Category: Monthly reading

Posted on

June 2026 Book Blog

Rather a light reading month for me. I was busy.

Books Reread

The cover of Rapture of the Deep shows a girl in a swimming costume diving for treasure at the bottom of the ocean.
Harcourt Children’s Books

Rapture of the Deep by L.A. Meyer
Bloody Jack book 7 of 12
Continuing my re-listen of this series. In this installment, Jacky is tasked by British Intelligence to use the brand-new scientific intstrument, the diving bell to recover Spanish gold lost off the Florida Keys. As usual, full of memorable characters and fun hijinks. There isn’t a bad book in this series, but I think this one is not my favorite. The pirates of the Caribbean stuff is good though. I do love Jacky and Jaimy’s starcrossed love, but I also think Jaimy is not my favorite of Jacky’s league of devoted men.
4.5/5 moray eels

New Books Read

The cover of Light of the Jedi shows four Jedi, two human, one Wookie, one Twi’lek, brandishing lightsabers and looking noble while star cruisers fly overhead
Del Rey

The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
The High Republic book 1 of 8 (the novels, not the graphic novels)
CW: death
This book scratched the itch I had to live in the world of Star Wars when the Jedi were in their golden age. This is the first book of the High Republic series. There are lots of helpful reading order guides if you were also overwhelmed when looking at the list of Star Wars novels. When a transport ship carrying immigrants to the Outer Rim collides in the hyperlane, remnants of the ship are thrown out of hyperspace at light speed. Before the emergencies can decimate several Outer Rim systems, the Jedi must do what they can to help and figure out how this catastrophe happened. I enjoyed this. It has the feel of the movies, where you’re following several groups of characters and hopping around. You can almost imagine the screen wipe transitions between chapters. I enjoyed getting to meet new Jedi, especially the non human ones. The ensemble cast did make it a little hard to really fall in love with any one character, though I did like them all. I did think more Jedi died than needed to. We’ve already seen that in Episode III. I don’t need more of that. I did really like whenever they said “We are all the Republic;” just makes me feel nice in this era of political division.
3.75/5 lightsabers

The cover of The Fifth Season shows a stonework carving of leaves and spirals

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin***
**Book Hangover Alert
Broken Earth Trilogy book 1 of 3
CW: abuse, manipulation, murder of children, prejudice
Incredible. I don’t know how to blurb this book, so I’m going to let you read the back cover copy when you go buy it. Or don’t even bother, because the back cover copy doesn’t really do it justice either–just read it. Fascinating world and innovative magic system. Super interesting use of 2nd person POV. Pacing and unfolding of the narrative was very well done. Super ready for the next one. Luckily, they’re all out.
5/5 stones

The cover of Godkiller shows a stag lifting his antlers before the moon, as a twisted tree trunk grows to pierce the animal in the breast
HarperCollins

Godkiller by Hanna Kaner***
Fallen Gods book 1 of 3
CW: death of parents
I wanted to like this more. I’ve been meaning to read it for a long time because I absolutely love the cover. And it’s possible that reading it during and after I finished The Fifth Season made me like it less by comparisson. In a world filled with as many gods as their are worshippers, but in a country where god’s are outlawed, a Godkiller attempts to help a child who is bound to a god. I felt the POVs weren’t very strongly differentiated. It felt like the author had written it in omnicient third person and then was told they had to change it to limited third and label all the chapters. I think the omnicient third could have worked, but because each chapter was labeled with a character’s name, I was annoyed when we head hopped or when I forgot whose head I was supposed to be in. I also thought Elo had way more chemistry with the king than with Kissen. Loved the disability rep. Thought the world was interesting, but I don’t know, it just fell a little flat for me.
3.5/5 shrines

The cover of I’m Glad My Mom is Dead shows a young white woman (Jennette McCurdy) in a pink suit holding a pink urn. Her expression is like “sorry, not sorry"
Simon & Schuster

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy***
CW: eating disorders, abuse, grooming
Very difficult to put down. I feel like I need to create a little Venn diagram of the themes of memoirs I’ve read. This one hits on childhood fame and Hollywood, eating disorders, abusive parents, and grief of losing one’s mother. Former child actress and star of iCarly, Jennette McCurdy explores her feelings after the death of her mother, untangling complicated feelings of love and grief and realizing the abuse she suffered. The vignette style had punch and kept me reading, but felt slightly disjointed at times. I would be interested to know if Jennette ever spoke more with her father or her brothers about her mom’s behavior and impact on their homelife growing up. I was shocked (as I always am in memoirs like these) that no one stepped in or stepped up or seemed to recognize the abuse happening. Why did they let Jennette’s mom behave like this for so long? So many people failed her.
4.5/5 therapists

The cover of The Subtle Art of folding Space shows layers of universes as a box of dim sum as it appears in our universe, shifting through different permutations through space
Tor Books

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu***
This was a really fun little sci-fi. Maintainer of the physics of the multiverse, Ellie discovers a secret cabal of Maintainers trying to alter physics and thereby rule it. I won’t pretend I followed the stuff about physics. But I really enjoyed Ellie and Daniel and his creating food out thin air. And really the story was about Ellie’s relationship with her sister, not physics.
3.75 skunkworks

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Fifth Season for a classic of the fantasy genre written by one of the greats, who happens to be a Black woman. Read Godkiller for excellent disability rep including ambulatory wheelchair users, amputees, and Deaf indivudals. Read I’m Glad My Mom Died because I think it will make you more empathetic. Read The Subtle Art of Folding Space for queer and Asian rep in sci-fi.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

May 2026 Books Read

Books Reread

On the Cover of My Bonny Light Horseman, a soldier dressed in a French uniform falls off the back of their horse. More soldiers follow behind brandishing weapons
Harcourt Children’s Books

My Bonny Light Horseman by L.A. Meyer
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 6 of 12
Continuing my reread of this series. This is one of my favorites out of the series. In this book, Jacky is recruited as a spy by British Intelligence. She’s back in disguise, this time as a messenger in Napoleon’s army. Just as charming and full of hijinks as the other books in the series. I’m particularly fond of her French Clodhoppers and Captain Bardot.
5/5 legions of honor

The cover of Dungeon Crawler Carl shows a man in a leather jacket and boxer shorts and a Persian cat running away from a goblin driving a bulldozer at them

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl book 1 of 8
I made my dad start listening to this on a road trip we did to Missouri. He liked it, but thought there were too many rules and things to remember. I won’t review it again. But you can refer to my original review here.
4.5/5 achievements

The cover of A Wrinkle in Time shows three children in what looks like a blue egg. Breaking out of the top of the egg is a strange winged creature
Yearling Newbery

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle*
If you had asked me if I remembered this book, I would have said not really. But then I relistened to it and I actually remembered basically all of it. It’s a weird one, but a good one. It’s a classic for a reason. Meg Murray and her prodigy brother Charles Wallace must travel across space and time to rescue their father. The novel deals with authoritarianism, assimilation, coming of age, and more.
5/5 beasts

New Books Read

The cover of We Fell Apart shows the hazy silhouette of a girl on a colorful background

We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart*
We Were Liars book 3 of 3
CW: Institutionalization
Though these books technically all stand alone, I would still read them in publication order. When Matilda receives an email from her famous and estranged father, whom she has never met, she travels to his crumbling castle on Martha’s Vineyard to uncover the secret of the family she has never known. I really enjoy these books. They have a really nice modern gothic feel to them. I will say, however, that the voice for all three books kinda sounds the same even though there is a different protagonist for each one.
4/5 paintings

The cover of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries shows the text surrounded by drawings of flowers, bones, and mushrooms

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett*
**Book Hangover Alert
You know me, I love a Victorian inspired voice, an epistolary novel, and footnotes. This book was everything I wanted. Cambridge professor of dryadology Emily Wilde heads to the far north to study the faeries of that region for her encyclopedia. But when she discovers the town is plagued by Fae who steal girls, Emily must put her theories into practice. Very cozy and fun. Loved the academic take on faeries and folklore.
5/5 small ones

A black cat with its tongue just poking out peers over the corner of an open copy of Winter's Orbit
Forgot to take a picture of the cover of this book so please enjoy this picture of my cat instead.

