a basketbear's book bumblings

rambling about books i read | sometimes reviews, sometimes synopsis | basketbear ratings on hiatus RIP BC

[basketbear-books]

Welcome (back) to basketbear books!

i started this blog back in grad school just reviewing the books i read for my children's lit and ya lit courses. i clearly didn't do a great job because i stopped shortly thereafter and only posted a few of my favorite books.

i'm back now and am going to try to post consistently. i will never post anything i haven't read and will often reach back to books i loved when i read them in addition to new things i'm reading. and i will of course continue to reblog my favorite legendborn alice art and quotes.

inbox open for anyone wanting a recommendation for a book or wanting to recommend a book.

[basketbear-books]

few blue skies by Carolina Ixta

i have got to start remembering to take photos of books before i take them back to the library.

this book felt like i was meant to read it now. being about the negative environmental impact warehouses can have on communities, particularly communities of color feels so relevant when xai and others are trying and succeeding in building data centers in the middle of majority POC neighborhoods in my city and the mayor and government are welcoming them with open arms despite the clear negative environmental impact they bring and the negative health impact they have on the residents in the neighborhoods where they build. and then those companies do "good things" to try to negate or realisitcally cover up and distract people from all the awfulness they are causing.

it's hard to lose hope when all that is happening. but paloma and julio give me hope. that we can still find joy in the little things, still find love in a life full of struggles, still hold fast to our morals without judging and hating those who don't have the privilege to hold fast to their morals. understanding and remembering that as much as we want there to be a clearcut line between good and bad; sometimes the "good things" selva or amazon or xai does can still be good and taking those resources and trying to do better with them for yourself and your community doesn't always mean you're a bad person.

and knowing that change doesn't happen overnight and sometimes, often times, change requires sacrifice. longterm change takes time especially change that rewrites and reimagines systems that are built to oppress and control.

i love how carolina ixta wrote in the first person persepctive throughout the book was chef's kiss because i was immersed in paloma's mind and often found myself being very frustrated with others and finding it difficult to understand their perspective until it was spelled out for me even though rationally, i would have been able to come to those conclusions myself but i felt fully immersed in ixta's writing and paloma's mind.

finally, i found the relationship between paloma and her mom so lovely and touching and realistic. and i just want to say note how beautifully written it was.

wow these posts are getting so long sometimes...

[basketbear-books]

Dragon Boats & Doctor's Notes by Hudson Lin

did i live out one of my queer fantasies through this book as a gaysian? yes. did i love the "saving face" vibes?! abso-fucking-lutely.

this sapphic romance between a workaholic doctor and a tatted up caretaker dragon boat racer was everything. these are the kinds of books i want and need when i just need a cozy queer happy story to read and be happy. i don't need it to challenge me or make me learn; i just want to read a romcom in a book. and making them look like me just made it so much better. you rocked it hudson lin!

i found myself rooting for julie and rae throughout the book. just pleading with julie to relax a little and let love happen; it is literally at your door babes.

[basketbear-books]

Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley

it's fine. break my heart into and make me sob my eyes out. i'll still come back to read everything you write angeline boulley.

once again, schooling me in things i never knew were happening in indigenous communities. this book literally knocked my socks off. there's so much happening and it's in the same world but we're not in the same location. we're not on sugar island so it seems like we're in a totally different world with new characters then bam! we've got the throughline characters to show up.

so much happens in this book. it literally makes you feel all the feels. all the highs and all the lows and everything in between. and again, it reads like fiction but i know boulley bases her books in historical references which kills me because the parts of this book that are heartbreaking are especially heartbreaking knowing that this happened to somebody, likely more than one somebody. but i also think that's why it's important for me to read, to know, to learn their names, their stories. just because the world wanted them to be sisters forgotten doesn't mean i have to comply.

daunis, the woman you are.

i can't wait for the next one.

[basketbear-books]

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

while this is the og angeline boulley, it's the next one i read. and i just have to say in terms of a debut, what a stunner. this is such a brilliant world she's built and what a home run of a debut novel.

i read this roughly a year after i read warrior girl unearthed. i'm still learning and researching indigenous authors to support and read (so please give suggestions if you have them).

i wanted to know more about aunt daunis in warrior girl unearthed and by damn did i get more daunis in fire keeper's daughter. and i knew she was a badass but i didn't know how much of a badass. i really don't want to give anything away but the whole thing with jamie felt like i was reading fiction (which technically i was) but it felt so hard to believe that it was based in real life. like all of boulley's books are. and i lowkey hated that i was so ignorant of these things in my own country's history. but i can't be; the government wants me to be ignorant and i am going to keep fighting back by educating myself and building a knowledge library so i can know about the real history of not just my people in this country but the real history of other people who are my allies in the fight against white supremacy. beyond this book, i cannot thank boulley enough for the list of resources she always provides at the end of her books so i can learn more.

read it yall. learn about the things they never taught us in school and then go learn some more after.

and like warrior girl unearthed, a beautiful cover and also easily recognizable as an angeline boulley book which is incidently how i stumbled upon the most recent one which will be posted after this .

