#asian readathon

[princessofbookaholics]

on my asian readathon tbr 🏮

[lexreadsdiversely]

Asian Readathon 2024

[ID: A black cat laying on purple patterned sheets in front of a stack of four books: Bliss Montage by Ling Ma, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, and The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin. End ID.]

Even if I wanted to be an aesthetic blogger I couldn't. Not with my baby boy, Lito, taking every opportunity to lay on me.

It's AAPI month and I'm participating in the Asian Readathon! (See withcindy on YouTube for more details). I wanted to share some of the books I'm reading and talk briefly about my thoughts so far.

Sidenote: You should be reading Asian authors year round. If you aren't already, I recommend checking out Cindy's blog, looking at the kickass spreadsheet of books, and expanding your horizons.

Bliss Montage, Ling Ma

Features eight reality-bending stories about relationships with oneself and other people. Character-driven. Less than 250 pages. Check trigger warnings.

I chose this one to fit the prompt of a book that feels timeless based on the vibes of Ling Ma's first book, Severance (a personal favorite). She goes back and forth between past and present often, at times seamlessly between mere paragraphs, and it gives the feeling of time being stretched and almost uncertain. I greatly enjoyed it in Severance and suspected similar vibes in this book, and I'm not disappointed! I'm wondering if this is autobiographical fiction (it isn't advertised as such, but I can spot some of the shared events of Ma's actual life and the MC). This book is deeply intimate and, at times, very heavy. I'm only halfway through, and I already know it's going to be another favorite.

This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Adult Sapphic science fantasy about two rival agents on opposing sides of a war. Less than 200 pages (can you tell I like novellas?)

I've started this twice now, once on audiobook and once on ebook, before realizing neither format worked for me and buying a physical copy. I'm only two chapters in, but wow, if you enjoy competitive flirting, these two are incredible at it! I'll say more when I'm further along, but this is some quality writing.

Light from Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki

Sapphic science fantasy. A woman makes a deal with a demon to sell her soul for fame in the violin world and must convince seven other violin prodigies to sell theirs in order to get hers back. She finds number seven in a trans girl who runs away from home, and unexpected love with an alien woman who comes to Earth to escape a galactic Endplague. Check the trigger warnings!

I'm 300 pages in (out of almost 400) and this book makes me fucking feral. Apart from the main three characters stories, there are so many side characters with their own stories, and every single one weaves together in some way and packs a punch. I was sold on this book the moment I heard Queen of Hell, and it's just sucked me deeper and deeper. There are so many unexpected events in this book, so many moments that make me go "holy fucking shit?" You think you know what kind of book it is, then some off the wall shit happens and you have to reassess. This is such a deeply trans narrative (written by a trans woman), and as soon as I finish it I'm never going to shut up about it. Probably one of the best books I've ever read and I'm not done yet.

Once more, check the trigger warnings! Aoki is very good at making it super clear what's happening, while also not doing too much on-page (usually by either going light with the details, or fading the scene). But of all the talk about this book I've encountered, no one ever mentioned triggers and I foolishly assumed that meant that there weren't any major ones. There very much are. I'll start you off: transphobia, internalized transphobia, racism, sexual assault, self-harm, parental abuse (the book opens with this one, so mentally prepare yourself).

The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir, Jami Nakamura Lin

A memoir that users the yōkai and various other figures from Japanese, Taiwanese, and Okinawan folktales to talk about grief in the face of the author's father's cancer and her struggles with Bipolar Disorder. Features amazing illustrations by her sister, Cori Nakamura Lin.

This sentence from the blurb took me out at the knees: "...Jami Nakamura Lin shines a light into dark corners, driven by a question: How do we learn to live with the things that haunt us?"

This is just fucking cool. It's a memoir that basically ripped up the rule book and does it so well. You're never certain if what you're reading really happened (and this is intentional). Stories that show the complexity and humanity of people with Bipolar Disorder are few and far between, so this book has a special place in my heart. It challenges the current narrative of mental health recovery in a way I've yet to see.

Other things I'll be reading:

The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh - Doesn't come out until mid-May, so I'll be waiting impatiently to enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts. If you've read any of these books, come scream at me!