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell***
CW: domestic violence
Everything I wanted as more. I binged this in two days. Pitched as Red, White & Royal Blue meets Ancillary Justice, which was spot on. Big fan of the world, the characters, the romance, the yearning. The only thing I didn’t love were the names of all the characters. Just didn’t really roll off the tongue. I’ve already forgotten all of them.
5/5 arranged marriages

On the Cover of No Body No Crime, a plane crashes in the lower right and in the smoke rising up behind it, we can see two women running, being pursued by dark figures

No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe
Very enjoyable. Like reading an action movie. PI Mel is sent to find the girl she’s been in love with since she was 16, who disappeared without a trace at 18. She’ll uncover the secret that’s kept Chloe in hiding for all these years. This was a fun, easy, fast-paced read. There were moments where I thought some of the action and the bad guys were a little unbelievable, but if it had been an action movie, I totally would have accepted it, so not sure where that resistance came from.
3.75/5 peacocks

The cover of On Earth as it is on Television, a UFO hovers at the top, it's tractor beam shining down on the author's name.
Hyperion Avenue

On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane*
We listened to this one on a road trip. I was trying to find something everyone would like and I think I succeeded. After aliens arrive in ships that hover over 12 (? maybe more, I can’t remember) major cities, then mysteriously depart, humanity must grapple with the implications. The novel follows 3 families in the wake of the visitation. This book has: rowdy children, humor, talking cats. It was a good time.
3.75/5 cats

The cover of She shows a sensual woman removing what looks like a cloak or veil in a cave.
Longmans

She by H. Rider Haggard*
CW: racism, misogyny
I read this for research. It’s a good example of the male quest romance genre. Holly and his adopted son Leo travel to Africa searching for the truth of Leo’s history which was hinted at by an ancient pot sherd left to him by his father. I liked the voice (though if you’re not into Victorian lit you probably won’t). I liked the adventure. It did drag through the middle. I did not like the racism or misogyny, obviously. Something interesting about the male quest romance is that it was a reaction to the successful novels by women that dominated the first half of the 19th century and were mostly about women and domestic affairs and romance (Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot). These novels center men’s relationships with each other and often have few to no women in them (think Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth). I was fascinated by the love triangle between the two men and She, especially because their bond to each other was just as strong if not stronger than their bond with She (and proved to be the bond that won out in the end). She is also evil and demonstrates why a matriarchal society will never work (allegedly). I also appreciated the frame narrative, the footnotes and the ‘editor.’
2.5/5 lions

The cover of Not for the Faint of Heart shows two girls dressed in Robin Hood type clothes riding a white horse.

Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher***
**Book Hangover Alert
A very fun Robin Hood inspired sapphic romcom. Robin Hood’s granddaughter who was raised in the Merry Men must confront whether the organization still lives up to it’s mission when they kidnap a healer with more romantic views of the famous Merry Men. Very funny. Good characters, good banter, nice queer representation. I didn’t need the one sad thing that happened to have happened, but I guess it’s fine.
4/5 arrows

The cover of Psychopomp and Circumstance shows the profile of a young Black woman dressed in early 20th century fashion. Her earrings have a skull on them and her broach is the shape of a skeleton hand.

Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce***
A nice little novella I picked up at the library as a treat. After her estranged aunt’s unexpected death, Phee must take on the arrangement of her funeral. It’s a lovely little meditation on grief and family, and it’s set in a very intriguing fantasy alternate Reconstruction era. Would love to read more set in this world.
3.5/5 caskets

The cover of Funeral Girl shows a wallpaper style pattern of skulls, coffins, and flowers and leaves.

Funeral Girl by Emma K. Ohland
What do you do if you’re terrified of dying but you live in a funeral home and your parents are funeral directors? Oh, and also, you can raise ghosts. That’s Georgia’s life. And when a boy from her school dies in a tragic accident, she raises his ghost looking for answers about the afterlife, but gets a little more than she bargained for. This is a nice YA book. Really nice themes of friendship and grief and death.
3.5/5 scrapbook pages

The cover of The Murder at the Vicarage shows a headstone with the title inscribed on it.
Collins Crime Club

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie*
Miss Marple book 1 of 12
I have to be honest, I’m not sure my full attention was on the audiobook while I was listening to it, but I did still enjoy this. After a murder occurs at the vicarage (who’d have guessed, right?) a dear old lady who never misses anything solves the murder. Now as premises go, that’s excellent, right? And the mystery was very fun and the ending was quite satisfying. I think the thing that didn’t quite work for me was the POV. The story is told from the first person perspective of the Vicar. And he’s like fine. It would be more interesting to be in Miss Marples’s head, but if we were in her head, then we’d know from the start that she’s the smartest person in the town and we’d lose that subversion of expectations. Curious about the POV for the rest of the books in the series. Are they all told by the Vicar? Other people in town? Does Miss Marple get to narrate one? More research is necessary.
3.5/5 exploding crystals

*This book only includes straight white cis people. 

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Winter’s Orbit for queer rep in sci-fi. Read Not for the Faint of Heart for a queer Robin Hood retelling. Read Psychopomp and Circumstance for Black characters in fantasy and an alternate Reconstruction era.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

April 2026 Book Blog

New Books Read

The cover of John Irving's Setting Free the Bears shows a ring of keys on a blue background textured like wood

Setting Free the Bears by John Irving*
CW: war, death, animal death and abuse
Have been wanting to read this one for a while because I love bears and it’s been a while since I read a John Irving book. In 1960s Vienna, two young men hatch a plan to set free the animals of the Vienna zoo. The book is a coming of age story about grief and generational trauma and war and friendship. Struck me as a bit gay. I did enjoy this. It has the absurdity of other Irving works, including a wild and ridiculous death. I didn’t think it was as funny as some of his other books, and the middle section about Siggy’s family history did drag. But I loved the final image of the bears.
3.5/5 bears

The cover of Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss shows a family standing on the ground before a tree house
Orell Füssli

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss*
CW: death of animals
When a family is shipwrecked on a deserted coastline on their way to colonize Australia, they set up their home in the jungle instead. It is rather fun, although apart from the shipwreck they experience absolutely no hardship whatsoever. They are cheery and industrious about the whole thing and are never upset that they will never see another human again. This does get a bit tiresome after a while, so the middle drags until the 10 years later epilogue which has more action than the whole rest of the novel. I also didn’t love that they had to shoot absolutely every animal they encountered, even when it wasn’t threatening them and they didn’t need more food. Would have been nice if at least one of the children was a girl. Also, I know this was published in 1812, but Wyss clearly had no idea what flora and fauna actually might be found on a South Pacific island and so included whatever he wanted. I’ve heard there’s another edition that includes conflicts with natives, which sounds probably racist, so I’d recommend this edition.
3/5 kangaroos (for some reason)

The cover of Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik shows a dragon flying over a Chinese palace
Del Rey

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
Temeraire book 2 of 9
I’m currently obsessed with these. In book 2, Laurence and Temeraire travel to China to try to resolve diplomatic tensions which have arisen since Temeraire was a Chinese dragon taken by the English navy. I love to see Laurence and Temeraire’s relationship develop, and it was fun to see more of the world and the way dragons are incorporated into Chinese society. I think I liked it just a smidge less than the first one, just because there’s a little more conflict between Laurence and Temeraire, and I just love them so much.
4.5/5 jewels

The cover of The Malady of Death by Marguerite Duras shows a black and white image of a woman in profile, hunched forward, her hair swept over one shoulder

The Malady of Death by Marguerite Duras*
I was going to get rid of this book without reading it because I didn’t think it looked that interesting, but then I saw it was only 60 pages and had large type. I thought I could read it in less than an hour, and I was right. I was also right that it wasn’t that interesting. It tells the story of a man who hires a woman to try to teach him how to love. The prose is at times lyrical and lovely, but the man was predictably terrible and the woman had no personality. Which was perhaps Duras’s point, that you can never learn to truly love something you don’t see as more than an object. But I’m not interested enough to think that hard about it.
2/5 unnamed characters

The cover of Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hockhauser shows gold words on a background of flowers. A falcon perches on the L

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser*
CW: rape (off page), incest, death
I loved this. I love a Cinderella (or any fairytale) retelling. Through the eyes of Lady Tremaine, we see the familiar story anew, exploring what a mother will do to better the lives of her daughters. This version is historical rather than fantastical, and explores feminist themes of motherhood.
5/5 falcons

The cover of The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow shows a sword in which we can see the reflection of half of a woman's face. Vines and flowers twist around the sword and words
Tor Publishing Group

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow***
CW: death
Another banger. I love Harrow’s work. This is probably my second favorite of her books after The Once and Future Witches. The myth of Sir Una Everlasting, Knight of Dominion is the founding myth of Dominion society and the research subject of veteran and scholar Owen Mallory, but when a rare and mysterious manuscript appears in Owen’s office, he’ll discover just how important this story is, and how history may be rewritten. Spanning centuries, this is a fated love story that explores how important propaganda is to an authoritarian regime. I love Harrow’s prose.
5/5 yew trees

The cover of Jackal by Erin E. Adams shows a silhouette of a woman's head with a star-filled night's sky filling it
Bantam Books

Jackal by Erin E. Adams***
CW: racism, serial murder
I keep reading thrillers because I want to like them, and then I don’t like them that much. I almost put this book down after the prologue because I hated the writing style of the prologue. The majority of the rest of the book was better though. Young Black girls have been going missing every summer in this Pennsylvania town on the edge of the woods. When her best friend’s daughter disappears, Liz must unravel the mystery and why everyone has been looking the other way for years. I liked the idea a lot, especially the themes of systemic racism. I didn’t love the execution. I don’t mind fantastical elements in thrillers, but I like to know whether that is likely in the world of the novel. I hated the sex scene, I had to skip it.
2.75/5 hellhounds

