Reading Recap: September, October, November 2023

 It's been busy and crazy and I got behind logging my reading on here. So here's a bit of a catch up post! 

SEPTEMBER

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: A sad story about a very dysfunctional family and how they deal with the death of their daughter, which we find out about in the beginning and then learn what led up to it. It was page-turny for me but I still found the "being a mom is terrible" narrative to be frustrating. I'd love to read a book about a happy mom sometime. I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Not If I Date You First by Krysti Meyer: A cute YA romcom that I ended up with when the author gave out the link on Instagram. The premise: what happens when a top celebrity and a rising paparazzo fall in love? They have run ins, but the dude's people decide that the run  ins are helping his career, so they encourage it... and she needs the run ins to get the paparazzi job she wants. So yeah, fake boyfriend trope, which is always fun! I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Just Won't Spring for the Boy Band Star by Sasha Hart: This is a book I bought from the author at the writing conference back in May. Part of a companion series, this one is about our girl who is an up and coming chef and ends up being hired as the personal chef for a celebrity boy band star... and one she had a tiff with over on Twitter. So she has to hide her identity and then worries what to do when they start having feelings for each other. I

Flour Power: The Practice and Pursuit of Baking Sourdough Bread by Tara Jensen: As part of my quest to learn how to do sourdough stuff, I got this really awesome book from the library. I didn't read it cover to cover (the whole last half is recipes) but I did read A LOT of the learning stuff up front. But it's still a mystery. I guess I need to continue my research. I gave this one four stars on Goodreads.

OCTOBER

I read nothing in October, but I TRIED to read a lot of things and nothing would stick. See my video about those struggles here.

NOVEMBER

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: Wow! I finally know what everyone is talking about! Not sure it totally lived up to the hype, but yeah. It's a pretty intense fantasy (romantasy? Isn't that the new buzz word??) where the world of our human girl clashes with the world of our fairy lord boy. (Man? I guess this is adult so they are older, though our girl is still only 19. And he's like thousands of years old, so... man I guess, lol.) Anyway, she gets messed up in all the craziness of what's going on in the fairy world and has to help to solve it all. I am not sure if I'll continue on to the next book, but probably. Especially since I'm going to read more banned and challenged books this year and I think the 2nd book of this series is on a lot of lists! I gave this one four stars even though it was a slow start. The ending is quite...intense.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams: A cute story about a sad lonely girl working at a small local library and an sad lonely older man dealing with the death of his wife. She finds a reading list... he needs something to read... and they start going through the books and realize how much they can relate them to the struggles they are both facing. I enjoyed reading about what they thoughts about the books on the list, but I didn't feel as emotional attached as I wanted to be. I gave this one 3 stars on Goodreads.

And now November is over and on to December! I have seven books to read to reach my Goodreads goal of 50 books this year. Sigh. I was doing so well until everything got derailed in October. I'm thinking of reading some small Christmas books from my Christmas book basket. Maybe that will work? I also need to read the book for book club (The Christmas Murder Game) and I fear that's going to take me all month since I predict it will not grab my attention well. Wish me luck! 

Reading Recap August 2023

 It was a pretty great reading month. For me anyway! Here's what my list looked liked (and for a video version of this click here):

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: I'd heard to much about this one so it was awesome to finally read it. It's basically 20 or so years in the life of these two friends who end up writing a computer game together and starting a gaming company back when gaming was fairly new. It is very character driven and I was totally invested in their lives and what was going to happen to them. Great story! Five stars on Goodreads!

My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodie Ashton and Jodie Meadows: I read this one for August's book club book, another in the sort of alternate reality history recreations these authors do of Jane's and Mary's! This one is about Mary Queen of Scots and how she is fighting for her throne. I enjoyed it but it's not my favorite sort of thing. I'm giving it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Beyond the Story by BTS: This is a big beautiful book detailing the events (including all the albums and songs and awards and etc) of the kpop group BTS from when they debuted in June 2013 to now, these ten years later. Lots of fun interesting tidbits and QR codes throughout leading you to the MVs and/or performances that are mentioned in the book. I really enjoyed it and am giving 4 stars on Goodreads.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir: This is the sad story of our boy who's mother as just died and he is struggling to keep her motel business afloat since he's dad is an alcholoic and is no help at all. And our girl how just wants SO BAD to go to college but the uncle who raised her refuses to allow it. And all their even more crazy backstories, and struggles they have. It deals with hard subjects, and is heart wrenching but beautifully written. It's getting 5 stars on Goodreads.

