It’s that time of the year again: a mid-year update on my reading! I thought I wouldn’t read a lot this first half of the year because of health reasons. There was one month where I didn’t read a lot but I made up for that in the last two months.
Broadening my reading experience
The biggest change these six months is probably my dive into audiobooks. Through my Scribd trial, I’ve read about a dozen books already and hope to read a few more before it ends. And while I thought my reading challenge would suffer, I instead read 40 books of the 50 books goals of the year.
I’ve also added another reading challenge to my list since I joined the SFF Oasis Discord server. They have badges although it’s much like the r/fantasy bingo, except there are only 20 prompts. With all the books I read, I managed to complete 13 already. One of the prompts is to read a grimdark book which will be my biggest challenge. Expect a blog post about this challenge soon.
My top books so far
The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies might possibly be my book of the year and it was only the second book I’d read when I first said that. So far, that still holds true. Trudie’s worldbuilding is amazing and fanfic already started brewing when I got to chapter 5. That’s a good sign!
The Stardust Thief and From Little Tokyo, With Love are also in my top books. Both are very different books but I loved them both equally. It’s hard to say which one is better. While From Little Tokyo resonated with me on a personal level (the experience of being a biracial person and never being enough of either), The Stardust Thief is everything I’d want in a fantasy book. Interesting characters, a vivid world, magic. It’s so enchanting, I was sad when it ended. I can’t wait to read the next one.
Full reviews can be found in the list below.
Books read so far
Fiction
Good Neighbors by Stephanie Burgis
The Thirteenth Hours by Trudie Skies
Thorn of the Night Blossoms by JC Kang
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
The Nine by C.G. Harris
Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key by Estelle Grace Tudor
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn
Princess Ever After by Connie Glynn
Beneath Cruel Fathoms by Anela Deen
Odriel’s Heir by Hayley Reese Chow
From Little Tokyo, With Love by Sarah Kuhn
K-pop Confidential by Stephen Lee
Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
The KC Warlock Weekly: Accused by M.N. Jolley
The World Maker Parable by Luke Tarzian
Of Charms, Ghosts, and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard
The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
Artifical Condition by Martha Wells
The Haunting of Tran Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Made in Korea by Sarah Suk
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman
You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
Manga
To Your Eternity Vol 1 by Yoshitoky Oima
Space Brothers Vol 1 by Chuya Koyama
Non-fiction
The Big-Picture Revision Checklist by Alex Kourvo
Productivity for Writers by Kristina Adams
Hook Them or Lose them by D. Leitao
Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day
Art Matters by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell
