May reading wrap-up 📚
where I read about women taking agency
Hi friends,
Some rapid fire life updates:
Our mid-term elections that I was really anxious about happened and I was 50% satisfied. Better that not satisfied at all, I guess.
I still wasn’t able to attend my local book club’s meeting. Family was in town and we went bowling.
I received my first ever physical ARCs.
Everything I Read in May
I finished 5 books in May with two DNFs where I was well over 100 pages. Although I regret the time I spent on those 200+ pages, I think I will be even more frustrated if I choose to power through those two books. Of the 5 books I finished, nothing was over 300 pages. Yet, it took me days to finish them. They were lovely books and were not meant to be rushed through.
Insect Hag and Other Stories by Yvette Tan
Yvette Tan is one of the Philippines' most celebrated horror fiction writers. Insect Hag is her third book and is composed of short stories and a novella. What I like about Yvette Tan's supernatural stories is that they are rooted in the Philippines' socioeconomic and political problems. Her novella, for example, allures to the former president's war on drugs. It is entitled Antingera and is my favorite story in the book. There's no direct translation to the word Antingera but it refers to a person who has or creates amulets or talismans.
Antingera is about a woman seeking revenge for the murder of her husband who was been wrongly accused of drug trafficking. She takes out her talisman, buried deep beneath her closet, and a notebook containing spells she inherited from her grandmother and uses it against the policemen who were involved in her husband’s death. Her revenge manifests in supernatural occurrences and reading those made the hair on my arms stand up. Sometimes I just want to get lost in a story and supernatural ones are my go-to. Insect Hag scratched that itch.
My brother's friend is an editor at Anvil Publishing, Yvette's publisher, so he sometimes brings me signed copies of Anvil's books, including all three of Yvette's. For this third book, Yvette did a little long-distance tarot reading for me before signing the book (not sure how she did that to be honest). She wrote the reading/prediction in the dedication for me. It was so cool and what’s even cooler is that it has came true already.
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre
China Iron is a subversive retelling of the gaucho epic, Martin Fierro, a landmark in Argentine literature. It is from the point of view of China (pronounced as Cheena), Fierro's teenage wife. The book tells the story of China's adventures across the pampas alongside her friends, Liz, Rosa, and Estrella.
After MartÃn Fierro is conscripted to serve on the frontier, China bolts her way to freedom, leaving her village and sons, and taking only her dog, Estrella. She joins Scottish-English adventurer, Elizabeth, who is searching for her husband and the land they brought together. China introduces herself as "China", a Quechua word that simply means "woman". Liz insists on giving her a proper name and China chooses to name herself as China Josephine Star Iron. During their journey, Liz teaches China to read and speak English and tells her about the wonders of the British empire. They then meet fellow traveler, Rosario, who accompanies them throughout the pampas.
Eventually our trio arrive at a fortress where they meet Hernández, a colonel who once employed Fierro and stole several of his poems. In the fortress, they encounter the brutality Hernandez applies on the gauchos in the name of progress. Our little traveling group eventually leaves the fortress and comes across an indigenous, utopian community where they also find their husbands. In the end, China finds her freedom, a different one from what she initially expected, having been made a slave at a young age and married off as a teenager. It took me a week to read this short book because I was savoring China and the gang’s journey. I just wanted it to go on and on.
The book starts with China describing the drab and gray of the pampas, a vast, fertile plain in South America, primarily located in Argentina. The Pampas is home to gauchos, skilled horsemen and cattle ranchers, a significant symbol of Argentine culture. With Liz's schooling, China is dazzled by the beauty, comforts, impact, and efficiency of the British Empire. Of trains, coals, jewelry, tea, and the other countries under the British Empire. She clings to her new dresses and many other material things given by Liz. As China learns more words, she also develops new ways of thinking. But little by little, her faith in the British empire breaks after encountering the greedy capitalist mindset of Colonel Hernandez. As the group travels further into Indian Territory, China is awed by the pampa's rich flora and fauna, the diverse color of the sky which varies from gold, blue, violet, and what the pampas has to offer in terms of survival.
When China was learning to speak English I too was remembering the time I learned to speak Cebuano, my third language, the native language of my current city. Though I don't think I developed new ideas because I learned a new language like China, I have found better ways to express myself using Cebuano.
