books read: 2025 january

[meitachi]

A busy mid January through mid February, but I have a breather now. I can catch up on doing the recap of my January reading.

1. Village School by Miss Read - (Fairacre #1) Charming little historical novel set in the English countryside at a village school (per the title). A small schoolhouse and the adventures if its teacher and residents. I am too accustomed to reading historical mystery novels in this setting, so I spent numerous chapters waiting for someone to be pronounced dead. No one died. But this is not so interesting that I am very likely to continue the series, given all the other things I have to read (and reread).



2. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher - It was a nice little fairy tale exploration only very loosely inspired by The Goose Girl. The comparison probably does this story more harm than good. I liked the two female leads: a young girl going through it and needing to find her bravery, as is typical of fairy tales, and a middle-aged woman who knows her own mind and desires. More a story of courting and manipulation than magic, imo; it's really the human relationships that get things done...



3. The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer - A reread of a delightful pair of siblings and their crossdressing adventures. Everything is so easy and fun and sometimes you need that! There is a simple villain, their father is hilarious, and it's all just a grand adventure with a happy ending.



4. A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict by Ilan Pappe - Exactly as billed. The reality of history is it makes you think a simple presentation of facts feels biased because it seems so insane, what has been allowed to happen to Palestinians not just over the past couple years but decades. I suppose our understanding of history is always impacted by which facts we select to share as part of that historical narrative. Written by an Israeli historian and academic.



5. Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang - Beautiful, beautiful art with a Clark and Lois I adore. An all-American immigrant story that highlights Chinese Americans finding a place in Metropolis and contrasts it with Clark's coming-to-terms of his own origin story, and how a community can be swept up in KKK rhetoric -- and how to stand against it. Just absolutely lovely, compelling storytelling, characters, and art.



6. What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol 1 by Fumi Yoshinaga - I remember this mangaka and enjoying some of her other works. Picked this up at a really cute food-centered bookstore in Buffalo (Read It and Eat). The food is extremely Japanese (delicious! but limited in a way). The relationship is extremely...tropey of a time, where the two characters are wildly opposite who almost don't seem to like each other. Not my vibe these days.



7. Get the Picture by Bianca Bosker - On my to read list for a while -- the author jumps headfirst into Art and galleries and sales and donors and artists, trying to understand this impenetrable and often extremely elitist market. It had a great arc of starting with the most obnoxious and pretentious aspect of gallerists and shows, to those who are more openly enthusiastic about art and connecting it with real people, not just Collectors, then exploring an actual artists' perspective by working with them in studio, and interrogating how someone is supposed to Get art, who is its purpose, and so on. As someone with tangential exposure to artists and art through Asia Society, who values cool stuff artists do and how they talk about it, I did like to see the journey end on appreciating art. I did also like the eye-opening callouts of how Pretentious on Purpose a lot of the art world is, though, especially only caring about New York, Paris, and London. A lot of this world is absolutely insufferable.



8. Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo - A series of short stories of a young woman finding her way in Beijing after leaving her home village. I just like perspective of women in contemporary Asia! What does it mean to find yourself? An age-old question many have wrestled with across centuries of literature.



9. The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre - When a little old lady semi-accidentally becomes an integral part of an international crime network via her job and the people she meets. Always enjoyable to see how it happens and how she is underestimated. Short and punchy, and a refreshing look at modern-day France, a place I don't read much about.



10. Rental House by Weike Wang - Chinese American daughter of immigrants, a white American husband, and all the baggage that comes from juggling expectations and judgments and well-meaning behavior from both sets of parents, society, and self. Some uncomfortably relatable moments, because while every relationship (and individual baggage) is different, oh boy, there sure are enough similar threads running through this book and its primary relationship to make you wince a little and reflect on your own life.

The snow doesn't stop! It's beautiful and cold and I am tired of cleaning snow off my car constantly. But winter persists...couple more months, probably.