The cover of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane shows a shadowy figure like the reflection of a shadow in water on a gray-blue background
Catapult

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane***
This book was a bit of a downer, which is absolutely not a fair assessment for a dystopian book about grief. In a world where those who have “hurt others” are assigned an extra shadow, and subsequently shunned and discriminated against, a woman must learn to raise her child in the wake of the death of her wife. Because childbirth was the cause of her wife’s death, the child is assigned a second shadow at birth. This was a really lovely meditation on surveillance, grief, right and wrong, and what it means to hurt someone. It was a bit depressing though. And I’m not a parent, so maybe this criticism is irrelevant, but the child read older to me than the age she was described throughout the book.
3.75/5 scorpions

The cover of The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia shows a ghostly green hand with black nails reaching toward a bird stuck with pins

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia***
I loved this. In three parallel timelines, women from three generations investigate a vanishing by a malevolent witch. I loved all the witchcraft elements and the way the three stories were braided together. I did guess who the witch was, but I’m not mad about it.
5/5 bird talismans

Books I did not finish

The cover of The Improvisers by Nicole Glover shows a Black woman dressed as a pilot looking into the sky. Her biplane is in the lower foreground
Harper Voyager

The Improvisers by Nicole Glover***
CW: murder
It always makes me so sad to DNF books. I really really wanted to like this. It’s a companion to a series, so maybe I should have tried the series first, but this is supposed to be a stand alone. I loved the idea of a prohibition era smuggler and trick pilot solving magical murders with the help of her family’s funerary business. That is SO up my alley. But I just wasn’t that into it. I didn’t feel like I was connecting with the characters and I didn’t feel the need to find out the solution to the mystery.

*This book only includes straight white cis people. There was gay subtext in Setting Free the Bears.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Jackal for an examination of systemic racism. Read The Everlasting to learn about how propaganda weaponizes nationalism in service to authoritarianism. Read I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself for a queer dystopian exploration of grief and surveillance. Read The Bewitching to see Mexican folklore and queer characters in fantasy/horror. Read The Improvisers to see Black characters in historical fantasy–maybe it will hit for you.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

March 2026 Books

New Books Read

The cover of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark shows a fire made of pages of text on a black background

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
CW: murder, sexual abuse of children
A thriller/mystery about a woman hired to ghostwrite her estranged father’s memoir about the unsolved murders of both of his siblings in their teens. I enjoyed this. It was a propulsive and easy read. The prose was nothing special, but it kept us moving.
3.5/5 film reels

The cover of The Vegetarian by Han Kang shows a woman's silhouette gazing into the sky on a red background

The Vegetarian by Han Kang***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: institutionalization, eating disorder, domestic violence
I don’t know how to blurb this book. It was really good. Weird, but good. Here’s the blurb from Wikipedia: “The Vegetarian is a three-part novel set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life.” I don’t really feel like that does it justice, but I guess it’s not wrong? I don’t know, it fails to capture the weird atmosphere and mood throughout. I also thought the POV choice was interesting as in each part of the novel we switch POVs but none of the main POVs are Yeong-hye herself. You could talk about a lot of different themes in this book, but I think the patriarchy and expectations of womanhood and wifehood, as well as disability in Korea are the ones that stood out most to me.
4.5/5 bloody dreams

The book Pests by Bethany Brookshire held up in front of a disgruntled gray tabby
Pip offended at the implication that she might be a pest

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire***
Nonfiction. It’s what it sounds like. Brookshire examines the vertebrates that humans across the globe consider pests (including but not limited to rats, mice, pigeons, pythons, cats, horses, elephants, wolves, bears, and deer) and how and why these animals receive that designation. I thought this book was fascinating in the way Brookshire interrogated the way humans conceptualize animals and nature and where they belong and don’t belong (deer in the forest far from my house = good, deer in my hard eating my garden = bad). She brings up a lot of interesting things to think about when it comes to how we can manage invasive species, what we consider nature (where animals should be) and human spaces (where animals should not be), and how we can share this planet we all live on.
4/5 rats

The cover of Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood shows a ship sailing on a sea of barbed wire waves

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood*
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: death of a child
A retelling of the Tempest in which a retired theater director uses a production of the Tempest put on in a prison as a way to get revenge on those that forced him into retirement. Atwood is just so clever. I loved the layering of the play within the novel which is itself the play and the themes of prisons, literal, societal, and mental. It was also funny! ( I mean so is the Tempest)
4.5/5 swimming caps

The cover of The Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson shows a child sitting facing away from the viewer in the window of a ruin, looking at a burning building in the background
37 Ink

Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson***
CW: racism, racial slurs, assault, child abuse
Look, I’ve read a lot of WWII historical fiction, okay? There’s a lot out there. But this book was unique in its subject and perspective, so we’ll allow it. In 1950s Germany, Ethel, the wife of an American officer, discovers an orphanage of half-Black children fathered by African American service members during the war with German women. Many German women felt they couldn’t keep the children, whether because of prejudice or economic concerns, so Ethel works to get the children adopted by American families. Woven into Ethel’s narrative is that of Ozzie, an African American service member stationed in Germany in the late 1940s and Sophia, an African American teenager in the 1960s who is one of the first to integrate her boarding school but who longs to learn the truth of her history. You can see how all of these threads will intertwine. I enjoyed this. I thought Johnson’s writing was well researched and evocative. It seemed to me that there were maybe more non-racist white characters than was believable (but I’m not the one who did the research and I wasn’t alive then). And one more thought is a spoiler:
Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I loved the happy ending, but it did feel a little unbelievable that Sophia just ‘always felt she didn’t fit in’ and then conveniently just happens to meet another kid who was one of these adopted babies from Germany and then manages to actually find her family and it turns out they really did want her after all. It’s the fantasy of all children who grow up in unhappy homes that they’re actually adopted and parents who want them are somewhere out there and they were just separated by an accident of faith. But how likely is that story really? I did also think it was a little weird that they never once mention Katia’s unique hair color in his storyline. I know she was trying to keep it a mystery that Sophia is that child, but it was pretty obvious…

4/5 nuns

The cover of Voices by David Elliot shows a young girl in armor before a gold halo made up of words

Voices by David Elliott*
CW: death
A novel-in-verse about the last hours of Joan of Arc’s life. Elliott weaves in real quotes from the Trial of Condemnation and the later Trial of Nullification. We also get poems from Joan as she waits on pyre and poems in a variety of voices from the people and objects around Joan including her parents, the saints and angels guiding her, her sword, her armor, her clothing, the candle that lights the pyre, the fire itself, and more. I really enjoyed this. I thought the structure was fascinating. Elliott uses specific poetic forms for different voices and I was a big fan of the concrete poems in the collection. My only quibble was that I hated the font chosen for Joan’s poems.
4/5 voices

On the cover of Semi-Well-Adjusted-Despite-Literally-Everything, the author Alyson Stoner smashes their face against glass as though peering at the viewer as an animal in a zoo
St. Martin’s Press

Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything by Alyson Stoner***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: body dysphoria, religious trauma, domestic violence, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol abuse , sexual assault
If you think you don’t know who Alyson Stoner is, yes you do. Child actor known for Isabella on Phineas and Ferb, ‘the little white girl’ in the Missy Elliott video, Caitlyn in Camp Rock, and many more, Stoner opens up about the addictiveness of fame and the damaging way the industry works, especially in relation to minors. This memoir was not as painful to read as Elliot Page’s but I still think there are a lot of people who owe Stoner apologies. I thought the memoir was well written and the chapters were well structured. I was happy that in the end
Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

Stoner is on their way to healing and a much more healthy relationship with work and their body and using their platform to advocate for minors in the industry.

4.5/5 call backs

The cover of Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath shows a bird's eye view of a bear walking through a forest holding a shovel and dragging a bag that is trailing blood
IDW Publishing

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath
CW: murder, gore
Adorable serial killer? This book is pitched as Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town and that is correct. Adorable bear Samantha is an upstanding citizen in her small town, but when she visits the city, anyone might find themself her victim. But when someone starts terrorizing Sam’s town, she must stop the serial killer before they ruin the town or unmask her. The art in this book is really incredible. It’s dark but it was fun.
3.5/5 newspaper articles

Books I did not finish

The cover of The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart shows too snakes snarling at each other

The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart
This pains me so much because I LOVED Stewart’s Drowned Empire series, but I’m still trying to achieve my goal of not finishing anything I’m not enjoying. Life is too short. I’m not super good at it but I’m trying. I read 200 page of this book and was STILL not into it, so I finally gave up. I think the problem was that with so many POVs, by page 200, it still felt like we were on page 50 in the development of the narrative. I think Stewart should have focused on just Hakara and Rasha (and this from someone obsessed with writing huge casts and multi-pov stories *sobs*). It just wasn’t working for me. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters and I didn’t feel like I totally understood the world and I wasn’t interested enough to want to. Very sad about it.
1/5 altered

*This book only includes straight white cis people. 