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang: I picked this one up randomly and read it in one afternoon and loved it. The author follows the basketball team from the school where he teaches has they strive to take the state championship. In the journey, we learn the backstories of the players, and the coaches, and fun interesting history about basketball. It was awesome. I loved it and am giving it 5 stars on Goodreads.

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher: This is our September book club book in observance of Banned Books Week/Month, about a dude who falls in love with a girl who happens to be transgender. The story is about what he does when he learns this secret. And also opens our eyes to the struggles of a transgender person. Another heart wrenching but fantastic story. I'm giving it 4 stars on Goodreads.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter: A fun fabulous YA enemies to lovers romcom. It has all the things! Movie and music references. Playlists. Two great leading guys. Lots of funny scenes and perfect romance. Such fun! It's getting 4 stars on Goodreads.

September's Plans:

• work on some prompts from the challenges
• do a "forced phase" on sourdough bread baking
• maybe read some more banned/challenged books

It's going to be a great new month of reading! How did your August go? I hope you are loving all the books you're reading!

Ten Alien Books I've Read and Five I Want to Read

Did you see the video where I talked about aliens? LOL. You've heard they are real, right? Yes. And so we better read up on them!

Here are the ten books I listed in the video that I've read and enjoyed/loved:


The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy

Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

I am Number Four by Pitticus Lore

These Broken Stars by Aimee Kaufmann and Meagan Spooner

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

And these five I've added to my list to read. Hopefully sooner than later!

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolinli

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

Contact by Carl Sagan

What alien books have you read and loved?

Kpop Survival / Competition Shows Spring 2023

My kdrama watching this past spring was taken over by kpop survival shows. This where a bunch of guys compete to survive at the end and thus be in a new kpop group formed with the winners. Many of the current popular groups were formed in a such a way. I've only watched a handful of them in real time, and a few way after the fact, because they are PAINFUL to watch. Highly emotional and manipulative and "evilly edited" as we love to say. 

But on the other hand, they are awesome. Because there's always amazing performances, and you get to see the boys working SO HARD to achieve their dream, and there's just something about that that is absolutely mesmerizing. And the interaction between the boys is always fun, not competitive, but friendly and encouraging with tons of bonds being made.

And of course you fall in love with every single one of them and want them all to debut (ie. make into a group and start promoting.) So it's fun to watch, and it's painful to watch, all at the same time. It makes for great TV.

So I watched two such shows these past couple of months. Let me tell you about them.

BOYS PLANET

This one was highly produced with an amazing set and resources. It started with about 100 boys, divided into two teams... Korean kids and Global kids (everyone else not from Korea.) It was annoying for us that they were pitted against each other at first, seeing that in the end, one group would be made from them. And it's always cool to have a group made up from members all over the world. Anyway. That's how it started and it was quickly narrowed down by half. Then they had several missions to accomplish, always so fun to see what they come up with for them to do. And every mission, the boys would be randomly (ish) divided into different teams each time. After several episodes of this, it was pretty apparent which boys would rise to the top. Each week we learn their rankings to see who made it that week, until the final episode when we see who made it into the final group of the top nine boys. It's seriously so intense. 

I had my favorite that I voted for... mostly because I knew him from a previous show and he barely lost that one and I felt like he had talent and charisma up the wazoo and NEEDED to be in a group NOW. That boy is Gunwook and he is only like 17 years old, but he was ready. Did he make it? SPOILER: YES HE DID! I was so surprised because he was in and out of that top list the whole show. Click here to see his fun reaction to making it. I could watch it over and over.

