I guess I’m a very literal reader and this unique structure went a little over my head at times. The story is written as a screenplay, interspersed with the script of a TV show that is set mostly in a restaurant (a functioning or non functioning restaurant? I’m still not sure) in Chinatown. The main character, Willis Wu, is stuck perpetually in the same role of Generic Asian Man while dreaming to someday rise to the level of Kung Fu Guy. But is that what he really wants?

The lines between reality and the show are blurred, for Willis because he has lived this role for so long and for me because the structure wasn’t totally clear and I found hard to distinguish what was really happening with what was scripted. Maybe I don’t know enough (ahem anything) about police procedurals? I found it hard to get sucked in to the story because while the unique structure was interesting, it took me out of the flow. Regardless, the commentary on being Asian in America was sharp. Who gets to be an American? What does an American look like? This book definitely felt like a prize winner to me. The style is very creative. I’m glad I read it, but also I’m sure I missed a lot of detail and nuance.

Thanks to @littlebrown for my copy of Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan. I picked this one up after seeing positive reviews from @thatgoodgoodbook and @parisperusing. I’m shocked that this is a debut novel - the writing just seems so self-assured, if that makes any sense?

The protagonist is, well, desperate for love. After she spots Cirian, she becomes obsessed with him, with the idea of them, and is sure that getting him to love her will be enough to make her happy and fulfilled, and that despite his coldness, he’s everything she needs. The narrator is almost painfully self-aware. The portrait of the lengths the narrator will go to is visceral. This is a propulsive page-turner, where you’re truly inside the narrator’s mind, seeing all her dark thoughts and sometimes depraved motivations. I really liked this book. It was hard to put down. I’m excited to see what Megan Nolan writes next!

I liked it fine, but I have no desire to finish the series. I know there are a lot of Poppy War stans, and if you are, please don’t come for me, it just wasn’t my favorite.

Things I liked: being inspired to learn more about parts of history I didn’t know much about, since lots of things in this book are based on real events, like the Nanjing Massacre. War strategy (for some reason I’m into this). Shamanism! And I liked the first half where Rin is at school.

Now on to the parts that left me wanting more. The latter part of the book felt too rushed but also like a slog. Rin is a really unlikable hero/antihero/MC who makes rash decisions out of anger. The relationships between characters didn’t feel believable. I didn’t know enough about the characters introduced in the second half of the book. And I just don’t care enough to read another two books to see where this story wraps up. I’ll probably just google it.

This is super creative fantasy unlike other fantasy I’ve read, so if you’re a big fantasy person, you’ll probably really like it. I’m not a huge fantasy person. I like it but I mostly just dip my toe in the pool of fantasy. I would realllly love to watch this as a show, but ultimately the reading experience, while interesting, just wasn’t compelling enough for me to finish the series.

Thanks to @doubledaybooks for sending me Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder. I loved this book. It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s smart, it’s bizarre, and it’s incredibly original. The way it depicts the contradicting brutality and beauty of motherhood is unlike any other book I’ve read. An artist with her dream career becomes a stay-at-home mom, and then becomes convinced she’s turning into a dog. This book made me cringe and it made me crack up laughing. It is so absurd and brilliant.

Thanks to @scribnerbooks for the free book. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is one of those rare books that reminds me of all the things I love about reading. Intertwined stories, characters overcoming their circumstances, three timelines each with their own compelling plots - this is a big book that created, for me, a magical reading experience.

I’ll be honest - I really liked All the Light We Cannot See, but I wasn’t a ~super-mega-fan~ and I never considered it a favorite. I was excited for Doerr’s newest book, but I wasn’t champing at the bit to read it. I’m SO extremely glad that I went ahead and started it. It’s one of those books that made my heart swell with nostalgia, hope, and melancholy, all at once. I couldn’t put it down and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s full to the brim with gorgeous sentences too.

I don’t have space for a plot summary here, and besides, you can look up a summary if you need one to be convinced to read this. It’s a big book. It publishes in September and will be a perfect read for the fall. I can’t wait for this book to be out in the world! It’s a new favorite for me and I’m sure it will be a favorite for so many others too.

I picked up Ace of Spades for my book club. It’s definitely out of my normal wheelhouse in that I don’t tend to love YA. I’ve seen a lot of people rave about this book, but it wasn’t for me. It’s exactly what it intends to be: a mixture of Gossip Girl and Get Out. It’s set in a fancy private high school. The only two Black students at the school start getting targeted by a mysterious Gossip Girl-esque mystery texter called Aces, who threatens to ruin everything they’ve worked so hard for, including their chances of getting into college.

This book was simultaneously too fast and too slow for me. The Aces reveals happened back to back to back in the first few weeks of school and did not let up. At the same time, it took too long for the characters to think “Hmm we are the only non-white students here - racism?” I think you’d have to be willing to suspend almost all disbelief to enjoy this one. When a book isn’t intentionally a fantasy or magical realism, it’s really hard for me to do that, so I found a lot of the aspects of this book unbelievable.

This is a YA book that felt very YA. I only finished it because it’s my book club pick. Still, lots of other people who do tend to like YA have given this book high praise, so if you like YA, take their word for it over mine.

Thanks to @littlebrown for sending me The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris. This book is a gorgeously written debut set right after the Civil War. It follows George and Isabelle, a white couple who own land but haven’t owned slaves, and Prentiss and Landry, two Black brothers who have recently been freed from slavery. At the beginning, after drifting without purpose following the loss of his son, George hires Prentiss and Landry to help him farm some of his land. A lot more happens in this book than that, but that’s where we start.

The first half of this book had me. It was full of beautifully crafted sentences and a compelling story. I do agree with Aixa @thatgoodgoodbook’s thoughts on the portrayal of George and Isabelle as the good, compassionate white people in a southern town - that it’s hard to believe, and that their inclusion makes this story more palatable. Still, the story has a lot to offer - it’s thrilling, there is a lot of tension, and I even found it romantic in a lot of ways, as Prentiss pictures what his life could be like as a freedman in the north and Isabelle and George work through some marital issues.

The second half of the story did start to lose me. The climax of the book came a little too soon, and though I do appreciate knowing how things end for many of the characters, it would have been interesting to leave more unsaid. I felt like the ending drifted away from some of the strengths of the first half of the book, and the story became a bit more melodramatic. The writing stayed gorgeous, though.

I’m definitely excited to see what Harris writes next. I think he’ll be a must-buy author for me!