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Joy 📚 Bookstagram

@joysbookcase

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🍄 Probably reading translated or lit fic
📖 CR: Murder At Mt. Fuji, Shizuko Natsuki
🎧 Don't Look Now, Daphne du Maurier
🐾 Juniper says hi
📍 Cambs, UK
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📚 September wrap up 🎁 Pretty sure September was about seven weeks long?! As always, I prioritised ARCs and my owned TBR but was able to squeeze in a couple of audiobooks for #LatineHeritageMonth. The stand-out fave for me this month was definitely Once There Were Wolves 🐺 It was one of the first books I added to my TBR after joining booksta last year so well done me for finally reading it 🏆 ➡️ swipe for full caption ➡️ 📚 PHYSICAL 📚 Sula, Toni Morrison Tales from the Territory, Travis Baldree* Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy* Our Cut of Salt, Deena Helm* One Day a Cat Came to Me, Bokyeong Sunim (tr. Jinwoo Park)* A Game of Cat & Killer, Jirō Akagawa (tr. Haydn Trowell)* Autumn, Ali Smith *ARCs / PR copies. As always, huge thanks to publishers who have sent books my way 🥹 ➡️➡️➡️ 🎧 AUDIO 🎧 (1/2) Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, Agustina Bazterrica (tr. Sarah Moses) The Scapegoat, Daphne du Maurier (buddy read with @melreadsx & @rosaareads) A Sunny Place for Shady People, Mariana Enriquez (tr. Megan McDowell) Taipei Story, Rebecca F Kuang How To Use 3000 Yen, Hika Harada (tr. Alison Watts) Radio Silence, Alice Oseman ➡️➡️➡️ 🎧 AUDIO 🎧 (2/2) The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas Under a Fur Coat, Sonya Vatomsky The Living Realm, Jordan Tannahill May We Feed the King, Rebecca Perry ➡️➡️➡️ Have you read any of these or are they on your TBR? 10 points to anyone who spots Juniper in this photo 🤭 📸 image description in alt text Angled flat lay of the following books arranged messily on a crumpled white duvet while Juniper the cow cat investigates: Sula, Toni Morrison Tales from the Territory, Travis Baldree Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy Our Cut of Salt, Deena Helm One Day a Cat Came to Me, Bokyeong Sunim A Game of Cat & Killer, Jirō Akagawa Autumn, Ali Smith by @joysbookcase
23
13 days ago
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What a treat to be back in the Legends & Lattes universe and spend time in the company of old friends 🥰 I’m not always the biggest fan of short story collections but it worked really well here and I loved reading more about these beloved characters. It also provided an opportunity to switch up the vibes and there’s a mix of humour, mystery, adventure, cosiness and a surprisingly moving reflection on AI that reminded me of the Domhnall Gleeson Black Mirror episode or maybe I’m reading too much into it?! I’d already read Pages to Fill as it was included in some editions of Legends & Lattes but had largely forgotten it in the three years since, and am now itching to re-read the first two volumes! (Regrettably I wasn’t a massive fan of Brigands and Breadknives as it was a bit less cosy fantasy and a bit more fantasy fantasy!) As someone who tragically can’t drink coffee, I was also heartened to see the expansion of Thune’s hot beverage options to include shade-grown green tea powder 🤭🍵 My current go-to afternoon pick me up of @birdandblendtea’s Baked Apple Hojicha was the perfect accompaniment 🍎😋 Huge thanks to @BookBreakUK @TORBooksUK for my advanced reader copy 🙏 Tales from the Territory by Travis Baldree publishes on 15 October (ideal 🍁🍂) in the UK! What’s on your cosy autumn reading list this year? 🎃 📸 image description in alt text Flat lay showing an ARC of Tales of the Territory by Travis Baldree alongside finished paperback copies of Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust on a woven circular placemat against a pinkish marble backdrop with a pumpkin-shaped mug of Bird & Blend Baked Apple Hojicha latte. by @joysbookcase
23
15 days ago