[basketbear-books]

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

this was my first angeline boulley book. i didn't read them in order and neither do you. they all exist within the same universe but take place at different times with different main characters although there are characters that are in all of them.

i'm usually very intentional about what i read. i do research, i look up things similar to what i've read before. but not with this one. i did what they always tell us not to do; i judged this book by its cover. and by did it pay off. i adore this book. i admire perry's authenticity, stick to it-ness and just overall refusal to let things pass her or her people by and reclaim what belongs to her, her people and her culture.

this was first introduction to a lot of the issues presented in the book especially the alarming trend of indigenous women going missing and nothing ever coming of it. people just getting away with stealing, hurting, murdering and more. it really opened my eyes and i did a lot of research after (shout out to the end of boulley's books where she provides resources).

this is still my favorite boulley book. almost like your first love vibes. i'll continue to read everything she puts out and we'll see if perry remains in first place. but i cannot say enough about warrior girl unearthed. it made me feel so helpless and so empowered at the same time. i could be the missing girls or i could be perry. i get to decide and i have the privilege to do that and to contribute what i can.

and obviously gorgeous cover art. miigwech for reading this longer than usual post.

[basketbear-books]

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

i read pet during my first akwaeke emezi summer back in 2022 or 2023? before the summer ends, i'm determined to get all my akwaeke posts up to be caught up. my first summer, i read this and bitter. bitter was my first ever akwaeke experience and is way down further on the blog. i definitely could have looked up the year but oh well.

i mean, the tagline on the book says it all. "pet is here to hunt a monster. are you brave enough to look?" and in 2026, pet feels so fucking relevant. living in the united states, particularly in the south in majority POC city where we are literally being occupied by the fucking US military but it's "for our safety." yeah, who's safety? certainly not all the people of color who have killed, profiled or lost money cuz you keep being all up in they business while they just trying to live their lives.

but back to pet, i have to be like jam. i have to confront the monster that is here. i can't ignore it and pretend that everything is fine. the truth is there; we have to be brave and uncover it and speak it. in a society that is denying/pretending we aren't being militarily policed, what choices can i make every day to refute their denial/silence?

unfortunately, hunting monsters is something that we'll always have to do; no matter how much they say, "there are no monsters in lucille." we have to follow jam's example and continue to hunt the monsters and be brave enough to look and speak the truth.

finally, stunner of a cover.

[basketbear-books]

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi

i read 3 books as part of my 2026 awkaeke emezi summer. and i usually only do 2. little rot was my second after somadina and before dear senathuran.

and i'm usually a young adult book person. how i found akwaeke but i devour their adult novels too. but i'm telling you, if akwaeke creates it, i will consume it.

and mane did i consume this. i was completely and utterly drawn in and obsessed with seeing the deep underbelly of the rot pervading our culture and world. i could not wait to turn the next page and see what terrible thing someone who i considered to be one of the good guys was going to do in this novel. just a stunning and exquisite exploration of human nature and the rot, perversions that are rampant in our cultures and society around the globe yet we often choose to ignore how they are so deeply embedded and impact our daily lives even if we aren't directly touching them. it's always there, just a little rot in all our lives. who knows if that's what akwaeke wanted me to take? but it's what i took along with another book to recommend people read by them. cuz like i said, they write it, i'll read it.

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Dear Senthuran A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

i can't believe it's my fourth awkaeke summer. you know how people have hot girl summers. i have akwaeke emezi summers.

i'm not even gonna lie. this was the hardest one so far for me to read. it's the only nonfic i've read by them and i generally struggle with nonfic. but i powered through and i'm so glad i did. i both identified with this book and felt like i was glimpsing into a world of someone i will never understand or encounter, someone so majestic and not of this earth. i appreciate the window into a place that both is completely unfathomable to me yet simulatanously shows me what i want to be and how i can be it. "it is liberation, something to celebrate. i am learning how to be a big god, how to present as a full and conglomerate self, how to radiate all the desire and pain and power i feel without folding it down, without dimming." i want to be without dimming.

and as a chronically ill person who has chronic pain. something about the way akwaeke emezi talks about pain is just so raw and authentic and makes me feel seen. "i am tired of hurting, of spending months recovering from something or the other, bruised and swollen and exhausted. i want to be strong. i want to be free. i don't quite know what that looks like yet." i am going to figure out what free looks like and i'm going to achieve it.

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The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong

while set in the same world as the teller of small fortunes, i enjoyed this book much more. i mean it was probably the sapphic love story but maybe it was hope the catdragon too. i would much rather have a pet dragon than a cat like in teller of small fortunes.

and certainty, it was not just you. i too had a crush on mage aurelia as the book went on. but i loved the character growth the characters were able to achieve throughout such a short time frame without feeling rushed or forced. so i know it's lame because like there was literal magic in the book (and in the other one too) but the little everyday magics of the pasta machine or helping people just made this such a joyful read to me. i hope mages certainty and aurelia are living happily ever after.

and as an organizer, i love that mundane organizing and cataloging was what brought our two lovebirds together.

