Review: A Spell of Good Things (by Ayobami Adebayo)

My Rating:  4 stars

Ayobami Adebayo’s debut novel Stay With Me on my TBR for a while, but unfortunately, despite the best of intentions, I never got around to picking it up (classic case of “too many books, too little time”).  Well, a few weeks ago, when an ARC of her second book, A Spell of Good Things, landed in my email box, I was determined that, this time, I will get around to it.  And I am so glad I did because Adebayo’s writing here is amazing — poetic, lyrical, completely immersive and engaging.  I also appreciated getting to learn about Nigeria and a culture that I knew next to nothing about prior to reading this book — though I will admit that the sentences and phrases written in an untranslated Nigerian dialect throughout the book did throw me for a loop in that I had to stop and look stuff up at times in order to fully understand what I was reading.

With that said though, the book’s subject matter is actually quite heavy.   The story revolves around two main characters — a female doctor in her twenties named Wuraola and a teenage boy named Eniola — from two Nigerian families at opposite ends of the economic spectrum (the extremely wealthy vs the devastatingly impoverished, the “haves” vs the “have-nots”) whose paths unexpectedly yet inevitably intertwine, amidst a backdrop of economic strife, political corruption, violence, and tragedy (and that’s just scratching the surface). Even though there were moments of levity (manifested primarily through one of the Wuraola aunties and a few other relatives) interspersed primarily throughout the first half of the story, much of the second half had an undercurrent of bleakness and sadness to it that I actually found difficult to shake even after I had turned the last page.

I don’t want to say too much about this one, as I feel this is the type of story that you have to actually experience for it to be most impactful. What I will say is that this is one of those quiet, slow-burn type stories that takes its time to build up and play out — thoughtfully, meticulously, carefully — then in the last quarter or so of the book, the story suddenly hits you in the gut and you’re left reeling a bit.  For me, I found myself still thinking about that last quarter of the book even long after I had finished reading — I kept playing though different scenarios and wondering, if certain people had acted differently, if some circumstances had been different, would that have changed things in the end?  

While this was not an easy read by any means (especially emotionally), I’m glad I picked it up, as it was a unique, thought-provoking experience that doesn’t come around too often.  I know for sure now that I need to go back and read Adebayo’s debut, sooner rather than later.

Received ARC from Knopf via NetGalley.

Review: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt (by Anonymous)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

Let me say up front that I don't care much for social media.  Yes, I do have accounts on all the major platforms, but I created those more out of necessity than anything else.  I guess you can say that I "tolerate" social media in that I use when it when I have to (for example — to connect with a friend or distant relative or to research or get information on something), but outside of that I rarely post anything and rarely interact with anyone.  For the record, I have nothing against social media itself — it's more that the experience is not for me, as I find the pressure of constantly having to "keep up" with the trends and conversations on there extremely exhausting and stressful, and I basically have neither time nor patience for any of it.

Given the above, it should probably come as no surprise that I had never heard of the fictional Internet personality Duchess Goldblatt prior to reading this book.  In fact, this book probably would never have come onto my radar if one of my book clubs hadn't chosen it as a monthly read.   This is actually a memoir by an anonymous author who writes about how she came to create an alter ego on social media that is so beloved across legions of her devoted fans.  The author encountered a lot of loss and tragedy in her life and in efforts to parse her grief (not to mention the incredible loneliness she felt at the time), she created Duchess Goldblatt on a whim, not expecting the character to attract as much attention as it did.  Indeed, the Duchess can count among her followers many famous names in the literary community, such as Elizabeth McCracken, Alexander Chee, Benjamin Dreyer, Celeste Ng, Laura Lippman, etc.  But for the author, one of the most meaningful experiences that Duchess Goldblatt gave her was the opportunity to develop a close friendship with her real-life long-time idol, singing legend Lyle Lovett.   The author's candid conversations with Lyle (both as herself and as Duchess Goldblatt) were a lot of fun to read and I felt that's one of the things that made this book so special.  

