Books about Books

Hi all,

Today I wanted to share a list of my favorite books about books and reading. I’ve noticed a lot that writers tend to write a lot about reading, assuming because most writers are also readers. And it certainly is great as a reader to read about how great books and reading are. I thought it’d be fun to compile a list of my favorite books that are focused on books and reading, as I imagine fellow book-lovers out there would like them as much as me.

So, here we go.

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The Library Book by Susan Orlean

My first and obvious choice. Described as “a love letter to libraries,” this book is about the importance of libraries and the role they’ve played throughout American history. Paired along with a mystery about the burning of a library and who committed that crime, Orlean delves into the importance of libraries as a community hub, the power of books, and issues of censorship. Equal parts informative and entertaining, this is a must-read for book lovers. (link)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

This is a book about a massive, secret underground library system, full of fantasy and adventure and vibes. One of my favorite books of all time, this is a book for the daydreamer, the over-thinker, the reader who wishes they could crack open their book and slip into it’s world. This is also adult fantasy and follows a grad student, so if you’re looking to read something outside the realm of YA, I definitely recommend. (link)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

An old favorite, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is definitely a book for book lovers. The main character, Charlie, reads many books recommended by his English teacher throughout the book, which covers about one year’s time. The books, and the English teacher (because we all know English teachers are the best ones) help Charlie navigate his first year of high school. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend. If you have read it, I recommend a reread, as I feel I get something new from this one each time I read it. This is a must-read book for me, especially for book readers. (link)

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

This book is about Nafisi’s secret literature course that she taught to young women in Iran. While reading and discussing forbidden books, Nafisi and her class navigate all sorts of issues such as politics, education, censorship, and marriage. It felt part-class, part-book club to me; what I mean is that in book clubs, often half the conversation is about the book, and the other half is about what members may be going through at the time. Nafisi’s book stressed the importance of having a core group like this come together to support one another, and how books can often open doors to these conversations and relationships, help us understand out situations and the world around us, and offer comfort during difficult moments of our lives. (link)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Another popular one, this is a book that begins with a girl stealing forbidden books destined for the pyre. Throughout the book, she shares these books with others and learns herself to read and write and share her own story of living in Nazi Germany. This is another book that deals heavily with censorship and the power not just of books but of our right to read and write and tell our own stories. (link)

Honorable Mentions:

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis

This book does not really deal too much with books, but the love interest is a (hot) archivist who helps the main character solve a decades-old mystery with his knowledge of a museum’s paintings and the history of the family who lived there. So it’s not so much about books but is is about archival paintings and documents. As both a reader and an archivist, I really enjoyed this one and think fellow book and history lovers will enjoy it too. (link)

Babel by R.F. Kuang

This is a book about translation (among other things, of course). While the main plot doesn’t deal with the translation of books, I think Babel says a lot about translation, colonization, regionalization, and systems of power. It was a reminder for me that any translated book, story, poem, anime subtitles, anything, will never be 100% accurate. It made me really rethink translation and my relationship to media that is originally in a language other than English, and also what it means for English to be a dominate language, and what it means for me to be a monolingual speaker, and how that might affect my media consumption. All in all, while not about books and mainstream media necessarily, this book definitely makes you think about all of those things in the real world. It was one of those books that is very entertaining, but also makes you think about the world around you long after you put it down. (link)

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

This book is largely about a disastrous holiday due to fake-dating and real past flings, but the main character meets the love interest in a bookstore (they both want a copy of the same book, if I remember correctly….) and that has always stuck out to me as being particularly charming as a reader. If you’re looking for a holiday romance to read this year, I definitely recommend this one. (link)

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I hope ya’ll liked this list, and maybe found something to add to your TBR! If you know of any books that might fit this topic, please let me know in the comments so I can check them out!

As always, thank you for reading! Be sure to check back next week for something new!

The 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Book Tag

Hello there!

I was looking for a fun book tag to do since I haven’t done one for a bit, and I came across this tag from amyleighreads.com. Please consider checking out their post if you have a chance! I was drawn to this tag in particular because it’s a bit more unique than a basic book tag. Just to note, I wasn’t tagged to do this post.

Anyway, let’s give it a go!

