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2022 in Books

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen

A queer Asian poetry book I'd wanted to read for ages because the title spoke to me so much. I liked it as much as I like any poetry I read for fun.

2. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

Read as a potential summer reading book. Did not enjoy it. Thankfully, we did not choose it.

3. Love Where You Work: An Office Romance by Anna Pulley

I love Anna Pulley as a writer - specifically as an advice columnist and poet. But I didn't love her first novel, unfortunately. I tried to leave an honest but positive review in exchange for an ARC.

4. The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy

We wanted to expand the Duffy poems we teach and I wanted to cover some environmental themes in our literary works. I didn't really get the poems when I first read them, and I still don't get many of them, but I did enjoy teaching selected poems from this collection and want to spend more time on them going forward.

5. Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung (trans. Joosun Lee)

Another book for potential teaching or summer reading. I enjoyed it more than I expected, but don't see myself teaching it in the immediate future.

6. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones)

Another book for potential teaching or summer reading. It was slow going. I didn't not enjoy it, but I also don't see myself teaching it in the near future.

7. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Another book for potential teaching. I could teach it, but I think we found better options.

8. We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

We ended up going with this for 9th grade summer reading. To paraphrase my coworker, it is the Japanese internment camp book we have been searching for. It's engaging, covers a wide range of perspectives, and is very readable for rising 9th graders.

9. Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American by Laura Gao

Definitely book of the year. Laura is so cool. I want to be her friend so badly. I mean, we are kind of friends, but also not really. This book is so good. I want it as summer reading for all my classes. I want to get Laura to speak to my students. It really is perfect.

10. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Excerpts of this book have been circulating online and one of my friends owned it and let me borrow it. It's a good coffee table book.

11. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

Lesson 1 in not putting books on your reading list that you have not personally read. Sadly, a lesson that has been reinforced several times this year.

12. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin

My girlfriend and I found some children's books in her mother's house in Hawaii. Apparently Pete the Cat is enjoyed by my coworker's children.

13. Too Many Mangos: A Story about Sharing by Tammy Paikai

See above. This is cute though.

14. Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty

I read quite a few picture books in book stores this year. I liked how this incorporated the pictures into the story.

15. I'm Not a Girl by Maddox Lyons

Glad that trans picture books exist.

16. Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell

Lesson 2 in above. A couple of kids did enjoy this book though, so that's a redeeming factor.

17. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The one exception to the lesson about not putting books on my book list I haven't read. This book did drag a bit when I read it myself, but it was also profoundly impactful in a way few (especially non-fiction) books. We only selected certain essays to teach, which worked well.

18. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan

I finally read Percy Jackson. I can see why it was so popular with my students. I actually quite enjoyed it. Reminded me of American Gods, but also definitely a YA/middle grade book.

19. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Another book I've been wanting to read for a while, because I want to read more Gaiman and this book happened to be one in my classroom library. Despite the horror elements, I apparently really enjoyed it because I rated it 5/5 on Goodreads.

20. Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz

Another queer POC poetry book. There were parts I appreciated, but honestly, this one went too far over my head.

21. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

I used this summer to knock some books off my 'want to read because it's in my classroom library, not because it really excites me' list. This one was quite good, actually, although my usual reservations about time travel still applied.

22. Holes by Louis Sachar

Another one of those books. I know this is a popular middle grade book, but I'd never read it. I finally did, and I really enjoyed it.

23. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Another book that I thought I should read but had been putting off.

24. The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Another book for potential teaching or summer reading. I can see it working well as an alternative or follow-up to 1984, but we probably won't end up teaching it.

25. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

This had been really high on my to-read for a while. It was interesting, although not quite what I expected - but I don't know what I expected.

26. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Lunch: A Colors Book by Eric Carle

I didn't know there was a whole series now.

27. 沒有名字的貓 by 竹下文子 (translated)

My girlfriend and I have started reading Chinese picture books together. Apparently this was originally in Japanese? But I can't figure out the translator from Goodreads.

28. A Fright in the Night by Russell Punter

A weird children's book.

29. きつねのがっこうby いもとようこ (translated)

I am really mad that Goodreads doesn't have the Chinese translation of this book and won't let me add my own edition now. This may be what moves me to Storyboard.

30. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

So many people loved this that I was surprised when I read it. The story is engaging, but the writing is bad.

31. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Ah, perhaps one of the books that I have read the most... first in IB, then again in college I think, and now again because a student is writing their EE in it. It resonated with me as a high schooler, and I think it's a solid IB book, but uh... it has not aged well.

32. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

A really good queer WOC YA book! I gave it 4/5 on Goodreads but really it's 4.5

33. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

4.5 but I rounded it up to 5/5 on Goodreads. A fascinating book. The writing does get a bit too... philosophical? descriptive? at times, sometimes characters/situations are confounding, but it was so interesting to read. Also for once, I quite enjoyed the focus on motherhood (maybe because it's so queer? or maybe because my own feelings are shifting?).

I only remember one reread (at the end of the year) that I didn't put on Goodreads. I wish I had tracked them somewhere more thoroughly? But maybe I did not actually reread anything else this year... maybe Romeo and Juliet? Maybe The House on Mango Street? Last spring feels like a long time ago... Or did I read Molly's punny book about her bunny Wally? I don't remember!

#books #50 book challenge

newbornnebulae

Thanks for tagging me @supernovasimplicity

sunshine or moonlight. fairy wings or angel wings. gardening or baking. velvet or silk. flowers or succulents. black coffee or milky coffee. road trips or hiking. mermaids or dragons.

I’ll tag @afterlaughing @implodingacorn @balambwanderer and whoever else wants to!

implodingacorn

sunshine or moonlight. fairy wings or angel wings. gardening or baking. velvet or silk. flowers or succulents. black coffee or milky coffee. road trips or hiking. mermaids or dragons.

thanks for the tag @newbornnebulae c:

#bird wings pls #also cries in lactose intolerance #newbornnebulae

2021 in Books, Part 2

Turns out that a summer in lockdown leaves a lot of time for reading...

25) Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

26) Don't Tell My Mother by Brigitte Bautista

Read this for a virtual South-East Asian literature book club - it was summer lockdown so I had nothing better to do, plus this was their first queer read. There were parts of the book that I liked and that made me laugh, but also many parts that didn't work - the writing felt clunky and in need of polishing, and the romance felt off the whole time.

27) Brimstone Angels by Erin M. Evans

Another D&D novel. Maybe one day I'll continue the next book in the series.

28) One Last Stop by Casey McQuinston

Read this for an Asian Sapphics book club - which is basically the exact intersection of my main reading interests. I had high expectations for this book (it's everything I want - sapphic, Asian, SF lite, trains) and while there are parts that I liked (the cast of supporting characters was sweet and quirky), I did not love the book. Both the descriptions and the plot felt too over the top.

29) Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

30) Stranger Planet by Nathan Pyle

31) On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

32) The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

33) Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

34) Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

35) They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

36) A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li

I got this at a book exchange in high school (or earlier?) and only finally got around to reading it. I'm not a fan of short stories usually so I was surprised by how much I liked it.

37) These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Put this on our 9H summer reading list at a colleague's recommendation because it seemed like a great fit (YA Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, and the author was able to do a virtual visit). It was painful to get through.

38) Medea by Euripedes

Chose this as an extra text for my one IB HL student. Surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Thinking of putting it on my book list next cycle.

39) The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen (trans. Rolf Fjelde)

Was looking for another Ibsen play to teach but they are basically all the same play haha.

40) The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen (trans. Rolf Fjelde)

41) The Sea Is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia, edited by Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng

This has been on my to-read for years; I suggested it to the SEA lit book club and they actually chose it. I enjoyed a few of the stories, but like other anthologies of SEA short fiction I've read, it just wasn't very good.

42) Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (trans. Rolf Fjelde)

Decided to go with this after all. Went well.

43) Take Me With You by Andrea Gibson

I love Andrea Gibson's poetry. This collection of quotes does not do it justice.

44) Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin (trans. Bonnie Huie)

Someone started a queer book club in Taipei and even though I couldn't make this discussion, this book has been on my to-read for so long that I used that to motivate me to read it anyway.

#books #50 book challenge

the girl i'm crushing hard on made me a ppt titled "why u should date me" and i am d y i n g (why does she live in chicago)

#personal

foodffs

OLD FASHIONED LEMONADE

Follow for recipes

Is this how you roll?

#food

Catch Up Meme

Thanks for tagging me @newbornnebulae :)

Favorite color: green

Last song / album: So Jealous by Tegan and Sara (haha was going through their entire discography as I cleaned my house)

Last movie: oh man, I don't even remember the last time I watched a movie... I watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? in class at the end of the year... have I really not watched a movie this whole summer?

Currently reading: Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights... it's a new summer reading book for 9th grade and I'm really not enjoying it, yikes

Currently watching: Crash Course World History (because I might as well watch something fun yet vaguely educational while I eat dinner in front of my laptop?)