Overall, I found this to be an interesting read.  I appreciated the candor with which the author recounted key moments of her life and the various struggles she went through.  There were parts that I resonated with deeply and wholeheartedly— such as this paragraph where the author's boss calls her into the office to praise her for doing a great job at work:  "Outperforming other people is of no interest to me.  It certainly doesn't motivate me.  If anything, it makes me feel a little guilty. I was raised not to show off, not to be proud, not to draw attention to myself.  I don't like people looking at me or standing too close. Compliments make me uncomfortable.  My greatest childhood dream was to be an author whom everyone would read but no one would look at directly, but I couldn't figure out a way to write books without people knowing my name."  I love this quote because it describes my exact sentiments as well.  I also related to the insecurities and vulnerabilities that the author felt about herself, as I struggled with these at various points in my life as well.  With all that said, the parts I didn't enjoy as much were the quotes and excerpts from the Duchess Goldblatt social media accounts — don't get me wrong, I liked the concept of it and I definitely appreciated the author for creating something that gave so much joy and comfort to so many people, but for me personally, the excerpts were distracting. Basically, I preferred to read about the author herself (this is a memoir after all) more than about her fictional Internet persona.  

Even though this one turned out different than I expected, I'm still glad I read it, as it was a pretty unique experience overall.   Given the author's desire to remain anonymous, I admire her willingness to share her personal story with so many people (I know I wouldn't be able to do it for sure).  I wish her the best of luck! 

Review: The Porcelain Moon (by Janie Chang)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

Janie Chang's latest novel is a beautifully written story about a little-known piece of history:  the hundreds of thousands of Chinese laborers brought to Europe during the Great War.  These contracted workers — part of the Chinese Labor Corps (CLC) — didn't fight in the war directly, yet they were crucial in keeping the "machinery of war" running through their efforts in maintaining and rebuilding equipment such as tanks and weaponry, clearing out trenches, loading provisions onto boats to ship out to soldiers, etc. — even after the war, they played important roles in helping to clean up the battlefields and, in many instances, restore land that was taken during the war to its original use.  Oftentimes, they were also tasked with doing soul-destroying work such as clearing out decomposing corpses of humans and animals.  The commanding officers overseeing these workers were usually non-Chinese military personnel and misunderstandings were common due to lack of access to translators — many of the workers were either treated poorly or subject to harsh working conditions, especially the ones from the peasant class who were largely uneducated and illiterate, with little to no understanding of the local language and culture, so they couldn't relay their grievances or fight for their rights.  What's worse is that, later on, the contributions of these workers were largely wiped from the history books, with very little information about their efforts available even now.  Chang did a great job bringing this obscure history to light, with research that was both meticulous as well as intricate.  The author's note that detailed some of this research definitely should not be missed!

As far as the narrative goes, the story alternates between the two main female protagonists:  Camille, a Frenchwoman from an aristocratic family fallen on hard times, who tries desperately to escape from an abusive marriage; and Pauline, the illegitimate daughter of a traditional  Chinese family who is sent to France with her uncle and cousin to take care of the family's antiques store — two women who live very different lives, yet whose paths end up intersecting in a tremendous way.  I loved nearly all the characters in this story, but without a doubt, I resonated with Pauline the most.  In a culture where losing face was worse than death and being unfilial was an unforgivable sin subject to grave condemnation, Pauline's life had already been predetermined for her, and as a daughter (especially an illegitimate one), the only choice she had was to obey.  But yet, those circumstances didn't stop her from trying to rise above her fate, which in itself, was hugely admirable.  Though my own family background is quite different from Pauline's, the cultural obligations and conventions that she was bound by were more than familiar to me — which is why I couldn't help rooting for her character more than Camille's, even though overall, I was deeply invested in both women's stories.  

This was my first historical fiction novel of 2023 and I'm so glad I got to start off with a book I loved, especially with this particular genre being one of my  absolute favorites.  I had actually read Janie Chang's previous novel The Library of Legends back when it came out and while I appreciated the obscure history depicted in that story as well, I felt it leaned too much into the fantasy and romance elements at the expense of the historical portion. This newest work, The Porcelain Moon, is in an entirely different vein in my opinion, as it focused more on the historical and cultural elements and balanced both in a way that flowed seamlessly.