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5 books you love

• Nimona by ND Stevenson
• Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Muted by Miranda Mundt (this is technically a webcomic but I’m counting it because it fundamentally changed me as a person.)
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Okay, quick explanation – these are essentially the five books you would need to read to understand me as a person (I maintain a list, so answering this question was easy). Nimona was the first book I’ve ever read where I felt like someone came into my head and then made a book about it (finding out that Stevenson is bipolar was telling). Red, White, and Royal Blue is a forever fave because it was the first time I ever found myself loving a rom-com – and that’s when I realized that I like almost everything better when it’s queer, and maybe I should be able to read about people like me all the time. I loved Circe in such a fundamental way I cannot explain it; I feel like this book took everything I love about soft and angry and vengeful women and did it poetically. This is the kind of book I read and think “Damn, I don’t know if I can ever be a writer if I have to compete with this masterpiece.” (Unfortunately, this fact will not stop me.) Muted is a webcomic about witches with generational trauma that I feel like really and truly got it so right in all it’s tragedy that it actually healed a little bit of my inner child; I read this and thought, “Yes, someone said it, they said it directly and they said it right.” The Starless Sea is a very strange and whimsical book about a secret library that is not at all like a regular library and truth be told, it was mostly vibes, and its not for everyone but it is for me. It was also surprisingly queer.

4 auto-buy authors

• Maggie Stiefvater
• Leigh Bardugo
• V.E. Schwab
• Ryan La Sala

This was a tough one! Stiefvater and Bardugo still have a hold on me from my YA days, and I’ve recently started reading through Schwab’s catalog and really enjoy her writing style. But I could NOT think of a fourth author. Funny enough, even when I wrote an auto-buy authors post years ago (featuring Stievater and Bardugo, shockingly), it only included 3 authors! No offense to any authors I love, but I just do not trust anyone well enough anymore to have many auto-buy authors. Too many times I’ve read one of their books and then immediately buy another of theirs just to find out it’s awful (sorry to my faves but I am unafraid to leave a 1-star review); or they just don’t have many books out, so its hard to call someone an auto-buy when I’ve only read their only release so far. Or perhaps they have a large catalog and I’ve read only two or three of their books. Long story short – I had a hard time picking a fourth author, but finally settled on Ryan la Sala; even though I haven’t read through all of their books yet, they’ve written some of my faves and I cannot wait to get my hands on their newest release, so it felt fitting.

3 favorite genres

• Fantasy
• Contemporary fiction
• Historical fiction

This category was also surprisingly tough for me. Not considering things that are used as genres but aren’t really genres, like “LGBT”, I realized that I don’t seem to read a lot of variety; mostly I seem to stick to fantasy and contemporary fiction. But I’ve had a strong interest in historical fiction lately and really want to read more of it, so I added that as my third. My favorite genres could change at literally any time depending on what I’m hyper-fixated on at the time; currently it’s queer historical fiction.

2 places you read

• My couch
• The park

I definitely do most of my reading in my favorite spot in the world, which is my corner of the couch. But when I want to get out of the house, I like to head to a nearby park, stopping for a coffee on the way, and read there. Though admittedly, I think I do more people-watching than reading there…

1 book you promise to read soon

• Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Uh…..so many….I am going to write extensively toward the end of the year about how attempting a reading challenge this year kind of ruined the joy of reading for me – one reason for this is because I felt like I had to put off reading books I really wanted to read so I could read ones that counted toward the challenge. This means that the amount of books I am desperate to read ASAP is huge. One of those books is Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, the second book in her adult paranormal fantasy series. I was (silently, internally) begging for her to write this sequel among all of her Grisha-verse books and when she finally released it at the beginning of this year I bought a copy immediately – and of course I haven’t read it yet. But I am absolutely determined to fit it in soon, especially as we’re in the middle of spooky season.

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And that wraps up the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Book Tag! This was a simple, fun, and unique tag to do and I’m glad I stumbled across it. Please check out the tag on the blog linked above if you can, since I wouldn’t have found this tag without their posts. And as usual, if you’re reading this – considered yourself tagged!

And as always, thank you so much for reading, and please check back next week for a new post!

Cozy Book Recs for Fall

Hello there!

The weather is finally cooling down here, and I’ve been feeling so cozy. I know we talk about seasonal depression as we get into winter, but I always feel my mood start to perk up around the fall. I love snuggling up into a blanket or two with a hot cup of coffee, and a little space heater blasting on my feet. And of course, a good book.

I’m not a big horror fan, so this year I wanted to make a list of cozy fall book recommendations. These are not necessarily cozy in theme and content, but more so the kind of book you’d want to pick up in the above scenario – a good book for nesting in a pile of blankets with a hot drink, my favorite time of the year.