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Vegetarian for great Korean literature. Read Pests to learn more about humans’ relationship to nature and how we can all thrive. Read The Keeper of Lost Children for an untold story of African Americans during WWII. Read Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything to learn about how capitalism destroys everything.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

February 2026 Books

Books Reread

The cover of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley shows a monstrous figure on a cliff looming over a man who looks up, points, and screams

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley*
I wanted to read this again because I saw the Guillermo Del Toro movie and was like that’s not how I remember it. The Del Toro movie is good, excellent acting, stunning visuals, costumes, and sets. Nice that Elizabeth gets more of a personality. And I don’t think Del Toro is wrong necessarily for focusing on the father/son theme in his interpretation, but I also think it does flatten all the other themes that appear in the book. Especially since the theme of scientific advance without any ethical responsibility is so relevant right now?? Back to the book: I like the frame narrative used, I always think those are super interesting. Still think the themes of disability, monstrousness, and revenge are fascinating. I relate to Frankenstein needing to lie in bed about things, but my guy, you created these problems for yourself. In the words of Jeff Goldblum, “You were so focused on whether or not you could, you never stopped to think whether or not you should.”
4/5 murders

New Books Read

The cover of Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune shows a house out on a promontory of rock with a phoenix rising above it and a red bus driving away from the house

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune***
Cerulean Chronicles book 2 of 2
CW: cultural genocide, abuse of children, fantasy racism, death of parents
In the second book of the Cerulean Chronicles, Arthur Parnassus shares his story of abuse at the hands of government for being a magical child in the hopes of creating change for magical people. But speaking his truth might bring danger to the magical children in his care, which he hopes to formally adopt. I enjoyed this. It is very sweet and lovingly told. I love the characters, especially the children and the way they are growing up. The novel advocates for reparations, political change, protection of the vulnerable, and self-confidence and acceptance. The audio is also excellent; Daniel Henning does a great job.

Now to address the controversy: Klune has been criticized for being inspired by the horrific genocide committed by the Canadian (and American) government against Native peoples, specifically the residential school system and cultural genocide. Many people feel that it is reprehensible to take that horrifying history and turn it into a cozy fantasy, especially as Klune is a cis, white man. Now, I have to say I don’t remember the first book super well. I don’t remember connecting the first book to this history, which I am fairly knowledgable about, though I am not part of the Native community. Some claimed that the theme of the work was assimilation, forcing the magical children to assimilate into non magical society the way residential schools forced assimilation on Native children. I don’t remember getting that from the novel, to me it seemed to be advocating for acceptance of magical people by non magical people, rather than segregation or assimilation. Some concerns were also raised about Linus being a white savior trope. Again, I don’t remember the first book well enough to fully comment on these things, though they weren’t things I picked up on during my first reading (which doesn’t mean they aren’t valid critiques! Just that I don’t feel I can comment on them).

This second book feels like it was maybe a reaction to those critiques raised after the first book. The parallel to residential schools is much stronger and there is a clear critique of governments and policies that harm minorities and government accountability. There is also a theme of Land Back in this book.

About the concern about the children never being reunited with their families, I got the idea from the book that these children didn’t have families to go back to for whatever reason, but I see why the exclusion of any possibility of their being reunited with their parents in the narrative might be painful for anyone affected by the residential school system, or the racist adoption policies that removed Native children from their parents and gave them to white parents. Even if that wasn’t a possibility for Arthur’s children, perhaps it should have been addressed more fully.

I don’t think there is necessarily anything inherently wrong with being inspired by true historical tragedies as long as in the resulting art these tragedies aren’t minimized, whitewashed, erased, excused, or sanitized. And I don’t think it was Klune’s intention to do any of these things. He wrote a book that celebrates love and weirdness and resistance and kindness and acceptance. But also author intentions don’t matter as much as reader interpretation, so if readers, especially ones from Native communities feel that Klune did minimize, whitewash, erase, excuse, or sanitize their history, then that’s valid.

You can like things and still be critical of them, so I’m going to give this a
4/5 bellhops

The cover of City of Ghosts by V.E. Schwab shows a foggy city and the silhouette of a girl and her cat moving through the mist

City of Ghosts by V.E. Schwab*
Cassidy Blake book 1 of 3
CW: drowning
So fun. I love a spooky little middle grade novel. Cassidy Blake’s parents are ghost hunters filming a TV show about haunted Edinburg, but every since a near death experience, Cassidy is the only one who can really see ghosts. With the help of her ghost best friend, Cassidy must face a dangerous spirit terrorizing the streets of Edinburg. Going to have to read the rest of the books now.
4/5 ghosts

The cover of We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds shows a light brown skinned girl with freckles and curls looking out at the future over a background of stars and a foreground of sunflowers

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: racism, lynching, generational trauma, abuse
Gorgeous, queer, contemporary YA novel. When Avery’s grandmother’s health declines, her family moves from DC out to the sticks in the South to be with her, despite the fact that Avery doesn’t remember ever meeting her, and her mom and grandmother can’t seem to have a conversation without fighting. As Avery finds new friendships and attempts to navigate her family’s tense relationships, she discovers a history of trauma and racism buried in this southern town. I loved the exploration of friendships in this book as well as complicated histories of generational trauma and how that is bound up in histories of racism, and the question of who gets to be remembered.
4.5/5 monuments

His Majesty's Dragon my Naomi Novik shows a dragon flying above a ship that tosses on the sea

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik*
Temeraire book 1 of 9
**Book Hangover Alert
I adored this. This was everything I wanted in a dragon book. During the Napoleonic Wars, a British Navy captain takes a dragon egg as prize from a French ship. When the egg hatches, he and the dragon become bonded and join the dragon rider branch of the military as the threat of Napoleon’s army grows stronger. I’m looking forward to seeing how the themes of duty to King and Country evolve as the series goes on. It did take a long time before there were any important female characters, but they were there eventually. Laurence and Temeraire are so cute; I love them so much. This book was what I wanted when I read Fourth Wing.
5/5 dragons

The cover of Moomin by Tove and Lars Jansson is yellow and shows the titular character Moomin, a round, lovable, hippo-like creature

Moomin Adventures by Lars and Tove Jansson
Moomin Adventures book 1 of 2
Delightful. Collected comics about the Moomin family. These are so fun and so cute. I also enjoyed the themes of anti-capitalism.
3.5/5 millions hidden under a pebble

The cover of Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake shows two hands holding the hilt of a sword with an eye reflected in the sword and shadowy figures on horseback twisting around the hands and blade

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake
Heromaker book 1 of 2
CW: death, war
I enjoyed this, even though I am fundamentally against the idea that war is glorious in any way. Reed is an initiate of an order of immortal warrior women (and their immortal horses) who train heroes in service to the goddess of glory. I don’t think I liked this one quite as much as Blake’s other series, Three Dark Crowns, but I still had fun with this one. I also just think it’s so cute that she dedicated this book to her horse.
3.5/5 horses

The cover of Constituent Service by John Scalzi shows a human in a scuba suit holding a chicken, in front of a variety of extra terrestrials
Subterranean Press

Constituent Service by John Scalzi***
A Third District story
This is super fun little novella set in the world of the Third District. One of the few humans in a majority alien district of the city, Ashley starts a new job in constituent services at the district. Listening to various complaints from constituents, Ashley discovers a threat to an upcoming parade that will endanger all attendees. This was so fun and silly but also demonstrated a beautiful ideal where city services listens to the people that live there and actually cares about them. Sad that that’s my fantasy right now. A government that cares about its people, all of them, even the extra terrestrials.
3.5/5 potted plants

The cover of Katabasis by R.F. Kuang shows two figures running along an Escher staircase that continues to infinity.