Janie Chang has two backlist titles that I'm interested in but haven't read yet — I'm hoping I will get a chance to read them some time soon.  What has me most excited though, is hearing that she is co-authoring a new book with Kate Quinn (one of my favorite historical fiction authors), which is scheduled for publication later this year (in the Fall) — I can't wait to read it!!

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley.  

Review: The Piano Tuner (by Chiang-Sheng Kuo)

My Rating:  3 stars

I don't remember how this book got onto my radar, as I'm not as familiar with Taiwanese literature as I am with Hong Kong literature, but seeing that this was a short novella, I decided to pick it up last minute as a way to round out my January reads.  

Overall, this was a good story, but a bit confusing and hard to follow.  The structure was a nonlinear one that jumped back and forth in time, which normally wouldn't be too much of a problem, but this one also happened to jump back and forth between first person and third person narrative voice as well (a few times, it jumped to second person too, which completely baffled me) — both of these things combined, along with the lack of distinctive breaks between the narration, plus lyrical prose that bordered on abstract in some places, made this an unnecessarily exhausting and tedious read.  The entire story was narrated by the eponymous piano tuner, but presented in snippets of his thoughts that seemed to run together jumbled between his past and current lives, making it difficult to truly understand what was going on at times with the story.

It also didn't help that the ending was very abrupt — the type of ending that seemed to stop in the middle of a thought —  to the point that I thought perhaps I was missing a few pages of the book (which, thinking about it now, is still possible, as the version I read was an ARC that I downloaded several months back, which, according to my e-reader, ended at the 99% mark and didn't have any other pages after it, not even an acknowledgments page).  

I think this had the potential to be a meaningful, emotionally nuanced story, but the structure and the switching of the voices was too distracting and unfortunately drowned out that part of the story.   Perhaps it would've been better for me to read this one in its original language (Chinese) rather than the translated version, as I honestly can't help but feel that maybe something got lost in translation somewhere.  While I don't regret reading this one, plus there were actually some elements of it that I really liked (such as the parts where the narrator talks about the piano pieces and the interesting backstories of the artists), the experience overall was underwhelming.  If I'm able to find the Chinese version, maybe I'll try that and see if my experience is any different…for now though, this definitely more of a borderline 3 star read for me.

Received ARC from Arcade Books via Edelweiss.

Review: Portrait of a Thief (by Grace D. Li)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

When I first read the premise for this book, I was really excited — I mean, how often is it that we get to see a heist story written by an Asian author?  Though having said that, calling this a heist story is a tad bit inaccurate, as it was so much more than that.  To me, the heist part was more of a secondary arc in the story — the core narrative was actually a well-told, nuanced exploration of Chinese-American identity, of colonialism and the repatriation of art, of culture and history, of immigration and the Chinese diaspora, of love and loss and the weight of family expectations, etc.  In a sense, the heists were merely a means to an end, a jumping off point for the journey of self-discovery that the five main characters — "the crew" of Will, Irene, Lily, Daniel, and Alex — embark on.  

For me, as a member of the Chinese diaspora, this examination of identity and belonging was deeply and wholeheartedly felt.  I resonated with different aspects of each character and also recognized the inner struggles that motivated many of their actions.  This was also a story about relationships, with its many nuances as well as complexities, and the flawed characters trying to navigate them:  with Will and Irene, it's their inability to truly understand each other deep down that creates a sibling love/hate rivalry where they are constantly competing against each other; with Daniel, it's his inability to let go of past loss and hurt that drives a wedge between him and his father;  with Alex, it is the weight of family obligation and responsibility, where unspoken expectations affect every decision she makes;  with Lily, it's the search for belonging, trying to understand her roots and making something of herself in the hopes that she can stop feeling so adrift.  The five of them, each with different insights into the world that drive their motivations, are brought together by a shared culture and an impossible job offer that could change their lives in both good ways and bad.  

