I used to love doing book tags back when I maintained my blog. I fell off that wagon when I stopped blogging, but I figure this newsletter is the perfect place to revive that old habit. I love making the connections between the tag prompts and the books that I’ve read! And I’ve always enjoyed doing this particular tag. The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag is an oldie but a goodie, and I do love taking some time in the middle of the year to look back on how my reading has been so far.
(I was also inspired by my dear friend
doing this tag on her own Substack!)Hands down, my favorite read of the year was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. (If you’re in the Philippines, you can also get a copy from Fully Booked.) I am honestly a different person from who I was before I read this book—it’s that good. This is not a story with a protagonist who realizes the injustice of her circumstances and leads a revolution against her oppressors. Rather, this is a tale composed of the littlest actions that define humanity. I also choose to think of it as a bit of a warning about the dangers of complacency and a refusal to challenge the status quo. It’s a compelling indictment of how society deems others as lesser and the way they treat these vulnerable communities, and demands that readers take a good, long look at themselves and the way they interact with those around them.
Read my full review on Goodreads here.
It’s not exactly a sequel. In fact, I think it’s the fifth book in the series? But I ended up loving The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo so much that I wanted to name drop it somewhere in this book tag. I absolutely adore all of the books in the Singing Hills Cycle, but The Brides of High Hill carries a special place in my heart. It starts off like a retelling of Bluebeard (which I already loved it for from the very beginning of the book, because Bluebeard retellings are one of my absolute favorite things). Pham Nhung, a young bride, is on her way to the estate of Doi Cao to get married. At first you think that the old lord of Doi Cao is a villain, with multiple vanished wives in his past and a mad son who he keeps drugged and locked away. But Nghi Vo's genius is in that the usual and expected is neatly circumvented, the twists so brilliantly revealed in a way that makes you realize she's been dropping hints all along and that you should've seen it coming.
Read my full review on Goodreads here.
I am a huge fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia. She is a multi-genre queen and I have literally never read a book by her that I didn’t like. The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is set for release this 2024, and I’m bound and determined to read it. According to the synopsis, Moreno-Garcia’s latest offering blends Mexican folklore, Biblical stories, and 1950s old Hollywood historical glitz and glamor. I’m so excited to read this! It comes out July 16 and I hope copies come to Philippine bookstores soon!
I got my hands on an e-ARC of The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee and just fell in love with how it puts a fresh, unique spin on the typical story of an isolated dying town. There's so many topics that this book tackles, and it does so in a well-flowing, seamless manner that manages to leave readers on the edge of their seats while also tantalizing them with enough breadcrumbs to lead them to the correct conclusion. And when that reveal comes, it comes with all the satisfaction of correctly guessing the killer or the ghost's motive in a really good horror movie. This book comes out August 13—just in time for my birthday on the 27th! I’m definitely getting myself a physical copy and rereading it for spooky season.
Read my full review on Goodreads here.
I first came across She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran when I was putting together my list of Southeast Asian books that I wanted to read this 2024. Considering this book is precisely what I look for in horror (gothic, queer, and set in Southeast Asia), I wish I liked this more. The whole thing was so disjointed with way too many issues tackled that ultimately weren't fleshed out or taken to satisfying conclusions. The prose could occasionally be beautiful and poetic, but it often veered into "trying too hard to sound poignant" and instead came off as clunky and awkward. This book could also be a master class in showing authors why it's important to have a balance in telling and showing. She Is a Haunting is all tell and zero show. If I had to sum up this book in a phrase, I'd use, "no plot, just vibes".
Read my full review on Goodreads here.
This year, I decided to make a conscious effort to read more science fiction novels. Especially science fiction classics. I decided to start with Foundation by Isaac Asimov. (If you’re in the Philippines, you can also get a copy from Fully Booked.) Although told in five short stories rather than a full-length novel, Foundation paints a picture of human evolution charted over the course of centuries. Isaac Asimov certainly proved that he's got an excellent grasp of the human condition. This book contains no epic space battles, no lengthy descriptions of fancy ships, no black holes or terrifying landscapes or alien skies. But it stands the test of time not just by being the driving force behind numerous sci-fi tropes, but also because of how it more or less predicted the rise of concepts such as AI, big data and its analysis, rational psychology, trend forecasting, and so much more.
Read my full review on Goodreads here.
This past March, I hosted a panel called Empowering Women in Stories for Fully Booked and Penguin Southeast Asia. As part of the panel, I was sent complementary copies of the invited authors’ books and absolutely fell in love with Assembling Alice by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta. (Available internationally here!) If I had to describe this book in just one word, it would be elegant. As elegant as the titular Alice. Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta’s graceful and sophisticated way of writing is evident in every word and phrase. Told in vignettes set throughout American-occupied Philippines and WW2-era Manila, Assembling Alice paints a picture of the author's grandmother: a woman to whom life had dealt an awful blow, and who yet never lost sight of who she was. She was an accomplished life-long student who was widely-read and played the piano beautifully, a prolific writer, a pillar of feminine strength, a visionary who believed in the Filipino woman's rights and who deeply loved her country.
One of my favorite reads this year was Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. I loved it so much I ended up writing a review of it for this newsletter. Needless to say, Emily Wilde just captured my heart and imagination. Dr. Emily Wilde is too busy traversing the various known faerie realms, cataloguing and documenting and doing all manner of things in the name of science and discovery. She’s an unbothered academic queen with no time for romance! She’s a prickly cactus of a person; practical, introverted, and devoted to science. “I wish to know the unknowable… To peel back the carpeting of the world and tumble into the stars,” she says in the book, and at that moment I unconditionally and irrevocably (🐀) fell in love with her.
I recognize that I might be in the minority regarding this. But HBO’s House of the Dragon based on Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin and Netflix’s The Three-Body Problem based on The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. While House of the Dragon and The Three-Body Problem take quite a lot of liberties with the source material, I think the TV shows did great as TV shows. I’ve never been of the school of thought that a screen adaptation has to perfectly mimic the book in order to be good (and the less I say about people who think that way, the better). And in House of the Dragon in particular, the actors do such excellent jobs at bringing what is essentially a historical textbook to life (in particular I love the performances from Emma D'Arcy, Eve Best, Ewan Mitchell, Phia Saban, and Harry Collett) that even with all the changes they made, I think I may prefer the TV show to the book anyway.
I do have one negative thing to say though. I feel like a lot is lost from The Three-Body Problem by giving it a western setting like London instead of retaining the book’s setting in 20th century Beijing. There’s honestly a lot of cultural impact, meaning, and influence that’s taken away by setting the show in the UK.
I’ve been putting this off for so long, but this year I’m bound and determined to finally read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. A movie adaptation from the studio Laika was announced just last month and I’m super excited because Laika has made some of my absolute favorite animated movies: Coraline and ParaNorman. I’m sure Laika will do an excellent job with this adaptation! But because I’m a bookworm, of course I’ve got to read the book before the movie comes out.
Please share this post with a friend if anything resonated with you! And please let me know what you think in the comments. I love hearing thoughts, feelings, and musings, from all of you!
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Ouuu, I really enjoyed reading this. My TBR is about to get some additions. Also, the only book I've read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is Mexican Gothic and I enjoyed it so this has inspired me to check out her other books.
Never Let Me Go is one of my favourites as well! I also didn't realise Silvia Moreno-Garcia has a new book coming out and now I need to add it to my TBR