Currently craving: something cool and sweet

Coffee or tea: tea

#newbornnebulae

11/7/21

good things:

1) stayed over at my quarantine friend's house last night and today we cuddled and talked and went for a walk and had nice food

2) the book I'm reading is a lot better than expected

3) got to chat with the girl I've been chatting with this summer - who was the one who suggested I write down 3 good things and 3 bad things from the day because I was complaining about not having anything to show for the summer

bonus 4) got a nice bento for lunch and also have leftovers from dinner yay!

bad things:

1) hanging out with quarantine friend is always at least a little fraught

2) did not get McDonald's breakfast despite running for it T_T did not get doughnuts or cinnamon rolls either

3) quarantine friend is also leaving the country probably. also I probably won't get to ask out the girl I planned to ask out because of continued level 3. yes this is a combined 2-in-1 bad thing but neither are especially day-specific they are just both disappointing

#highlight of the day

foodffs

BAKED HERB PARMESAN POTATO WEDGES

Really nice recipes. Every hour.

Show me what you cooked!

#food

2021 in Books, Part 1

1) Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen

Read this as a potential book to teach. Despite the non-linear narrative being confusing at times, I really liked this book. I don't know if it would appeal quite so much to someone who doesn't enjoy reading/thinking about food as much as I do, however.

2) Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

A very popular IB book choice. I started a while ago but couldn't get into it because I didn't get the historical context, but I finally pushed myself to finish it. It was fine, but I don't think I will teach it.

3) Aya by Marguerite Abouet

Since I was on a roll, I decided to finish the other graphic novel I'd had checked out of the library for over a year.

4) 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak

Potential summer reading book. Interesting concept. It tried to do a lot of things, and I think it somewhat succeeded? The emphasis on friendship seemed a bit cringey or overdone at times, but I still really appreciated that message!

5) There There by Tommy Orange

Potential summer reading book. I keep wanting to read and teach more Native authors, but damn, the topics are heavy. The graphic description of the mass shooting and deaths at the end were... a lot.

6) The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

Picture book. Meh.

7) Migritude by Shailja Patel

Reread for teaching. I had regretted putting it on my booklist because despite my personal love for this book, it's not only difficult for the students but also repetitive of our themes. To my surprise, it was very successful as a taught text. The students struggled but it was a good kind of struggle. Many of them said they really liked it. I wonder if the repetitiveness actually helped?

8) Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Ah, my 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th times reading this book? :P And this time I actually read all the way through with each class too (instead of having them read Acts 4 and 5 by themselves like previous years).

9) Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

My first Sarah Waters book! I can see why she's a classic.

10) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Potential summer reading book. I can see why it's taught so often. Despite my best friend at work's dislike for it (she talked about it almost being like 'trauma porn'), I actually enjoyed it all the way up till the end - the attempted suicide was too much, imo.

11) Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Potential summer reading book. I can also see why it's so popular, both at our school and at others. Probably would've been a 5/5 if it weren't for the author's clear prejudice against cats.

12) The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Reread for teaching. A new teacher on our team suggested removing this book, but the other two (self included) want to keep it. It is a bit dated in some ways, but in other ways it's so perfect for what we teach.

13) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

I enjoyed this enough that I woke up before 8am on Sunday for a book club discussion.

14) The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin

Reread for teaching. Originally a summer reading book, but then realized it fits a lot of our BoWs. Probably the least popular book this year.

14) Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan

Potential summer reading book. Didn't love it - couldn't like any of the characters. Also, this was trauma porn. But it's still an English historical novel set in Taiwan, so that's something.

15) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Reread because a student is writing an EE on it. It's such a brilliant play.

16) This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This had been on my to-read for a while (sapphic epistolary SF) and a college friend convinced me to read it now. It took a while for me to get into and I don't know if I really ever understood it. But at the end I still felt All The Emotions.

17) The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

This little novella had been on my to-read since god knows when (asexual lesbians!?), and I finally got around to it. Cute.

18) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Potential summer reading book. This is the book that changed my life by reminding me that I loved reading during junior year of college. It hasn't aged very well, I think, and if I picked it up now I don't think I would've enjoyed it so much. Still, I can see why it gripped me several years ago.

19) The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Borrowed this on Libby forgetting it was a graphic novel, but I'm glad I did. It's such a cute, wholesome story!

20) Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Potential summer reading book. Well, actually, I included it even before reading it, based on colleagues' reviews. It's a bit heavy-handed at times, but an important book.

21) The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

Return to my queer South Asian YA haha.

22) On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

A bit too poetic for me, I think.

23) Spinning by Tillie Walden

A cute girl recommended it to me. It was fine; I hadn't expected to love it and I was right. The author has another graphic novel about space gays though, and I'm much more looking forward to that one.