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🏠 Haunted house as metaphor is one of my favourite horror sub-genres and naturally this one caught my eye 👀 Nuhad has not returned to her home since the Nakba in 1948 but always held a place for it in her heart. In return, the house did the same for her 🫀 Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm is an unflinching and moving take on the haunted house novel and explores the horrors of Palestinian occupation through three generations of women. I always enjoy a multi-generational novel based on historical events and thought this was such a creative way to tell Marina’s story. I loved that it included elements of Nuhad and Rania’s joyful childhood in Palestine too. While it’s difficult to critique something so timely, heartbreaking and deeply personal, I confess some parts fell a little short for me. While I came to this predominately for the Palestinian story, I would’ve liked to see more of the haunted house and horror elements woven throughout. I had mixed feelings about the ending although I can see why the author chose to do it this way. I also struggled to follow the POVs in parts but this could be a) my soupy brain and/or b) the lack of formatting in the NetGalley eARC which I initially started reading before I received this beautiful finished copy! Minor issues aside, this is such an important novel and well worth a read. Reading is political. Free Palestine 🕊️🇵🇸🍉 Huge thanks to @littlebrownbookgroup_uk @runforitbooks_uk for my finished copy 🙏 Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm publishes today in the UK. Do you have a favourite haunted house as metaphor novel? These are some of mine: 🏠 Model Home, Rivers Solomon 🏠 The Reformatory, Tananarive Due 🏠 The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson 🏠 The Saturday Night Ghost Club, Craig Davidson 🏠 I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There, Róisín Lanigan 📸 image description in alt text A hardback copy of Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm sits in a patch of morning sunlight atop a crumpled white duvet cover. In the background are paperback copies of We Are Not Numbers and Mornings in Jenin. by @joysbookcase
29
22 days ago
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Japanese mysteries 🤝 cat books Detective Yoshitaro Katayama is afraid of many things - heights, dark spaces, blood and women - but luckily Holmes the calico isn’t as much of a scaredy cat and appears to have some uncanny investigative instincts of her own 🔍🐈 This was a much-needed speedy and easy read and I tore through it in a couple of days. This might be a strange disclaimer to make for a mystery novel but it’s worth noting that this contains a lot of death, even for the genre! It’s also not immediately obvious that it was originally published in 1978 and the descriptions of and attitudes towards the young female students are a little jarring 😬 There are multiple layers to the various mysteries and while I made a couple of accurate predictions, I wasn’t able to solve the central case before Katayama and Holmes. The ending is a little bonkers but truly, what did you expect from a book about a cat that solves mysteries?! 🐾 I would love to read more in this series although I think all 55 novels from the original Japanese series might be a bit much for me! Huge thanks to @QuercusBooks for my advanced reader copy 🙏 A Game of Cat and Killer by Jirō Akagawa (tr. Haydn Trowell) is out on 24 September. Pictured with some of my fave Japanese mysteries (and a couple on my TBR!) and maybe my feline assistant and a couple of Japanese cat books snuck in there too 🐾 📸 image description in alt text Flat lay showing a paperback copy of A Game of Cat and Killer by Jirō Akagawa lying diagonally atop rows of other Japanese mystery novels including Butter, Strange Pictures and The Honjin murders. by @joysbookcase
42
25 days ago
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👜 What’s in my bag? Coastal mini break edition 🐚 📖 Current read: Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy* 💋 Hurraw chai lip balm 🎧 headphones 🍫 Deliciously Ella bar 🥤 mini Hydro Flask 🛍️ rolled up Pushkin Press tote 🕶️ sunnies *Thank you to @vintagebooks for the gifted finished copy - I’m loving this one so far! Back pain (where my hEDS 🦓 baddies at?) has forced me to lug less stuff around and this Uniqlo mini sling bag and tiny water bottle have been very helpful! Do we have any every day essentials in common? 📸 image descriptions in alt text Flat lay showing the following items against a white duvet cover: Dark green Uniqlo mini sling bag There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy paperback in plastic cover Hurraw chai lip balm Anker headphones in charging case Deliciously Ella bar in purple wrapper Mini Hydro Flask water bottle in bright blue Rolled up Pushkin Press tote bag Sunglasses by @joysbookcase