Park Gunwook

ZEROBASEONE

Anyway, the boys that made it are all awesome and their new group is called ZEROBASEONE or ZB1 for short and they already had their debut song come out. It's adorable. And yes, several global kids made it in, yay for that!

Already we are hearing about two groups that will have boys who didn't make it into ZB1. So obviously I'll be keeping my eye on them too. That's the other crazy thing about watching a survival show, you get invested in not only the group that wins, but all the groups that spin off from it! (Those groups have the very unique names of TIOT and BLIT. Look for them! LOL!) 

Also, if you are curious what it looks like for 100 boys to be in a music video.. here's the performance they ALL did before anyone was eliminated. Though the boys with the higher rank were at the top of this thing, and the boys with the lower were on the floor. It broke my heart! Also, the boys with blue are Korean and the boys with pink are the Global kids. Just in case you were curious!

FANTASY BOYS

Just as Boys Planet was ending, this one started. I wasn't going to watch, but I was drawn in by my number one pick dude for this one, another boy I'd seen on a previous show where he didn't make it. He's so sweet and shy and adorable, but changes to be fierce and powerful on stage. It's the best. Also, I was drawn in by the four judges/producers of this one... some great icons in the kpop industry. They were fun to watch too. This particular show, though, seemed a lot lower budget and had less talented boys than Boys Planet.

Yu Junwon

Fantasy Boys

At least that's what I thought at first... until we got more towards the end and the cream of the crop rose to the top and boy.. they were all amazing too. The top 12 boys who made it the end will be in group and unfortunately, they are keeping the name Fantasy Boys. Geez. And my boy Junwon, made it to the number position. Way to go dude!  There was another one I was really rooting for, but alas, he just barely didn't make it. And there are several boys that made it who are VERY young. I hope they can deal with what comes next, because it only gets harder.

These guys haven't debuted yet, but I'll watching to see what they come up with. Here's a song they did for the show though that they later made this mv for:

And then there was:

PEAK TIME

This show was a bit different in that it was a competition between groups. Some old established groups that have fallen from the spotlight, some groups that had broken up but decided to get together for this show, some groups that have been doing okay, but wanted a nice push, some very new groups that no one knows, and some groups that hadn't even debuted yet. So the range in age and experience was HUGE. They also put together group made up of a bunch of solo boys from various groups. 

The premise was that each group would have a different name for the shows, corresponding to the 24 hours in the day. And  their true identity would be "hidden" until they were dropped from the show. (Of course we all knew who they were the whole time, cheering on our favorites and adding a ton of new favorites to our lists.) The winning groups would get a ton of promotional help, a concert in Korea, and then the top group gets tons of money, an album produced, and a world tour. It was a great incentive for all these groups who were struggling in some sort of way.

There was huge panel of judges all from famous popular groups, and many producers and etc. They were awesome and so much fun to watch too.

This show was AMAZING! I loved it so much and hope they do it again sometime with a whole pile of new groups. The positive feeling and the love and encouragement they all showed each other was great. They competed as their own groups, but then were divided several times into random different groups so they all had to get to know each other and work together and cheer each other on. We were able to vote for our favorite teams and also our favorite individuals. (Man that was hard.) 

And the performances were so phenomenal. Here are two that really stood out. This is one of the randomly assigned groups for the dance competition:

And there's one from the randomly assigned groups for the vocal competition:

Chills EVERY SINGLE TIME! 

And the winning team? 

SPOILER: 

VANNER! They even actually came to my podunk city for a concert last year and I was out of town and couldn't go! And they only had like 50 people at all their concerts in all the cities, and they were struggling financially, paying for everything out their own pockets.

     

Their story is crazy good and it was PERFECT that they won this thing. Now they are popular and everyone loves them! I had several other favorite groups on this show and was sad for those that didn't make it, but so happy for the 6 groups who won in the end. And hopefully the ones that didn't make it got a ton of positive exposure. Anyway, it was so fun and like I said, let's do that again!

(I must say I'm pretty sure even if you aren't into kpop music and such, you'd still get into these shows. If you are one that feels like there's nothing good watch these days, you should seriously try this.)

Kdrama Review: Crash Course in Romance

Drama: Crash Course in Romance (on Netflix)

Genre: Romcom

Starring: Jung Kyoungho, Jeon Doyeon

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Yeah, I'm so behind in talking about what I've been watching but I'll go ahead and attempt to catch up! 

This one is about a dude who is a very famous math tutor. He helps kids in the after hours (Korean kids go to academy's after school to help them get even better grades) with math and the daughter of our female main lead is DYING to get in. And she does get in, but then she is sabotaged by the mean moms in the neighborhood and is promptly kicked out. 

So... the dude starts coming around to their house to tutor her, because he feels bad about what happened. AND because their restaurant is the only place he can actually eat. Because he is extremely depressed and lonely, and is going to not make it if he doesn't figure out how to eat. So in he tutors, in exchange for food.

And then falls in love with the mom. Which is INSANE because she is SO NOT his type!

There's a lot of funny moments and sweet moments and sad moments. There's a cute side story with the daughter and her boyfriend, and the backstory of what our dude has had to deal with. I really enjoyed it! 

Here's a quick trailer:

Reading Recap June and July 2023

 My crazy couple of months are over and it's time to get caught up on all the things! This blog being one of them! I am absolutely convinced no one is coming round here much anymore. But I still feel the need to keep track of the books I'm reading here for myself at least, if no one else! So that being said, here's what I read these past couple of months!

JUNE

Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson: This is a cute little novella that is a sort of sequel or companion story to A Sorcery of Thorns. In this story we have our two characters together now, but they aren't making the commitment that the magical house wants them to, so the house turns on them. And they have to figure out what to do (commit, lol!) to stop the curse. It's pretty funny and silly and a perfect little read for fans of this series. I waited for quite awhile on Libby to get my turn with it! I gave it four stars on Goodreads.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: What a lot of buzz this book has had! We read it for June's book club (not many people came to discuss though so that was sad.) It's about a girl who goes to school to become a scientist, but being a woman in the 50s and 60s makes it very hard for her to fulfil her dream. And she gets thwarted at every turn. It's an interesting commentary on woman's rights and equality and all that. I enjoyed it a lot, but felt it also talked down to women who choose to be moms. I wish that all women could be supportive of each other, bottom line. I gave this one five stars on Goodreads.

Not Here to Stay Friends by Kaitlyn Hill: This is a cute YA romcom about a girl who goes to visit her friend in LA and ends up on a dating reality show that the boy is working at behind the scenes. She's supposed to fall in love with the star of the show, but of course she ends up falling for her dude and long time friend! It's fun if you love reality shows and the friends to lovers trope. I gave it four stars on Goodreads. 

Spare by Prince Harry: Whew, but this one is hard to get a hold of unless you just buy it! I finally finished it in June after reading the first half in like April. And I really enjoyed hearing all these stories from his point of view, and the behind the scenes of being a royal in Great Britain. I ended up a bit weeping over the relationship with his brother and also his heartfelt stories of the birth of his kids. I find it fascinating that he tends to polarize so many and you either love him or hate him. I feel like most people hate him though. It's crazy. But I loved this reading experience and gave it five stars on Goodreads.

JULY

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune: I read this one to have a cute fun heartwarming reading experience, and it fit the bill, though it was a very different sort of heart warming. It's about a dude who works for a company that keeps track of "magical youth" and he has to go to this house to make a report on what's going on there. He ends up falling in love with everyone and making a complete and total life change. It's lovely. I gave it four stars on Goodreads.

