2025 Wrapped

Happy New Year everyone 🎊 I can't believe it's been a whole year since I've posted. Every post I say I want to read more and update more frequently, but I never follow through with that wish. However, I've been reading here and there and exploring more hobbies throughout the year that I'd love to share. 

WANXUQN, A HX

Can you believe I've had this blog since 2014? A little backstory on how I even started blogging into the void in the first place-- I took a journalism course in my freshman year of high school, and though journalism didn't end up being my calling, I still like to write little reviews here and there. This blog actually started off as an anime episode review blog, way back when Terror in Resonance was still airing. It's still one of my favorite stand-alone anime to this day. 

September + October Wrap-Up

Over the past few months I recently started Pharmacy school! Which explains the lack of reading I've been doing lately, honestly. I still try my best to read in small amounts, especially since taking little breaks to read definitely helps with my sanity between all the studying I do. I also have been making my way through some pretty hefty danmeis at a snail's pace. 

Books Mentioned:

• A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
• The White Book by Han Kang

May - August Rapid Reviews Wrap-Up

I think I am too much of a yapper to actually do rapid, flash reviews, but I'll try to make them short because there's a lot to get through, and most of it has faded from my memory already.

I went on a trip that spanned May through the end of June, and I thought I'd have so much more to talk about, but I was on a big DNF'ing spree, unfortunately. I am quite sad to say that my reads from these past months were a bit lack luster. Thus, my reviews will be a bit rough today

Books Mentioned

• Funny Story by Emily Henry
• One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
• The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic
• Wind Breaker by Satoru Nii
• Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu
• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
• Severance by Ling Ma

March & April Wrap-Up

I am posting March + April all the way in September because that's just how behind I am on reading and reviewing. I promise I haven't stopped reading!

Books Mentioned

• Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
• Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat
• Remnants of Filth Vol. 3 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
• Qiang Jin Jiu Vol. 1 by Tang Jiuqing
• Sakamoto Days by Yuto Suzuki

February Wrap-Up

This month's fixation is very obviously danmei. More specifically, Meatbun. I went to the Animate store earlier this month and very spontaneously bought a copy of Bing An Ben, since it's a new release and it looked so pretty on the shelves. Now I wish I had bought a copy of Yuwu too.

Books Mentioned

• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Remnants of Filth (YuWu) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
• Case File Compendium (Bing An Ben) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
• Remnants of Filth (YuWu) Vol. 2 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Catching Up

It has been a very long time since I've yapped about books here! My initial excuse for this was that I haven't been reading, which was true for some point of time, but now that I've written out all the books I've read since the last post I realize that isn't necessarily true. 

However, a good amount of these books I read on vacation, which was way back in June. And I have a very short term memory, so most of these are just going to be flash reviews from the fragments I remember.

Books Mentioned

• Cool Doji Danshi by Kokone Nata
• Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
• Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
• Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane
• Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
• The Red Palace by Jane Hur
• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
• The Apothecary Diaries by Natsu Hyuga
• Frieren: Beyond the Journey's End by Kanehito Yamada & Tsukasa Abe

May Wrap-Up

Books Mentioned

• Happy Place by Emily Henry
• Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
• Honnou Switch by KUJIRA
• Loving Yamada-kun at Lv. 999 by Mashiro
• Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
• Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
• Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

April Wrap-Up

Happy April 💮 I read a decent amount of stories this month that I'm really excited to share my thoughts on! I seemed to be on some entertainment industry kick, given that 4 out of the 6 books I read have something to do with the entertainment industry. Some of these books I enjoyed more than others, but overall I thought it was a solid reading month for me. It's been a while since I've been consistent with reading, so 2 books and 4 mangas is a win in my books. 

Books Mentioned

• This Time It's Real by Ann Liang
• Oshi no Ko by Akasaka Aka & Yokoyari Mengo
• If This Gets Out by Sophia Gonzales & Gale Dietrich
• Seventeen Syrups by Arata Licca
• Tonari no Stella by Ammitsu
• My Happy Marriage by Agitogi Akumi & Tsukioka Tsukiho

2023 So Far... [February-March Wrap-Up]

I really can't believe it's a few months into 2023! I honestly haven't had too much time to read a lot, so these past few months I've mostly been reading manga. Manga has always been something quick and easy to read, especially when the recent days have been really tiring with work and other obligations. 