47
a month ago
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🔟 before the end ⏰ Fun fact about me: if I’ve arbitrarily decided to do something, goddamnit I will do it even to the detriment of my health and sanity so naturally I’m locking the fuck in on my 2026 reading goals! Reading these 10 books will (almost*) complete my remaining reading goals: 🔒 25 in ‘26 (i.e. everything on my physical TBR at the end of 2025) 🔒 10 authors to read in 2026* 🔒 Read 12 classics *I also need to read Eliza Clark and I’ve got Penance and Boy Parts on my Kobo - let me know which I should prioritise! ➡️ swipe for more ➡️ 10 BEFORE THE END: 🏮 An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro 📚 Stoner, John Williams 🐈‍⬛ We Solve Murders, Richard Osman 🐇 The Guardian of Surfaces, Bhayna Al-Essa (tr. Ranya Abdelrahman) 🍂 Autumn, Ali Smith 🚬 Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger 🔥 The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin 🌹 Sula, Toni Morrison 🐕 Reread: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera (tr. Michael Henry Heim) 🌭 I Hope You’re Happy, Marni Appleton ➡️ swipe for a 25 in ‘26 update ➡️ 25 in ‘26 (READ) You Glow in the Dark, Liliana Colanzi The Goodbye Cat, Hiro Arikawa Glasgow Boys, Margaret McDonald The Color Purple, Alice Walker Blank Canvas, Grace Murray The Woman Dies, Aoko Matsuda Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto Maggie; or, a Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar, Katie Lee Disability Visibility, Alice Wong 25 in ‘26 (DNF) My goal with this list was to read or unhaul (or decide if I really did want to read) these by the end of the year so controversially I don’t actually see a high rate of DNFs as a bad thing for a few reasons: 🤷🏻‍♀️ I tried something different, it wasn’t for me and that’s ok. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’d rather it go to someone who’s going to read and enjoy it than sit gathering dust on my shelf. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Life’s too short to read books you’re not enjoying and I’ve had to learn to be particularly kind to myself during this absolute shitshow of a year! The Wax Child, Olga Ravn From Savagery, Alejandra Banca Celebration, Damir Karakaš You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, Akwaeke Emezi The Healing Season of Pottery, Yeon Somin All Consuming, Ruby Tandoh Snuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart The Museum of Contradictions, Antoine Waut Juniper the cow cat is sat behind a stack of paperbacks and hungrily grabbing a treat from the top: An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro Stoner, John Williams We Solve Murders, Richard Osman The Guardian of Surfaces, Bhayna Al-Essa (tr. Ranya Abdelrahman) Autumn, Ali Smith Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin Sula, Toni Morrison The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera (tr. Michael Henry Heim) I Hope You're Happy, Marni Appleton by @joysbookcase
51
a month ago
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📚 September hopefuls 🤞 As always, I’m prioritising ARCs and my owned TBR but I’ve selected a couple of titles from my BookBeat audiobook queue for #HispanicHeritageMonth. I’m also locking in on my remaining 2026 reading goals 🔒 Both Ali Smith and Toni Morrison were on the list of authors I wanted to read this year and I was lucky enough to find these for £1 each at a house clearance sale a couple of months ago 😱 Have you read any of these or are they on your TBR? ➡️➡️➡️ 📚 PHYSICAL 📚 A Game of Cat & Killer, Jirō Akagawa (tr. Haydn Trowell)* Tales from the Territory, Travis Baldree* One Day a Cat Came to Me, Bokyeong Sunim (tr. Jinwoo Park)* Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy* Autumn, Ali Smith Sula, Toni Morrison *ARCs / PR copies. As always, huge thanks to publishers who have sent books my way 🥹 ➡️➡️➡️ 🎧 AUDIOBOOKS 🎧 A Sunny Place for Shady People, Mariana Enriquez (tr. Megan McDowell) Untamed Shore, Silvia Moreno-Garcia The Posession of Alba Diaz, Isabel Cañas Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, Agustina Bazterrica (tr. Sarah Moses) Taipei Story, Rebecca F Kuang The Scapegoat, Daphne du Maurier (buddy read with @melreadsx & @rosaareads AKA Daphne’s Dolls 👯‍♀️) 📸 image descriptions in alt text The following six paperbacks are arranged diagonally in two overlapping rows of three on a crumpled white duvet in a patch of morning sunlight: A Game of Cat & Killer, Jirō Akagawa (tr. Haydn Trowell) Tales from the Territory, Travis Baldree* One Day a Cat Came to Me, Bokyeong Sunim (tr. Jinwoo Park) Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy Autumn, Ali Smith Sula, Toni Morrison by @joysbookcase