Borrow My Heart by Kasie West: This is the latest release from one of my favorite authors. I think I've read every one of her books and have bought most of them. Anyway, in this latest cute YA romcom, we have our girl who steps in when she see this guy waiting for an online meetup to happen, and it appears he is getting stood up. She pretends to be the girl and it goes from there! Much of it is set in a pet shelter and there's a great dog character for those who love that sort of thing. Cute fun fluff all around! I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Once Upon a K-prom by Kat Cho: I read this one as part of a Booktube read along for "Ktropeathon". It's another in the latest craze of kpop romance (remember when that was a new thing and now they are everywhere!) In this one we have these two kids who were close childhood friends, but then the boy moves to Korea and ends up becoming a very famous kpop star. But he promised to come back to take our girl to prom. So he shows up on her door and asks her, and she turns him down. And it goes from there. There's a lot about the struggles of kpop stars and some fun profiles for this pretend band that makes them seem so real and friend with real life kpop stars. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love the dude as much as I have some other kpop romance and gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: I've been meaning to read this one for ever, but I saved it for July to be my memoir of choice for our traditional "memoir month" for book club. I found it be a poignant sad story, about the author's mom dying of cancer and how she hopes to keep her  memory alive by learning how to cook some of the traditional Korean dishes that they've shared over the years. There is A LOT of talk about Korean food, which I would like most people would find boring, but somehow they must not since this has been a bestseller for years! I really enjoyed it and gave it four stars on Goodreads.

Plans for August

• Finish Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
• Finish the BTS memoir: Beyond the Story
• Read My Contrary Mary for book club
• Work on my TBR stack of books I've bought recently
• Remember that Oathbringer project? LOL!

(If you want the video of this wrap up, here's the link!)

New Instagram Account

So I finally gave into something I've been pondering for quite awhile now, and that is creating an Instagram account just for the bookish things. Up till now I've just combined my personal with the bookish stuff, but I'm finding that harder and harder to do for many reasons, so... I have succumbed! 

Anyway, this account will be all the things I'm reading, the writing things I'm working on, and another place for booktube post promotion. If you are interested in following those things find me @SueysBooks there. 

As is probably pretty obvious, I'm blogging less and less and less and finding more bookish type connection in other places (something I have felt happening for years now) and I've been fighting the migration forever, but it just seems like the blog spaces are truly not the thing anymore. It makes me SO sad!

That's not to say I won't ever be here, because I still need the visual for my own records of what I'm reading and etc. And I might just need a venting place now and then. But I'm going to try and not feel so bad/guilty for being so scarce around here, and concentrate in building up the other spots. Instagram has always been a bit of a mystery to me so this good get interesting! 

Anyway, just anyone still reading this knows what's going on and where you find me (especially other than YouTube and/or Twitter which I think many people aren't fond of either!) 

Let me know if you are active on Instagram too and I will follow you also!

Reading Recap May 2023

 

My big goal for May was to participate in the online Asian Readathon. I read five books and three of them were for this readathon. Here's my list:

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave: This was a suspense/mystery book we read for the in person book club in May. Our girl in this story is fairly newly married to this dude, when he up and disappears. His last message to her was "protect her"... meaning his 16 year old daughter. So now they together, our girl and the daughter, try to remember any tiny little thing that can point to what's going on. They end up going off to learn more and investigate, and find out the truth behind their dad/husband. I enjoyed the reading experience, but didn't totally LOVE the story. It was.. .you know... okay. But not quite as heart pounding as I'd hoped it would be. I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Shining a Light: Celebrating 40 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Changed the World by Veeda Bybee: This the book launch I went to a month or two ago at the local library. So I decided it was a perfect lead into to AAPI month and the Asian Readathon. It's a middle grade non fiction about 40 famous AAPI people, each one with a page about their life, and a real cool illustration. It starts with someone back in the 1800s and goes up until present today. So many awesome people! I really loved it and gave it five stars on Goodreads.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh: This is a fun YA fantasy based on the Korean fairy/folk tale "The Bride of the Water God". In this world, they sacrifice a girl to the water god every year, and this year our girl jumps in to save the girl that her brother loves, who is meant to be the sacrifice. And in so doing, she ends up in the realm of the water god and finds out  his under a curse that she now needs to break. It's a beautiful magical story that I totally enjoyed. I gave it four stars on Goodreads.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu: What a crazy hard core science fiction story this one is! We have a girl who lives a crazy hard violent life until she finally ends up at some mysterious research facility where... who knows what's really going on there! And later, a dude who starts playing a VR game called "Three Body" where when he goes in he sees the end of several eras of civilizations because they have a problem, which is three suns whose orbits they can't predict. It really is quite the problem. In the meantime he makes friends with the first girl (now a very old lady of 60!) and learns the truth behind what she was doing in the research place. And it's all a bit mind boggling, but fascinating at the same time. There's more... there're sequels! AHHH!!!! I gave this one four stars on Goodreads.

Still Mine by Elizabeth Vernon Taylor: My friend published this short book about her experience having a still born daughter in 2012. It's simply and beautifully told and as expected, is so very heart wrenching and quite the tear jerker. I loved learning more about Elizabeth and what she's been through, and what so many moms and families have been through.  

So all in all, it's been a pretty good reading month, with books that ranged quite all over the place! I had hoped to read more Asian type books, but I guess I'll save those for another day. For the video version of this monthly recap click here!

Plans for June:

• Read fun and easy fluff books! aka beach reads?
• Read Lessons in Chemistry for book club
• Read some books I've been buying lately.
• Hopefully read a book for Pride Month. 
• Keep working on Oathbringer (I did get a couple of chapters read in that one in May!)

A Couple of Recipes!

So I've been sharing the treats I've made for book club the past couple of months over on the youtube channel (they are quick shorts found on this playlist) and have had a couple a request for recipes both by online viewers and the in real life book club goers! I figured the best way to share them was just right here on the blog, and then everyone interested can have them! (I will link to the Short on youtube on the title of each recipe if you want to see the process and final product.) 

Fudgy Chocolate Chunk Brownies (we used this one for All The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chunks (I use big dark chocolate chocolate chips)

Instructions: Grease a 9x9 baking dish. Preheat over to 350. Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add eggs. Gradually add dry ingredients, then add the chocolate chunks. Spread evenly in pan. It will be very thick! Bake for 25 minutes until they begin to pull away from the side of the pan. 

Note: I double this recipe and bake them in a 9x13 pan!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies (we did this one for The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave)

3/4 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar for rolling 

Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and molasses. Beat well. Stir dry ingredients into the mixture. Shape into balls (1 heaping tablespoon) and roll in the sugar. Bake at 350 for 10 min or until light brown and still puffed. Let stand 2 min before moving to wire rack. 

Note: I double this one usually because we always need MORE!

Reading Recap April 2023

 April was a much better reading month for me! Hoping May will be the same!

Here's what I read this past month:

Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens: I actually listened to this one (I know, the world is changing!) and learned a ton. She has for sure convinced me to try this fasting thing, though I still feel like some of the theories are very fad-like and a bit overrated. We'll see I guess. I'm curious at the very least, and so far I'm doing the "easy" one (eating between noon and 8 pm for the most part) and it's been not very hard to adjust to. I'm down about 2 kg (sorry I seem to be using a Japanese scale that somehow ended up at my house) so I guess it's going in the correct direction at least. I rated this one 3 stars on Goodreads!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Well, I guess it's about time I finally read this one, which has been on my kindle for more than ten years. It was awesome. The story of Achilles as narrated by his lover, Patrocolus, and includes all their experiences at the Trojan War. It's beautifully written and a sweet sweet love story. I gave this one five stars on Goodreads! Woot!

Seventeen Wishes by Erica Alexander: This one I did not particularly enjoy. It's a quick novella read about a guy who has a heart condition so he risks his life to have sex with his girlfriend. Yeah. I would have liked a little more depth to it, but maybe there wasn't time in the 100 pages that it had. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads.

The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe: This was our book club book of the month. It's a bit gritty and dark, but I enjoyed the craziness and intensity for the most part. It's about a girl who grew up with a con-artist mom, and when she finds herself taken as a hostage in a bank robbery, she uses some of those skills to get herself out of it. There's lots of flashbacks to her growing up life, and all the girls she had to pretend to be for her mom's hits. And after all that, she needs to figure out who she really is. I quite enjoyed it. I gave it four stars on Goodreads.

