#grace d li

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2026: February Wrap-Up.

Slower reading month, because I am getting Back Into Revising!! I have a Very Attainable Plan of "revise a scene a week to finish by deadline," and I am so far fairly on target?? Who am I, even*.

I'm also still crushing my reading challenges and games: making Book of the Month progress for poetry quest and reading through my 26 in 2026 list, all that. I'm partway through three (3) books, which is broadly unlike me, but sometimes these things just take time. I have linked photos and reviews below!

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF ★★★★ Chinese college students heisting cultural art? Their research largely informed by Ocean's movies?? What a delight. Chapters are thriller-short, style more literary than I was expecting; loved this, have preordered Li's next book.

HOME ★★★★ Poetry translated from Arabic! Very approachable little volume, covers a lot of ground tonally, and I am STILL, a full month later, thinking about "The Mechanic's Heresy" (pictured in review!).

DEATH OF THE AUTHOR ★★★½ Love Okorafor, liked this one, took me a while to get through. Super meta, would probably hold up extraordinarily well on a reread. Loved the book as a story object.

DREAD NATION ★★★★ I was not expecting to have as much fun with this one as I did. Funny! Dread-inducing! Badass heroine! Alt history and zombies!

AMERICAN STREET ★★★ This was my only non-planned book, which I read because reshelving my YA meant this one no longer fit lol. Shortish contemporary about a Haitian teen immigrating to Detroit. Tackles heavy stuff. I loved Fabiola's voice and sincerity.

AMERICAN ELSEWHERE - 211/662 pages read. Picked this up for Driscore Vibes, and Boy Howdy Does It Deliver (hello, detached eyes in jars as the first page teaser?? fucked up shit happening between a pair of mirrors? liminal spaces and people who aren't and eldritch monsters in the woods and deserts and road trips and cars and weird insular little towns???? I'm having such a great time so far!). Enjoying myself immensely!

STRUCTURING LIFE TO SUPPORT CREATIVITY - 102/256 pages read. Buddy reading this with a writer friend, and Tayler keeps coming for our throats. Very practical and reflective type book.

COMPLETE AKHMATOVA - 62/942 pages read. Okay. Listen. I know this is also Book of the Month poetry quest material, but I am NOT reading 900+ pages of poetry in a month; I am working through this one a little bit at a time and will finish in December, thanks. Love how much bio info is up front, it's a very helpful orientation.

Under the Cut: How I Generally Conceptualize ~*★Stars★*~

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I like weird fucked up funny shit). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[macaulaytwins]

Kelly Quindlen // Takato Yamamoto // Grace D. Li

[thoughtfulfangirling]

Alex moved her hand up, curled her fingers tight in Irene’s dark hair. Alex should have been the one in control here, but Irene lifted her gaze, met Alex’s like a challenge. “I hate you.” Alex repeated as if the second time it might be true. Irene was beautiful, unattainable, and Alex had her hand in her hair, her back pressed against a stone column, and Irene did not look away, did not even flinch. Her smile was sharp, pleased.

“Then prove it.” Alex tightened her grip in Irene’s hair, yanked her head forward, and then Alex was kissing her, and Irene was kissing her back, her hands tangling into Alex’s hair and the snow was falling, and Irene was dragging her closer, her hips digging into Alex’s, and she tasted like snow. Like winter air. Like this city that had always been hers. Alex was wildly, joyously, alive.

—Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

[thequeerbouquiniste]

Portrait of a Thief Review

3,75⭐

Conceptually, it’s a good book. I loved how well Grace D. Li handled the themes of colonialism, racism, and identity, and how she showed that all of them are intertwined in complex, varied ways for each person. It felt from that aspect like a deeply personal book, the heartfelt tale of a child of the diaspora. Grace D. Li didn’t overdo it in her commentary, she kept it simple but true and unapologetic and, even more importantly to me, she portrayed an array of personal experiences and feelings within the characters, who did not all deal with and feel about western imperialism the same way.

Character and plot-wise, however, this book was only okay to me. It was average. Neither great nor bad, which is really a shame, because this novel could have been so powerful if the characters had managed to hook me in. Instead, it was hard for me to get attached to them, and I can’t really explain why. They were all flawed and had clear motives, but perhaps what made them miss the mark is that it was clear they were serving the plot instead of the other way around. Great stories are stories when you can’t tell if the plot is leading the characters or the characters are leading the plot because the two are so intertwined you can’t possibly separate them. Here, it was obvious that the characters existed only so the author could make their commentary, so the plot could go along. Consequently, the relationships that Grace D. Li developed kinda fell flat, and the only one I really loved is the fatherly bond between Daniel and his father, which I found to have been amazingly handled.

Similarly, the plot was only average. I genuinely liked the first heist, but the rest felt repetitive, even if there were changes, and I think it could have been exploited better because it did have potential. I have to give it to Grace D. Li, though, that the ending was clever and unexpected, and I really loved it.

Overall, it’s not a bad book. It’s a book with potential, with an important message to tell. But the result was that the message overshadowed the plot and the characters instead of being well-balanced with them. The message and the commentary didn’t feel like the natural conclusion to the story, but rather the only reason that the characters and the plot existed.

[wormwoodandhoney]

books read in 2022: portrait of a thief, grace d li

History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

To tab or not to tab that is the question.

[living400lbs]

Her parents had lived through the Cultural Revolution, had come to America looking to start anew. Their parents—her grandparents—had died before she was born, to famine or persecution or any of the countless tragedies that happened in a country in upheaval. Without family in China, with all their friends lost to time—Lily had never needed to ask her parents about why they hadn’t taught her Chinese, why there were no summer trips to unknown provinces. Twenty years, and she was used to being asked where she was from, to giving an answer that felt like a lie. She could never be Chinese enough for China. She could never be American enough for here.

From Portrait Of A Thief by Grace D. Li

[vfdinthewild]

“There were, as usual, very few dishes.”

-from Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li, pg. 90.