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: misogyny, abuse, manipulation, sexual assault, ableism
Kuang’s work is so refreshing in an age of anti-intellectualism. Her work is unapologetically intellectual. And even if you don’t understand all the references or the logic theory (and I didn’t) it’s still accessible. After her advisor is killed in an accident, Alice Law, analytic magic postgrad, and her fellow advisee Peter Murdoch journey to Hell to bring back his soul. I did really enjoy this. I appreciated the critique of academia, its misogyny and ableism and elitism and the way it pits people against each other. I enjoyed Kuang’s take on Hell in comparison to other works that have explored the concept.
4.5/5 bone creatures

The cover of The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi shows a stylized plait of red, orange, and pink meant to evoke hair

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: homophobia, misogyny, domestic violence, lynching (mention)
While I was reading this, I was like this reminds me of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and then I saw in the acknowledgements they acknowledge that work as an inspiration. It’s basically a queer Nigerian Chronicle of a Death Foretold where the story orbits the death of a young queer Nigerian. This was beautifully written and very sad. It grapples with the taboo subject of homosexuality and queerness in Nigeria and the idea that the protective fear we have for our loved ones (especially those that may be othered by society) is as dangerous as the fear of society itself.
5/5 necklaces

*This book only includes straight white cis people. It pains me to put His Majesty’s Dragon on here, but I fear it must be done.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! I’m still listing Somewhere Beyond the Sea here. I think that even with a cozy fantasy lens, you can still learn a lot about the purposeful government policies that marginalize, other, and attempt to erase minorities. I also think if you’re in a book club (or you just like to engage critically with what you read–which everyone should), it’s worth discussing residential schools and the way the way they are referenced in this story does more harm or good. Read We Deserve Monuments to learn about generational racial trauma and young queer love. Read Constituent Service for a city employee sincerely doing her best to help citizens, even ones very different from herself. Read the Death of Vivek Oji for a story about queer Nigerians.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

January 2026 Books

Books Reread

The cover of Mississippi Jack by L.A. Meyer shows a girl in a red dress playing a fiddle and dancing on the cabin of a keelboat on a river

Mississippi Jack by L.A. Meyer***
Bloody Jack book 5 of 12
CW: slavery, n-word, racism, racial slurs
Continuing on with my re-listen of this series, one of my all time favorite series. In this book, Jacky is hiding from the British government who still wants to arrest her for piracy by traveling down the Mississippi River in a keelboat that’s also a floating tavern and musical and theatrical revue. As always it’s very fun, though on a reread, I might like this one a little less than I remember. I just think Jamie is very annoying in this one. He’s always complaining and while, yes, bad things happen to him, bad things happen to Jacky too and she always has a good attitude about it. Also I don’t love the way he treats Clementine. It feels different than the way Jack treats her various beaus throughout the books.
4/5 tall tales

New Books Read

The cover of To The Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage shows an erupting volcano, stars, and the moon
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage***
CW: domestic violence, trauma, racism
I liked this but I think not as much as my sister did. Steph is determined to be the first Cherokee astronaut, a journey that will span decades and continents and whose consequences will ripple out in her family and relationships. This is an important book that examines themes of culture, identity, appropriation, and the effects of colonization.
3.5/5 sharks

The cover of Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler shows the title and author on a blank white background rimmed in yellow and purple

Who’s Afraid of Gender by Judith Butler***
Fascinating examination by one of the world’s foremost gender scholars of what everyone’s so afraid of when it comes to ‘the gay agenda.’ Unfortunately, this is one of those books where the people who most need to read it are also the people least likely to. But even if you’re not afraid of gender, this book can still help you understand the fear of the Right and give you the tools to combat it.
4/5 phantasms

The cover of Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman shows Carl running through a circus about to throw a stick of dynamite in his trademark boxers, Princess Donut the cat on his shoulder and Mongo the velociraptor at his heels
Ace Publishing

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl book 2 of 8
CW: gore, body horror, death
The second installment of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books follows Carl and Donut down to the third floor of the Dungeon–created when an alien corporation zoned the Earth for mining and killed nearly everyone and everything on the surface, leaving all the survivors to fight for survival in a real life video gameshow being streamed to every corner of the universe. I’m still enjoying these, particularly the audiobooks. I think I liked this one just a little less than the first one, but I am enjoying the development of the geopolitical aspects. I’m interested to see how the governments and corporations outside the Dungeon develop.
4/5 bombs

The cover of Don't Let the Forest in by CG Drews shows a black and white drawing of a boy in a school uniform with what looks like claw marks ripping the image across his face. From the tears, flowers and throrns and bugs creep through
Feiwel & Friends

Don’t Let the Forest in by CG Drews
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: child abuse, neglect, trauma, PTSD, gore, body horror
Impossible to put down. I loved this dark, obsessive horror. I don’t know how to blurb this one (I’m going to try anyway), but I think you should read it. When Andrew arrives back at boarding school for senior year, he’s haunted by something he can’t quite remember, an accident from last year. With his twin keeping an odd distance from him and his best friend Thomas’s abusive parents missing, Andrew is desperate to figure out what’s going on. But there’s something dark awaking in the forest. Can the boys keep it from consuming them and the rest of the school? Obsessed. I’m not saying Thomas and Andrew had a healthy relationship, but I’m also not saying I’m against it.
5/5 monsters

The cover of The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie shows a mustachioed Peter Dinklage as Poirot standing before a shadowy train
Audible

The A.B.C Murders by Agatha Christie*
CW: murder
Always fun to read a Poirot novel. In a challenge to Poirot, a serial killer is working their way through the alphabet. Can Poirot catch them before too much blood has been spilled? This one was kind of fun. I liked the way the reader was led through the mystery because I felt like I was figuring things out a little ahead of Poirot, but then there would be a twist. The Audible full cast performance was very good, and Peter Dinklage was perfect as Poirot.
3.5/5 railway guides

The cover of The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch shows a split image, one side Christmasy with a drawing of the Christmas Prince in a red coat and the other side Halloweeny with the Halloween Prince in black. They eye each other playfully
Bramble

The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch***
A delight. Red, White and Royal Blue meets The Nightmare before Christmas. The Prince of Christmas falls for the Prince of Halloween, but the running of one of the world’s biggest holidays is more fraught than he could have imagined. Is revolution coming to the Christmas monarchy? I loved the banter and the characters and the magic of the holidays. And I loved that it wasn’t just a romance but also a political revolution.
4.5/5 swear word jack-o-lanterns

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
CW: death, suicide, trauma
I really enjoyed this. It was dark, atmospheric, and moody, but also surprisingly hopeful and heartwarming. When a mysterious woman washes ashore nearly dead on Shearwater Island at the edge of Antarctica, the family of caretakers on the island, must decide whether they can trust her with the island’s dark history. I loved the themes of climate change as well as trauma and healing. I really liked the prose. I have one more thought but it’s about the ending. Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I was hoping for a happy ending though.


4.5/5 seals

The cover of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden shows a lit cabin in a winter night. The silhouette of a girl stands before the cabin in the snow.
Del Rey

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden*
**Book Hangover Alert
I didn’t like this book quite as much as Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts, but it was still good. Inspired by Russian folklore, the story follows Vasya, a wild young girl whose grandmother may have been a witch, and the struggle between two brothers Fear and Death. The book examines themes of tradition, religion, and feminism. I loved the magical world and all of the different folktale creatures we get to see. I really loved the examination of Christianity as a way to exercise control and enforce conformity through fear. I don’t really feel like that gets talked about enough. A little sad the bear was the bad guy.
4.5/5 hearth spirits

*This book only includes straight white cis people. Aside from Poirot, who obviously is queer coded, The ABC Murders only includes straight white cis people.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Mississippi Jack for themes of slavery and indigenous conflict with colonizers. Read To the Moon and Back for queer indigenous perspectives. Read Who’s Afraid of Gender because it will make you smarter and more thoughtful. Read The Nightmare before Kissmass for queer joy and also revolution and reparation in fantasy. I’m not tagging Dungeon Crawler Carl yet but I have a feeling that as the books go on, they’re going to get more and more political.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

End of Year Round Up 2025

Total books read: 124

Number of pages read: 43,227

New books read: 109

Books reread: 15

Number of books by women, trans, and nonbinary people read this year (only counting new books read): 73

Number of books by BIPOC this year (only including new books read): 30

Number of books by disabled authors this year (only including new books read)*: 3
*This can only include authors I know are disabled. More on the list could be and I might not know. 

Breakdown by genre (only counting new books read):
-Fiction: 88 (children’s literature: 2; classics: 1; contemporary fiction: 6; fantasy: 20; graphic novel: 3; historical fiction: 12; horror: 5; literary fiction: 9; mystery: 3; romance: 1; science fiction: 9; thriller: 1; YA: 16
-Nonfiction: 20 (biography: 1; children’s literature: 1; history: 2; memoir: 3; philosophy: 1; science: 9; social science: 1; travel: 1; true crime: 1
-Poetry: 1

First book of the year: Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adyemi

Last book of the year: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Most read author of the year: Rick Riordan, for the second year in a row (I guess if it’s going to a straight white man). I read 4 books by him.

Best books of the year (in no particular order; not including rereads):
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
My Friends by Frederick Backman
The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Icarus by K. Ancrum
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
Ocean’s Godori and Teo’s Durumi by Elaine U. Cho
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
Chlorine by Jade Song
The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. Dawson
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Eight Bears by Gloria Dickie

Lowest-rated books of the year:
Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adyemi
The Home for Wayward Girls by Marcia Bradley
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Books I didn’t finish:
My reading goal this year was to not finish any books I wasn’t enjoying. I didn’t quite meet my goal. I did still finish a few things I thought weren’t great, but it’s an ongoing process
Time Travelers: Victorian Encounters with Time and History edited by Adeline Buckland and Sadiah Qureshi
Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith
The Basic Kafka by Franz Kafka
Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr

Posted on

November and December 2025 Books

(Apologies for the lack of photos in this post. I posted this from my iPad and it was much harder than expected.)

