The Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2020: Sign-Up/Update Post + TBR!

i’m back to normal, with the usual asian book love!

just kidding, i’m still struggling in all aspects of my life* and i like to represent that by refusing to type with proper capitalization. i’m not like other girls!

but Yes, i am here writing a post? that is not just a wrap-up? which is something i’m choosing to be proud of right now. and i really wanted to finally make my official sign-up (and update!) post for the year of the asian reading challenge, 2020 edition!

this reading challenge is hosted by lily, cw, vicky, and shealea. the goal is to read as many books by asian authors as you can this year. please check out any of the posts linked to find out more info!

*i’m doing much better right now though!! thank you all for the love recently <33

MY GOAL

last year, my goal was the indian cobra level (11-20 books). i chose it because i usually read about 100 books a year and i thought more than a fifth of my books being by asian authors would be more difficult for me to achieve. but i actually ended up reading 18 books by asian authors last year, and i’m really happy about that!

this year i think i’m also going to aim for the indian cobra level, but i’m secretly hoping i’ll hit maybe 21 books (which is the malayan tapir level), since i ended up doing a lot better last year than i expected!

TENTATIVE TBR

there are a bunch of books on my tbr last year that i never ended up reading, but i don’t feel like putting them on this year’s tbr simply because i’m a mood reader. and for that same reason, this is a very VERY tentative tbr. my mood reading is much more pronounced and unpredictable when i’m in a slump (which i’ve been in for a year now).

i still have a goal to read more books by non-east asian authors (or at least non-chinese, since last year most of my authors were chinese), so i tried to make sure my tbr choices were diverse in that sense. east asian stories are more prevalent in publishing, so i’d like to give some attention to other equally valuable stories as well!

⇒ i try to include the author’s ethnicity but sometimes i’m not certain and don’t want to pry!

  THE DRAGON REPUBLIC  

i read the poppy war in january and it was absolutely Phenomenal!! so i’m very excited to read the sequel and see what happens to rin. and from the reviews i’ve read, rin, kitay, and nezha become like the golden trio and i’m VERY excited for them!!!! and also scared for them!!!!! (update: i’m reading it right now and i ADORE it. ms rf kuang gave me my entire life.)

⇒ author: Chinese

  JADE WAR  

look another sequel!! i read jade city last year, and i easily became obsessed with it. i definitely should have read this sooner, seeing as how my memory is terrible and i only distinctly remember maybe five things, but i’m still very intrigued to see what happens next! (but the fact that WAR is really big on the cover scares me)

⇒ author: Chinese

  THE SILENCE OF BONES 

i’ve heard some pretty amazing things about this one, namely that it’ll break my heart and make me cry, and i love that in books!! yes, it’s historical fiction and i am notorious for hating/being utterly unable to read historical fiction. HOWEVER, this one involves murder and asians and heartbreak and i’m too weak to resist the pull of that.

⇒ author: Korean

  KINGDOM OF BACK  

i love marie lu with my entire heart and soul. do i really know what this book is about besides mozart? no. do i pretend mozart is my favorite composer when in actuality it’s one of his songs that’s my favorite and i can’t name any of his other music? yes. but i’m still reading it for marie lu!!!

⇒ author: Chinese

  THE HENNA WARS 

i’m mutuals with adiba on twitter and she is just like. so cool and i love her!! it’s been really amazing and inspiring to go from seeing her agent announcement to her book deal announcement and now to her book release. and i think her book is going to sweep us all away (sapphic asian mc!!!) and i can’t wait to read it!

⇒ author: Bangladeshi

  DARIUS THE GREAT DESERVES BETTER 

this is ANOTHER sequel (i hope i look like a god to all you non-series-finishing fools), but i’m genuinely so excited for this one, because i absolutely adored the first book. and i’m telling you, if i, a depressed gaysian who convinced multiple people to read book 1, don’t get an arc of this book, i’m going to riot!!!! (also this book involves a love triangle and i usually hate those, but i’m choosing to be confident in adib khorram)

⇒ author: Iranian

  I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE 

i feel like i haven’t been reading as much sci-fi as i should be, so here’s to hoping i can remedy that! i’ve seen a copy of this book at the library multiple times now, but i never checked it out because i’m [whispers] a mood reader. but one day!! i will be in the mood to read this and i will love it. (i might be reading it this month actually with the book bound society, which i’m a moderator for now!)

⇒ author: Pakistani

LIKE A LOVE STORY

i’ve heard amazing things about this book, and i think after checking it out a few times but never picking it up, it’s finally time for me to actually read this. the cover is just so beautiful!!! plus, it’s a story set during a historical crisis (the 1980’s AIDS epidemic) that is such a big part of gay history but is often erased, making it all the more important to read it.

⇒ author: Iranian

  LOVE FROM A TO Z 

i think i meant to read this one last year because of the amount of people who just ADORED it and said it made them really happy, and i love happy books!! i really do!!! so i hope i get around to this one soon, because it looks like it’ll be the perfect book to take my mind of off things. and one of the main characters also has a chronic illness, which is so rarely represented in ya!!

⇒ author: Indian

UPDATES

last updated 11/11/20

here is where i’ll be keeping track of all the books i read. i know no one actually looks after they first see this, but it was just really cool for ME last year to come back and see the list grow as i read more and more books from asian authors!