36
a month ago
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📚 August wrap up 🎁 As always, I prioritised my ARC stack but I’m thrilled I managed to read 17 books for Women in Translation month! That brings me to 44 translated books by women in 2026 🙌 Did you read anything for Women in Translation month? What was your favourite read? ➡️ swipe for more ➡️ My WIT reads were translated from the following languages: 6x French (inc French-Korean and French-Rwandan authors) 3x Italian (inc Cuban-Italian author) 2x Swedish (Finland-Swedish author) 2x Japanese 2x Korean 1x Spanish (Argentine author) 1x Norwegian ➡️➡️➡️ PHYSICAL BOOKS READ: 📝 To the Moon, Jang Ryujin (tr. Sean Lin Halbert)* Sagittarius, Natalia Ginzburg (tr. Avril Bardoni) 📝 Odette Rising, Julianne Edwards* 📝 More Days at the Torunka Café, Satoshi Yagisawa (tr. Eric Ozawa)* The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante (tr. Ann Goldstein) 📝 My Person, Téa Mutonji* Milk and Blood, Agnès de Clairville (tr. Frank Wynne) 📝 Bookstore Girls, Kei Aono (tr. Haydn Trowell)* Re-read: Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori) 📝 review posted *ARCs / PR copies - as always, huge thanks to publishers who have sent books my way 🥹 ➡️ swipe for audiobooks ➡️ AUDIOBOOKS (1/2) A Woman’s Story, Annie Ernaux (tr. Tanya Leslie) The Seoul Letter Shop, Baek Seungyeon (tr. Clare Richards) The Old Fire, Elisa Shua Dusapin (tr. Aneesa Abbas Higgins) The Summer Book, Tove Jansson (tr. Thomas Teal) Cockroaches, Scholastique Mukasonga (tr. Jordan Stump) Hollow Inside, Asako Otani (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori) ➡️➡️➡️ AUDIOBOOKS (2/2) Fresh Water for Flowers, Valérie Perrin (tr. Hildegarde Serle) Thirst, Marina Yuszczuk (tr. Heather Cleary) Forbidden Notebook, Alba de Céspedes (tr. Ann Goldstein) Moominvalley Detectives, Tove Jansson (tr. David McDuff) Will and Testament, Vigdis Hjorth (tr. Charlotte Barslund) ➡️ swipe for DNFs ➡️ I also DNFd a whopping four books this month but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing… I’d acquired a lot of titles that weren’t necessarily my taste or what I’d choose now so at the end of 2025 my entire physical TBR became my 25 in ‘26 list with a goal to read or un-haul them by the end of the year. I’ll post anot The following paperbacks are arranged haphazardly against a sandstone backdrop: To the Moon, Jang Ryujin Sagittarius, Natalia Ginzburg Odette Rising, Julianne Edwards More Days at the Torunka Café, Satoshi Yagisawa The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrite My Person, Téa Mutonji Milk and Blood, Agnès de Clairville Bookstore Girls, Kei Aono Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Muratal by @joysbookcase
46
a month ago
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📚 WIT reviews 💬 Looking for a light read for Women in Translation month (and beyond) but getting a bit fatigued with healing lit? I gotcha, boo 👻 There’s something of an influx of translated slice-of-life workplace fiction at the mo and I’m very much here for it! After a couple of darker/experimental reads and DNFs this month, these were just what I needed… ➡️ swipe for reviews ➡️ 🌕 To the Moon, Jang Ryujin (tr. Sean Lin Halbert) Three women working for a Seoul snack manufacturer bond over their middling performance reviews. Eun-sang invests her life savings in a new cryptocurrency and wants Dahae and Jisong to join her. All they need to do, she says, is hold on tight and wait for the price to skyrocket - to the moon! 