Books Reread

Under the Jolly Roger by L.A. Meyer
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 3 of 12
CW: attempted sexual assault
Continuing on with my reread of these excellent books, in this one, Jacky finds herself press-ganged onto a British warship and subsequently does a little piracy. For fun. This is my favorite book in the series. I love pirates and Joseph Jared.  
5/5 pirates

In the Belly of the Bloodhound by L.A. Meyer***
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 4 of 12
CW: slavery, n-word, racism, attempted sexual assault, attempted suicide
In book 4, Jacky and all of her schoolmates from the Boston finishing school are kidnapped by slavers bound for the ports on North Africa. These books are just so good. I remembered this one as not being one of my favorites in the series (though there isn’t a bad one in the series), but on this reading I had a new appreciation of the themes of slavery and ownership and freedom and who has value and what kind of value. I think the themes are really well layered throughout the book. There are tons of characters in these books and they’re all so great but because there are so many, it’s easy to forget about them. I loved being reminded of Katie Deere and Hugh the Grand. I also love to see some Clarissa Worthington Howe (of the Virginia Howes) character development. 
4.5/5 millers

New Books Read

Mountaineering in the Tetons: The Pioneer Period, 1898-1940 by Phil D. Smith and Fritiof Fryxell*
This is a collection of nonfiction accounts of climbing various peaks in the Tetons by various routes in the period noted. It’s less exciting than it sounds. A lot of ‘then we traversed the western saddle to the chimney and submitted after a not-too-difficult climb, then returned to Jenny Lake by the usual descent.’ I read it as research for a character, but I’m not sure how much it really helped. Crazy that people were out there climbing mountains before there was a good route and trail though. I mean I know someone has to go first, but it’s a lot. 
2.5/5 couloirs

Red City by Marie Lu***
**Book Hangover
The New Alchemist book 1 of?
CW: drug use, addiction, murder, gangs, gang violence
This was really cool. In a world where different syndicates of alchemists battle for control over cities, two young best friends are each tapped to learn this magical art. But they’ll find themselves wrapped up in a tangled web of alliances and debts, on opposite sides of the growing conflict. Love to see a unique magic system and I saw that little nod to Mozart’s sister, Ms. Lu, (one of Marie Lu’s other books is about Mozart’s sister, and it’s excellent). Lu does love to put our love interests on separate sides of a major conflict though. Which is a bit torturous. But I really liked this one. Looking forward to the next one. 
4.5/5 elements

The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel by Maggie Stiefvater, Sas Milledge, and Stephanie Williams
**Book Hangover Alert
The Raven Boys book 1 of 4
CW: child abuse, domestic violence
Not sure whether to list this one in new books or reread books because it’s not a new story for me. Just a new format. This is one of my favorite series and I’m so excited to see it in graphic form. The art is just really stunning. Perfectly captures the tone and characters of the story. Very excited for more. 
5/5 ravens

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko***
I really enjoyed this one. Small Sade needs a job and to keep her powers as a curse-eater a secret. But when she accidentally gets bound to a crocodile god she wonders if her powers can free him and maybe even help her secure her place in the city. But the wealthy elite have guilt and secrets even bigger than Sade imagined. It’s set in the same world as Ifueko’s other series Raybearer, but I didn’t find myself confused having not read them. Though I suspect I would have recognized a few of the characters. I really liked the concept and also the disability representation. I also loved that at the end (I don’t feel like this is a spoiler) all of Sade’s friends helped make their home more accessible for her. And I loved the themes of eating the rich. 
4/5 crocodiles

Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber*
**Book Hangover Alert
Alchemy of Secrets book 1 of ?
CW: death of parents
Such a fun, quick read. Even though most people say the stories from her Local Legends and Urban Myths class aren’t true, Holland has always believed there was more to them. When she finds the Watch Man, a man who supposedly can tell you the time you’ll die, she’s proven right. But he also tells her she’ll die at midnight the next night, unless she can find an object called the Alchemical Heart. Pulled into a world of myths and legends, Holland must unravel the secrets of her own family in time to save her life. I always enjoy Garber’s fast-paced adventures. I really liked this one, my only critique was that I didn’t feel either of the two men trying to get Holland to trust them had a very compelling argument so I don’t know why she trusted either of them. I really liked the urban legend class parts, and the whole mystery was very fun. I didn’t feel like quite all my questions were answered at the end, but it turns out it’s the first in a series so.
4/5 legends

The Court of the Dead by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro***
A Nico di Angelo Adventure book 2 of?
CW: trauma, PTSD
Yay! More Nico di Angelo! Nico and Will are off to Camp Jupiter to help Hazel with a little problem. Monsters have moved in. Well, monsters who want to be different, who want to change the way Bob the Titan did, tired of the relentless cycle of Tartarus. But not all the Roman demigods are responding well to their new roommates. Very enjoyable. It didn’t feel quite so serious as the first one which was nice. Nice to see some old friends again and make some new ones.  
4/5 monsters

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix***
CW: racism, misogyny 
When a new man moves to their neighborhood, Patricia welcomes him with Southern charm. But when she discovers he’s a vampire, she turns to the only people who will believe her: her ladies’ book club. I was worried this book was going to be a white savior narrative but it definitely wasn’t. In fact, not trying to spoil it or anything, it was really about all the ways white people fail to use their privilege to stop harm. I really enjoyed this one, even if I was screaming at the characters the whole time. 
4.5/5 vamps

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal***
CW: PTSD
Murder mystery on space cruise ship? Sign me up. Tesla Crane is just trying to enjoy her honeymoon on a cruise to Mars. Unfortunately people keep dying and the prime suspect is her new husband. I had a great time reading this. The setting and sci-if aspects were so fun. I also liked the disability representation and of course the service dog. I also enjoyed the little cocktail recipes before each chapter, though I hoped they’d be a little more integral to the plot. 
4/5 cocktails

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer*
CW: parent death, neglect
A cozy, sweet, lovely novel. All Lucy wants is enough income that she can adopt the sweet boy in foster care. But it’s going to take a miracle. A miracle which comes in the form of a competition to win the newest book in a series of acclaimed children’s novels by the Mastermind himself, reclusive and retired author. This book was just very lovely; kind of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vibes. Very heartwarming. No notes. Okay one: How is it possible that it took that long to get the Green Glass Door game??
4.5/5 challenges

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
This one was nice and cozy. As the subtitle suggests, this is a nonfiction book that traces the history of bookshops in America from the time of Benjamin Franklin up to the present day. I liked hearing about the history of my favorite kind of store. And there were even some cameos of bookshops I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. I loved the theme of bookshops not being about money, but focused instead on community, each specializing to meet the needs of their particular community. It strikes such a stark contrast to the faceless capitalism of Amazon. So this is your reminder to shop at local bookstores. Even Barnes and Noble is better than Amazon. 
3.5/5 bookshops

Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz***
CW: gun violence, racism, colonialism
I literally read this book of poetry because I ran across the quote “It is December and we must be brave” on Tumblr and it’s December so I checked the book out. A chapbook of poetry by queer Native poet Natalie Díaz. Really lovely writing. Gorgeous lyrical poetry. My favorite poems included the titular “Postcolonial Love Poem,” “Catching Copper,” “That which Cannot be Stilled,” “The First Water Is the Body,” “Exhibits from the American Water Museum,” “Isn’t the Air Also a Body, Moving?,” and “Snake-Light.” I know that this is a book of love poetry, and so this is my own fault, but I thought there were too many love poems. I preferred the ones that engaged with other subjects. I highlighted a ton of lines and generally felt inadequate as a writer while reading it.
3.5/5 bodies of water

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs*
CW: racism, classism, cannibalism, animal death, human death
Okay so Edgar Rice Burroughs was a eugenicist and you can tell. And propagating those ideas is probably why he wrote this book. You probably know the blurb but anyway: after an English lord and his wife are marooned on a stretch of the East African coast by mutineers, they build a cabin and try to make the best of it. Unfortunately they both die and their infant is adopted by a mother gorilla whose infant has also died. Tarzan is raised by apes with no knowledge of his ancestry until a party of white people is also marooned in the same place, 20 years later. I did enjoy aspects of this book. I enjoyed the adventure. I wanted to know what happened (it’s not a whole lot like the Disney movie lol). And I thought it hilarious that every three pages Rice Burroughs was like “Also! In case you forgot! Tarzan is HOT! Like super hot! The hottest man you ever saw! Peak of manliness! So strong and agile and smart and totally ripped! And did I also mention he is white and a LORD?!” And I’m not even really exaggerating. Anyway, I was interested in the way he built the dynamic between noble or upper class whites, lower class whites, blacks, black native Africans, and apes. There’s obviously a clear hierarchy the author wants to reinforce. And his main point is that the only reason Tarzan became as successful as he was (the King of the Apes), was because of his blood, the blood of an English lord. Despite being raised by gorillas, he’s able to transcend that beastiality and savagery of the apes because his good breeding guarantees his higher intellect and that in turn guarantees his supremacy. It seems to be implied that were a different kind of white man (one of the lower white sailors on one of the ships) or a black person put in Tarzan’s place, raised by apes, they would just have become as savage as the animals. But that’s another thing. Edgar Rice Burroughs didn’t know anything about animal behavior (can’t blame him I suppose, no one had yet done a study of any ape behavior in the wild when this book was written). We should also talk about cannibalism because that’s a big theme about what separates a man from a savage. The apes are cannibals, the African natives are cannibals, and even the ordinary white seamen who are becalmed resort to cannibalism (not the ship officers, of course, they would have been too well bred for that, but they were already dead at the hands of the crass seamen).  But Tarzan, when first presented with the opportunity to eat a human, chooses not to. He acknowledges that it’s the law of the jungle to eat your kills (though I must note that gorillas are vegetarians), but some intrinsic part of him knows he’s different than the apes and from the African natives (not like other girls TM), so he remains a gentleman. Anyway there’s a lot to say here about humanity and savagery and classism and racism, but I don’t need to write an academic paper about. 
3/5 gorillas 

