#2015 reading

i wrote about reading 11 books by korean and korean-american authors in 2015 as well as about growing up korean-american and reading translated literature when i know the original language.

These are the books I had planned to read (and in some cases even purchased) and didn’t quite get around to it! I’m going to make a concerted effort to catch up on all of these in 2016:

1. In the Garden of Beasts - I was waiting for when I reached peak WWII feelings to read this, which hasn’t happened yet. I’ve been occupied with other historical periods (why yes, I do mean the American Revolution, why do you ask?), so I’ll probably let this one simmer for a bit. I also want to read Dead Wake.

2. Vivian Apple at the End of the World - I kept meaning to read this, and then I decided to wait for it to come out in paperback. Which I think has happened??? I also decided in my mind that this is a summer book so I’ll probably pick it back up in the summer

3. Saga - Also bought this on a whim and my sister has been yelling at me to read it, so I should probably get on it.

4. Modern Romance - I bought this right around the time a bunch of other great books came out, and it fell to the bottom of the list. But since I finished Master of None, I think I’ll pick this up soon

5. The Last Man - I love Mary Shelley and I’m embarrassed that I haven’t read this yet. I picked up at my local about two years ago and it’s still just languishing on my desk.

6. Villette - I bought the wonderful new edition with Mallory Ortberg’s introduction. I really, really wanted to read this but it’s pretty long and other books took priority

7. The Fifth Season - I was supposed to read this and decide if we were gonna do it for book club. I started it and the beginning was devastating, which felt like too much at the time, so I’m going to wait to read this when I can handle that kind of thing

8. Parable of the Sower - honestly I’m so ashamed I’ve not read any Octavia Butler’s novels. I read her short fiction for various classes in college, and I’ve always wanted to read this one.

9. Cruel Beauty - I actually started this one, and really liked what I read so far, but at the time I was really burned out on YA fantasy and needed a bit of a break. I regret not coming back to this book after though!

I read a ton of excellent books this year (I would say 80-90% of the books I read this year were excellent), but these are the books I stayed up reading, books that I couldn’t let go of days/weeks/months later, books that took over my life, books that made me want to be a better writer, books that devastated me, books that made me happy to be alive.

Bolded means the book came out in 2015

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo* - This book didn’t necessarily take over my life as much as some of the others on this list (not that I didn’t have FEELS, because I did!), but it was flawlessly written, entertaining, with wonderfully drawn characters and an amazingly depicted world. And it’s all so confidently, so effortlessly done, you almost forget that not only is Leigh Bardugo plopping us inside a huge fantasy world, but she’s also writing a fantastically thrilling heist on top of that. And she pulls it off flawlessly.

Prince’s Gambit by C.S. Pacat - Oh man. I’ve known about this series for a while and I can’t actually remember what made me finally buy the first one and start reading, but I basically consumed both Captive Prince and Prince’s Gambit in twenty-four hours. It’s chock full of tropes and uncomfortable situations (to say the very least), but Pacat deftly handles the intricacies and emotional stakes, giving us scene after scene of crackling tension. I’m slowly dying inside for King’s Rising.

Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski - The first book was excellent and I was SO glad I finally picked it up. It lived up to all my expectations and then some. But the second book was devastating and consuming. I read it in a single day and spent the rest of the week upset by how good it was. 

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara*- One of the few non SFF books on the list. This book is brutal, and precious, and everything in between. It’s pretty long so I thought I’d be chipping away at it for a couple weeks, but instead I read it in four fevered days. Impossible to put down, even when it was causing me physical distress.

Half Bad by Sally Green - This book was not what I expected, and I loved it all the more for that. Nathan is one of the spikiest, strangest protagonists I’ve ever read and I love him deeply. I think I can thank tumblr user @arranbyrn for constantly posting about it, which was enough to make me buy not just Half Bad, but also Half Wild, and read them back-to-back on a beautiful spring weekend.

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott* - I can’t believe it took me this long to start reading Kate Elliott, but I’m so glad I finally did. Cold Magic was breathless and thrilling, and the rest of the series just expands from that. Cold Fire might actually be my favorite book of the series, but Cold Magic gets points for being my gateway to the awesome mind of Kate Elliott.

Cinder ( + Lunar Chronicles series) by Marissa Meyer* - One of my first reads this year, which got 2015 off to an excellent start, reading-wise! This book really, really got me back in YA. It’s not afraid to be fun in its fairytale origins, its world-building, and the wonderfully done romances (seriously, four main couples in as many books -- that’s hard to pull off and make them all compelling!) I’m glad I caught up on this series before Winter was released in November.

Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz  - another rec from @arranbyrn. This is a book about friendship and love and families and it was utterly perfect in every way. 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie* - I read all three books in this trilogy, but the first is the one I loved the most. It is by far one of the coolest sci-fi series I’ve read with some great character development and ever greater character cuddling (seriously there is so?? much?? cuddling????)

Best Comics I Read in 2015

Ahhh, the yearly “Best of” lists that pop up all over the place. Gotta love em. I usually wait until the very end of the year to do this list for books, but I don’t mind doing it early for comics. I’m not planning on starting any new series or graphic novels within the next couple weeks, so I think I can wrap it up now.

Here are the comics and graphic novels I totally loved this year, in no…