This book is an ode to the beauty of the natural world, how to co-exist with nature, and be contented. It's a very visual novel, full of colors, rich landscape, and funny animals. It's about freedom and sexuality. There's a bit of spice in this book which was done tastefully in my opinion.
In the novel, we see opposing views on how to live life. We read about industrial Great Britain with its stories of progress, capitalism, and regimented work hours. On the other hand, we see the Iñchiñ people, where task designation in the village is determined by desire, ability, and need. Where soldiers can be both men and women. Where community leaders can be both young and old with no one desiring the position for too long. Where people raise children together no matter who their parents are. Where they work with nature to build infrastructure. Where leisure is a priority and nobody works full-time. Where everyone is free and unbounded.
Otherwise, our time is our own apart from that one month in each season when it's our turn to work.
My only complain is that the book could have been longer. I enjoyed reading about the river- dwelling Iñchiñ people. I wanted to get to know Rosa more. He was a very interesting person.
I also would like to say that this is one of the most beautiful paperback I have ever owned (the other one is Persuasion Penguin Deluxe Edition) with it's premium cream Munken 80 GSM paper, stunning cover design, and thick French flaps. This book is for keeps.
The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim
The moment I first read the title I knew the author was talking about fish eyes. The book opens with Ji-won's family eating fish and her mother insisting that the eyes are the best part. Eating fish eyes is common in some Asian households with family members even fighting over it. I personally can't be bothered by it but some of my family members dibs the eyes even before we start eating. It's really healthy and good for the skin too. I also knew right away that this is going to be a revenge story against the male gaze. I read this while waiting in line for my annual physical exams on a Saturday and while waiting to vote for our mid-term elections on a Monday. It was the perfect book to bring along.
This book is about Ji-won, daughter of first generation Korean immigrants, and the making of a serial killer. Her serial killer story started with her not getting into the college of her dreams, then her father's departure, dealing with the pressures of college, and lastly, meeting George, her mother's boyfriend who has a fetish for Asian women. Ji-won, becomes obsessed with people's eyes after meeting George. She then dreams about George's succulent blue eyes until one day she just had to satisfy her hunger. And now, she just can’t stop.
The Eyes Are The Best Part is one of my favorite books of the "good for her" genre. It has one of the most satisfying ending. I love what Ji-won did in retribution to the racism and sexism she receives on a daily basis. I love reading the anger, frustration, and helplessness Ji-won feels about her situation because it all feels very real.
Although sometimes the descriptions of misogyny and stereotypes are a little on the nose but I also understand that the author had to write that because it is exactly what women experience everyday in real life. You'll recognize the familiarity of it all. Some characters were cringe and it's because we know someone like this character in real life that’s also cringe. There's this one male character that says he's a feminist, but he was just all talk and kept on bouncing big feminist words around that doesn't even make sense when you really think about it.
I saw that Monika Kim has another book coming out in 2026. Looking forward to that!
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
My Azerbaijan entry to my Let's Read Asia challenge.
Considered to be the national book of Azerbaijan, Ali and Nino tells the love story between Ali, an Azerbaijan Muslim, and Nino, a Christian Georgian girl, set amidst the political changes happening in Azerbaijan between 1914 to 1920. The book starts in 1910 where childhood friends Ali and Nino are still in school but have loved each other since they were young. Baku, Azerbaijan during this period is a melting pot of different cultures as a result of its extraordinary geographical position.
We were a very mixed lot, we forty schoolboys who were having a Geography lesson on hot afternoon in the Imperial Russian Humanistic High School of Baku, Transcaucasia: thirty Mohammedans, four Armenians, two Poles, three Sectarians, and one Russian.
Ali, our narrator, goes on to describe the history of Baku, it's walls, it's people, and it's long standing customs and beliefs despite Russian occupancy. I was swept up reading all about the beauty of this historic city. I love reading all about it. Ali goes on walks and observes his city from his rooftop. Because of that, the novel has a strong sense of place. No wonder Azerbaijanis consider this their national novel. Some landmarks that Ali describes in the book still stand today.
We also see Ali conflicted with the occupation of Western ideas in his town. Despite his European education, he still feels deeply Asian. He loves their customs despite it being "barbaric" for European tastes.
