I read 31 books between January and March. I attempted a Bookstagram in this time as well which definitely added to the good picks and high rating but also the anxiety to read more and more. Not going to be doing that anymore cause it's too much to keep up with BUT I did get a lot out of that experience with fun internet friends to talk to about books and also amazing recommendations that I'm going to take my time getting through.
pretty stats cause that's what it's all about, really
Fable Reading Streak:
Storygraph Wrap-Ups:
The Five-Star Reads
Babel — R.F. Kuang Took me 20 days, which is slow for me. But I just didn't want it to end. Anyone that knows me knows I love anything linguistics and history. This was that with a really interesting magic system and complicated discussions about colonialism, language, complicity. It's long, it's dense, and it has a lot to say, I kept having to put it down to think. Went ahead and told everyone I know to read it too.
Betty — Tiffany McDaniel I wasn't prepared for this one. It's brutal and beautiful in equal measure. I read it in 13 days and thought about it for days after. One of those books where the writing itself was absolutely beautiful prose. I find I do quite enjoy books where we get to spend a lot of time with the characters and it makes you miss them after, but I do need to space these books out a bit with shorter, more fast-paced ones.
Sunrise on the Reaping — Suzanne Collins I tore through this in 6 days and it completely delivered on what it promised. A lot of fan-service but I loved it and it made me cry so automatic 5 stars.
Strange Houses — Uketsu Read in one day. A very specific kind of Japanese horror quiet, visual, deeply unsettling and imo totally lived up to the hype. Recommended if you have a free afternoon and want to feel slightly unsettled about everything so you just have to drop everything and finish the book.
Mother Mary Comes to Me - Arundhati Roy All I have to say about this is that you should ABSOLUTELY READ IT. This was my first Arundhati Roy but I will most definitely be reading The God of Small Things. It's such beautiful writing that my jaw was on the floor for like 80% of the book.
Exhalation — Ted Chiang This took 17 days, reading a story or two at a time which I think is the best way to read this book. Each of the stories genuinely gave me so much to think about and I would really recommend buddy reading this so you can nerd out. Ted Chiang is one of those writers who makes you feel like science fiction was invented just so he could write these specific things. Every story in this collection has an idea at its center that I hadn't encountered before. The title story alone is worth it. I've watched and loved Arrival since I was a kid and the short stories book that that movie is based on (also by Ted Chiang) is definitely a next up read.
Honourable Mentions
A few books that didn't get 5 stars but stayed with me:
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (4.75) Genuinely didn't know what to expect. Turned out to be a beautiful novel about grief and art and identity and sobriety, and I tabbed the hell out of this one.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (4.75) Read this for the hype, really touching story and it hit harder reading it right after a loss.
Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag (4.50) Read this in one sitting. A short, claustrophobic Indian novel about family, money, and the quiet violence of domesticity. Highly recommend if you want something compact and unsettling for an afternoon. If you have read this and want to discuss the ending then I'm all ears immediately.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (4.75) I really do love my time travel quantum related science fiction, what can I say? This was actually a really good fast paced story that felt very accesible too even with the complicated quantum physics discussions. Would highly recommend.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (4.25) I've never read a dystopia like this, I only lowered my rating because it was harder to get through with the slow pace but Ishiguro's restraint is almost uncomfortable. It does leave you with a lot to think about tho, esp contrasted to other more popular dystopias like 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale. Will definitely be reading Remains of The Day by Ishiguro eventually.
Didn't Quite Land
Good Material by Dolly Alderton (2.75) - Felt too millenial coded to me and couldn't relate much? The only redeeming factor was the last chapter with the woman's pov. A lot of people did really like this tho so maybe just not for me.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors (3.0) and The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers (3.0) - Both were fine but not particularly memorable. Sometimes a book just does its job and nothing more. Was disappointed with the ending of The Missing Half and the very unlikeable characters in Cleo + Frank.
Translated Fiction: Win?
I read more translated fiction than usual which is quite nice. Something to keep up with I suppose. White Nights, The Vegetarian, Ghachar Ghochar, The Details, Strange Houses, The Nose, Perfume, A Quiet Place. Most of them were short, and most of them were really good.
February was clearly when I leaned hardest into audiobooks. I think this corresponds to a period where I wasn't sitting down to read in the evenings as much so audiobooks filled the gap. I've always loved audiobooks tho and constantly preach about them lol.
Currently reading going into Q2
Red Rising for my book club (which technically I started in March and finished in April — so it'll be in the Q2 recap), Flowers for Algernon (absolutely devastating, finishing soon), and Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (just got the hold from my lib), who wrote My Sister the Serial Killer, which I loved.
Q1 was a good quarter. The 5-stars were genuinely great, the average was high, and I found a few authors I'll keep reading. Let's see if I keep these blog posts up tho.