So here are some great books I recommend to snuggle up with this fall.

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Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

This was an obvious choice. This book is set around Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and is a mix of dark and light themes. Yes, we’re talking about a little murder and a little sending people off to the afterlife, but we’re also talking a great fall setting (uh, a cemetery) and queer joy. This book made me feel so soft and warm when I finished it; despite touching upon some darker themes, it also has moments of joy and acceptance and humor and perfect for a comfy fall weekend read.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Continuing our theme of graveyards and ghosts, I also recommend Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. This middle grade book is quite simply about a boy who lives in a graveyard and has been raised by ghosts. In Gaiman fashion, it’s mysterious and strange and a bit eerie, and that makes it a perfect fall read if you ask me.

Nimona by ND Stevenson

This is one of my all-time favorite graphic novels, and I usually read it about once a year (hm, perhaps I’ll reread this one myself…). Nimona is a very chaotic shapeshifter that I just adore. This book isn’t spooky, exactly, but it asks questions about what makes heroes and what makes villains and what makes a monster, and I think that makes it a great, quick autumn read. And after you’ve read it, you could watch the absolutely incredible animated movie adaptation on Netflix!

Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger

This book, the first in a series, is a supernatural romance with a lot of comedy thrown in. It’s one of my favorite series of all time. If you’re feeling an adult romance with supernatural themes, this is definitely a fun fall read. And if you’d prefer it, there’s also a graphic novel adaptation of the first three books in the series by REM, which I also love.

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

The first in a four-book series (or seven, if you count the spinoff), this book just oozes fall atmosphere. It’s not dark academia (to me at least), but close to it, with mystery and magic and a little bit of violence, and the series gets darker with each book if you decide to read the full series. I think Stiefvater has an incredibly atmospheric way of writing, and this book just feels like autumn to me. (Thinking back on it, this book also features a graveyard – how fitting.)

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

If you’re feeling some nonfiction, I recommend The Library Book by Susan Orlean. It’s a perfect nonfiction book for book lovers, a history or libraries, the books within them, and the people who frequent them, with a little true crime thrown in (Susan Orlean does seem to love a journalistic endeavor centered around truly…unique characters.) As a librarian myself, I learned a lot about libraries in the US through this book and found it both entertaining and informative. What better cozy nonfic read than a book about books?

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Thanks as always for reading! I hope you found a book or two to add to your fall TBR (is yours as overflowing as mine?). Hope to see you back here next week for something new!

Review: Circe

Title: Circe
Author: Madeline Miller
Published: Little, Brown, & Company, 2018
Genre: Historical fiction, fantasy
Pages: 404 pages
My rating: 5/5 stars

Description: In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not obviously powerful like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur; Daedalus and his doomed son, Icarus; the murderous Medea; and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or the mortals she has come to love.

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love, and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man’s world. (from The Storygraph)

Thoughts:
Madeline Miller’s Circe had been heavily recommended to me around 2018, the year of it’s publication. Of course I bought it way back then, and of course it collected dust on my shelves until early 2023 when I finally decided to read it.

And why, I ask myself, why did I wait so long? This is one of my favorite books I have ever read. I should have listened to all of those rave reviews and read it straight away. Though I like to believe that perhaps I picked it up at just the right moment for myself.

I should probably start this review by saying I know nothing of Circe, the mythological figure. I never learned about Greek mythology in high school or college, and I can tell you with honesty that anything I know about Circe, I know from this book. I did not even bother to look up the mythology after finishing this book, because I liked Miller’s version just fine. So I cannot speak on how closely Miller follows actual mythology in this retelling.

I was concerned that my lack of knowledge on Greek mythology would hinder my reading and make it more difficult to follow the story, especially as there are other figures, such as Helios and Daedalus and Icarus and Odysseus, that are included in the tale. I can confidently say that you don’t need that background knowledge to enjoy the book, thankfully. I found Miller wrote this book in a way that is accessible to all readers, even those who do not have the background knowledge of mythology. (I am deeply grateful to her for this, as I was able to enjoy the book without a self-taught Greek Mythology 101 crash course beforehand.)

