#sljdsofjs i got carried away

[gxldencity]

1, 2 and 12 for the reading asks :D

1. What are 2-5 already published fiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

Omg I do have a backlog spanning till 2019. The years vary in terms of publishing but 2019 was the year I started reading lots again. So trying to fit this into 5 might be hard

1. Babel by R.F. Kuang - I had my eye on this the moment I saw it was gonna tackle the elitism, colonialism and racism in academia. Books under dark academia don't really explore this as much as they should which is what turned me off from reading them.

The discourse—if you could even call it that bc it really is white people who made reading books and ~academia~ their personality complaining that the book calls them out—that surrounds it is so funny which makes me want to read it even more. The point really just flew over their heads despite having books as their personality.

2. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn - Funnily enough this is another academia book that calls out white academia. I did start on this a year or so ago but wasn't quite in the mood for it (it was YA and written in first person which could get jarring for me) but I do want to return to it. It has an exciting premise and the 2nd book came out a couple of months ago.

3. Gun Dealer's Daughter by Gina Apostol

As I mentioned in a few text posts, I wanna read more modern Filipino literary novels—at least the ones I could access outside of the Philippines lmao and I've seen this get recommended a lot. So I'm gonna read it (and also Apostol's other literary novels)

Gina Apostol also did the intro for the Penguin Classics collection of Nick Joaquin's short stories, The Woman With Two Navels which I also highly highly recommend. Beyond culture, I was drawn to it bc of the tropical gothic lmao.

4. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

So another goal I have this year is to read more classic sci fi (or modern classic in this case but the term classic itself is really muddy). Parable of the Sower is something I've been kinda wanting to read for awhile now. The premise is surely interesting and something that is relevant for us right now with the changing climate.

5. A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

I thought A Marvellous Light was okay. Not a great read but not a bad one either. It was definitely one of those the author wanted to write romance novel with fantasy elements but the books need to be shelved in fantasy so they had to add more fantasy notes on it but still primarily a romance read. And that got so jarring in this book as it reads like it can't decide if it wants to lean fantasy or lean romance.

That being said I do wanna read the sequel featuring wlw lmao. I wanna read a fun sapphic light fantasy novel. Like sapphics do get the hard sf/f novel that's less romance focused which tbh I do like...I just want more variety (likewise I wish to see more hard sf/f mlm novels).

2. What are 2-5 already published nonfiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

Akkfksnfs I wanna read more non-fiction books this year too. I mean one of them is for work so I won't count that.

1. How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa I think everyone needs to read this book and also watch Maria Ressa's PBS documentary (available on Youtube), especially if you're wondering about the rise of authoritarian governments in the last few years (and how socmed plays a hand).

2. Ducks by Kate Beaton. A graphic novel I know but Kate Beaton is someone who I've been kinda following for awhile now. Her memoir of her years working at the Alberta oil sands would be interesting for sure considering how everyone treats Alberta as the province you go to make lots of money in despite of the environmental implications of the tar sands.

3. Travesty by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram - This is a poetry book. I know there is a poetry question in this ask meme. I don't care. Poetry is technically non fiction lmao so I'm counting it. The style of this book is based on programming which as a dev definitely piques my interest.

12. What's your 2023 stance on rating/reviewing books?

I think everyone should be more unhinged in terms of leaving ratings and reviews. Authors don't look at these reviews or at least they aren't supposed to (some do and they are annoying about it). Some books do deserve that 1 star. Sometimes a book doesn't deserve to be rounded up to 4 stars and thank GOD storygraph allows for not only half stars but for .25 and .75 stars as well. (Switch to storygraph im telling you. Don't use goodreads).

I mean I was pretty scathing in terms of the critiques I gave towards the books I read last year. My average rating in 2022 is 3.92. Like I paid for this with my time and money. My library had to order this book AND stock it. My taxes go to my library. I don't like giving pity stars for the sake of writing a book. Fanfic authors could write outstanding novels for FREE. If someone has to spend money on it, then the least you could do is write a good book.

[2023 Reading asks]