Are You A Speed-Reader? // and why I am a slow reader

Let’s be real, we bookworms don’t have enough time to read all the books we want to.

Never watching TV again, quitting our jobs, and devoting all our time to reading books won’t put an end to our never-ending TBRs. (Don’t go rushing to your boss with your two weeks just yet, pal.) There’s always a hot, new book we need to get to or an old classic that we’ve neglected.

Honestly, it’s a fortunate problem to have, to be able to read and have too much to read. But still, with all problems, no matter how negligible they seem, we search for ways to mitigate them.

In the case of the insurmountable books on TBRs, bookworms have taken to speed-reading.

Some people are naturally quick readers—they have the awesome (and scary) ability to hulk-smash dozens of books off their bookshelves every week. Others are auto-didactic and spend years training their eyes and brain to scan pages of stories so that they can finish them faster and faster. Still, there are the laboring bookworms who haven’t and can’t hone the craft of speed-reading for one reason or another.

I’m a part of the laboring class of bookworms 🙋, aka the slow readers, and here’s my take on this topic:

Continue reading “Are You A Speed-Reader? // and why I am a slow reader”

Audiobook Review: Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond // a prequel to stranger things

Title: Suspicious Minds

Author: Gwenda Bond

Length: 9 hours

Genre: Science Fiction

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Book Depository / Goodreads

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I had no idea this book existed until the day I listened to it.

I found Suspicious Minds by chance while I scrolled through available audiobooks on my Libby app. The cover captured my attention first with its unmistakable Stranger Things title design, and then I read the blurb.

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The Waffle Book Tag // waffle-themed book recommendations

Waffles are better than pancakes (PERIOD)

Pancakes are too… doughy, and they let syrup slide off the side of them like they’re not even trying. But waffles, waffles are crispy and soft, and they hold syrup close in dozens of tiny embraces because they know a happy meal takes work.

Waffles are deserving of a full book tag in their name.

Jenna from Bookmark Your Thoughts tagged me in this Waffle Book Tag over a month ago, so I thought it was high time to do it, especially with the holidays and all the sweet treat temptations rolling in.

(Thank you, Jenna! Jenna is awesome and you all should check her blog out!)

I’m excited for you all to feast your eyes on the adorable graphics made by Novels & Waffles, so let’s start:

Continue reading “The Waffle Book Tag // waffle-themed book recommendations”

The Pros and Cons of Audiobooks // a listicle by a new audiobook convert

I wasted so much time resisting audiobooks.

Well, it’s not so much that I was resisting them than I didn’t have ✨ free ✨ access to them. However, I’m finally living somewhere where I have access to a public library and its audiobooks, and what. a. GAMECHANGER.

Never take your libraries for granted!

While it’s not all rainbows and sunshine, I’d say it’s pretty close to it. Here are the pros and cons of audiobooks according to a recent convert: 

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A Libby Appreciation Post // why you should download the Libby app

re: exposing myself

a little background

For the past four years, I studied in a country in Asia where public libraries were virtually nonexistent and university libraries didn’t carry recreational books. I’m originally from the United States, and before I moved, I was fortunate enough to never have to spend money on books; I always had access to a school or city library. It was jolting relocating to place where I didn’t have that luxury and made me realize how much reading is a privilege. I still found ways to read, whether it was buying books online or in bookstores or borrowing from friends, but I missed the ease of having a library with a greater selection of free stories.

You know what would have really been helpful to have? Libby.

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Book Review: Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert // a personal review about asian american identity, suicide, and racism

Title: Picture Us in the Light

Author: Kelly Loy Gilbert

Published: April 10, 2018

Pages: 361

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Book DepositoryGoodreads

Goodreads Description: Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family’s blessing to pursue the career he’s always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny’s lives are deeply intertwined and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can’t stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan.

When Danny digs deeper into his parents’ past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history and the carefully constructed facade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, Danny must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him. 

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If someone ever asked me what it was like growing up as a first-generation Asian American in the San Francisco Bay Area, I would hand them this book.

At its surface, Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert was a story about high school senior, Danny Cheng, uncovering a family secret. But, peel it back, and the book had so many more layers.

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Audiobook Review: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman // another (hilarious) favorite by Neil Gaiman

Title: Anansi Boys

Author: Neil Gaiman

Published: September 26, 2006

Length: 10 hours and 5 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Fiction

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Book DepositoryGoodreads

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Neil Gaiman is two for two now.

Once upon a time, a *lonely middle schooler randomly plucked The Graveyard Book off the shelves of her school library. It was by an author named Neil Gaiman, the same man who wrote the scariest movie she had seen in her pubescent life, Coraline. The girl was temporarily transported to a cemetery in England where she fell in love with the ghosts, witches, and other mystical creatures who walked the grounds. The book became one of her most beloved memories.

For years, she told herself that she would visit further stories by the man who penned her favorite quote, “Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” Finally, after a few years shy of a decade, she clicked play on an audiobook by the author in discussion and was once again immersed into a fantastical story that begun this time in… Florida.

*Lonely middle schooler was totally not me. I had level 10 people skills by the age of eleven that did not include hiding in the library during lunch 😬.
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The Sunshine Blogger Award (2&3) // get to know me better with twenty-two questions

Thank you to Sophie from Sophie’s Corner and Jenna from Bookmark Your Thoughts for nominating me for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

You all should check them out! Sophie’s content is so interesting and she’s such a sweet person to chat with (she also just got married!!). Also, Jenna’s blog is so. fricken. cute. and she’s positively down-to-earth. They’re just two fantastic bloggers and human beings, and I’m really happy that they thought of nominating me (thank you both, again!).

I combined Sophie’s and Jenna’s questions and had so much fun answering them:

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Book Review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power // hard to read, but even harder to put down

Title: Wilder Girls

Author: Rory Power

Published: July 19, 2019

Pages: 353

Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Mystery

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

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Reasons I read this book:

  • the Tox” and “quarantine
  • the pretty cover
  • the hype
  • ᵀᴴᴱ ᴴᵞᴾᴱ

It went like this:

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What Is A Genre? // why you may feel cheated by a book

Genres, their definitions, and how their interpretations vary across bookworms have been discussed exhaustively in the bookish community.

I admit, it was never a conversation I joined in much because I did not have many thoughts about the subject. To me, a genre was self-explanatory—a science fiction book was a make-believe story about something ~ sciencey ~ and a fantasy book had magic or dragons or knights so it was… fantastical.

It wasn’t until I recently read this passage from a collection of Neil Gaiman’s nonfiction works that I genuinely reflected upon my basic definition of a genre:

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