[basketbear-books]

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

i was really excited to read this because one look at that cover art and two i found a new appi author to read/celebrate. but i'm not going to lie, this one took me a hot minute to get into. but once i was into it, i was into it.

the band of misfits comes together and achieves something great and everyone has important lessons to learn along the way trope (?is that a trope) worked great in the fantasy world that julie leong built. and i gotta say at times, it was definitely giving avatar the last airbender for me with the gang that came together in this story. but alas no life changing field trips with zuko here. but maybe it was life changing field trips with tao. and yes, i'm glossing over the fact that it is a found family story but it really gave off avatar vibes for me and i mean that in the most complimentary way. i was very into it.

the story was great as we see each character grow and develop throughout the journey but for me, where julie knocks it out of the park is the world building. i felt like i understood the world our characters were in quite deeply but i also never felt like julie was overly explaining how the world or its people.

it's a fun read. i recommend but i did follow up with julie's second book keeper of magical things and if you've only got it in you to read one of julie's books, i personally recommend the latter. more on that to come.

[basketbear-books]

Haunting of a Witch by JJ Clapton

received an arc of haunting of a witch. and honestly didn't know what to expect. i saw a sapphic love story with a chronically ill, disabled character as the protagonist and immediately wanted in. tell me more about how my real life unfolds in a cozy fantasy adjacent world where i'm a witch. no but seriously, jj (who i believe is also chronically ill) did an amazing job of portraying chronic illness and disability. there were passages where i literally felt like jj was describing me trying to get do something when my illness flares. so just on that note, shoutout to jj for such an accurate portrayal of chronic illness/diability but also creates a realistic character who exists, struggles, loves, lives alongside of their illness and disability.

it turned out to be a mystery and i love a mystery. i grew up on nancy drew so i'll take a mystery any day of the week that ends in y. i felt like the book had great pacing, was the right length. there's a lot i could say about the plot itself which i loved but no spoilers. suffice to say, emily (protagonist) lives in a "haunted" house with james and is able to use the magic around/in the house to earn enough of a living to be in the house but can't leave the house cuz duh chronic illness. then a new character comes aknocking at the door one night and is in trouble. does emily help her and risk upsetting the new boss in town (putting her living situation and current relatively happy life at risk) or do the right thing though and help the cute stranger even if it means giving up the things she holds most dear?

but the sapphic love story between a chronically ill/disabled witch and her cute human desi bisexual was really what sealed the deal for me.

comes out this october, definitely recommend to grab it or request it from your local library. would be a perfect fall read.

but sidenote: legit, maybe i'm entering my arc reader era??

[basketbear-books]

Thirsty by Jas Hammonds

jas hammonds knocks it out of the park again with the sophomore novel.

the exploration of what it means to be accepted, what love looks like, how to find one's authentic self, how to be a good friend. it's such a relatable book. even though it's set in the summer between high school and college, the feelings and life experiences of the characters is relatable as hell regardless of age. we can always strive to be better friends, lovers, people.

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We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

you want a plot twist that you won't see coming? this is the book for you.

i would never know this was jas' first book because damn they hit it out of the fucking ballpark. i mean this book is something i will always recommend to people. the young love, the drama of the south, the small town gossip, the struggles of finding yourself.

without giving too much away, this book pulls at my heartstrings, conveys the south in a way that feels entirely real to a southerner without over-exaggerating the sometimes absurdity of this place and confronts some very real issues in very subtle and in your face ways.

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Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi

another summer spent with akwaeke emezi. i really need to get back on my regular publishing here and get all my akwaeke posts up cuz yall sleeping on this god. literal god.

everything that akwaeke produces is gold. somadina is no exception. i love reading books that give me perspective on something i have literally no connection or previous concept of. set in west africa, the twins somadina and her brother get powers of a god. then her brother is taken and she must navigate her own powers and their "goodness" while on a mission to save her brother. just a riveting story from beginning to end and without any prior knowledge, i was able to understand and connect with these wonderful characters so different from my own reality. again, if you see akwaeke emezi on the cover, just read it.

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Let Them Burn and This Ends in Embers by Kamilah Cole

i love a duology. and kamilah cole killed it.

i've never read anything like this. the world she built in these two short books had me enthralled. i loved the alternate world steeped in jamaican culture with real world elements like colonialism and racism that were addressed without feeling too heavy.

and you know was hanging on to the queer love story thread. these characters are beautifully and fully written. and these covers. absolutely stunning. dragons, queer love, the people of color rebelling and saving the day with love, ancestral magic and redirection of anger is all i ever want in a book. pick it up you won't regret it.

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They Meet In Dreams by HB Wasiak

this is an intense yet easy to read story. the first person point of view is excellent in this story and i felt myself feeling everything max felt. it is a beautifully written story that draws you in immediately and keeps you hooked. the story flowed well and didnt feel rushed or overly dramatic for the most part. it is a beautiful exploration of first love, discovering one's self, family and facing life's many obstacles.

warning: it is going to make you cry tears of joy then tears of sad then sit in a puddle of all the feels and just feel everything