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In Limbo: A Graphic Memoir by Deb JJ Lee
“I love you when you’re at your lowest just as much as at your best. Growing up is about being sad and angry sometimes.” What could have been a depressing and angsty coming-of-age is ultimately saved by a rewarding & bittersweet narrative arc. As a Korean-American teen girl in the very white New Jersey suburbs,…
3 STARS, abuse, America, ANGST, anxiety, ARTISTS, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, bullying, coming of age, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, Deb JJ Lee, DEPRESSION, Graphic Novels, growing up, HIGH SCHOOL, In Limbo, In Limbo: A Graphic Memoir, Korea, korean american author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, MEMOIR, mental health, mothers & daughters, new jersey, published in 2023, queer, RACE, read in 2023, school setting, Sequential Art, suicide -
Hardboiled & Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
“I felt as if this place I had come to was nowhere. As if I no longer had a home to return to. That road I had been on didn’t lead anywhere, this trip would never end—it seemed to me as if next morning would never arrive.” Banana Yoshimoto is at her whimsical best in…
1990s, 1st pov, 3.5 STARS, Adult, ハードボイルド／ハードラック, Banana Yoshimoto, collection of short stories, Contemporary, DEATH, dreamlike quality, Dreams, existentialism, f/f, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, ghosts/spirits, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, hotel, illness, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MAGICAL REALISM, melancholy, MEMORY, navel gazing, no plot just vibes, published in 1999, queer, read in 2023, right person wrong time, sapphic, short stories, SISTERS, SLICE OF LIFE, suicide, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed narrator, uplifting reads -
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi
“By the time the apocalypse began, the world had already ended. It ended every day for a century or two. It ended, and another ending world spun in its place.” War, historical conflicts, present crises, and apocalyptic visions, are the motifs of Franny Choi’s The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes. Some poems are…
3 STARS, Adult, America, apocalyptic, asian american, asian diaspora, colonialism, DEATH, environmental, female authors, Franny Choi, generational trauma, history, Korea, korean american author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, POETRY, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, social issues, stylised prose, The World Keeps Ending and the World Goes On -
Self-Portrait with Ghost: Short Stories by Meng Jin
Sly and surreal Self-Portrait with Ghost makes for a playfully weird and refreshingly inventive collection of short stories. Like most collections, not all of its stories are created equal, as there are a couple, especially the shorter ones last, that are rather forgettable. The most effective stories were the ones that, although characterized by a…
3.25 stars, Adult, ambivalent mood, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, CHILDHOOD, chinese american author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, dark humor, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dreamlike quality, female authors, feverish, first love, ghosts/spirits, girlhood, HIGH SCHOOL, jealousy, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, Meng Jin, migration/immigration, mothers & daughters, navel gazing, opera/choruses/classical music, playful style, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, SEXUALITY, short stories, surreal, toxic relationships, unrequited love, weird, womanhood/femininity -
Are You Happy Now by Hanna Jameson
“That this was the trade-off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.” A quietly crushing yet devastatingly tender work scintillating with insight and emotional intelligence. With acuity and empathy Hanna Jameson presents her readers with a captivating narrative chronicling four people’s attempts at happiness despite a looming health…
3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, adulthood, age gap, ALIENATION, ambivalent mood, America, anxiety, Are You Happy Now, atmospheric, bad love, beautiful prose, belonging, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, British author, contemporary malaise, dancers, DEATH, DEPRESSION, desire, divorce/separations, ennui, female authors, first love, gay, Hanna Jameson, heartbreak/breakups, i don’t think happiness is for me, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, journalism, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, m/m, male friendships, melancholy, mental health, musicians, near future/alternate reality, NEW YORK, pandemic, psychological, published in 2023, queer, read in 2022, restrained prose, right person wrong time, ROMANCE, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, strong sense of place, suicide, trauma, unrequited love, wedding drama, work culture -
Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos
A banger of a premise is let-down by sensationalistic storytelling, a banal plot, and a writing style that for all its attempts to be gritty & edgy comes across as laughable. Worst still, the narrative seems under the impression that it is doing a lot, in terms of unconventional female characters and challenging simplistic representations…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, amateur detective, brazil, brazilian author, Contemporary, f/f, female authors, graphic content, kidnapping, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, men who are sleazy, missing girls, missing persons, models, MYSTERY, Neurodiversity, Not Like Other Girls, Nothing Can Hurt You Now, prostitution, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, sapphic, sex, sex scenes that are yikes, Simone Campos, SISTERS, smut, style over character, survival, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, trying and failing @ feminism, wannabe gone girl -
The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett
Quietly meditative yet incredibly evocative. I find it difficult to pick favorites when it comes to Patchett’s work but The Magician’s Assistant has my heart. Published in 1997 Ann Patchett’s third novel, The Magician’s Assistant is her most underrated work to date. Like with any other novel that I hold dear to my heart, I…
1990s, 3rd pov, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, Adult, aids/hiv, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANN PATCHETT, atmospheric, beautiful prose, California, Contemporary, DEATH, dreamlike quality, Dreams, f/f, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, GRIEF, illness, introspective, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, los angeles, m/m side, MAGIC, MAGICAL REALISM, magicians, melancholy, MEMORY, Nebraska, published in 1997, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2022, restrained prose, sapphic, SLICE OF LIFE, SMALL TOWN, strong sense of place, The Magician's Assistant, travel, unrequited love, WINTER -
Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater
2022 is officially dead to me. look, i don’t know what to say or write besides me not liking this book is one big & unwelcome twist. having loved every TRC book and book 1 and 2 in this dreamer trilogy, i wasn’t even worried about not loving this. ah. what a fool. the more…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ARTISTS, brothers, cambridge (us), confusing for the sake of being confusing, Contemporary, Dreams, f/f side, fairytalesque prose, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, gay, Harvard, lgbtq+, m/m, Maggie Stiefvater, PARANORMAL, published in 2022, queer, queer side characters, read in 2022, series that went downhill, the dreamer trilogy, the raven cycle, unreliable narrative, URBAN FANTASY, virginia -
All This I Will Give to You by Dolores Redondo
“There’s a type of open grief that’s public, one of tears and mourning; and there’s another, immense and silent, that is a million times more powerful.” Initially, the premise for All This I Will Give to You intrigued me and I was gripped by the story’s tragic momentum. Manuel, a bestselling author, receives a visit…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, All This I Will Give to You, books about writers, class, Contemporary, CRIME, Dolores Redondo, drama, female authors, gay, GRIEF, lgbtq+, m/m, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, police, published in 2016, queer, read in 2022, rich people, SMALL TOWN, small town crime, spain, spanish author, SUSPENSE, TRANSLATED FICTION, widows -
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri
well, my expectations were destroyed so i guess i got what i wanted 🤡 The second book syndrome was strong in this one. If you’ve read my review for The Jasmine Throne you know how much I loved that book (i think i described it as one of the best fantasy novels out there)…sadly I…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, ANGST, battles, british indian author, court intrigue, DEATH, f/f, FANTASY, female authors, high fantasy, indian inspired setting, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, myths, political intrigue, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, revenge, ROMANCE, royals, sapphic, siblings, TASHA SURI, temples, The Oleander Sword, war
luce [is reading] 