April III – The Month of Mood Reading, all the Asian Readathons and Way Too Many Lists (+ Happy Asian Pacific Heritage Month!)

Welcome back to another installment of me chatting about books that I intend to read (and will most likely fail to read) in the current month!

Well, for the most part.

So as a good amount of you know, I’m taking my IGCSEs this May, which is absolutely going to SWAMP me. As such, fixing a TBR is not a good idea for me due to the busyness of my schedule (and the subsequent pressure I will most certainly put upon myself).

I really NEED to do some mood reading this month, especially since I’m getting concerned about the possibility of getting a reading slump and/or burnout, which I REALLY don’t want to happen.

Therefore, I have decided to link up with Moody May (which you can participate alongside the Devour Our TBR group on Goodreads!) which is hosted by Kathy @ Books and Munches, as well as Destiny @ Howling Libraries. This was absolutely perfect timing, and I cannot wait to mood read to my heart’s content.

To create some sort of post, I have listed down new releases in the month of May (spoiler: there are A LOT), discussing my current reads and linking some lists of books that I may read this month.

I’m also going to lowkey participate in two Asian readathons this month, in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, which are namely Asian Readathon and Asian Lit Bingo.

Without further ado, here are some books that I could read in May.

MAY RELEASES

May, to no one’s surprise, is an EXTREMELY busy month in terms of new releases. While I do intend to get to all of these eventually, there is NO WAY I’m going to get to all of them. Books with Asian authors and/or Asian characters will likely be prioritized, but all of these sound too good.

I’ve already talked about the majority of books in this list in this post, so please check that post out for more of my thoughts.

• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (2nd)
• Finale (Caraval, #3) by Stephanie Garber (7th)
• Again, But Better by Christine Riccio (7th)
• Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo (7th)
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (7th)
• Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum (7th)
• Aurora Rising (Aurora Cycle, #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (7th)
• Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (14th)
• Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno (14th)
• There’s Something About Sweetie (Dimple and Rishi, #2) by Sandhya Menon (21st)
• Kingsbane (Empirium, #2) by Claire Legrand (21st)
• I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn (28th)

Current Reads

This list isn’t as bad as I’d thought I’d be, which is good? I’m a good way through them, and I’m pretty sure that I can finish them this month? But I won’t be too hard on myself if I can’t finish all of them, as some of them are of much higher priority than others.

• Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan – 35%
• A Heart In The Body In The World by Deb Caletti – 28%
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6) – 86%

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So, this month is Asian-Pacific Heritage Month! There are so many great month-long reading challenges running this month, and while I’m going to be insanely busy, I’m going to still participate in them (because I want to boost all the Asian things!), alongside with Year of the Asian! These two readathons are the Asian Readathon and Asian Lit Bingo.

I. Asian Readathon

This readathon is where you try to read as much books possible by Asian authors, featuring Asian characters throughout the month of May! It’s very chill, and sounds like a fun time. This readathon is hosted by Cindy @ readwithcindy, Sandra @ gotathingforthings, Chloe @ bookswithchloe, Kav @ xreadingsolacex & Ellias @ elliasreads.

There is a Google Document with all the information you need here. This includes logistics and recommendations for each individual challenge.

Challenges:

1. Read any book by an Asian author.
2. Read a graphic novel featuring an Asian character or written/drawn by an Asian author (manga, manhua, manhwa, and comics count).
3. Read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (i.e. queer, mixed, disabled, neurodiverse, etc).
4. Read a book by Asian author that was originally written in their native language (translated books and graphic novels count).
5. Read the group book: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh, which will be covered in the live show on Saturday, May 25 at 6pm EST on readwithcindy’s channel.

II. Asian Lit Bingo

The #AsianLitBingo Readathon is a readathon centered around a bingo board (duh) with different challenges pertaining to Asian books. The goal is to get at least one bingo by creating rows, columns or diagonals of books that fit each category!

General Rules for Qualifying Books:

1. Book must have an Asian main character (can be one of several main characters) and be by an Asian author to qualify. It does not have to be #ownvoices but #ownvoices is strongly encouraged.
2. Book can be a novel/novella/novelette or comic book/graphic novel.
3. Book must be read during May 1st through May 31st to qualify.
4. Review link-up will close end of June 1st at midnight PDT. The extra margin is to give people the opportunity to write up a review for a book they might have finished late May 31st. We’ll follow the honor system assuming you didn’t read the book on June 1st.

Possible Path I May Be Following:

The path I think that I would most likely follow is the furthest left column: namely, East Asian MC, LGBTQIAP+ MC, SFF with Asian MC, Graphic Novel With Asian MC, and Southeast Asian MC, which I think is pretty achieveable. I’m not against changing the path I want to cross off, if that works out better, however.

