2023 Monthly Reading Wrap Up: October

Hi friends. I hope spooky season treated everyone well. I've been in a bit of a life slump since the passing of my mother-in-law in September. I've taken to watching comfort shows and movies over reading, and when I have read, it's mostly been in the form of audiobooks and therefore only happening when I have the opportunity to listen to them.

I've also decided to take a potentially indefinite break from TikTok. November marks two years since I joined the BookTok community, and I've met a lot of fantastic people and made wonderful friends. Not to mention, I've gotten so many awesome books from publishers and authors, and that will never stop feeling special. But, with the genocide of Palestinian people happening, the community has turned almost militant. As someone who just recently got back into reading for fun, reading had become a way for me to escape when I needed to, educate me when I wanted it to, and generally provide a way for me to bond with other readers. Quickly, my feed had morphed into anger and what felt like videos of creators yelling at me about what I should be reading and doing to make myself and others aware of the atrocities committed against Palestinians. It felt very different from the fundraising we've done for Maui, Trans youth, and other social issues in the past.

The argument could be made that it should because this is genocide and violence on a much larger scale. And maybe I'm in the wrong here but when I've curated a space to serve as something that brings me joy and education, and every time I join that space, it instead makes me feel like a terrible person when I'm a) doing the work on my own and in my other social media channels, and b) dealing with a lot in my personal life, I just need to take a step back. I think the intention behind the movement is good, but the execution feels manic and chaotic and panic-inducing for me. It's good to be angry. But don't alienate people with your anger. Channel it into the right avenues backed by action instead of screaming into the void. So, for now, I'm taking a break until January 2024 where I'll reevaluate my presence on TikTok, and will make a decision for how I'm going to move forward from there. I will still post my recaps here and on GoodReads. But videos, for now, have been put on pause.

So, without further talking, let's get into the reviews (of which, there are only three).

Witches by Brenda Lozano, Heather Cleary (Translator)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Book Club, Favorites, LGBTQIA+, Modern Literature

Review: Witches by Brenda Lozano is a translated work from Spanish that follows two women, both in fields that are predominantly male. One is a journalist seeking out the truth to a violent murder of a trans woman in a rural Mexican village, and the other is the cousin to that victim and the first woman healer in her village.

Because of the writing style, I can understand why this book has lower reviews. The differences between the journalist's POV and the healer's POV are vast, and reading the healer's POV can be somewhat challenging if the reader isn't paying close attention. There is a lot of repetition that reminds one of the almost nonexistent oral traditions carried by some communities today, which I really enjoyed once I realized the intention.

Overall, the discussions this book has on identity, feminism, and community were really intriguing and I'm looking forward to hearing what my book club has to say about it.

Bloodmarked (Legendborn #2) by Tracy Deonn

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Fantasy, Young Adult

Review: This series is intriguing. I really enjoyed Legendborn and was looking forward to how this second book expanded the universe and the story. Generally, I'm not a big fantasy reader, and a YA with a tortured or overly angsty main character has a tendency to turn me away. Even though Bree is going through a lot, dealing with the loss of her mother and then the blatant racism that is inherent in established, white institutions, it's still important to remember that she is a teenage girl who is also in love with two very cute boys.

There were quite a few times as I read this that I felt it was too long. There was too much inner dialogue about feelings, and times where I found myself rolling my eyes and wishing the plot would just move forward. But, even though that led to me generally enjoying the first book more, once I finished this book, I couldn't stop thinking about the universe it was set in.

I'll be very interested in reading the third book and seeing where this all goes. I think, if the inner dialogue did anything, it did a great job of giving more depth to our main characters. If I wasn't invested in anyone by the end of the first book, I was certainly invested by the second. Full of action, drama, and a strong magic system, I'll be anxiously awaiting the last book in the series.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Shelves: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Modern Literature

Review: This is my first book by Rebecca Makkai, and I really enjoyed it. I think this could be added to the Dark Academia subgenre of books because of its setting and topics. I enjoyed the mystery aspect to all of this, and that the book was written as if it were a letter to a person in the main character's life. Even though this was set during the 90s, when I was alive but definitely not yet in high school, I could relate to the experiences of being in a boarding school and all of the things that go along with that.

I don't think this book was necessarily extraordinary, but I really enjoyed my time with it. I started it as a physical book and then switched to audio, and I thought the narrator encapsulated the characters well. I listened to the rest of it in basically a day just because I wanted to know how it all ended. The writing was clean, easy to follow, and I didn't hate the characters (which is always an issue I worry about with Dark Academia books). I hope to check out The Great Believers by this author in the future!