The book also explores the dilemmas faced by our two lovers, Ali, from an old line of a distinguished Muslim family, and Nino, sophisticated and liberal with her European aristocratic upbringing. First there's the parental consent they have to overcome, then, the differences in their cultural upbringing. During their engagement (this is hardly a spoiler), Nino mourns for the freedom she has living in a non-Muslim household. She mourned for her homeland — progressive European Georgia. When Ali brings Nino to Persia, she resents him for being forced to live in a conservative society where she can't go out without a veil or receive guests. Ali gets mad when Nino hatches a plan for them to move to Paris because he felt betrayed. Ali will never ever leave his town and his heritage. Then, looming in the background is the fear of World War I. And a few years later, Ali and Nino find themselves swept up in Azerbaijan's fight for independence and it's preceding violence.
There's a 2016 movie adaption that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. I loved the movie but it doesn't quite capture what I loved about the book - a life lived in a particular area in a particular era. It rarely showed Baku's rich history nor it's customs and beliefs. Ali had very loyal friends in the book but their devotion to each other didn't appear much in the movie.
Ali and Nino is a tragic story. Not only is there a cultural difference to overcome but there also the threat of war. Ali and Nino's love story inspired a monumental moving sculpture created by Georgian artist Tamara Kvesitadze in 2010. The giant metalwork, also known as the "Statue of Love," consists of two transparent figures made of stacked metal segments. Everyday starting at 7 PM, the two figures face each other first, then slide towards each other, and eventually merging as their segments pass through each other. Merging briefly, but never truly connecting. The moving performance (literaly and figuratively) takes about ten minutes total and is often lit with bright, changing colors.
As popular as the novel itself is the controversy on the authorship of the book. Kurban Said is a pen name and nobody really found out who he or she was. My copy has an introduction by Paul Theroux and he mentions the New Yorker article by Tom Reiss saying that Kurban Said is Lev Nussimbaum. Lev was a Jew who converted to Islam. He was born in Kiev but spent his childhood in Baku. In the novel, Baku is described in detail that you know it could have been written by somebody who has lived there but remains an outsider looking in.
It is also equally important to mention the book’s translator because we would have never met Ali and Nino without her. Ali and Nino was popular in Germany after its publication but then World War II broke out and the book was soon forgotten. Jenia Graman found a copy on a second-hand book stall in Berlin, loved it, and decided to translate it to English.
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
This was my local book club's pick for book of the month.
The Hour of the Star is a novella recounting the life of Macabéa, a poor, ordinary girl trying to make ends meet in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Before we get to Macabéa’s story, the narrator, Rodrigo S.M, inserts himself throughout the novel and spends pages after pages pondering about the task at hand - how to write Macabéa's story. He sometimes interrupts his own stories to meditate on human existence and ponder on philosophical situations. While there were some really breathtaking writing (I copied a lot of quotes on my journal), overall, this book didn't have much impact on me. I blame this partly because I read this digitally and I tend to absorb a book less if I am reading it through a screen. I couldn't get a physical copy anywhere and I wanted to join the book club so I had no choice. I also didn't like the narrator - the way he kept on inserting himself. I just wanted to read about young and naive Macabéa. Most of the reviews I read online said that the novella’s structure was brilliant because of the shift from the narrator’s POV to Macabéa’s POV and is a testament to Lispector’s mastery of the craft. To be honest, I didn’t feel that way. I was mostly annoyed by the narrator who kept on interrupting his own storytelling.
I was a bit disappointed in myself because this book was tagged as Lispector's finest achievement but I couldn't connect much with it. I'll have to reread this again someday, physically.
Have you read any of the books I mentioned above? If yes, let me know which ones and if you liked them.
What I Want to Read in June
These are all the books I want to read in June. I’ll probably add Greek Lessons by Han Kang if I have more time.
In case you missed this..
Everything in this newsletter is free for now. And so, every open, like, comment, or restack means a lot to me and I thank you all for your support. If you’d like to further support me, buy me a coffee so that I can continue this work. Thanks again for reading and remember, folks, to read books out of the social media algorithm!
Wow I read Ali and Nino maaany years ago, I can't remember anything sadly 😔
The eyes are the best part has gone straight to my TBR