However, I do miss writing a lot! I thought I'd stave off my craving for writing by writing about what I've been reading recently. But one day I will go back to actually writing :")

Books Mentioned

• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
• Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
• You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
• Blue Lock (vol.1-19) by Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Yusuke Nomura
• Tougen Anki (vol.1) by Urushibara Yura
• Tokyo Aliens (vol.1) by NAOE
• Hirano to Kagiura (vol.4) by Harusono Shou
• Tokyo Revengers (vol.31) by Wakui Ken

November - January Wrap-Up [Flash Reviews]

Buckle up, it's going to be a long one. It's been way too long since I've written about what I've been reading, mostly because I haven't had too much time to read, let alone review what I've read. 

Books Mentioned

• Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong
• Kaiju No. 8 by Matsumoto Naoya
• Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
• If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang
• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

February - June Wrap-Up [Flash Reviews]

I know I've recently posted a January - June Recap, but I also wanted to give you my thoughts on the books that went unmentioned. Some of these reviews will be repeats of that previous post, so if you'd like an in-depth rambling on some of my favorite books, short stories, poetry collections, fanfics, songs, and more, check out that post!

Books Mentioned

• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
• Chainsaw Man by Fujimoto Tatsuki
• Jade War & Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller
• You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
• Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
• The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

January - June 2022: A Recap

It has been a long while since I've made one of these! 2022 has been a busy year so far, and I can't believe it's practically halfway over. In the past 6 months, I honestly haven't read very many books, but I have done a variety of other things. I wrapped up university in the past month, and I am now a university graduate with a B.S. in Biochemistry! I've also spent the past 6 months discovering and deepening my love for creative writing, and also learning for the first time what creative writing entails. I never thought I could be a writer of any sort, but here I am taking creative writing workshops and learning from some of the most insightful writers ever. I also got COVID during the past month, which definitely wasn't fun, but I've since recovered well, just in time to not miss my very last week of undergrad classes.

So, yes, I haven't read very many books, per se, in the past 6 months, but I have been reading. I've also been listening to new music (read: not just Taylor Swift) and discovering a love for poetry as well. I've never really been much of a poetry person, but some great collections have me rethinking this. Maybe I can become a poetry person. And it wouldn't be me if I wasn't reading some fanfiction, and I have some really great recs for you all. I've, of course, been reading manga as well and watching anime whenever I have free time, and I've come across some really great ones that I'm excited to recommend to you all as well!

January Wrap-Up

Happy January & Happy 2022 🎉

I always get extremely excited to fill in my Goodreads goal at the beginning of the year; I've settled with 2 books a month at 24 books this year! I try not to overshoot because I care way too much about hitting the reading goal, and I know that my time for reading diminishes a lot in the midst of the school year. Some months I'll read 5 books, other months I'll read none. So 24 is a very attainable goal at the moment. But I am guilty of changing the goodreads goal when it seems like I am getting there way too soon.

This month, I had a stressful start to the new school term. However, one of my classes really pushes me to read a lot more to explore different writing styles as well as writing subjects, and I've been trying to open my mind to the vast possibilities in the genres of contemporary and literary fiction. But of course, I am unable to completely break away from my beloved fantasy books.

Books Mentioned

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
• Hori-san to Miyamura-kun (Vol. 1 - 10) by Hagiwara Daisuke
• My Love Mix-Up (Vol. 1 - 2) by Hinekure Wataru & Aruko
• Sasaki to Miyano (Vol. 1 - 8) by Harusono Sho
• Hirano to Kagiura (Vol. 1 - 2) by Harusono Sho

Everything I Read in the Last Quarter of 2021 -- Wrap-Up

Happy End of 2021 🎉

I've admittedly had an extreme rollercoaster ride of a time these past few of months, and I binge read quite a lot (of manga) to cope with everything. It's quite funny how (for me at least) in the worst of times reading becomes my biggest crutch to fall back on when the world as I know feels like it is crumbling at its edges. Very grateful for all the genuine feelings that books were able to bring to me when I felt like I had to put on a performance and recreate some semblance of normalcy for what felt like months.

I'm honestly really grateful that I am quite easily entertained, because I had a lot of very great reads these past few months.