I did find this to be a bit of a slow read. However, I don’t necessarily mean that to be a bad thing. While usually we expected “good” novels to be edge-of-your-seat un-put-downable, sometimes I find that great novels are also ones to be savored, to spend time with, to soak into. And that’s how I felt about Circe. It didn’t feel like a book that drudged on, but it felt like a book to spend time with. I found Miller’s prose to be captivating. It felt as though I was really the audience of an oral tale, which I found very fitting for a mythology retelling; I felt transported in time when I read, as if I was sitting near a fireplace and listening to a storyteller. Miller has such a beautiful and unique voice as an author that I immediately looked into getting her other books as soon as I finished with Circe; I desperately wanted more, not necessarily more of Circe (while I loved the story, I felt the book’s length was perfect for it), but more of that captivating storytelling.

Unsurprisingly, we spend a lot of time with Circe. Of course she’s the titular character, but she’s also isolated, socially and/or physically throughout the book. I really gained a sense of sympathy and understanding of her character, and by the end of the book she felt like an old friend. She is definitely one of my favorite characters to have read about, and though the ending of the book was very satisfying, I was still sad to close it at the end.

The end, of course, was my favorite part of this book. which I cannot write about explicitly without spoiling. And once again, I want to say that I have no idea how closely this follows the actual mythology of Circe (if you are a fan of mythology, you may already know the ending if Miller followed closely, but for readers like me who would not, I am avoiding spoilers). What I will say, is Miller comes full circle from beginning to end in a way that I didn’t expect and absolutely adored. This is one of my favorite endings I have ever read, and I think about it quite often as both a reader and writer. I wish all books left me feeling so satisfied.

I’m writing this review quite a while after I’ve read the book, so I can’t quite remember all the little details I loved about it. But I know I’ve touched upon the major things I loved about this book, and I truly don’t have any complaints about it. Despite knowing I couldn’t write a review as detailed as I’d have liked, I wanted to write one anyway, because I needed to tell anyone I could to read it.

I absolutely recommend this book, especially for anyone who loves stories about strong and powerful and angry women. If you want a book to really savor, to leave you feeling hollow in a beautiful way when you’re done, Circe is for you. Miller has such a unique and incredible voice, and I cannot wait to get my hands on more of her work.

Recommend for fans of: Historical fiction, Greek mythology, strong and powerful and angry women, anyone who grew up loving Percy Jackson.

Thanks for reading!
Find more reviews here.

Authors note: this is the first review I’ve written since May 2023, and I definitely do not think I did the book or my own thoughts and feelings toward it any justice. But I thank you for reading this far, and hope to continue improving on writing reviews (starting by writing the review shortly after I finish the book, and not over half a year later).

Book Blogging & Shouting into the Aether: A Rambling

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Truths

A truth: I am not doing well.

Job hunting has been brutal. I feel like my degrees are useless, and all I did was waste my time and money despite my passion for literacy, libraries, and archives. I’m almost 30. With no job, I have no money and no health insurance. I’m scared. I can’t do anything about it. I feel helpless. I feel angry, that I worked so hard for so long, since I was a child earning straight As, putting myself through undergraduate and graduate school both, and have nothing to show for it. I am almost 30. I have nothing.

I dread night because I know I’ll toss and turn, and I dread morning because I know I can’t pull myself out of bed. I was never like this before. I would wake myself up early and get work done through the most difficult times. Now, most days I can’t manage to get up before noon, and then I feel guilty for wasting my day. I think drinking a lot of water and doing yoga and journaling will fix my life; it doesn’t, and then I get angry at myself for being in the same place for so long. I keep working hard and doing what I was told I should do and I keep going nowhere and I keep having nothing. I’m angry. I’m so, so angry.

I’m angry at everyone who told me to work hard and go to college and I would “be set.” I’m angry at myself for believing them. I’m angry at myself for believing the world would be fair. I’m angry that I really believed I would be rewarded for working hard and doing right. I feel stupid, because I should have known I wouldn’t. How could I think such naive things?

A truth: I am doing okay. My girlfriend and I moved to a city last summer. We’ve been here for a year. Despite having no job and no money, I love it. I’m almost 30. I have a library card for the first time in my life. The library is within walking distance, so I don’t have to pay bus or train fare. I can still read a lot despite being broke. We also live within a 15-minute walk of a public park. I get library books and go to the park to read them and it’s free, and there are lots of dogs and well-dressed people who I want to be like when I grow up.

I’m already grown, but I feel like a child most days. I feel younger now than I did when I was in my early 20s. I felt so grown then.

Most days, gathering the courage to leave the house is hard. I try to do it about twice a week. During the height of COVID, I became a hermit. I was afraid to leave the house by myself. I frighten from strangers like a scared animal. I suppose I am a scared animal. I try to leave the house anyway, because the sun and exercise are good for me. I think it will fix my life. It doesn’t, but it helps.