24) The God Catcher by Erin M. Evans

My first D&D novel! I'd been looking for something not misogynistic (hopefully queer and feminist, but sadly that's asking too much) but hadn't had much success, then when updating my dragonborn character I was doing a bunch of research into dragonborn clans and came across this author. Female author - promising. And the synopsis for this book seemed promising too. I've spent an inordinate amount of time and mental energy on D&D recently, so thought I might as well channel it into reading. It's not the most well-written, but it's not too bad. I did find it fascinating how the TTRPG translated into narrative - how the wizard has to learn and prepare spells, how the different races interact with each other, how not everyone is an "adventurer" unlike when we play.

#books #50 book challenge

reverecurrent

Illustration by Japanese artist, Chiho Makino. // Michael Sowa cover art for A BEAR CALLED SUNDAY.

2020 in Books

1. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Started reading this series because my then-girlfriend wanted to play a text-based mobile game with me based on the Craft series that I did not understand without reading the books. The first book was not bad, the second was meh... have been meaning to get back to the third but it’s not super enticing.

2. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

3. Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone

4. We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib

Quite enjoyed this actually. Considered making it a summer reading book but my coworker said that the mention of a threesome is too much for our 9th graders.

5. The Lesbian Sex Haiku Book by Anna Pulley

Anna Pulley is one of my favourite writers (mostly journalist and advice columnist?) so I bought this book - signed! - directly from her in the summer of 2019, after which it travelled months to reach me.

6. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

This and the next three books were retellings of the Odyssey and the Illiad that my coworker and I chose for our emergency distance learning unit for our 9th graders during the start of the pandemic. I did not enjoy any of them very much. (But they did bump up by ‘books read’ count early on in the year.)

7. House of Names by Colm Tóibín

8. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

9. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

10. Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle

I love the Strange Planet comics.

11. Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

If I were to be an academic, I’d want to be Gretchen McCulloch. This kind of language study is the closest I’ve come to feeling really excited about a specific field of academia.

12. Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

13. A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen (trans. Rolfe Fjelde)

Reread for teaching.

14. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

15. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Reread for teaching.

16. The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

17. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

I had been wanting to read this postcolonial lesbian story for ages. It was so fucking sad - not in a ‘makes me cry’ way but in a ‘wow the world is shit’ way.

18. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Reread for teaching.

19. We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

One of the two books donated to my classroom library by a student the first year I set it up, neither of which I’d heard about but both of which have become popular among my students. I wanted to see what made this interesting, and it was a nice story.

20. Roadkill for Beginners by Stephanie Chan

I have a low-key (high-key?) crush on Stephanie Chan. Reading poetry is difficult for me, but I liked this nevertheless.

21. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Did I pick up this Vonnegut book because its title included the word “cat”? Was I disappointed that there were no cats in the book? Yes to both.

22. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki (illustrations by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell)

Kind of fun to read a story about a young lesbian Asian girl that did not centre around her queerness or ethnicity. Good graphic novel.

23. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

This series had been at the top of my to-read for ages, so when my coworker lent it to me I had to prioritize it. It was strangely disappointing. I just did not like the characters, and I could not get into the series.

24. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

The school’s summer reading book turned out to be an especially timely choice when shit went down in the US this summer. I would not have picked up this book by myself, but it was so well-written and so eye-opening.

25. It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Even though I love Night Vale, this book was 1) too straight and 2) too full of bugs for me.

26. My Solo Exchange Diary Vol. 2 by Kabi Nagata

27. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

28. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

Such a strange book... I think it ended up being one of my highlights this year even though I can’t articulate why.

29. Crave by Sarah Kane

Read this because a friend directed the show (in Mandarin).

30. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

31. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Another book that I had been really looking forward to that was quite disappointing. Actually, I had been more interested in the second book, which features an ace character, but I haven’t decided whether I care enough about the first (I didn’t love the writing style) to continue the second.

32. I am Malala (Young Reader’s Edition) by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick

Summer reading pick for the 9th graders.

33. The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin

Reread for school.

34. Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

I actually forgot to count this in 2019. I read it to my class as part of our unit on Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife.

35. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

Another picture book read to my classes as part of the fairytales unit. Actually, I read this 3 times and the above 2-3 times, but it feels almost like cheating to count picture books so many times.

36. The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

Irish lesbian YA.

37. The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home is one of my favourite Night Vale characters, so I was especially excited for this book. I don’t know if it quite lived up to my expectations... It felt very long. But it wasn’t bad.

38. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee

39. The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Part of an Asian Sapphics reading club. The book was not sapphic enough, but I might be interested in the sequel.

40. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Read this because it seemed like a promising book to teach. Indeed, I think it could be a great book to teach. But I did not enjoy reading the book. So... I don’t know... tbd.

#books #50 book challenge