Books Mentioned

• Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat
• Demon Slayer (Vol. 8 - 23) by Gotouge Koyoharu
• Spy x Family by Endo Tatsuya
• Yona of the Dawn (Vol. 1 - 36) by Kusanagi Mizuho
• Mist (薄雾) by Wei Feng Ji Xu (微风几许)
• Golden Stage (黄金台) by Cang Wu Bin Bai (苍梧宾白)
• Blue Period (Vol. 1 - 11) by Yamaguchi Tsubasa
• Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
• It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

September Wrap-Up

Happy September 🍂

School starts up this month, so I did not have a very prolific reading month :") I can feel myself falling back into that reading slump, probably because I've been spending more time thinking about which books to bring to my school apartment and which books to keep at home. I'm bringing the absolute bare minimum (books I haven't read that I plan on reading, books I know I'll be lending) but it really does pain me to leave books behind, especially the books I have on display on my shelf. 

Books Mentioned

• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
• Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 8 - 16 by Akutami Gege
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

August Wrap-Up & more

Happy August! 

It's the last full month of summer before school starts up again 😥 And yet I had quite a lot to do this month to prepare for school to start. 

It's also my birth month! And even though every month is a month where I should be "taking liberties" and reading whatever I want, I felt that extra this month with all the work and studying I was trying to avoid. Sometimes it's just 1000x easier to just read through a manga with lovely artwork as opposed to reading blocks of words. I also recently got back into manga because my sister convinced me to continue reading a childhood favorite, and now I'm hooked once more. And maybe I'm realizing that one of my favorite genres of manga are stories set in Victorian England where the protagonist is a morally grey genius who I adore and am secretly rooting for 👀

Books Mentioned

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji) Vol. 26-30 by Toboso Yana
• Moriarty The Patriot Vol. 1-15 by Takeuchi Ryosuke & Miyoshi Hikaru
• People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry
• Tokyo Revengers Vol. 1-24 by Wakui Ken

July Wrap-Up & August TBR

Hi! I'm writing this at the tail end of July and I think I finally have a somewhat decent reading month? Decent for me, at least.

It probably helped that I went overseas and had a lot of ebooks on hand for when I had absolutely nothing to do on the airplane, and during my whole-trip quarantine as well. 

I've started using the CAWPILE system to organize my reading, since the spreadsheet by G does a really lovely job with helping me decide on a star ranking and also it makes it very easy to see my reading stats for the year. 

Books Mentioned

• The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
• The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
• Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
• Jade City by Fonda Lee
• Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

Everything I Read in the First Half of 2021 -- Wrap-Up

Oh wow it has been a while :")

For fall quarter I did quite a lot of reading for school only, and I didn't have much time to read for myself, so I didn't make wrap-ups for those months. The following quarter was also a bust. I tried to read as much as I could and mostly stuck to short fanfictions since I spent most of my time reading articles and papers for class, so here is a first half of the year wrap-up. I'm also including the one book series I read at the very end of the month of December.

Books Mentioned

•  默读/Mo Du/Silent Reading by priest
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
• 七爷/Qi Ye/Lord Seventh by priest
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
• 小蘑菇/Little Mushroom by 一十四洲

默读/Mo Du/Silent Reading by priest [SERIES REVIEW]

 

Synopsis

-from novelupdates

Childhood, upbringing, family background, social relations, traumatic experiences...

We keep reviewing and seeking out the motives of criminals, exploring the subtlest emotions driving them. It's not to put ourselves in their shoes and sympathize, or even to forgive them; it's not to find some reasons to exculpate their crimes; it's not to kneel down before the "so-called complexity of human nature"; nor to introspect social conflicts, much less to alienate ourselves into monsters.

We just want to have a fair trial—for ourselves and for those who still have hope for the world.

Ratings

• Book 1: ★★★★+(.5) (4.5/5)
• Book 2: ★★★★★ (5/5)
• Book 3: ★★★★+(.75) (4.75/5)
• Book 4: ★★★★★ (5/5)
• Book 5: ★★★★+(.75) (4.75/5)

Overall Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (4.8/5)

Trigger/Content Warnings: violence, drugs, suicide, self harm, bullying, psychological abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse, human trafficking, child prostitution, pedophilia, mentions of rape, loss of loved ones, death, murder, violent accident, torture, animal abuse

September Wrap-Up

Um yeah this is super late and I read a total of one (1) book...

I have a lot of fanfics to rec tho at the end? :D

Sorry I have nothing to say here except I had finals this month which took up a lot of my energy... and then I spent the rest of the month doing absolutely nothing in preparation for more school. 

But yeah I did read some fics during my downtimes! Fics are absolute serotonin boosts and they're fun and easy to get through so I default to them when I'm tired :")

Books Mentioned

• Vicious by VE Schwab