🚀🌚 It’s hard to say much about the plot without major spoilers but suffice to say, this didn’t go where I thought it was going to! I loved the characters, especially our FMC Dahae and really related to her job, finance and housing woes. This is a sweet and diverting story and I think it would be a great slump buster! Huge thanks to @BloomsburyPublishing for sending me a finished paperback copy as part of the #BloomsburyCreatorCircle 💌 ➡️➡️➡️ 📚 Bookstore Girls, Kei Aono (tr. Haydn Trowell) Riko has worked her way up to deputy manager at the Pegasus bookstore. Aki waltzes in as a full-time employee thanks to her family connections and is anything but a team player! Can they set aside their petty differences to save the store or will they go down fighting…each other? This was an enjoyable and speedy read although it’s a little slow initially and the main plot point doesn’t actually kick in until the last third! There’s a weirdly long cast of characters for such a light read. I’d started keeping a list as I’d been recently scarred by My Brilliant Friend but it’s by no means essential! Idk how representative this is of Japanese bookstores but I find it strange how often in media working in a bookshop is seen as a crappy job (see: Spaced & Eternal Sunshine) when in the UK it’s a very sought after and competitive job! I’m intrigued to see how this series plays out and will defo be picking up the next in the series! Huge thanks to Paperback copies of Bookstore Girls by Kei Aono and To the Moon by Jang Ryujin sit on a crumpled white duvet cover in a patch of morning sunlight. by @joysbookcase
14
a month ago
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I’ve been trying not to acquire many books ahead of my impending move but who am I to resist when the charity shop gods look kindly upon me 🤷🏻‍♀️ Astragal has cropped up on my feed a couple of times for Women in Translation Month and James Baldwin is on the list of authors I want to read in 2026. I can never resist a tatty old Penguin Classic and look at the RRP 😧 Are you a secondhand book shopper? Let me know if you’ve found any gems or bargains recently! 💎 📸 image description in alt text My hand holds paperback copies of Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin in front of my bookcase which is arranged in rainbow order. by @joysbookcase
18
2 months ago
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📚 Women in Translation 💬 Coming in better late than never with some WIT recs! Obv I read female translated authors year round as they account for around a third of my reading but I couldn’t resist shouting about them even more than usual for Women in Translation Month 🗣️ ➡️ swipe for rest of caption ➡️ Alas I don’t own physical copies of everything I’ve read and loved and lord knows I won’t get around to making a Canva post so this’ll do for now… Spot any faves here? What are you reading for WIT? ➡️➡️➡️ READ & ENJOYED: The Bookshop Woman, Nanako Hanada (tr. Cat Anderson) Kim Jiyoung Born 1982, Cho Nam-joo (tr. Jamie Chang) Bookstore Girls, Kei Aono (tr. Haydn Trowell) Tsubaki Stationery Store, Ito Ogawa (tr. Cat Anderson) A Girl Left the Room, Ulrikka S. Gernes (tr. Caroline Waight) Heaven, Mieko Kawakami (tr. Sam Bett & David Boyd) Butter, Asako Yuzuki (tr. Polly Barton) The Midnight Timetable, Bora Chung (tr. Anton Hur) Letter from Japan, Marie Kondo (tr. Marie Iida) Almond, Won-pyung Sohn (tr. Sandy Joosun Lee) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones) All the Lovers in the Night, Mieko Kawakami (tr. Sam Bett & David Boyd) Hooked, Asako Yuzuki (tr. Polly Barton) To the Moon, Jang Ryujin (tr. Sean Lin Halbert) Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami (tr. Sam Bett & David Boyd) Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon, Mizuki Tsujimura (tr. Yuki Tejima) My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante (tr. Ann Goldstein) Soyangri Book Kitchen, Kim Jee Hye (tr. Shanna Tan) The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Hiro Arikawa (tr. Philip Gabriel) The Wisdom of Tea, Noriko Morishita (tr. Eleanor Goldsmith) Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori) Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto (tr. Megan Backus) Sisters in Yellow Mieko Kawakami (tr. Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio) What You Are Looking For is in the Library, Michiko Aoyama (tr. Alison Watts) Murder at the End of the World, Akane Araki (tr. Jesse Kirkwood) ➡️➡️➡️ ON MY TBR: The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of a Lost Child, Elena Ferrante (tr. Ann Goldstein) Sagittarius, Natalia Ginzburg (tr. Avril Bardoni) The Lost Daughter, Troubling Love Flat lay showing a 6x6 haphazard grid of books on a white duvet cover: The Bookshop Woman, Nanako Hanada (tr. Cat Anderson) Kim Jiyoung Born 1982, Cho Nam-joo (tr. Jamie Chang) Bookstore Girls, Kei Aono (tr. Haydn Trowell) Tsubaki Stationery Store, Ito Ogawa (tr. Cat Anderson) A Girl Left the Room, Ulrikka S. Gernes (tr. Caroline Waight) Heaven, Mieko