I really enjoyed this story and of course, since I related to it in a profound way, I highly recommend reading this one  — however it's important to go into it with the right expectations.  Despite what the people marketing this book would have you believe, this is very much a character-driven story rather than a plot-driven one — which is why, as so many reviews already pointed out, even though this is supposed to be a heist story, there is actually not much "action" that happens.  The blurb for the book mentions that this story is "Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell" — having watched both of those movies, I would say the overall feel of this one, especially with its nuanced exploration of identity and relationships, is closer to The Farewell than the Ocean's franchise.  I mention this because it seems that quite a few readers picked this one up expecting an action-packed heist story similar to Ocean's Eleven, but came away disappointed.  This is definitely not an action or adventure story…even calling it a thriller is a huge stretch, in my opinion. Regardless though, to me, it was a great story with an interesting premise and endearing (albeit flawed and sometimes frustrating) characters.  This was fantastic debut novel and now I can't wait for author Grace D. Li's next book (which I heard is forthcoming very soon)!

Review: A Man Called Ove (by Fredrik Backman)

My Rating:  5 stars

I know I'm super late to the party with this book, but hey, better late than never, right? Actually, A Man Called Ove has been on my TBR for years and the paperback copy had been sitting on my bookshelf for just as long. I was originally "intending" to finally read this book last year, as I had read Anxious People (my first exposure to Fredrik Backman's work) the year before and loved it.  But then one of my book clubs decided to read Beartown, so I picked up that one next, and of course, like everyone else who read that book, I fell hard for the characters (and the story) — so much so, in fact, that as soon as I turned the last page, I immediately picked up the sequel Us Against You and flew through that. Then, just when I was experiencing major  Beartown withdrawal, I miraculously scored an advance copy of The Winners (the third and final book in the trilogy) and devoured that 688 page tome in one sitting (and even though I cried through much of that book, I still loved every minute I spent reading it).  After that, I spent the last couple months of the year fighting the urge to re-read the entire trilogy all over again (mostly because I had a boatload of other books that I knew I had to get to). Anyway, I've digressed…so I decided to finally pick up A Man Called Ove because I knew the American movie remake starring Tom Hanks would be out this month and since I MIGHT go watch it (I'm still on the fence technically), I figured now would be as good a time as any to read the book.  Also, in another stroke of perfect timing, I attended the Livestream interview that Fredrik Backman did with the Center for Fiction last week where he talked about Ove as well as the movie adaptation, among other things (the entire interview was absolutely fantastic — I came out of that interview loving Backman even more than I already did, lol).  

So yes, I finally read Ove and it was as amazing as I expected it to be.  From the story to the characters, I loved every aspect of the book, which had me laughing one minute and crying the next minute.  Backman is one of those rare writers who is so adept at striking that perfect balance between sad and serious in his stories (which are my absolutely favorite type of stories to read!).  Just like with his other novels, in A Man Called Ove, Backman explores the many nuances of the human condition that are resonant and relatable — themes such as loneliness, community, society ills, prejudice, grief and loss, parenthood, friendship, etc. — and ties everything together into a masterful story that is heartwarming and poignant, sad and somber, yet also funny and ultimately hopeful, all at the same time.  

Now after having read 5 of Backman's novels (I intend to be a completist and read all of his works at some point), one of the things I've noticed about his writing is that it is always so earnest and full of heart.  After watching his most recent interview, I realize now how much of his own vulnerabilities he both knowingly and unknowingly incorporates into his stories — for example, with the character of Ove, he reflects his own awkwardness in social situations, his difficulty communicating with people, his wife being his main connection to the world and other people, etc.  The way Backman is able to be so "spot on" when writing about the various aspects of the human condition — our feelings, emotions, relationships — it imbues his stories with an honesty and sincerity that makes his works especially accessible and endearing.

It's probably obvious already that Backman is one of my favorite authors — I will pretty much read anything he writes at this point.  With that said, I haven't actually read all of his backlist works yet, but as I mentioned earlier, I very much intend to be a Backman completist, so it's just a matter of time before I get to the rest of his books.  I am absolutely looking forward to it!

Review: The Writing Life (by Annie Dillard)

My Rating:  3 stars

One of my goals this year is to continue my quest to read as many books about the craft of writing as I can.  This month, I decided to pick up Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard's famed book of essays on the craft, The Writing Life, which I had heard many good things about. 

