What’s up, nerds?
Gosh, I’ve missed blogging dearly!
I think it’s only recently sunk in for me just how much I enjoy yapping into the digital ether about books and every other piece of media that is barely holding together my tenuous grasp on sanity.
April 2024 has been a month of nostalgic longing for my This is Lit blog days — the same traffic wouldn’t hurt here, I swear — and trying to get back into reading.
April may have been for Big Sad, but I’ve decided May is for comebacks. I’m going to speak my motivation to blog into existence.
Let’s get started with the recap, shall we?
What I read
In April, I successfully completed a grand total of one (1) book.
Yeahhhh. That’s where we’re at right now. (Also see: Slumps and setbacks)
In April, I chugged along Everyone On This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson in a devastatingly slow pace. I wish I loved this book as much as I did the first one by Stevenson but it just did not work for me.
Book review: Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
The writing was subpar and, dare I say, had plotting errors that made this an average read for me. At one point, a dead body is described as being like lettuce without the crunch, and that’s where I knew this would be a dud.
It does have some of the wit and creativity from book 1 so I wouldn’t skip this one altogether but keep your expectations low.
What I DNFed
Hey, if we’re going to be depressing, let’s go all the way.
Piñata by Leopoldo Gout
Piñata has an interesting premise — Carmen’s an architect who’s returned to her homeland Mexico to oversee the renovation of an old cathedral to a hotel. After her youngest daughter gets hurt in an accident at the construction site, she decides to pack her bags and head back to the US.
But it turns out something’s followed the family to New York, leading to some harrowing encounters with the supernatural.
I got about 60% done with the book before abandoning it. I realized I was pushing myself too hard to finish it just because the premise is right up my alley. However, the long drawn out story had me bored at one point and I just wanted to skip through to the end to know if they all survive.
The Unfortunates by J.K. Chukwu
I DNFed this one because I loved it way too much.
Let me back up. I listened to the audiobook of this one and quickly realized I would love it more as a physical copy I can annotate on while reading. Also, it apparently has footnotes which definitely did not translate over to the audio version so I knew I had to get my paws on the physical copy. Except I can’t find it in stores here and I’ve stopped buying books online because I decided to grow morals. Ew.
Anywho, The Unfortunates is written as a thesis to a university committee by a queer, Nigerian sophomore who is sick of the racism and microaggressions at her elite college and decides to look into the recent spate of mysterious deaths of Black undergrads.
I love it. I can’t wait to buy the book and read it to the end.
What I’m currently reading
It’s not all doom and gloom, dreamboats!
I’m actually reading again. It only took 84 years (whaddup, Grandma Rose?) but I have persevered and broken through the slump we will not be talking about. I love both my current reads and I can’t wait to talk all about them on here once I’m done.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This book is about two aspiring authors, June and Athena. Athena’s a literary icon, June’s pretty much a nobody. When Athena tragically dies, June steals her almost-finished novel (about Chinese WWI heroes!) and passes it off as her own. And did I tell you June’s white?
With a new identity and some creative marketing, June becomes a bestseller. But can she handle the guilt and secrets forever, especially when things get messy? It’s a wild ride that explores race, social media, and oh yeah, literary fraud.
And look, I love RFK. I devoured The Poppy Way and The Dragon Republic in a matter of days (and yes, I still refuse to read The Burning God because I just don’t like ending series. Sue me.) I also love satire. This book is perfect for me and I absolutely love it so far.
Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
Ava, a lawyer and mother of a two-year-old prone to tantrums, gets roped into selling fake designer handbags by her mysterious college roommate Winnie. Things get sticky, however, and Winnie disappears, leaving Ava to handle the consequences.
I have a weird relationship with designer handbags (I used to really want them but I also grew out of it?). I’m loving all the references to bags I know of so far in the read and it definitely feels high stakes too. I think I’m going to enjoy this book and I cannot wait to finish it.
May goals
I might as well speak these into existence.
- Get back to at least 50% of my previous reading capacity.
- Write more on here and maybe even bring back some of the This is Lit classics.
- Post more on Instagram.
Re: Instagram, I’m actually liking posting on there off late! I even did a reel recently (can you believe it?)
The best part of my comeback is how little I care for pandering — this was one of the biggest reasons I shut down my old blog. There was always a certain amount of sass expected from me but pandering and being constantly negative eventually got to my mental health. In this new era, I’m just focusing on keeping my head down, reading what I like, and writing about the things I love.
Here’s to a May filled with potential and MOAR books!
Let’s chat
How was your April? What are you looking forward to in May?
Let me know in the comments!
Ahhhhh so excited to see you back!!
Things suck concerning engagement everywhere though so don’t lose hope, hehe, I don’t wanna see you go as quickly as you came.
Haha I don’t think I care about engagement this time around so let’s see if this lasts. 😀
YAYY SHRUTI but also yes like Charvi said I don’t want to see you go as quickly as you come. 😭
The lettuce passage is so wild though like what??? 💀 I mean I GUESS it’s attention grabbing…
I won’t! Have you seen my Instagram? I’m hooked and I can’t wait to play around with this website version 2 lol