A friend suggested a buddy read and I said that I probably couldn’t get to the book this year but I’d add it to my TBR. (The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, if anyone’s curious.) This year, I said. With just two full months left of 2020, apparently I’ve begun to think of my TBR in terms of what I can cram in before the end of the year. Forget months or weeks!
Although there’s no need to rush my TBR since those books will exist beyond 2020 and for the rest of eternity, there are still some books I definitely, arbitrarily want to get to before the year is over and here they are.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
A multi-generational historical fiction following a Korean family living in Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea and beyond.
I finally caved and bought my favourite edition of this book at full price after tracking it on online secondhand bookstores for months to no avail. Free shipping though! Anyway, it’s a UK edition, so the chances of ever stumbling upon it in a physical secondhand bookstore were slim.
I feel like everyone who’s read this book has claimed it as one of their favourites of all time, so I’m excited!
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Four Chinese women, recently immigrated to San Francisco, united in raising their daughters, swap stories over their weekly games of mahjong.
I thrifted a gorgeous mass market paperback last year and the cover matches so beautifully with my edition of Pachinko, so I decided to pair them together for my rest-of-2020 TBR. An arbitrary reason for an arbitrary TBR. But I’m excited to read this one too, in and of itself! I haven’t read any Amy Tan before, but I always see a bunch of her books at thrift stores (is that a good or bad thing haha).
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Two newly orphaned children of immigrants flee their western mining town. Set against the American Gold Rush, woven with Chinese folklore.
I don’t consider myself big on historical fiction, which is probably why they’re all on my TBR and not already read, but since I seem to be on a historical fiction kick finishing off 2020, I figured I’d add this debut novel to the mix. It gives me more to compare. Plus, the blurb reminds me of “All the Flavors” from Ken Liu’s collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories—Chinese gold miners in 1865 Idaho City, woven with folklore, and the best food imagery—which I loved.
Bestiary by K-Ming Chang
Mother tells Daughter a story of a tiger spirit, and soon afterward, Daughter awakes with a tiger’s tail. Following three generations of Taiwanese American women who each embody a myth.
Another debut novel I’d like to get to before the year is over and some major cover love. I haven’t heard too much about this one but I look forward to reading a Taiwanese American story.
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
Memoir of a Korean adoptee raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town.
This has been on my TBR for two years and I happen to have it in from the library, so I guess I’m reading it now!
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliot
The Mohawk phrase for depression can be roughly translated to “a mind spread out on the ground.” A collection of essays by a Haudenosaunee writer on racial justice, mental illness, cultural appropriation, and more.
The Canadian edition of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground has a matching cover with the US edition of All You Can Ever Know, so here’s another arbitrary pairing for my rest-of-2020 TBR. I’ve had the eARC for the US publication downloaded on my Kindle for awhile now but haven’t gotten around to it even though it’s now already out in the US, oops.
Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
Fee is a gifted Korean American soprano, one of many boys sexually abused by his choir director. A story of sexual abuse and its aftermath.
I read How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, also by Chee, earlier this year and added Edinburgh to my TBR because of it. The parts in HTWAAN when he talked about his writing process and personal experience relating to Edinburgh were some of the most poignant moments of HTWAAN for me. Whilst Edinburgh is inspired by his personal experience, it is a work of fiction.
I’m a completionist when it comes to authors I like. His Queen of the Night is also on my TBR, but that one can wait.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Ten strangers on a private island are being killed off one by one as described by a nursery rhyme.
Another case of completionism. Earlier this year I bought vintage paperbacks of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, and And Then There Were None. These are my first Agatha Christies ever and I’ve just got that last one left to read!
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is on track to achieve her five-year plan. One night she sees her life five years into the future then returns to her life. Four-and-a-half years later she meets the man from her vision.
I had tucked this book in the back of my mind to pull out the next time I wanted an easy rom com to breeze through, but I got the heads up from Sheena that this book is not one of those. In her words, it’s TEARS, SADNESS, and HEARTBREAK (caps, also hers). I saw some reviews say it’s a story as much about friendship as it is about romantic love.
Looking forward to being emotionally destroyed.
There are a few other books I’ve been meaning to read all year, but it looks like my preliminary rest-of-2020 TBR is long enough, so chances are I won’t get to them before the year is over, but they’d be great to kick off 2021 with: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett.
What book(s) do you hope to get to before the year is over?
PS: books i collect in multiples, my favourite secondhand bookstores in philly, 2020 mid-year reading check-in