Indeed, when I started the book, it was actually very engaging and I found myself highlighting many insights that resonated with me. Unfortunately though, as the book progressed, it started to become less and less accessible to me.  Dillard's prose is elegant and lyrical and yes, her metaphorical descriptions of things are beautifully rendered — but there was too much of it, in my opinion, to the point that it felt overwhelming, and after awhile, it became harder and harder to pay attention.  My mind started to wander and I ended up having to re-read things several times — putting the book down and picking it back up a few days later did help, but not by much.  Luckily, the book was very short (a tad over 100 pages), so I was able to push through and finish it (though it took me nearly a week to do so, which bothered me a bit).

Overall, I think this book just wasn't for me, especially at this moment in my life.  While I appreciated the insights it provided (I did write down a few things that were helpful and that I definitely want to remember), it came across a little too highbrow and abstract for me in some places — which is why I decided to go with a median rating of 3 stars.  Perhaps if I were to revisit this book at a later time, when my journey as a writer is more mature, I will have a better appreciation for it.

Review: The Violin Conspiracy (by Brendan Slocumb)

 My Rating:  4 stars

 

I’ve read my fair share of thrillers / mystery novels over the years and while occasionally, I’ll come across one that completely blows me away (a recent example that comes to mind is Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot), there comes a point where most of the thrillers I read start to sound so similar that I feel like it’s a waste of time to pick them up.  Given this context, when one of my book clubs decided to choose a thriller for our monthly read, I couldn’t help but feel just a tad bit weary – I even debated at one point whether I should pick this one up or not.  In the end, I decided to go for it, and I’m so glad I did because this one turned out to be more than just a “run-of-the-mill” thriller.  In fact, I would even say that the thriller / mystery aspect was more of a sub-arc than the main story (more on this later).

 

Ray McMillian has a passion for playing the violin and also the natural talent to match, but as a Black kid growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, he has neither the resources nor the opportunities to realize his dream of becoming a professional musician.  Aside from the fact that his family doesn’t support him – his mom wants him to get a “real” job in order to pay the bills, while the rest of his aunts and uncles are to absorbed with their own lives to care about his impractical dreams – there’s also the reality of the inherent racism in the classical music world, which Ray has already gotten a glimpse of being the only Black kid in his high school music class (his teacher essentially refuses to teach him and the white kids go out of their way to make him feel that he doesn’t belong there).  Only his Grandma Nora, whom he goes and visits every couple of months, loves and supports him unconditionally.  On one of his visits, his grandma gives him a fiddle that once belonged to his great-grandfather.  Later on, Ray meets Dr. Janice Stevens, a music teacher at Markham University who becomes his mentor — her support, along with his great grandfather’s precious fiddle, help Ray tap into his potential and puts him on the path to realizing his dream.  But then he discovers that the fiddle he now owns is actually a rare Stradivarius worth millions of dollars, and almost immediately, two families try to lay claim to it — Ray’s own family, including his mother, as well as the descendants of the family that had once enslaved his great-grandfather.  However, the worst is yet to come when, o few weeks before the Tchaikovsky Competition, Ray’s violin is stolen, throwing his life into upheaval and threatening everything he had worked for.  As Ray embarks on a desperate mission to find his violin, he begins to lose hope that he will ever see his precious Strad again.

 

On the surface, the narrative seems to revolve around the mystery of the stolen violin, but the story actually goes much deeper than that.  To me, the main story arc actually revolves around Ray’s journey to realizing his dream of becoming a professional violinist and the many obstacles he faced because of the color of his skin.  In Brendan Slocumb’s author’s note at the back of the book (which is an absolute must-read!), he talks about how some of the most racially charged events in the book were actually based on his own life experiences as a Black man and violinist trying to forge his path in the mostly White arena of classical music.  He also writes how, when he shares his encounters with racism with friends who don’t look like him, he usually gets a variation of the “it can’t be true / things aren’t really like that” reaction — wanting to recount his experiences as well as paint a realistic picture of the kinds of struggles that people of color face everyday, are partly what inspired him to write this book.  [Case in point:  as I’m writing this review, a story just popped up in the news about a cop in Phoenix who put a Black journalist in handcuffs when all he did was interview customers in front of a bank.]  As a person of color who also grew up in an environment where few people looked like me, I definitely  resonated with that aspect of the story and appreciate Slocumb sharing his experiences through the character of Ray.  