~ Lex

[thegirlwiththelantern]

May TBR | Asian Readathon

I usually make a separate post for readathons but not this time. Its my focus for this month. Especially for the nonfiction I’ve included. But first- In the Name of the Father (And of the Son) by Immanuel Mifsud, trans. Gatt, A Back from his fathers funeral, the narrator starts reading a diary his father kept during his days as a soldier during the Second World War. The diary is very scant,…

[melancholiaenthroned]

im gonna try to do readwithcindy's asian readathon in may if anyone wants to buddy read with me!! i have a couple books ive been meaning to read but im also open to suggestions<3

[olivias-shelf]

I really enjoyed this book - a rival business owners to lovers book with two Chinese American main characters who run matchmaking companies? Who get into a bet to find each other love?

Lauren Kung Jessen is great at laying out hints of things to come - nothing came as a surprise to me, but the journey I took with Olivia was satisfying. I especially liked how some of the questionable decisions Olivia made and the misunderstandings between Olivia and Bennett were handled.

The discussions of both our characters being half-Chinese and the questions of identity that come from feeling "not enough" was done really well. I also liked how they bonded over shared struggles as business owners, even though their business were in much different stages.

A thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Forever, and NetGalley for the ARC.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

some prompts for TRCC Readathon 2025!

last time i ran a readathon, I wrote a short list of prompts for anyone who wanted to use them so here's this round's list 🥰

read a book about a disabled character

read a children's book

read a nonfiction book

read a book by an Asian author

read a book set during winter

can't wait to see what y'all find to match these!

edit: oops shoulda put event dates in here 😅

TRCC Readathon 2025 starts January 15th in your time zone and runs until the end of January 21st 🧡

[duckprintspress]

TRCC Readathon Day 1 Report!

@thereadingchallengechallenge

read a book about a disabled character - I finished Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor yesterday morning. ML has a prosthetic leg!

read a children's book - not done

read a nonfiction book - not done

read a book by an Asian author - not done

read a book set during winter - I read Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods vol. 1 by Takuto Kashiki, which had a couple stories set during winter, one in a blizzard!

I mostly read graphic novels, so I hope using those for this is okay. *sweatdrop*. Hakumei & Mikochi is also an Asian author, but most of what I read is Asian authors so I thought it'd make more sense to use it for the winter prompt. <3

[franticvampirereads]

I love Minato and Shizuma with all of my heart! And this volume just solidified that even more. I loved that even though there is some jealousy on Minato’s part, they’re working through it together. And not only that, but that they’re actively working on communicating when things are difficult for them. I also loved that you can see just how much these two have grown together and will continue to grow.

This book had me in my feels the whole time I was reading. It made my heart ache for them after they were outed during a walkthrough of an apartment and were abruptly turned away. The hurt in that scene just radiated off the page and I just wanted to cry on their behalf. But this volume also made my heart turn into a little puddle of goo over the little things they did for each other, like cooking together or holding hands. And getting a few little peeks at Itsuki and Shohei (Secret XXX) was also lovely. This was probably my favorite volume to date and it’s getting five stars! 😭❤️

2025 Reading Challenge Prompts Fills:

Read More Queer: Asian author

Romance Readathon

[ryttu3k]

Putting all my reading challenges in one spot! Aside from the Trans Rights Readathon, of which the primary part is just the 21st-31st of March, these are all year-long (including the extras portion for the TRR).

Some self-imposed rules: I'm allowing myself to double up across prompts in the Trans Rights Readathon, and across challenges, ie. using Lakelore for nonbinary rep in the Trans Rights Readathon, the water theme for Speculative Bingo, and L for the alphabet. Otherwise, avoiding. I'll also be aiming for the Hard prompt for Speculative Bingo.

Under the cut, in order: Trans Rights Readathon, Easy Reading Challenge, Speculative Bingo, and Alphabet challenges!

Trans Rights Readathon

Core

Transmasc and Trans Man Rep: ✅ Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture

Transfem and Trans Woman Rep: Anthology - Embodied Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures

Nonbinary, Agender, Genderqueer, and Other Gender-Expansive Rep: Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore

Intersectional Trans+ Rep Outside Your Own Experience: Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune

2Spirit, Indigiqueer and Indigenous Gender Expansive Rep: ✅ Ellen van Neerven - Throat

Extras

African Author or of the Black Diaspora: Akwaeke Emezi - Pet or Bitter

Indigenous Author: ✅ (Ellen van Neerven - Throat) HE Edgmon - Godly Heathens or The Witch King

Southwest Asian Author or of the Diaspora: SB Divya - Meru

Asian Author or of the Diaspora: Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Makana Yamamoto - Hammarjang Luck

Latine Author or of the Diaspora: Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, Gabe Cole Novoa - The Diablo's Curse

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Author or from the Diaspora: Makana Yamamoto - Hammarjang Luck

Biracial or Multiracial Author: ✅ (Ellen van Neerven - Throat)

A Book with Disability Representation: ✅ (Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture) Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore

A Book by an Author From A Country Other Than Your Own: ✅ (Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture)

Trans Joy: TBA!

