my 2024 reading life so far

feat. my 6 month on and off reading slump

The Two Sides of My Reading Year

Help. I’ve been on a on and off 6 month reading slump.

Symptom: Nothing is ever good!

Cause: Having a huge TBR

Diagnosis: 6 month on and off reading slump

Effect: I am not having a good reading year

I know the cause of my long slump. It’s my huge physical TBR sitting in my shelves right now. I don’t normally keep a huge TBR because I know I tend to get overwhelmed. Every time I pass by my shelf I feel like those unopened books are side-eyeing me and begging me to be opened. If I have so many unopened books in my shelf, overtime, it feels like something that I need to check off my list. And then my mind goes, “check your to do’s, check your to do’s.” My mind is never quiet if there are unopened books. Yet, I choose to buy so many books. ugh. Last September, the Big Bad Wolf books visited my city. It’s a book fair where books are almost 50% off so naturally I bought so many. Even though I knew a book slump was about to happen. I couldn’t resist.

I had a lot of DNFs this year but I also got to read a few really great books. Then my books slump returns right after. I read a good book, my slump gets cured, then after that good book, I’m back to square one. And it isn’t good that I’m feeling this long-term because to my subconscious mind, nothing is ever good. I know how to cure it though. I just have to mindfully read all my physical TBR. It will take time but I will get there.

My 5 star reads

All my book ratings are only between 3 and 5. I never rate a book below 3 because if I feel a book is lower than 3, I DNF it. Why torture yourself. You can’t ever give a honest review if you’ve never finished a book. 5 stars are reserved for really great books that personally resonated with me. Like something mentioned in that book has a connection with my life even if it’s just a distant childhood memory, or a once forgotten favorite song. And so, here are my 5 star books so far.

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. A story about a family torn by migration and deportation. One half lives in the US, in constant fear of deportation. The other in Bogota, living through the aftermath of a century of violence in Colombia. And both parties wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. I love this book! Coming from a country of people choosing to leave for another country for a better life, I can relate to this as I have friends and families who migrated. The book is full of Andean myths at the same time it’s full of real stories of families separated by migration. Give me a any book with myths and I will devour it. The narrator was a surprise in the end but it wrapped up the story so well.

A Burning by Megha Majumdar. A Burning is a story of three characters whose lives are entangled after a tragic incident in India that killed hundreds of citizens. Jivan, a poor Muslim girl, is accused of collaborating a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless post on Facebook. The second character is Lovely who dreams to be a Bollywood star. She is the key to Jivan’s freedom but her testimony could be the end of her Bollywood dreams. Lastly, PT Sir, Jivan’s former PE teacher, seeks to rise to political power and whose final’s ascent to glory depends on Jivan’s fall. The three characters each have a distinct voice, especially Lovely. Reading this book made me crave for Indian food because there’s always somebody cooking. Majumdar paints a vivid picture of food and domestic life in India against a backdrop of systemic corruption. Read my longer review here.

The Giver by Lois Lowry. The Giver is my favorite dystopian novel to date. After reading it, I thought to myself that this book is the essence of what a dystopian novel should be even though so many already came before it. In essence, a dystopia is a tragic decline in society and, to me, the greatest downfall of society is the loss of emotions and human connection. I talked more about it here.

The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human Centered Planet by John Green. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a collection of essays where John Green reviews several peak human things like grocery stores, hotdogs, Mario Kart, Halley’s Comet, and plagues. I enjoy reading every bit of the essays. It’s funny. It’s inspiring. It’s very human. I can relate to John’s overthinking and anxiousness at just about anything. I have loved John Green since Looking for Alaska. Read here why I think this book is more of a memoir than a collection of essays.

Anxious People by Frederik Backman. I have mentioned in my previous newsletter that Anxious People is a book I can recommend to anyone no matter what their reading habits/levels are. I just know that people with love this book because it has just the right amount of plot and character development. Zero anxieties on the pressure of somebody liking a book that you recommended because I know people will love this. I talk about this book a little bit more here.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I also mentioned in my previous newsletter that this book made me feel seen. Quiet tells us that there’s power in being an introvert too. There’s power in listening attentively, thinking deeply, and feeling emotions strongly. Quiet shatters the myth of the charismatic leader and introduces us to powerful introvert leaders who changed their industries. If you are an introvert or friends with one, I think this book will really change your life. I talk more about this book here.

My 4 star reads

Most of the really great books that doesn’t resonate with me on a personal level (meaning, not a 5 star according to my standards), I dump them all at four stars. 4 stars to me are really great books but less on a personal level.

For the past two years I have been catching up on classic books. The ones that I read this year that are 4 star are The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1984 by George Orwell, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

I also wanted to read more Filipino authors but, so far, I’ve only read one (but with two more in my TBR). I’ve read Wild Song by Candy Gourlay which is about the Filipino’s participation on the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis Missouri. I talk more about this book here.

I love to read horrors and thrillers on audiobook because it gives a more a more brooding, sinister, and overall wonderful reading experience. In this category, I read Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, and The Maid by Nita Prose. Lastly, some 4 star contemporary reads are Funny Story by Emily Henry, The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai translated by Jesse Kirkwood, Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell (my surprise book of the year), and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

My 3 star reads

3 stars are still really great books because again, if I don’t like a book, I DNF it. They’re not just on a 5 or 4 star level. Here they are:

• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

• My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

• Idiots: Marriage, Motherhood, Milk & Mistakes

• The Tattooist of Auschwitz

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

• The Comeback by Lily Chu

• Before the Coffee Gets Cold

• Spare by Prince Harry

Anna Karenina Diaries II

Anna Karenina

I just finished reading Part 2 and a lot of things are happening!

Anna goes home to Petersburg but Vronsky follows her around like a stalker. Anna seems anxious that Vronsky followed her to Petersburg but she is actually pleased. She is already in love with him but I can’t say the same for Vronsky. I mean, sure he can be in love, but I think it’s not the same level as Anna’s. By the end of Part 2, Anna reveals his affair with Vronsky to her husband. We get to see a lot of Petersburg high society in Part 2, but honestly, I was getting pretty bored of all that high-society talk. Thankfully, the narrative returns to Levin.

In the country we follow Levin and his plans for his farm. All he thinks about is how to do this and that for his farm. What he plans to do today or tomorrow for this side of the farm etc. I love this chapters of his! I love reading about his farm life and plans. Anyone who plays Stardew Valley will find Levin’s chapters an enjoyable read.

In a spa town in Germany, we find the Scherbatskys taking a much needed break from Kitty’s Moscow misadventures. Kitty meets a girl her age and becomes inspired. When she returns to Moscow, her heartbreak of last year was nothing but a memory now.

I am surprised to find myself enjoying Anna Karenina. I initially thought it’s going to be a drag but the book turns out to be a page-turner (Chapter 1 and 2 at least). Now on to Chapter 3.

Thank you all for reading until the end of this newsletter. Now, tell me, what are your favorite books of 2024 so far? Have you read any of my 5 star reads? What did you think about them?