 

I’m terms of the “whodunnit” portion of the story — to be honest, it really wasn’t too hard to figure out (which I already did way early in the story).  With that said, I liked the inventiveness of the story in terms of how the violin “kidnapping” played out.  After a slew of similar-feeling thrillers, I find it refreshing to read a thriller that felt so different from the usual fare, even if the “mystery” portion of the story was not as strong.

 

This was an absolutely worthwhile read, though not an easy one by any means, as there were some gut-wrenching, visceral scenes that honestly made my blood boil (especially knowing some of those scenes were based on real life events).  Nevertheless, I appreciate the sincerity and honesty that comes through in Slocumb’s writing – specifically in the way he brings his characters to life.  This was a fine debut effort and I’m definitely looking forward to his second book (which is scheduled to come out in a couple months).

 

Review: The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone (by Audrey Burges)

My Rating: 4 stars

Happy New Year to all!

For my first read of the new year, I decided to start with an ARC of a book that normally wouldn't be up my alley in terms of genre, but the premise of the story interested me enough that I wanted to give it a try.  I'm honestly glad I did because I ended up enjoying this one way more than I thought I would.   

"Once upon a time, there was a house."  Such an appropriate first sentence  for a story that has both a fairy tale feel and a mysterious house as a central character.  Myra Malone came into possession of the Minuscule Mansion (essentially an antique miniature dollhouse but with no dolls) when she was six years old and since then, she became its meticulous and thoughtful "caretaker", dedicating her life to the Mansion's maintenance and upkeep such as mending broken furniture, decorating rooms with themes during holidays, etc.  Now 34 years old, Myra has been living a reclusive life in her family's cabin in Arizona ever since surviving a car accident when she was a child and spends most of her time in the attic tending to the Mansion as well as writing about her experience. Through the encouragement of her only friend (and former neighbor) Gwen, Myra begins to share her writing via blog posts and soon amasses a huge following that numbers in the hundred thousands. Meanwhile, in Virginia, Alex Rakes, who works for his family's custom furniture business, encounters a couple looking to recreate one of the Mansion rooms — when they show him pictures of the room from Myra's website, he is shocked to discover his own bedroom mirrored back to him in miniature scale.  Hoping to find out what is going on, Alex starts up correspondence with Myra and as they begin to share their respective stories as well as slowly unravel the mystery behind the Mansion, they end up going down a path that neither of them expected.

I found this story enchanting and delightful. Even though there are tragic and sad things that occur, these are handled in a thoughtful manner that doesn't diminish the seriousness of the events, while at the same time, maintaining a lightheartedness to the story that made this a compelling but by no means heavy read.  I loved the bits of humor sprinkled throughout the story, especially in the excerpts from Myra's blog posts as well as in the dialogue between the characters.  Speaking of the characters…yes, the main narrative revolves around how Myra and Alex ultimately fall in love, but this was so much more than just a love story — this was also a story about friendship and family, about hope and resilience and overcoming tragedy, about loneliness and finding a sense of connection — most centrally though was the theme of remembrance and how we carry the memories of people and places with us, even when the physical manifestation of them are gone.  

This is one of those books that doesn't fit nicely into a particular genre — some may consider this a fantasy, others may categorize it as contemporary fiction with magical realism elements (I lean toward the latter).  Whatever the category though, I appreciated the uniqueness and charm of the story, which was evident in the fact that, even though some scenes were a bit too "cutesy" for my tastes and the "mystery" part was obvious from the get go, I still found this book irresistibly hard to put down.  This was also an instance where reading outside of my usual comfort zone paid off and it's an experience I definitely recommend.  The ARC I read also had an excerpt from the author's next book, which is scheduled to come out in 2024 — it sounds just as charming and I look forward to reading it!

Received ARC from Berkley via NetGalley.

2022 Year In Review

Happy soon-to-be New Year!

As I sit down to write this post and reflect on my reading year, I realize that this year has been the most different for me.  Perhaps because I had a lot going on in both work and my personal life this past year, with the first few months of 2022 being especially chaotic, so I did not get a chance to read as much as I wanted to.  In 2022, I only read 52 books, which is the fewest it has been in years (as a comparison point, the previous years I’ve read between 59-62 books) – not only that, I’ve also had to adjust my reading goal down a few times this year, which I hate doing, but the “completist” in me wouldn’t have it otherwise. 