How to Bang a Billionaire by Alexis Hall
Arden St. Ives book 1 of 3 
CW: domestic violence (off page), attempted sexual assault
This was a fun little junk food read. After meeting a billionaire during a fundraising drive for his college at Oxford, Arden St. Ives begins a relationship with said billionaire. But can either of them get what they need from the other when following the ridiculous rules made up by a billionaire? I read it basically in a day and overall really enjoyed it. Thought the prologue was awful; almost stopped right there. But the rest of the book was pretty good. I enjoyed the voice although like I noted in the other Alexis Hall book I’ve read, both main characters had inferiority complexes/self-loathing that gets a little tiresome to read about. Not quite as bad as Boyfriend Material in that regard I think. I know this was absolutely not the point of this book but I did want to see just a little critique of the superrich. 
3.5/5 nipple piercings

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
**Book Hangover Alert 
CW: toxic relationships, murder
This is a book to be savored, like Sabine’s kills. Lesbian vampires. Need I say more? Yes? Well, we follow three vampires through the ages from the 1500s to today and the way their lives intertwine and love turns to hate turns to revenge, ensnaring collateral damage along the way. Truly, Sabine goes through a bad break up and makes it everyone’s problem. Anyway, I really liked this. Love Schwab’s voice and gorgeous prose. I liked how distinct each character was. I loved the dance through the ages (Addie La Rue vibes) and the vampire lore. I think my one critique was that there wasn’t much momentum drawing the story forward except in Alice’s sections. She was the only character with a real goal. So while it was interesting and fun to read about Sabine and Charlotte and there was tension in individual scenes, there was nothing pulling us forward and making me need to know what happened next (I was curious certainly, but I was able to put the book down). But on the other hand, these are characters alive for hundreds of years, so the pacing is bound to be a bit different and I think Schwab intended readers to take their time and go a little slower. 
4.5/5 roses

*This book only includes straight white cis people. There are nonwhite people in Tarzan, but it’s racist, so it still gets this designation. I guess I don’t know if the mountaineering book had any nonwhite, queer people in it, but I doubt it. Garber’s books always feel very white and straight even when I think she does include a few more diverse characters. I think she could do better.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read In the Belly of the Bloodhound for a discussion of slavery and privilege and the value placed on human lives. Read Red City for diverse fantasy. Read The Maid and the Crocodile and The Spare Man for disability rep. Read The Court of the Dead because it will make you a more compassionate person. Read The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires for a critique of white privilege. Read Postcolonial Love Poem for a queer indigenous perspective.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

October 2025 Books

Books Reread

The cover of Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams shows the famous ruins in a drawing as they may have appeared with Incas living there

Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams*
I’m planning another trip to the Inca Trail so I reread this book. Adams does a good job balancing his personal travelogue of his trek in the Sacred Valley, history of Hiram Bingham’s expeditions, and history of the Incas and the conflict with Pizarro. He also covers current controversies over the Incan artifacts in Yale’s care. Very readable.
3.5/5 llamas

The cover of Bloody Jack by LA Meyer shows the front of a ship with a figure of indeterminate gender on the bowsprit
I know this cover isn’t the same style as the rest of the series. It hurts me too, but this one is signed.

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer *
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 1 of 12
CW: attempted rape, war, death, plague
This is one of my all time favorite books from one of my all time favorite series. Orphaned in London in 1799, little Mary Faber joins a street gang but when the leader of their gang is killed, Mary rechristens herself Jack and joins the crew of HMS Dolphin as a ship’s boy. The series follows Jacky’s historical hijinks and escapades including but not limited to naval engagements, piracy, finishing school, horse racing, spying in the Napoleonic wars, and so, so much more. Even though we’ve all heard it before, my family and I listened to it on a road trip. I cannot recommend the audiobook highly enough. Katherine Kellgren does a superb job with these books including all the voices, dialects, and songs therein.
5/5 kites

The cover of The Curse of the Blue Tattoo shows a girl dancing on a dock surrounded by sailors

Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer*
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 2 of 12
CW: attempted rape
Book 2 follows Jacky at finishing school in Boston after she’s discovered to be a girl. And if it doesn’t sound like she could get in much trouble at school (compared to in disguise as a boy in the Royal Navy) well, you’d be wrong. This is maybe one of my least favorite books in the series but there aren’t any bad books in the series.
4/5 sheepdogs

New Books Read

The cover of Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi shows a light skinned Indian woman in a green sari

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi***
This was one of my Book of the Month books. I enjoyed it. When an influential Indian artist dies mysteriously in a hospital in Bombay in 1937 where nurse Sona works, Sona must undertake a quest to clear her name from suspicion and return several paintings to the artist’s friends. It was interesting to read a historical fiction set in India shortly before partition with an Anglo-American protagonist.
3.5/5 paintings

The cover of Teo's Durumi by Elaine U Cho shows two figures holding hands before a Japanese style pogoda with a space ship flying overhead

Teo’s Durumi by Elaine U. Cho***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Alliance book 2 of 2
CW: gore, serial murder
I’m obsessed with this duology! I’m dying for someone to make it into an action series. It would be so good. Framed for the murder of his family, Teo must clear his name and bring the perpetrators to justice with the help of his ragtag crew of misfits. It has a very cinematic, space opera feel and I just adored it.
5/5 skin suits

The cover of Falmer by Mike Curato shows a drawing of a boy giving the Boy Scout salute surrounded by flames
Henry Holt and Company

Flamer by Mike Curato***
CW: homophobia, religious trauma, suicide attempt
I like to celebrate Banned Books Week all month long. This graphic novel follows Aiden, a closeted teen, at Boy Scout camp as he comes to terms with his sexuality and his own internalized homophobia. I really liked the art in this graphic novel. Several really gorgeous panels, and I really loved the color palette choices.
3.5/5 canoes

The cover of the Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson shows a closeup of colorful bird feathers
Viking Press

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson***
**Book Hangover Alert
A nonfiction book about the craziest museum heist I’ve ever heard of. Johnson traces the crime: the theft of hundred’s of rare, historical, and endangered bird skins from an outpost of the Natural History Museum in London. Why would you steal bird skins from a museum, you ask? For the bizarre and niche hobby of salmon fly tying. Johnson excavates the community’s problematic obsession with using endangered bird feathers in the art form. This book was so wild. I can’t recommend it enough.
4.5/5 birds of paradise

The cover of Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo shows a neon-lit Chinatown street at light with a couple under a streetlight

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: homophobia, racism
The second book I read for Banned Books Month, and it was excellent. Set in the 1950s in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Last Night at the Telegraph Club follows Lily, a teenager trying to navigate her sexuality and culture as well as racism and the Red Scare. It’s such a loving book with interesting and nuanced characters. I really loved getting to read a historical fiction book in this time and place, as it’s not one I’ve read about before.
4.5/5 male impersonators

The cover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson shows an etching of two girls surrounded by ominous looking villagers
Viking Press

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson*
**Book Hangover Alert
Just a lil something spooky for Halloween. The Blackwood sisters live with their ailing uncle in their estate on the outskirts of town, shunned by the villagers for a tragedy that killed the rest of their family six years ago. But are the girls as innocent as they seem. Jackson is such a master of atmosphere; I really have no idea how she does it. I’m also a big fan of Mary Katherine, the unreliable narrator of the story.
3.5/5 black cats

The cover of A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki shows a tapestry of women's profile's

A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki***
CW: domestic violence, religious conflict, colonialism
I said above I’d never read a historical fiction set in the partition of India, but I read two this month. This book is a family saga that follows three generations of women in India during and after partition. A magical tapestry allows the women to pass down their stories and histories and gives the woman from the current generation the power to create change through art. I loved the concept of this book, but I felt the pacing was off. I wanted to be into it, but it dragged.
3/5 tapestries

The cover of Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy shows a waning sliver of moon

Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy*
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: suicide attempt
This one is an early release. I heard Levy speak at the Aspen Literary Festival and her humor convinced me to buy the book. I enjoyed this. It was weird, but good. I’m struggling to write a blurb for it that makes sense. I felt like this book captured what it feels like to be alive right now. To have lived through Covid, to be surviving under capitalism, to be watching America’s descent into fascism and still be trying to live your life. Set in New York City in the near future, “Flat Earth is a story of coming of age in America, a novel about commodification, conspiracy theories, mimetic desire, and the difficulties of female friendship that’s as sharp and sardonic as it is heartbreaking” (I took that from the Penguin Random House blurb). I’m not sure I would say I liked it, but I can’t stop thinking about it?
3.5/5 documentary films

The cover of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison shows a young black girl hunched at a window

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: rape, misogyny, racism, death of animals, incest, child sexual abuse, n-word
The last book I read for Banned Books Month. You know, I had resisted reading this one a bit because I always feel like Morrison’s books are kind of a bummer. (Very important, obviously! But not happy books.) But I actually really liked this one–although, that’s not to say it wasn’t a bummer. The book orbits Pecola, an ‘ugly’ black child who longs to have blue eyes. I thought the choice of POV was super interesting as well as the engagement with the themes of whiteness and internalized racism and beauty standards and the way these systems self perpetuate. Morrison also writes some beautiful prose.
4/5 blue eyes

*This book only includes straight white cis people. Perhaps unfair to give this designation to Turn Right at Machu Picchu and The Feather Thief. The later Bloody Jack books are more diverse, but these first couple are pretty white and straight.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Six Days in Bombay to learn about India before partition and the experience of being Anglo-Indian at that time. Read Teo’s Durumi for an Asian-inspired sci-fi with queer characters. Read Flamer for a queer coming of age. Read The Feather Thief to consider the impact humans have on the earth. Read Last Night at the Telegraph Club for untold queer, Asian history. Read A Thousand Times Before for more about Indian partition and queer history. Read The Bluest Eye to learn about internalized racism and the insidious value placed on whiteness.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

Posted on

September 2025 Books

New Books Read

The cover of Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda shows a Greek mask and a snake in psychedelic pinks and purples
G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda*
I attended an author event with Ivy Pochoda in conversation with the incredible Emily Wilson, so I was really excited to read this book. After the death of her controlling husband, Lena finds herself under the thumb of her controlling son. At the luxury resort he now owns in Greece, Lena meets a group of eccentric partying women on the beach and learns the power of female rage and the freedom of ecstasy. This was dreamlike and propulsive and a little gritty. The prose was spare but evocative, and you know I love a story inspired by Greek mythology.
3.5/5 DJs who might be gods

The book the Bad Ones by Melissa Albert held over some pink flowers. The cover shows a pink statue of a crying angel

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert
**Book Hangover Alert
Melissa Albert writes books you inhale in one night and then wonder if it was a fever dream. Was this Albert’s best book yet? I’m not sure. Honestly I don’t remember the previous ones all that well except that I loved them and read them far too fast. Nora receives a mysterious text from her estranged best friend Becca the night that four people in their town, including Becca, go missing. When Nora begins finding clues Becca left her that evoke the Goddess Game, a childhood game from the community, Nora suspects something more supernatural than a kidnapping is going on. I loved the focus on friendship, the eeriness, the propulsive tension, and the fact that a teenage protagonist in a YA novel had two good parents. Very refreshing.
4.5/5 goddesses

The book The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong held over some dying flowers. The cover shows a young man's silhouette against a setting sun

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong***
CW: suicide attempt, war, trauma, racism, addiction
I was a little disappointed by this to be honest. Ready to take his own life by jumping off the bridge in East Gladness, Hai is stopped by Grazina, an old Lithuanian woman living near the bridge. She invites Hai to live with her and take care of her, but they really take care of each other. Vuong’s writing is gorgeous as always, but this one didn’t hold me like On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous or his poetry. I thought it was a little slow and there was too much description. It was beautiful description, but it wasn’t needed. It was also kind of a bummer, which is an unfair assessment for a book about addiction. I don’t know. There were some lovely moments, but I did struggle to get through it.
3/5 pieces of cornbread

The book Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao held outside. The cover shows a dreamy cloudscape and the reflection of a city with paper boats floating in the water

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao***
I wanted to like this more than I did. I mean look at that stunning cover. On the morning Hana is set to take over her father’s pawnshop, she wakes to a ransacked shop and her father and a precious artifact missing. But this is no regular pawnshop; it accepts only the choices people regret, giving customers a chance to forget. Hana must journey through the dreamlike realm in which the pawn shop exists to find her father and the stolen choice. I liked the world, which was beautiful and inventive, but I felt like the tension was a little lacking. There were stakes for Hana, but for some reason they didn’t seem all that important.
3/5 puddle jumps

Held over a green bush, the book The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden shows two ghostly hands emerging from darkness holding a poppy flower

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: war, trauma, abuse
I loved this so much. When Laura’s brother is reported missing, presumed dead during WWI, Laura, a combat nurse discharged honorably with an injury, returns to Europe to find him. After an explosion that leaves him trapped in a pillbox with a German, Laura’s brother Freddie and the German decide to keep each other alive, but in protecting Hans Winter, Freddie makes a deal with the mysterious and charismatic Fiddler, who haunts battlefields and the stories of half mad soldiers. Will Laura be able to save him before he loses himself? I’m now obsessed with Katherine Arden. I have to find everything she’s ever written and read it immediately. I had to clear off a spot on my favorites shelf to squeeze this in. Gorgeous prose, fascinating characters, haunting and beautiful story. I can’t say enough good things about it.
500/5 motorcycles

The cover of Hemlock & Silver by T Kingfisher shows a snake made of plants and flowers curled around a red apple
Tor Books

Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher*
**Book Hangover Alert
This was such a fun, refreshing Snow White retelling! When the king appears in Anya’s workroom asking her, an expert on poison, to save his daughter, whom he is sure is being poisoned, Anya has no choice but to go with him. But Anya gets more than she bargained for because Princess Snow isn’t ingesting small amounts of arsenic or hemlock, but something far more strange and dangerous. I don’t want to say too much more about it because it was very cool and I want to let you be surprised. I love when a retelling is fresh and surprising.
4/5 roosters

The cover of Flux by Jinwoo Chong is yellow with a splash that looks like old TV static across the cover
Melville Books

Flux by Jinwoo Chong***
**Book Hanover Alert
CW: racism
This was weird. I’m not sure I know how to blurb this book. When the protagonist is laid off from his job at a magazine at Christmas, he immediately gets a new offer that sounds too good to be true from a hot new start up that’s promised to change the world of energy as we know it. But something strange happens in his office every day at 9am and maybe the company isn’t making batteries after all. I’m stealing this sentence from the Amazon blurb: “Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut…blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction.” Unpredictable and fascinating, I’m going to be thinking about this one for a while. It reminded me of Zeroville by Steve Erickson but I’m not sure why, since they weren’t really alike at all.
3.5/5 clicks

Held over some dead flowers, the cover of Vera Wong shows an older lady peeking through Venetian blinds

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto***
**Book Hangover Alert
Incredible. I loved every moment of it. When Vera Wong finds a dead man on the floor of her teahouse, she knows the useless police aren’t going to solve this one without her help, so she posts an ad in the paper that brings the suspects to her. Now she just has to figure out who did it. She just doesn’t count on building a found family in the process. I’m obsessed with this book. A cozy murder mystery with a nosy little old Asian lady protagonist? Sign me up.
5/5 clues

The Book of Elsewhere held up in front of pink flowers. The cover is black with a sketch of a babirusa skull in pink

The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville*
CW: death, war, trauma, torture, suicide, attempted suicide, gore
I feel like I’m still processing this one, so this is going to be probably a not very articulate review. This book takes place in an alternate universe to the BRZRKR universe, which I’m not familiar with at all. The story follows immortal warrior Unute’s journey through the millennia to understand his own immortality. The way the story orbited Unute was interesting. I think a lot of people might complain that the writing style was too academic for a book about a comic book supersoldier, and I will say I looked up a lot more words in the dictionary than I have recently. But I hope that people will still try books that are a little more challenging and don’t lend themselves to easy conclusions.
3.5/5 babirusas

*This book only includes straight white cis people. I guess Javier in Hemlock & Silver might not have been white, but it was subtle enough to be easy to ignore. The Book of Elsewhere was not only straight white cis people, but somehow it felt like it was?

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! I just think you’ll be a better person if you read The Warm Hands of Ghosts. Read Flux for Asian rep in sci-fi and an examination of Asian representation in media. Read The Emperor of Gladness (or one of Vuong’s other books) for LGBTQIA+ and Asian rep. Read Water Moon for a Japanese inspired fantasy. Read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers for heartwarming community building across the Asian diaspora.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

css.php
Accessibility by WAH