B O O K S
In November, I read 6 books!
For transparency, every book marked with * are titles I received for free as I currently working at PRH.
Quarter-love Crisis
Maddison Clarke’s plan to sort her life out before she turns 30 hits a stalemate when she’s reunited her old school rival, Aiden Edwards, where the two must work together to lead her workplace’s biggest event to date.
It’s always a bit disappointing when you don’t end up enjoying an author’s work after having followed their progress and writing journey online. I’ve been a fan of Jasmine’s writing chronicles on TikTok that it felt almost felt heart-breaking to not enjoy this book. Maddison is such a great main character that I feel bad that that Aiden has to be the love interest here. I don’t get how you can fall for a man who straight up makes you have a panic attack at work? Yeah, sure, he helps her calm down but WTF? I am also a #1 hater of the third act miscommunication trope and it’s so bad in this book because it genuinely undoes all the development Maddison had in the book. Maybe old school rivals should stay old school rivals. There’s a whole world out there for you, Maddison Clarke!
Dungeon Crawler Carl
An alien invasion forces Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat into a multi-level dungeon crawler game to entertain an audience of billions of extra-terrestrial beings.
I love reading books that make me think: wtf am I actually reading? but in a good way. If you’re new to the idea of a dungeon crawl: in video games and board games, it often refers to the genre in fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) in which the player must navigate a labyrinth space and battle monsters while also collecting any treasure they might find. I enjoy a lot of these in video games such as the early days of Zelda or The Binding of Isaac.
Carl learns that Earth has been taken over and whoever is still alive is forced to join the live-streamed game show to fight for their lives for the entertainment of alien viewers. My favourite part of the book was seeing all the funny little achievements that Carl earns throughout the entire book. I am especially a huge fan of Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s cat, who gains the ability to talk and joins as a contestant in the game. The book is seriously over the top with a ton of dark humour (some I admit I wasn’t a fan of but it’s never too much) I am super excited to read more of this!
Messenger Cat Café*
Fuuta has passed into the afterlife having lived a long and happy life with his human family. Eager to see his owner once again, he interviews for a position as a messenger cat, at Café Pont, which exists in the liminal space between the two worlds. But in order to see his owner once more, he must correctly deliver messages to the land of the living without messing up.
I know some people must be tired of the healing translated fiction genre. Me on the other hand? I love it! Some are meh and most of the time, the more disappointing ones I tend to notice it’s more on the translation rather than the original text. But Messenger Cat Café was genuinely one of my favourite reads of the year! In the similar vein of What You Are Looking for is in the Library (which I LOVED last year), I couldn’t put this down until I’d finished it. Each individual that Fuuta visits have such a relatable story and seeing how Fuuta is able to alleviate the pain they’re feeling even just a little was so so heart-warming.
Indian Love Poems*
I had the opportunity to visit the Everyman’s Library office this month due to work and was able to take away some books from their office. I did feel like a thief in the night but selection is too good! I started off with Indian Love Poems because I had my eye on this one for a while. A unique collection of poems from different centuries of poets from India and the Indian diaspora.
Every Day I Read
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop was one of my favourite books last year so of course I had to pick up Hwang Boreum’s next book to be published in English. A book for introspection and reflection as she provides 50+ short chapters on why we should read, and what we should read! A great gift book I think for any booklover in your life!
Of course, some love must be given to Shanna Tan, the translator for both of Hwang’s work. She does such a good job that really helps elevate and express the sense of her words into English without feeling like you’re missing something.
I am subscribed to the Slow Game Club which is best described as a book club for video games. One of the games we were given this year was Arsene Lupin – Once a Thief. A game that is loosely adapted by the original work of Maurice Leblanc. I haven’t finished the game yet as I’m playing the game on stream but I was having so much fun that I decided to check out the original work. I only read the Penguin Archive version which is a snippet of the full work but it was great seeing how the game developers adapted the work for a video game format. It’s a very easy and fun game to play, would definitely recommend!
That’s it for this month! Tell me what went on in YOUR life this month! What sort of things was important for you this month? New obsessions? New TV shows? Or book? Any new song recs (I’m always open to new music!)? Best books you read this month?
as told by zaheerah 