The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther: I needed something fun and light, so I decided to squeeze this one into the mix this month. And it was really fun! Our girl has been sad since her sister died almost two years before, but she is finally joining her family on their summer retreat to Martha's Vineyard. It's going to be a week of fun and games as they prepare for her cousin's wedding. And the tradition is to have a game of Assassin with water guns. She totally gets into it and even starts to fall for the stepbrother of the groom. Fun, cute, romantic and heart-warming family connections. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. 

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan: This was a book recommended by the author of the above Fast, Feast and Repeat. And it sounded like something I'd enjoy, so I found it at the library and quickly read it. (It's a short fast one.) And sure enough, it was a lot of the things I think myself... the frustration with the scientific thought on what food is good, and what food is bad... and how it changes every other year. And how marketing by certain companies has fueled our belief in what is good and bad (breakfast is good for you, you HAVE to eat it... according to a study done by Kelloggs, and etc) Anyway, bottom line he says "Eat food, not too much, and mostly plants." Definitely lots to think about in this one. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

I also read half of Spare, but then had to return it to the library. We'll finish that later and report on it then. I didn't read ONE THING in my Oathbringer quest! AHHH!

Here are my plans for May:

• participate in the Asian Readathon (see previous post for what I plan to read for that)
• read The Last Thing He Told Me for book club (wah I'm already done!)
• maybe read one of my new books I just bought, probably All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
• read some chapters in Oathbringer.... it has to happen
• hopefully get my hands on Spare and finish that. It might not be till next month though

That should hold me over for a bit! Happy reading everyone!

(For the video version of this post, here's a link!)

Asian Readathon... Let's Do This

 

Hey everyone, long time no blog. Alas, my struggle to keep up with things on this end of my passion continues.

ANYWAY,

so I'm going to participate in the Asian Readathon. This is hosted by WithCindy over on YouTube. I'll link to her video announcing it right here. She's been doing it for several years I think, but I'm just now discovering the event. 

SO, 

of course I'm in! So many lovely Asian connected books I want to read! Here's the stack I've made to choose from (along with The Red Palace by June Hur, which is on the Kindle.) I'm so excited to jump in!

If you want to see the video I made about joining this readathon, you can click here. If you think this would be fun too, let me know and we can discuss all the books!

March 2023 Reading Recap

 

Okay then... ONLY THREE BOOKS this month and one of them barely even counts. Sigh. At any rate, here's what I read this past month of March:

The Silence of Bones by June Hur: I've been looking forward to this one for FOREVER! And then the book club put it on the schedule so I waited all this time to finally read it. It was... okay, but not as lovely has I'd hoped. I don't really know what I expected. I wanted it to be like a kdrama I guess, but it was more like a regular mystery, which, is not my favorite. Still, it was interesting and I did enjoy being in this time period and being able to picture it all in my head, thanks to kdramas. There still was a lot of dead bodies, and torture and etc, and I was trying to escape that after the books from last month! AHH! Anyway, I have her next book (The Red Palace) already on my kindle, so we'll see if I like it better. Stay tuned! I'm giving this on three stars on Goodreads.

VIII by H.M. Castor: This is a book I've had on my shelf forever too. And I saw it one day and realized it was about Henry VIII and I was in the mood so, bam. Read it! And it was really quite awesome. It starts out when he's like 6 years old, and goes all the way through his death... told all from his point of view. So we get into his head and see what this author thinks made him go crazy (basically, being haunted!) He is portrayed as a pretty decent guy at first, but his obsession with making sure his legacy lives on was pretty powerful. Such a sad story actually. I'm giving this one 4 stars on Goodreads.

The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories by Leo Tolstoy: Oh my word this one gave me grief! I thought I could breeze through these stories and it would just be no big deal. The first two stories were that way, but the third one... UGHHHH!!

