february '22 reading wrap-up
BOOKS READ IN FEBRUARY 2022
- Thor Vol. 3: The Accursed by Jason Aaron, et al
- Thor Vol. 4: The Last Days of Midgard by Jason Aaron, et al
- Phasers On Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World by Ryan Britt
- Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta
- I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
- Weird to Exist: Simple Comics for Complex Feelings by Alison Zai
- Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega
- Generation Misfits by Akemi Dawn Bowman
I guess compared to January, you can say that I didn't read much last month. Part of this is because I took a whole week to read Phasers On Stun!. The other part is... I just haven't been in much of a reading mood.
With the exception of the Thor comics which was mostly finishing off my January reads, everything in my list are ARCs I had to get through (I say this like I didn't request these books and even anticipate them, but I did! I'm just Not In The Mood To Read.) Phasers On Stun! was a really fun and informative read (for someone who doesn't know much about any behind-the-scenes Star Trek lore) and fed by hunger for sci-fi somewhat. I ended up starting a TOS rewatch with Patricia, and we're still only 3 episodes in, but it's nice to watch stuff that are just silly and campy these days.
I requested for Debating Darcy thinking it's going to be just another fun P&P retelling, which it kind of is, but it's also a little more than that. Most of the retellings I enjoy focus too much on the romance aspect, so I don't blame people who only see this story as a romance. I mean, it is a romance. But it's also more than that, which people tend to forget. Debating Darcy is set in a high school forensics tournament, pitching Bengali-American Leela against Pakistani-British American Firoze Darcy. Both of these characters are compelling to me, but still very YA. They're smart kids, but they're still kids, which makes all the stupid misunderstandings more understandable? I love that Leela isn't portrayed as this "perfect" person the way many Liz Bennetts are, and her flaws and tendency to be stubborn and jumping into conclusion are pretty obvious from the get-go. I love the commentary on colorism in Desi communities, and class (Darcy's a private school kid, Leela's a public school kid), and the misogyny that is rampant in these competitions. I've said this to some of my friends while reading, but this book does manage to update the story and still make the social commentary aspect of P&P work. I like.
And then there's I Kissed Shara Wheeler, which I had started thinking I'm going to LOVE it (and apprehensive that I won't), then thinking "oh this is a regular John Green-like YA book" a few chapters in (which I was all set to enjoy despite a slight disappointment, since I am still a fan of John Green-like YA books), and then realising that it subverts all the tropes that John Green tried to subvert and is a LOT MORE SUCCESSFUL at it, and it's also not John Green-like in the sense that it's a very very good book about discovering/celebrating one's queerness, about growing up in a place that feels like a fish tank much too small for you, that is suffocating you even though from an outsider's POV it seems like your life is perfect. I want to say I relate to Shara, and I do in little ways, but I suppose I'm also Chloe because her LA is my... well, LA, and this entire country is my Willowgrove. But - I'm also Georgia, because unlike Shara and Chloe, I don't really see a way out.
Anyway, this book is a great read in the way that both of Casey McQuiston's previous books are, but it's also very different from One Last Stop (which in turn is very different from Red, White, and Royal Blue). And it shatters many high school stereotypes - I want to share more but they would all be spoilers - in a way that Paper Towns could NEVER.
I think not all of her fans would enjoy this as much, because the ways where it succeeds are way subtler than with McQuiston's previous books, but to me this may be her best book so far.
This book makes me want to read something like We Were Promised Spotlights by Lindsay Sproul, which I own but don't have the time or energy to read just yet. cries
To cleanse my palate before reading the next novel, I chose to read a humor comic that I requested an ARC for sometime ago. Weird to Exist is... weird? In a good way. It's dark and it's absurd and for every comic that left me a little confused, there's a comic that made me overthink all its existential questions.
I followed up with two middle grade novels - Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega completely surpasses my high expectations (as Ortega's Ghost Squad was one of my fave MG novels the year it came out) and is probably going to be one of the books I will end up recommending to anyone wanting an alternative to HP that is, you know, actually any good.
And then there's Generation Misfits by Akemi Dawn Bowman which I started last year, and only just picked it back up. I loved how this book is just so quietly queer, and also the depiction of each member of the J-Club and how they have very different personalities and very different problems, but the text makes it clear that all of their problems are equally important and are deserving of support. Also, like with The Goblin Emperor in January, I know that it isn't intended to be relatable to aspies, but Millie describing her confusion because no one ever explains any of the rules she was just supposed to understand, was so relatable. It made me realise that in a way, this was part of why I did so much better in college/uni than in primary/secondary school, because most things were never explained to me in the latter, while each of my uni classes had very different and detailed requirements that my tutors/lecturers explained at the beginning of class.
I guess I should be reading Barakah Beats by Maleeha Siddiqui next, since it has a very similar premise to Generation Misfits, but for the first few days of this month, at least, I'm taking a break from reading.
I hope that you're reading some awesome books, or if you're not in the mood, I hope you're taking a break! The books will wait.
Stay safe <3