My girlfriend works from home, and she recently got a promotion. She works almost 50 hours a week and I miss her, but I’m grateful that I have someone who is willing to shoulder the financial burden while I get my shit together. She no longer has the time to navigate the unfamiliar streets or talk to cashiers for me, so I have to do it myself. I hope I get my shit together soon, so she doesn’t have to carry all the weight.

I don’t know why I wrote this all out, or why I’m posting it on the internet. Probably I shouldn’t. I keep telling myself I’m going to quit social media because it’s bad for me. It makes me think of all of the things I don’t have and all of the things I can’t do. It makes me feel like I should be further in life than I am. It makes me jealous. It makes me angry. But how else would I know when my book-to-movie adaptations were releasing? So I try to use it less, but I can’t quit. Probably I should.

Instead, here is a picture of my library book in my park, with cookies I made this weekend. They were delicious. And then sun felt good on my face and I was happy despite the heat. It’s hard to gather the courage to leave the house, but sometimes I don’t feel alive, or real, until I see other people and feel sunshine. I like living in the city because even though it’s noisy outside of my window almost all the time, the noise reminds me that there’s a world out there that is in constant motion, and I’m part of it, and I’m alive. Sometimes it’s easy to forget.

A truth: I’m not doing well; I’m doing okay. I hope I’ll be doing better soon.

Why I Switched to The Storygraph

Hello there!

This week I wanted to write about something that’s been on my mind for quite a bit – why I switched from using Goodreads to The Storygraph for my reading tracking. Goodreads is probably the most well-known reading tracking site, and I used it to track my reading from high school all the way through college and beyond – nearly 10 years. Around 2020, I decided to try out a new site, The Storygraph.

I was on the fence about continuing to use Goodreads since they were bought out by Amazon in 2013; I no longer quite trusted the reviews after that. It was around 2020 that I first heard of Storygraph as an alternative to Goodreads, and I was initially drawn in by the fact that they were determined to stay independent and they have a really cool stats feature. Initially, I planned to use them both at the same time until I decided which I preferred, but after starting with Storygraph, I never looked back at Goodreads.

I have no desire to go back to Goodreads. If you’re looking for an alternative, I suggest The Storygraph. Here are a few reasons why I switched, and why I recommend The Storygraph rather than Goodreads.

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My biggest reason for leaving Goodreads was their being owned by Amazon. As I already said, Amazon bought Goodreads in 2013. This made me uncomfortable for a number of reasons, beginning with the fact that I really try to avoid supporting Amazon if I can manage it. I also felt like with Goodreads now being owned by Amazon, it was just a glorified Amazon bookstore, pushing you to buy from Amazon rather than allowing Goodreads to remain an uninfluenced reading site. In an article from BookRiot regarding the purchase, they write, “Amazon is the biggest bookseller in the world, and they’ve turned Goodreads into a highly personalized storefront” (BookRiot). Let’s not forget, as the BookRiot article points out, Amazon publishes books as well, so they are double-benefiting by pushing not only books from their online store but also books they publish.

Like many users, I primarily used Goodreads to read reviews as well as tracking my reading. After the purchase, I no longer trusted the Goodreads reviews in the same way, much like I distrust reviews on Amazon in general; perhaps it’s a conspiracy theory, but I always fear that reviews are faked to convince you to buy the product. While I’m sure many Goodreads reviews are genuine, I just don’t know which ones to trust. This was the #1 reason I started looking for a Goodreads alternative.

Enter The Storygraph. The site was founded in 2019 (Wikipedia), not long before I decided to join; once I discovered a GR alternative, I was eager to try it out.

Part of the appeal of Storygraph from it’s early days is something you may have seen floating around the book-sphere online if you’re not already a Storygraph user – it’s stats feature. I’ve featured stats from my Storygraph profile in previous posts, such as my 2023 Quarter 1 wrap-up. If you particularly like the “tracking” aspect of Goodreads and want to dig into the details of your reading, you’ll love this feature as much as I do. Plus, it’s just fun to look at the overview of your reading. You can look at it monthly, yearly, or even overall. Since you can input your GR data to Storygraph, I’m able to look at stats and graphs summarizing my reading since 2013!

Just one of the many types of graphs you can find on The Storygraph.

