- Dawning #2 by Ice/Bing Kuai'er - Ditto to all above.
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