Asian Books I May Read For These Challenges:

Since I’m that person who craves organisation (while being absolutely horrible at it irl), I have sectioned the books that I may read for these challenges into three separate categories to keep things in line: namely, rereads, new releases and backlist/miscellaneous reads.

Rereads:

• Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenges 1 and 3 (read any book by an Asian author / read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (the MC, her love interest and the author being queer)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: Counts for the challenges LGBTQIAP+ Asian MC, SFF with Asian MC, Queer Romance with Asian MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous Love Interest & Poor or Working Class Asian MC
  • The author is Malaysian-Chinese-British
• The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenges 1 and 3 (read any book by an Asian author / read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (MC has OCD).
  • Asian Lit Bingo: Counts for challenges South East Asian MC, Historical Fiction with Asian MC, Asian Muslim MC and Religious Asian MC
  • The author is Malaysian and Muslim
• An Ember in the Ashes Series (Audio) by Sabaa Tahir
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: SFF with Asian MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous L.I, Poor/Working Class MC, South Asian MC
  • The author is Pakistani, with the main characters being South Asian
• American Panda by Gloria Chao
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, Asian Immigrant MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous L.I, Contemporary with Asian MC
  • The author is Taiwanese
• Crazy Rich Asian Series (Audio) by Kevin Kwan
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, South East Asian MC, Contemporary with Asian MC
  • The author is Singaporean, with the main character being Singaporean-or having Chinese lineage
• To All the Boys I Loved Before Series by Jenny Han
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, Multiracial Multiethnic Asian MC, Contemporary with Asian MC
  • The author is Korean

New Releases:

• Descendants of the Crane by Joan He
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, SFF with Asian MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous MC
  • The author is Chinese
• The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses, #1) by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu
  • Asian Readathon:  Would count for challenges 1 and 3 (read any book by an Asian author / read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (LGBTQIA+ in this case).
  • Asian Lit Bingo: LGBTQIA+ Asian MC, SFF with Asian MC, Southeast Asian MC, Queer Romance with Asian MC, Multiracial Multiethnic Asian MC
  • Wesley Chu is Taiwanese
• Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous Love Interest, Contemporary with Asian MC
  • The author is Korean
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki
  • Asian Readathon: This counts for challenges 1, 2 and 3 (read any book by an Asian author / read a graphic novel featuring an Asian character or written/drawn by an Asian author (manga, manhua, manhwa, and comics count) / read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (there are queer main characters)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, LGBTQIAP+ Asian MC, Graphic Novel with Asian MC, Contemporary with Asian MC
  • The author is Japanese
• Love from A to Z by S.K Ali
  • Asian Readathon: This counts for challenges 1 and 3 (read any book by an Asian author / read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (main Muslim characters)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: Asian Muslim MC, Romance with POC Indigenous Love Interest, Religious Asian MC, Contemporary with Asian MC
  • The author is Muslim
• There’s Something About Sweetie (Dimple and Rishi, #2) by Sandhya Menon
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: Romance with POC/Indigenous Love Interest, Contemporary with Asian MC and South Asian MC
  • The author is Indian

Backlist/Miscellaneous

• Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, SFF with Asian MC, Historical Fiction with Asian MC (technically historical fantasy)
  • The author is Chinese
• A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
  • Asian Readathon: This counts for challenges 1 and 3 (read any book by an Asian author / read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity (main Muslim characters)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: Asian Immigrant MC, Asian Muslim MC, Religious Asian MC
  • The author is Iranian
• Smoke In The Sun (Flame in the Mist, #2) by Renee Ahdieh
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, SFF with Asian MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous Love Interest, Retelling with Asian MC
  • The author is Korean
• Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: East Asian MC, SFF with Asian MC, Romance with POC/Indigenous Love Interest, Poor or Working Class Asian MC
  • The author is Japanese
• Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns, #3) by Kendare Blake
  • Asian Readathon: Would count for challenge 1 (read any book by an Asian author)
  • Asian Lit Bingo: SFF with Asian MC
  • The author is Korean

LIBRARY LOANS:

 

• Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Nevermoor (Audiobook) by Jessica Townsend
• First and Then by Emma Mills

MISCELLANEOUS

Though I’ll be primarily focusing on reading Asian books, I’m going to be linking some lists of books that I could potentially read from, in order to allow some flexibility into my life.

• My Anticipated Releases 2019
• My Goodreads TBR Shelf (it’s not fully cleaned out, as I’m going through it using the Down the TBR Hole meme)
• My Anticipated Releases 2018 (which include the unread ones, of course)
• My TBR for Year of the Asian
• My Unread Owned TBR
• Unread books from my January, February and March (which is above) TBR Wrap Up Posts

How did you do on your TBR in April? What are your thoughts on the books I did (or did not) read? Are there any books in the pile of unread books that I should prioritize? I would love to know.