Kawakami (tr. Sam Bett & David Boyd) Butter, Asako Yuzuki (tr. Polly Barton) The Midnight Timetable, Bora Chung (tr. Anton Hur) Letter from Japan, Marie Kondo (tr. Marie Iida) Almond, Won-pyung Sohn (tr. Sandy Joosun Lee) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones) All the Lovers in the Night, Mieko Kawakami (tr. Sam Bett & David Boyd) Hooked, Asako Yuzuki (tr. Polly Barton) To the Moon, Jang Ryujin (tr. Sean Lin Halbert) Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami (tr. Sam Bett & David Boyd) Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon, Mizuki Tsujimura (tr. Yuki Tejima) My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante (tr. Ann Goldstein) Soyangri Book Kitchen, Kim Jee Hye (tr. Shanna Tan) The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Hiro Arikawa (tr. Philip Gabriel) The Wisdom of Tea, Noriko Morishita (tr. Eleanor Goldsmith) Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori) Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto (tr. Megan Backus) Sisters in Yellow Mieko Kawakami (tr. Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio) What You Are Looking For is in the Library, Michiko Aoyama (tr. Alison Watts) Murder at the End of the World, Akane Araki (tr. Jesse Kirkwood) The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay & The Story of a Lost Child, Elena Ferrante (tr. Ann Goldstein) Sagittarius, Natalia Ginzburg (tr. Avril Bardoni) The Lost Daughter, Troubling Love & The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante (tr. Ann Goldstein) Murder At Mt. Fuji, Shizuko Natsuki (tr. Robert B. Rohmer) From Savagery, Alejandra Banca (tr. Katie Brown) Bookstore Girls, Kei Aono (tr. Haydn Trowell) The Healing Season of Pottery, Yeon Somin (tr. Clare Richards) Milk and Blood, Agnès de Clairville (tr. Frank Wynne) by @joysbookcase
74
2 months ago
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🔥 Quickfire ARC reviews 📚 I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with ARCs recently and have only got around to posting reviews of my absolute faves so here’s a speedy roundup of some other recent reads… Review text in image, alt text and captions - swipe through to read! ➡️ 🚬 My Person, Téa Mutonji Two lifelong friends suddenly find themselves in an emotional deadlock when one abruptly proposes to break up. Unlikeable MCs are by no means a dealbreaker but Tania is unrelentingly unpleasant to everyone and I find characters whose personality is drinking, drugs and sex incredibly dull. Also idc about Grey’s Anatomy, sorry. I love stories about female friendship and had been eagerly anticipating this one but alas, it wasn’t for me. 🐁 Odette Rising, Julianne Edwards In turn of the century France, 21 year old recluse Odette discovers that she is responsible for her deceased father’s celebrated stockings factory and must learn to navigate a world she’s hidden from for a decade. This took me a little while to get into but I came to enjoy the company of flawed but kindhearted Odette. The frequent fatphobia was uncomfortable although I took it to be a representation of society’s views at the time. The story is rich with descriptions of food, clothing and architecture but my favourite part was watching the formation of Odette’s found family. 🇰🇷 How Korean Corn Dogs Changed My Life, Alice Amelia Fuelled by a love of K-dramas and a need to find herself, 21 year old Alice Amelia moves to Seoul and writes a memoir! I initially disliked Alice thanks to her catty comments, Harry Potter references, lack of COVID precautions and preoccupation with boys and getting drunk, but this was compulsive reading all the same and I really warmed to her in the last third. All this to say, stick with it if it doesn’t grab you immediately! 🦊 Queen Mab, Emily McBride Modernist lit scholar and new mother Madeleine wrestles with fairy lore and the madness of motherhood. Ngl I thought this was going to have more folkloric vibes than postpartum psychosis, but I was sick and extremely drowsy when I read it and I think that probably added to the unreality! I really felt for Madeleine a Four advanced reader copy paperbacks fit on a pink marble backdrop in a batch of afternoon sunlight: Odette Rising, Julianne Edwards My Person, Téa Mutonji Queen Mab, Emily McBride How Korean Corn Dogs Changed My Life, Alice Amelia by @joysbookcase
23
2 months ago
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