Another feature I love from Storygraph is their “reading preferences.” Rather than asking you just to select your preferred genres, Storygraph asks you things like what pacing, moods, and characteristics (such as woman authors) you prefer in your books. It also asks you to list things you don’t like, such as flat characters. This helps really tailor the books the site recommends to you; it often recommends me books I’ve not heard of before, which is rare when I spend so much time on bookstagram and booktwitter. Another huge feature recently implemented is what I call “blacklist” content – you can enter in things that you do not want to read about, such as hate crimes, gun violence, death of a parent, or other things that might be triggering or otherwise topics you’d like to avoid. Books will feature a little yellow “caution” symbol if they have content you’ve listed in this section so you can decide if it is a title you might want to avoid. These features that allow you to really narrow down and personalize your suggested books and feed is something that really sets The Storygraph apart, in my opinion.

While these are the major aspects of The Storgraph that set it apart, I also want to share a few of the minor features that I also enjoy about the site:

• The Storygraph has also recently implemented an “Up next” feature that is great for planning TBRs. You can select up to 5 books from your “To be Read Pile” for you “Up Next” list, and reorder them or remove them as needed. This has been great for keeping me on track for my nonfiction challenge this year.
• A feature that Goodreads users have been asking for years is the ability to track “buddy reads” – and The Storgygraph has it. You can add a buddy read with a friend and share your thoughts; your friend won’t be able to see your comments until they’ve reached the indicated place in the book to avoid spoilers. I don’t use this feature, but I can definitely see the appeal.
• The Storygraph allows .5 or .25 stars in your book ratings; I didn’t think this was something I would utilize, but I actually do this quite often!
• On The Storygraph, rereading books counts toward your reading tracking and goals – this feature, I love! I reread favorites often, and I’m happy that these books count toward my reading goals and stats. After all, it was a book that I read! It should count toward my reading goal!
• Anyone can host and join reading challenges on The Storygraph. A bookstagramer whose content I just adore is hosting the 19Nonfiction challenge on The Storygraph and I’m taking part; you can find all sorts of different reading challenges this way, or even host your own!
• A recent addition to The Storygraph was their “reading streak” feature, which keeps track of how many days in a row you’ve met the reading goal you set, if you chose to toggle the feature on. I like being able to see visually just how many days in a row I’ve read.

Lastly, I want to note that one thing I adore about The Storygraph is that there are regular updates, added features, and commentary from the founder and developer on social media. I really feel like they listen to their user base and implement changes regularly. I feel respected as a user instead of “played” as a consumer, as I did with Goodreads after they were bought by Amazon. I know one huge complaint about Goodreads for years was that it was beginning to feel a bit archaic and the user interface was never updated; in this sense, The Storygraph is a breath of fresh air.

I haven’t been on Goodreads for a few years now, and I’m not sure what new features or changes they may have implemented; perhaps they now have some of the features listed above that were not available when I last used the site. But I haven’t even considered going back to Goodreads since I started using the storygraph; it’s met and even exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend the site as an alternative to goodreads.

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I didn’t mean to make this post so long, but I didn’t realize just how many features on The Storygraph I really appreciated until I started listing them.

As always, thank you so much for reading! Please consider stopping by next week for something new!

Review: One Last Stop

Author: Casey McQuiston
Published: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021
Genre: Romance
Pages: 422
My rating: 3.5 stars

Description: “For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all” (from Storygraph).

Thoughts:
My first review since taking a break from blogging and let’s get into it: it was a disappointment.

I picked this up because I loved McQuiston’s Red, White, and Royal Blue, and, as a queer woman, I was thrilled to find out they were writing a w/w novel. Since One Last Stop was published in 2021, I heard nothing but great things about it in reviews and via bookstagram and Twitter. I was excited to finally get a chance to read it, but ultimately I admit I ended up disappointed.

There were two major elements of the book that I actually enjoyed.

First, I loved the side characters: August’s roommates Myla, Niko, and Wes, and their neighbor Isaiah. I also liked the staff at Pancake Billy’s, though I don’t recall their names and have already donated the book to a thrift store (oops – maybe I should have waited until my review was done).

I also enjoyed the mystery of it all. I wanted to know how Jane got displaced from her original time period in the 1970s, and if they could “fix” her so she stopped jumping around in time, and if she would go back to the 70s or stay in the present (2020/2021). This mystery was the main thing that kept me from quitting the book altogether, as the enjoyable side characters would generally not be enough alone to keep me reading.