COUNT: 31

THE POPPY WAR (jan)

i love fang runin and i will let her step on me any day, every day. this was so good and genuinely an absolute masterpiece ★★★★★ [4.5]

⇒ author: Chinese

THE DRAGON REPUBLIC (mar)

that ending was BRUTAL thank you so much for the pain ms. kuang!! but i am so excited and so scared for book 3 ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Chinese

THE BEST LIES (mar)

i really needed a good thriller and this was it! i loved the characters and their relationships a lot, super bingeable too ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Chinese

LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI (mar)

this was a liiiittle too dramatic for me and conflicts were resolved too quickly. characters are charming at first but have no real substance ★★☆☆☆ [2.5]

⇒ author: Chinese, and Filipino-Indonesian

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR (mar)

the writing was so very beautiful and i loved the Yearning, but i would’ve liked to have known what the hell was going on ★★★☆☆

⇒ author (Amal El-Mohtar): Lebanese

QUIET GIRL IN A NOISY WORLD (apr)

this was a quick fun fun read that was relatable to me but also kinda felt like it was trying to be a Bit too “not like other girls” ★★★☆☆

⇒ author: unsure

THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA (apr)

lots of great rep and had tons of potential, but underdeveloped romance, weird pacing/plot, and characters i couldn’t connect to ★★☆☆☆

⇒ author: Japanese

BOOK LOVE (apr)

this was a quick read and it’s definitely relatable to book lovers but the whole thing fell flat for me since the jokes are old to me ★★★☆☆

⇒ author: unsure

THE HENNA WARS (may)

i really adored the qpoc rep and sister relationship in this, and the romance was also so sweet! bingeable and addicting too ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Bangladeshi/Bengali

LOVE FROM A TO Z (may)

i love adam and zayneb so much, they are so cute!! it was such a great balance between more serious topics but also happy fluff ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Indian

LIKE A LOVE STORY (may)

my most controversial opinion yet… i was annoyed by the main characters and there were a lot of things that i was super uncomfortable with ★★☆☆☆

⇒ author: Iranian

ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS (may)

such beautiful writing, and though it took me a bit to get into, it was just such an otherworldly experience to read ★★★★☆ [3.5]

⇒ author: Vietnamese

AMINA’S VOICE (may)

it was a sweet and warm book, but the ending was just so underwhelming and the book as a whole was too short ★★★☆☆ [2.5]

⇒ author: Pakistani

NOT YOUR SIDEKICK (may)

i had a few objective issues, especially with predictability, but it was just So much fun to read and the romance is so cute!! ★★★★☆ [3.5]

⇒ author: Chinese-Vietnamese

UNRAVEL THE DUSK (may)

i don’t even know why i didn’t like this one besides literally just not caring about the characters. i also was eh on the ending ★★☆☆☆

⇒ author: Chinese

HARLEY IN THE SKY (may)

this was very well-written, especially in terms of harley’s mental health, but i just didn’t care about the characters! ★★☆☆☆

⇒ author: Japanese

FOREST OF SOULS (june)

i don’t even know why i didn’t like this one besides just not caring about the characters. i also was eh on the ending ★★☆☆☆

⇒ author: Hmong

A:TLA: THE PROMISE (june)

hated all of katara and aang’s “sweetie”s but even beyond the show Zuko’s arc is still 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌 ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Taiwanese/Chinese

GIRL, SERPENT, THORN (june)

this was solid! i kind of wanted more (more from the romance, more darkness from the mc) but it was overall still good ★★★☆☆

⇒ author: Persian

STARGAZING (july)

cute but i wish it was longer! didn’t realize i was supposed to be emotionally impacted until i saw other reviews ★★★☆☆

⇒ author: Taiwanese

THE RISE OF KYOSHI (july)

loved this so much more than i expected!! kyoshi and rangi are so GAY and i adore them and this whole book overall ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Chinese

THE BURNING GOD (july)

the ending made me sob my eyes out!!! this was my least favorite of the trilogy and definitely the weakest but. still so good ★★★★☆ [4.5]

⇒ author: Chinese

THE SEARCH (july)

answered a lot of questions from the show but Azula deserved better :(( ★★★☆☆

⇒ author: Taiwanese/Chinese

THE RIFT (august)

fun but the only thing I can think of is how Aang’s head looks like an egg ★★★★☆ [3.5]

⇒ author: Taiwanese/Chinese

THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER (august)

was so surprised by this book: it was so different from my expectations and the plot twists were SO GOOD! ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Chinese

DARIUS THE GREAT DESERVES BETTER (august)

the romance aspect wasn’t for me and Darius was a bit… weird at times, but I still really adore these books and the heart of them ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Iranian

KNOW MY NAME (august)

such a heartbreaking book, but so powerful, emotional, and important. really recommend this one, especially the audiobook [no rating]

⇒ author: Chinese

WHERE DREAMS DESCEND (august)

one of the worst reading experiences i’ve had… nothing happened and everything was boring and annoying until the last 5% ★★☆☆☆ [1.5]

⇒ author: Filipino

THE SILVERED SERPENTS (september)

kind of felt like nothing was happening in the beginning but oh my god the ending… (I love and hate Severin) ★★★☆☆ [3.5]

⇒ author: Indian-Filipino

THE SHADOW OF KYOSHI (october)

didn’t love as much as the first book but god… this almost made me cry. I love Kyoshi so much!!! ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Chinese

THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS (november)

didn’t quite live up to my expectations but god!! the angst!!! the tension the drama!!! also Juliette Cai step on me ★★★★☆

⇒ author: Chinese

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are you participating in yarc 2020?? whether or not you are, please hmu if you want to read any of these books with me! what are some asian books you’re looking forward to reading this year? any recommendations for my tbr?