Looking back through the year, I realize that part of the problem with me not being able to reach my reading goal was too much “indecision time” – basically, spending too much time in between books deciding what to read next instead of just picking up the next book and going with it.  When I reflect on why this happened, I honestly can’t pin it down to one particular reason (though I’m leaning towards having too many choices in terms of books and perhaps being overwhelmed?), but of course, it bothers me enough to want to do something about it.  I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now (I actually came to this realization several months ago) and have come to the conclusion that I didn’t plan my reading well enough this past year.  While I did set reading goals as well as reading intentions at the beginning of the year, I pretty much left it at that and didn’t revisit those goals throughout the year to see if I was making progress.  In addition, even though I did have a list of books each month that I wanted to get to, most on the list were ARCs and new releases – I didn’t think to put some of the backlist books I wanted to read on there as well (seeing that one of my goals last year was to read more backlist books, that I was a huge miss on my part).

So with all that said, going into 2023, I’ve decided it’s not enough to just set my reading goals and reading intentions at the beginning of the year.  Instead, I’m going beyond that by actually planning out my reading for each month in a physical book journal that I can have in front of me all the time, with the added benefit of being able to reflect on each month as I go and make adjustments where necessary.  My hope is, with this intentional planning, I can reduce the amount of “indecision time” and actually get to more of the books that I’ve been wanting to get to but never could (i.e. the books that have been on my TBR for ages).

Speaking of 2023 goals, here is what I would like to focus on for the coming year:

-        Read as many books as possible from my own shelves:  I buy a lot of books, but because I’m not a fast reader (plus I’m only able to read 1 book at a time), my shelves are always bursting with books that I haven’t yet read.

-        Work through my list of backlist “must-read” books: These are books that have been on my TBR forever and I keep meaning to read them, but never seem to get around to it.

-        Read widely and diversely:  Just like in previous years, I always try to incorporate a good number of books by authors of color into my reading and 2023 will be no different in this regard.

-        Re-start my “completist” project:  Last year, I talked about a project I started wherein I wanted to read all the books written by my favorite authors.  The goal was to finish at least 1 author on my favorites list each year.  Unfortunately, this didn’t happen in 2022, so I am hoping 2023 will be better.

-        Incorporate books about Writing into my reading schedule:  A few months ago, I talked about being inspired to finally start my book writing project (yes, I definitely started and it’s slow-going, but making progress).  Because of this, I’ve started to incorporate some books about writing into my reading schedule and I intend to keep this going in the new year.  

 

Okay, so back to 2022 recap.  Similar to past years, I’m starting with stats from my 2022 Reading Log, then will follow that up with my lists of favorite books this year.

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite Reads of 2022

Below is my list of favorite reads this year (in no particular order) – all of these books I rated 5 stars:

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett

 

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

 

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

 

The Unseen World by Liz Moore

 

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

 

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

 

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

 

The following books I rated 4.5 stars, which for me means that they were all excellent books in their own right, it’s just that they didn’t give me the 5 star “vibe” (I still loved these books nonetheless):

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

 

Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton

 

Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen

 

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford

 

Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean

 

A Map for the Missing by Belinda Huijuan Tang

 

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

 

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

 

Central Places by Delia Cai

 

The following books I rated 4 stars (which means they were particularly enjoyable reads for me).  This year, I actually struggled to rate most of these, as they were technically more than 4 stars, but I didn’t want to get too much into the weeds with the ratings, so I kept them in the 4 star category. Many of these books I still loved as much as my 4.5 and 5 star reads.

 

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

 

Phantoms by Christian Kiefer

 

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

 

Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft

 

The Next Thing You Know by Jessica Strawser

 

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

 

Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden by Zhuqing Li

 

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

 

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

 

Kaleidoscope by Cecily Wong

 

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

 

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

 

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris

 

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

 

Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

 

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

 

Indelible City: Dispossession & Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim

 

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

 

Atomic Habits by James Clear

 

Have You Eaten Yet?  by Cheuk Kwan