January Reads and Top 3!

TOP READS

My Top 3 (4) (with links! plus a few more thoughts):

1. Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot (5.0/5 stars)
   Honest, raw, doesn’t hold back
   My first/only 5-star rating of 2022 so far!!
   I cannot say enough good things about this book. It absolutely blew me away and it gave me a much needed reminder of where my privileges and power lie.
   Mikki Kendall touches on a lot of hard-hitting topics in a very straightforward way. Everything was presented in a candid and forthright manner, making the entire book very accessible so effective. Hood Feminism didn’t not let you see where you should be improving in your own feminism.
   
2. Dark Tales (4.75/5 stars)
   Chilling and compelling and oh so sp00ky.
   Dark Tales is a collection of really lovely, haunting stories that very much hit the spot for me during a dreary pandemic January. I really love Shirley Jackson’s gothic writing style so much. I’m so happy to own this book and I will for sure read it again. Normally I list which stories are my fav when I read a collection like this, but I think I only didn’t LOVE one of them, so you should just read the whole thing probably!
   
3. A Man Called Ove (4.5/5 stars)
   Funny, feel-good fiction.
   My first read of 2022, and what a wonderful way to start the year! I am officially a Fredrik Backman loyalist. I really enjoyed this book so much. It made me laugh out loud a whole bunch and also cry a little bit. It dealt a lot with grief, and working through that grief alone, but somehow it managed to pepper in some absolutely absurdist and hilarious moments. It didn’t leave me feeling weighed down by emotion, even though there are themes of death and suicide throughout. Somehow, despite that, this book put a pep in my step. I can’t explain it, but I can recommend it strongly!
   
4. American Born Chinese (4.5/5 stars)
   Emotional, empowering, R E A L
   I’ve had American Born Chinese on my shelf for like a year and a half now. I’m really not a graphic novel person, but when I saw this one at a bag sale, I had to take it home.
   This book made me feel a LOT of different feelings. Definitely not the easiest thing to get through *emotionally,* but overall it was a fantastic reading experience and gave me a quick intro to a lot of Chinese folklore that I didn’t know much about (diaspora, ftw!). I highly recommend it to my fellow Chinese and Asian-Americans, Asian folks, and anyone who is looking to expand their horizons a little. Regardless of background, I sincerely feel like everyone who is a person could take something important away from this read.
   

Honorable Mentions (with links! plus a literal few words):

1. Circe (4.25/5 stars) – adventurous, tense, tragic
2. Libertie (4.0/5 stars) – emotional, intense

Everything I read (a straightforward list):

1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman– 4.5/5 stars – fiction
2. The Witch’s Boy (The Witch’s Boy #1) by Kelly Barnhill- 3.25/5 stars – fantasy/fiction, young adult
3. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge – 4.0/5 stars – fiction/historical, coming-of-age, Black lit
4. The Dark Half by Stephen King – 3.25/5 stars – fiction/horror, thriller
5. Circe by Madeline Miller – 4.25/5 stars – fiction/fantasy, mythology, fiction/historical
6. The Shadows by Alex North – 2.0/5 stars – fiction/horror, mystery
7. American Born Chinese (graphic novel) by Gene Luen Yang – 4.5/5 stars – fiction, cultural identity, Asian-American lit
8. Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson – 4.75/5 stars – fiction/gothic horror, short stories
9. Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall – 5.0/5 stars – non-fiction, intersectionality, feminism
10. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – 4.0/5 stars – YA fiction/fantasy, West African, Black lit mythology
11. Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho – 3.0/5 stars – literary fiction, diaspora, coming-of-age, Asian-American lit