Indie or Self-Published: ✅ (Ellen van Neerven - Throat) Olive J Kelley - Junker Seven, probably a ton of others

T4T Romance: Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, HE Edgmon - Godly Heathens, Isaac Fellman - Dead Collections, Olive J Kelley - Junker Seven

Neopronoun Representation: Al Hess - Key Lime Sky

History: TBA!

Memoir/Biography: Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender

General Nonfiction: TBA!

Poetry: ✅ (Ellen van Neerven - Throat)

Picture Book/Middle Grade: TBA!

Young Adult: ✅ (Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture)

General/Literary Fiction: TBA!

Graphic Novels, Comics, and Manga: Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender, Keezy Young - Taproot, Anthology - Heartwood

Fantasy or Sci-Fi: So many options it'll be harder finding books that aren't SFF lmao sob

Horror/Thriller: ✅ (Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture)

Romance: Shelly Jay Shore - Rules For Ghosting

A 2025 Release: TBA!

Easy Reading Challenge

January: Image Book (book which has some sort of illustration): ✅ Aimee Nezhukumatathil - World of Wonders

February: Ticket for Two (more than one writer): ✅ Iona Datt Sharma & Katherine Fabian - Sing For The Coming Of The Longest Night

March: Better Stay Alone (standalone books): ✅ Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture

April: Blooming Spring (flowers, plants, or leaves on cover): MR Carey - The Book of Koli, Lily Braun-Arnold - The Last Bookstore on Earth, HE Edgmon - Godly Heathens, Keezy Young - Taproot

May: Sharing A Letter (author shares same first letter of your name): RB Lemberg - Yoke of Stars

June: We All Love Books (books about books and reading): AJ Hackwith - The Library of the Unwritten, Charlie Jane Anders - Never Say You Can't Survive, Francine Prose - Reading Like A Writer, Kurt Vonnegut - Pity The Writer, Cecelia Aragon & Katie Davis - Writers In The Secret Garden, Atlin Merrick - Spark, Cedar McCloud - The Threads That Bind

July: Jumping Into The Unknown (a book you know nothing about): TBA!

August: Agree To Disagree (lowest-rated book on your TBR): TBA!

September: Back To Home (book set in your country or state): Alison Evans - Euphoria Kids

October: Ugly Is Not Bad (book with an ugly-to-you cover): TBA!

November: Busy Busy Tiny (shortest book on your TBR): Currently Yoon Ha Lee - Variations On An Apple (26 pages), but subject to change

December: Awareness Is Best (disability awareness month): TBA!

Speculative Bingo

1. Mysterious Architecture: ✅ Susanna Clarke - Piranesi (Hard)

2. Predicting the Future: Anthology - Embodied Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures

3. Dark Objects: TBA!

4. Genre Exploration (blend of genres, with one being new): ✅ Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture (horror/thriller - Hard, if thriller counts as a speculative genre)

5. Making Waves (water important to plot): Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore

6. Up Close and Personal (single POV): Riley August - The Last Gifts of the Universe, Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary

7. Embracing Evil (villain protags): TBA, although am very amused to see the VTDA corebook listed

8. Short Stories: So many options

9. STEM (characters in STEM): Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary, Sue Burke - Semiosis

10. New Releases, New Reads (2025 releases): TBA!

11. Old School (published before 2010): Many options

12. Amazing Animals: Rose Black - Til Death Do Us Bard, RA Salvatore - Sojourn, Nghi Vo - When The Tiger Came Down The Mountain