What’s curious to me was how McQuiston could write such intriguing side characters with such uninteresting main characters. After hearing so much praise for this book and love for Jane online, I expected to fall head-over-heels for her. Instead, August and Jane both were at best boring and at worst annoying. I don’t want to compare this book too much to McQuiston’s extremely popular debut, Red, White, and Royal Blue for a number of reasons. But I will admit that after loving literally every character in RWRB, I was surprised to find myself disliking both members of the main couple in One Last Stop. It’s even more disappointing when insufferable August and Jane are placed against the backdrop of such awesome and loveable side characters.

For this reason, I have to admit that I was not emotionally invested in whether or not Jane would go back to the 70s and be separated from August or if she would stay in the present. I wanted to know how the novel would end, but I realized I honestly would not be upset if they were permanently separated. And if I don’t care whether or not the main couple is permanently separated, I’m not sure how successful your romance novel is…

I might be getting too picky at this point, but there were some other minor things that really stuck out to me as strange. First, I was genuinely shocked when August doesn’t realize that [spoiler] Jane and Auggie were both in New Orleans at the same time [end spoiler], despite the fact that August was essentially trained from birth to be a private investigator and investigate Auggie’s disappearance. I was also surprised that in the year 2021, no one in the entire relatively intelligent cast (with the exception of Jane, who has an excuse being from the 70s and not familiar with the internet) had considered an online fundraiser when they found out that [spoiler] Billy’s was going to shut down [end spoiler]. In the age of kickstarter and gofundme, I can’t believe this wasn’t the first response. Though I admit the [spoiler] drag show fundraiser [end spoiler] was a way cooler idea, an online fundraiser could have still helped raise the rest of the money.

I want any and all excuses to fall in love with a sapphic book. I know we are starved for them, or at least I am. I loved RWRB so much I was excited that McQuiston was writing a w/w book instead of another m/m, and I’m devastated that it was no where close to my expectations. I wanted so badly to love this book, but it just missed nearly every mark for me.

Thanks for reading!
Find more reviews here.

Book Cover Spotlight #1

Hello there!

I missed a post last Friday (sorry!), but I’m back this week to spotlight some of my favorite book covers and the artists who created them. I feel like in the book community, we talk a lot about beautiful covers but rarely name the cover artists and book designers who make them happen. So that’s what I’d like to do here. 

I could talk about a hundred covers I absolutely love, but for this post I’ll be discussing just five; however, I’m thinking of doing a series so I can shoutout book covers and artists more often. This will be the first post in the series.

Also, just to note: I’m sticking specifically to books I’ve read.

Enjoy!

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A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I’m kind of obsessed with the minimalist design of V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic (and the other two books in the trilogy, though I haven’t read those yet), designed by Will Staehle. The minimal use of color highlights the main character Kell’s iconic red coat and the concept of the alternative Londons that he travels between, which are differentiated by color – white, gray, red, black. 

You can read Staehle’s explanation of the design process as well as view some alternative almost-covers in this TOR.com post. (This series is getting a redesign, by the same cover artist if I’m not mistaken, but if I’m being honest, I like the originals better.)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

This cover does the kind of classic movie post thing thing that I hate, but somehow does it well. I love the color scheme, that’s kind of darker and warm at the same time. Like you know the book is gonna be spooky, but kind of cozy-spooky. The illustration of Lady Death in the background strikes both fear and awe. I’m not the biggest fan of character illustrations on covers, but cover artist Mars Lauderbaugh did such an excellent job, I feel like I was attached to Yadriel and Julian before I even read the book. 

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Photo credit: Ray Shappell (from post linked above)

I absolutely had to include this book on this list, because the cover is so fun and unique. It’s an eye-catching bright orange, but what I love the most is that it’s a redacted document. With the hardcover edition, when you remove the orange see-through dust-jacket, it reveals a marked-up document; the dust jacket itself redacts some information, while letting other details show through.

This is one of the only books I picked up just because I loved the design; I thought it was so different and unique. And as the novel is made up of documents and files that the characters compile to help reveal a conspiracy, it’s obviously a perfect thematic fit. Cover design by Ray Shappell – you can see lots of great photos of the book on his site!

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

Throughout her career, Leigh Bardugo has managed to have some of the absolute most beautiful cover designs, including underneath the dust jacket of her hardcovers. The Language of Thorns is perhaps one of her lesser known books, but one of my very favorite designs. Designed by Natalie Sousa, the symbolism in the cover directly references something from each of the six short stories in the book. A digital image doesn’t do it justice – the dust jacket has a thick, textured, expensive feel to it, and the gold details shine on the black matte background.

