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

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

August Wrap-Up

T'was a wild month...

I'm gonna be honest and admit I didn't read many books and I read a lot of one-shot fanfics. In my defense they're not that long and easy to get through and I've been really overwhelmed with summer school. And if you saw me posting art this month, no you didn't 💖 LOL just kidding I art when I'm especially stressed so that's why I was putting out a lot more content than usual. They're all stress draws; I just wanted to draw people (read: tsukikage) falling in love to make up for the void in me :")

Anyways, I'm including fanfic recs at the end because I want to write about something, I just have nothing else to write about :(

Books Mentioned

• Crush by Richard Siken
• This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

July Wrap-Up

How is 2020 going by so fast...

What's up with July and cults? I read a couple books with cults in them this month and no one warned me there would be cults in these books?

I completely failed my TBR. I posted it thinking I'd read at the same speed and consistency as the very beginning of the month, but July was not a fun time for me and I ended up having very little energy to read and I just watched anime and re-read old comfort reads the entire month.

And then there was the additional distraction of Haikyuu!! ending, and threw myself into fanfiction in the midst of mourning... Also, I was feeling nostalgic so I picked up "Come Morning Light" by SharkbaitSekki and that fanfic is 300k+ words, which is even longer than A Little Life's 800 pages, so yeah I've been busy. I've been reading through it really slowly though because I've been reading 3 books at the same time + this fanfic. Lots of words to read. 

Also I've fallen into this barren pit called oikage and I've been scrambling for crumbs...it's been a terrible time it's pretty much 99% angst here

This month, I've been using the app libby a lot for audiobooks! I wanted to try audiobooks for once since many people seem to enjoy reading with audiobooks, and they also allow me to do other things while reading. However, since it's my first experience with audiobooks (aside from Sadie but that was an extraordinary full-cast audiobook), I'm not sure how I feel about them...I think I'm just not used to them. But I highly recommend libby since it's an easy way to get audiobooks and ebooks from your library in these trying times.

I've also made an attempt to make my reviews shorter, so if anyone's wondering why they look half-sized it's because I realized I've been writing so much in these mini-reviews, I end up having nothing to say in my actual reviews :")

👪 buddy read

🎧 audiobook

Books Mentioned

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
• What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman
• The Wicked King by Holly Black
• The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
• Haikyuu!! (Vol. 38-end) by Haruichi Furudate
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• Beach Read by Emily Henry

**summaries taken from the book but might be slightly altered

⸺ ⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕ ⸺

August TBR

It's my birthday month!

and I also start summer school this month...😓 So I probably won't be able to read as much as I did in July. But I'm hoping to read around 4-5 new books this month? Since I think 6 is my average per month during the school months, and I'm planning on doing some re-reads.

But since it's my birthday month, I'm going to try extra hard to read books that I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy/rate highly, and I also wanted to treat myself to some re-reads of my favorites. 

I've also heard that there's a readathon called the nostalgiathon being hosted this month, and I had some ideas of what I wanted to do for that. It doesn't follow the prompts at all but...nostalgia.

I Recommend Books Based on My Top 10 Haikyuu!! Favs

This was something I came up with on a whim because Haikyuu!! ends this week and I thought it'd be nice to post something Haikyuu!! related. I've even started my 2nd re-read of "Come Morning Light" by SharkbaitSekki, and I'm planning on doing something for that too. Aaahh the fact that Haikyuu!! is ending makes me so sad because I've loved this series for all my heart for so many years. We all know Loving Haikyuu!! is an integral part of my personality at this point.

I will never have enough words to explain how much Haikyuu!! means to me. I think it's the very first manga that I've almost religiously (sorry 2019) followed until its end, and I think it's been 6 (?) years of following these characters every week and watching them develop one match at a time. I honestly have so much love for each and every one of these characters, choosing 10 was excruciatingly hard. I still remember reading the chapter when Hoshiumi was first introduced and when Sakusa was first introduced and he was all mysterious :") I still remember when Inarizaki was super mysterious and even when SHIRATORIZAWA seemed untouchable. Can you believe I thought Ushiwaka was scary & intimidating and now I'm screenshotting & printing memes of him?

I can actually imagine him saying this with a straight face :"")

So here are my top 10 most beloved Haikyuu!! characters, and...books........

AKA in which I reminisce over Haikyuu!! in honor of its end

I definitely just wanted Haikyuu!! and books.

The Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare [SERIES REVIEW]

Synopsis

-from Clockwork Angel

In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London's dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them.

Ratings:

• Clockwork Angel ★★+(.5) (2.5/5)
• Clockwork Prince ★★★ (3/5)
• Clockwork Princess ★★+(.5) (2.5/5)

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ (2.67/5)

The FULL July TBR

So I realized that it's barely a week into July and I've already finished my tentative TBR? I obviously don't have much to do this month other than stressing over enrollment, so I've been reading a lot more. I thought I'd make a post for my full TBR to keep my accountable for my reading, since it would be really shameful if I posted this and got through none of it 😅 I usually have trouble following TBR's, since I'm a mood reader and often pick things up on a whim, but I'm actually going to try to keep up with my TBR this month.

Some goals for the month: 

• Read more books than I did last month (11+ books)
• Read some graphic novels or manga! (I'm going to catch up to Haikyuu!! I'm speaking this to existence)
• Finish a series
• Read a non-fiction? (this is extremely tentative because I'm not a fan of non-fiction)
• Read a romance? (other than What Happened To Goodbye because I've already finished that)
• Read a hard-hitting contemporary or literary fiction (my newfound favorite genre?)

So, in no particular order, here's a list of books I'm planning to read this month (+ my expectations)

June Wrap-Up + July TBR

I can't believe it's already the end of June and we're halfway through 2020!

I read 2 new favorites this month! I kind of branched out of my comfort zone for a bit during the beginning of the month and picked up some historical fiction. I even picked up a classic! Last month I realized that I haven't read any historical fiction since the time I started reading again earlier this year. I was kind of shocked since I actually really enjoy historical fiction, so I thought I'd start the month off by picking up some historical fiction. Also, adhering to what is currently my brand, I tried to catch up with another series that everyone else in the bookish community really loves by picking up The Infernal Devices. 

And, after months and months of putting it off, I FINALLY PICKED UP A LITTLE LIFE!!

Here are the books I read in the month of June!

Books Mentioned

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
• Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
• Heartstopper (Vol. 1-3) by Alice Oseman
• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
• Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

**summaries taken from the book but might be slightly altered

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston [BOOK REVIEW]

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

When his mother became President of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millenial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with an actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex/Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family and state and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: Stage a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagrammable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the presidential campaign and upend two nations. It raises the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)