Anyway, three stories in this little thing. One was about a dude who was obsessed with getting all the land. He started out poor, he got rich, and then he just wanted more and more and more. Until he died in the pursuit of it. The second one: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, is about a dude who seems to have a great life. But then he gets sick and then he declines over years and years time. He gets annoyed that no one can help him, and that his family doesn't seem to care. And then he dies. LOL. But he has this huge epiphany just before he goes and I... still don't get it. LIVE YOUR LIFE people, just life your live! 

AND THEN, we have the mains story... The Kreutzer Sonata. It's about a guy, who sits on the train and tells another guy his whole life story, but mostly about how bad he hates his wife. How woman are just show pieces, and child makers, and how it's stupid that once they have kids they have to actually take care of them, and how they exist just for men's pleasure (wives, not the kids) He was the WORST dude ever, pretty sure. And then... well... SPOILER.... then he precedes to tell the dude on the train about how he kills his wife in a fit of jealousy because she dares to have a life doing what made her happy. Like playing the violin.. gasp. Weird story. What was Leo trying to say with this thing. I would look it up, but I really don't want to give any more of my life to it... Anyway, I giving this one 3 stars on Goodreads, which I guess is a good average? I guess.

And yeah. That's my reading for this month! Besides my ongoing Oathbringer project. I have no idea why I can't seem to fit more in. What's up with that?

Plans for April:

• read The Girls I've Been for book club
• finish The Song of Achilles which I have a great start on
• finish Feast. Fast. Repeat.... my quest to find the cure of food issues. 
• read Spare

Those are the main goals! But wow, it'd be nice if I can fit a few more things in!

If you want to WATCH me talk about all this, you can find it on the YouTube channel!

Books for Book Club 2023-2024!

As you know by now, every year we vote on a pile of books that the book club wants to read and then come up with a schedule for a whole year ahead of time. (Our book club year goes from June- May, and we vote every year in March. How this happened, I don't really know, but it works for us!)

And this past week, we finalized that list yet again! 

Are you curious about what we'll be reading? Here's the list!

June:  Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

July: Memoir Month

August: My Contrary Mary by Brodie Ashton, Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows

September: Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

October: Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

November: Spare by Prince Harry

December: The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

January: Remarkedly Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

February: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

March: Beartown by Fredrik Backman

April: Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

May: A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

And then we'll be having a bonus meeting to discuss Trish Milburn's Sing Me a Love Song, the first book in her kpop romance series. 

I'm excited about them all! And I want to read all the ones that didn't make it too!

If you are interested, I talked about all the books on our list and these ones that won over on the Booktube channel:

Kdrama Review: A Love So Beautiful

Drama: A Love So Beautiful (on Netflix)

Genre: romcom

Starring:  Kim Yohan, So Jooyeon, Yeo Hoehyun, Jo Hyejoo, Jeong Jinhwan

Rating:  ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I didn't really know what to expect when I started this drama, but this, I'm pretty sure, has ended up being the cutest, sweetest, most fluffiest drama I've ever watched. Yep, I KNOW!

It follows the stories of five friends, giving a lot of time to when they were in high school (maybe half of the drama), but then moving through college, and then their careers. 

Our main girl has crushed on our main boy for years.. .and for a long time he resists her. But then when a new kid comes a long and shows interest, he realizes he has probably liked her all this time after all. And now he has to fight for her, and he really doesn't have that sort of personality! 

So it's the fun love story between a girl who is sweet and bubbly and very open and our boy who is quiet, stand-offish and somewhat ornery at times! It's great to see him shake off that tendency in order to fight for this girl. LOL!

But yeah, it is truly sappy sweet, and very very cheesy, but in the best way. I loved it. It makes my heart warm. 

I was drawn to this one because it stars an idol dude, of course. Yohan was first place in the idol competition show ProduceX, and then went on to be in the group WEi. He's adorable and an all rounder. It was fun to see his acting in this cute thing, and then I loved the bloopers at the end of the show which shows us that is personality is truly completely opposite of the character he plays. Like he is FULL OF SMILES! Just... SO CUTE!

Anyway, here's the trailer:

And here's the very addictive song that is highlighted constantly throughout the show:

And in one episode the boys' characters do a dance to this song, and it was the best moment of all! Like how can you not smile at this???