You can read about the collaboration between Sousa and Bardugo on the cover’s elements in this article from the Mary Sue.  

And I know we’re talking strictly about book covers here, but I want to mention that the design of this book overall is gorgeous – it contains beautiful illustrations throughout by artist Sara Kipin. It’s a fantastic addition to your shelves if you’re a Bardugo/Grisha-verse fan, and I definitely recommend splurging on the physical hardcover for this book.

You can check out an old review of mine, which includes photos of the book with and without the dust jacket as well as some inside illustrations.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

This book is my favorite cover of my reads this year so far. With art by Kuri Huang, the illustrated cover is just breathtaking. We see the main character centered with her longbow, the moon (of course!) at the top, with imagery such as birds and flowers (which I’m sure are a specific kind of flower that I can’t recall the name of). As I was reading the book, when I’d catch a glimpse of the cover I would constantly notice a piece of imagery and recognize how it fit into the story in a way I hadn’t noticed before. I also love the color scheme here, with the blues, pink-reds, and golds. A beautiful illustrated cover for an absolutely beautiful read.

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A post shared by Sue Lynn Tan (@suelynntan)

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It’s always fun for me to explore these cover designs in more detail, to pick apart why I actually liked them, look into the artists and their other work, and especially looking into how and why they went with their design choices. If you’ve fallen in love with a book cover, consider shouting out the artist, or perhaps giving them a follow on socials to support their art! It’s not only the author but often a team of hardworking, awesome people who make a whole book come together. I’ll definitely be continuing this series by shouting out covers I love and their artists in future posts.

Thanks as always for reading, and I hope you’ll check back next week for something new!

Discussion: you bought a book before you knew it was problematic…

Hi all,

I wanted to write a sort of rambling discussion post this week about something that’s been on my mind this year. In the past, I’ve bought books and later found out they are largely considered “problematic” by the book community. Usually this is because of the content (such as a white author publishing a book with a reverse racism plot) or the author’s behavior, such as criminal allegations or poor behavior documented online.

Recently I enjoyed a video from JesseonYoutube, where they discuss books they personally liked at one point but do not recommend due to their content, author, or otherwise problematic features. I really appreciate their honesty and perspective in that discussion, and I think they sum the subject up better than I can, so I definitely recommend watching their video (and also subscribing to their channel). It had been a topic I was thinking about for quite a while.

This line of thought was largely inspired by Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which I bought years ago when the book was relatively new and very popular; it had been recommended to me on multiple accounts. I had found out only recently (in 2022, around the time the movie came out) that the book was considered problematic as the author was accused of being involved in a crime similar to the one described in the book – and its highly suspected that the author avoided authorities while also profiting off the story by using it as inspiration for her novel.

Generally, if a book is largely considered problematic, I usually avoid them, depending on the allegations. While I try not to be too easily swayed by general conceptions of something, I have a handful of reviewers that I trust and often follow their recommendations when it comes to situations like this. Where the Crawdads Sing is a book I probably wouldn’t have purchased had I known about the allegations beforehand.

As I had already paid for it and therefore the damage was already done (I had already given the author my money), I decided to read it anyway and just not promote it on my book-related socials; that’s normally what I do for books that I’ve already paid for but don’t want to promote due to their being considered problematic. This is a book that…I ended up hating anyway. So I didn’t feel bad rating it one star. If I had enjoyed the book, I likely would have marked it read but left no star rating or review on it’s Storygraph page, where I normally track my reading.

So my question for ya’ll is – what do you do when you’re in this situation, where you already paid for a book but find out later it’s problematic? Sometimes (usually) I’m unaware of an author’s behavior or problematic aspects of a book before I read it, especially as I spend less time on socials than I used to so I often miss online conversations about these things. I really try to be conscious with where I put my money and the authors I support, but I also have to admit that I’m afraid of online lashback if I mention I’m reading a book that’s problematic. Mostly, I find it a waste to get rid of a book I’ve never read but have paid for.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this topic in the comments! While I do think we should try to be conscious about who we support and where we put our money, I personally don’t think there is one right or wrong way to handle things like this, or to read in general (it is a hobby, after all!). But I would really like to hear about how others handle something like this. So please let me know your thoughts if you’d like!

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you’ll check back next week for a new post.