13. Random Results (roll a d6, read a book with that many letters in the title): Rolled 4, many options

14. Pretty Pictures (visually appealing cover): TBA!

15. Stories Retold: Freya Marske - Cinder House (Cinderella)

16. Face your Fears (stereotypically scary things): TBA!

17. New Growth (plant life important): MR Carey - The Book of Koli, Sue Burke - Semiosis, Keezy Young - Taproot

18. After the End of the World: MR Carey - The Book of Koli, Eiren Caffall - All The Water In The World

19. Timeless (multiple timelines, at least multiple decades apart): Emily St John Mandel - Sea of Tranquility, Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune

20. Recommended Read (recommended book): No preplanning!

21. Seriously Long Series (part of a series with at least 3 books): ✅ RA Salvatore - Exile (Hard)

22. Classic Creatures (classic fantasy or supernatural creatures): J Sheridan Le Feu - Carmilla

23. Translated Works: Kazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun, Mi-Ye Lee - DallerGut Dream Department Store

24. Back to School (set in school or academic building): ✅ Rhem T Bright - As The Devil Drives (Hard, although admittedly pushing the prompt because it doesn't take primarily at the school, it's just largely structured around it)

25. 5 Stars: Can't preplan this one, it's just gotta happen!

2025 Alphabet

No preplanning until, like, October, I'll just add whatever I read if it's a new letter.

A: Rhem T Bright - As The Devil Drives

B:

C: Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture

D:

E: RA Salvatore - Exile

F:

G:

H:

I:

J:

K:

L:

M:

N:

O:

P: Susanna Clarke - Piranesi

Q:

R:

S: Iona Datt Sharma & Katherine Fabian - Sing For The Coming Of The Longest Night

T: Ellen van Neerven - Throat

U:

V:

W: Aimee Nezhukumatathil - World of Wonders

X:

Y:

Z:

[princessofbookaholics]

Asian readathon is over! I managed to read only books from Asian authors this month and found new favourites! I got three 5 star reads and I'm so happy with my reads of this month! Here's the wrap up:

The Devil's Flute Murders ⭐⭐⭐

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Room to Dream ⭐⭐⭐⭐

King of Sloth ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dear Wendy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Village of Eight Graves ⭐⭐⭐

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lunar New Year Love Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kaikeyi ⭐⭐

Pachinko ⭐⭐⭐

Wrapped with a Beau ⭐⭐

The Return of Ellie Black ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tokyo Ever After ⭐⭐⭐

Tokyo Dreaming ⭐⭐⭐

[lexreadsdiversely]

On top of Dracula Daily and What Manner of Man, I'm reading four books for the Asian Readathon, and then understimulated Lex decided to sign up with Netgalley last night and request some books. I assumed I wouldn't actually be approved for any cuz I haven't done reviews in a long time, but I was wrong! So that's going to be fun.

Naturally, this is the month work upped my hours again, so fitting this all in is going to be interesting.

(I still have like 6 books that I'm in the middle of, as well. There are indeed some drawbacks to being a mood reader)

[thegirlwiththelantern]

Asian Readathon 2023 Wrap Up

It’s been a while since I’ve written a wrap up. I decided to collate my thoughts here instead of through WWW Wednesday out of a belief that I’d read a lot. These are either books that were on the TBR. They fit the prompts. Or they were an Asian book that I began this month and have decided to include it here. Note began. The plan originally was only to talk about the books that counted towards…

[thelibrariancirce]

Snowglobe by Soyoung Park: An Almost DNF Review

Snowglobe is a Korean young adult dystopian thriller written by Soyoung Park and the last book I read for the Asian Readathon this year. This book was simultaneously exactly what I was promised and also not at all what I expected it to be, which made for a confusing reading experience as you can imagine. Let me explain. Snowglobe takes place in a dystopian future where most of the world has…

[firstdove15]

Are you doing Asian Readathon this year?

I forgot Cindy put out a video. I haven't watched it yet. Hopefully. How about you?

[overthinking-snail]

planned out my books for this year's Asian readathon,am excited :). they are all graphic novels because there is no way I'm going to be reading anything else during exam season

[kappabooks]

Asian Readathon TBR | May 2023 TBR

My May TBR is here! Check out my reading plans!

It’s my birthday month! As with every May, I’m crossing my fingers and trying to curate a May TBR that has the highest likelihood of success so I can enjoy all/most of my reading this month! I have other books I’m planning on reading this month, but because of a couple real life things going on (I’m starting a new position!) I’m going easy on myself and just fovusing on my Asian Readathon…