50 Bookish Questions
Artist: mothclub
Snagged this one from "Et tu, Brody?", an LGBT+ indigenous booktuber--someone I highly recommend for your horror and indigenous recommendations. I tag anyone else reading this and I hope you're all doing well 💖 I took the liberty of writing out all of the questions and putting them in a textbox for you to copy+paste. Feel free to link me to your answers so that I can leave a comment (I will most likely be late to it though):
1. Hardcover or Paperback?
2. Dust jacket on or off?
3. Secondhand or New?
4. Audiobooks or no?
5. Do you cover buy?
6. What's a good book with a bad cover?
7. What's a bad book with a good cover?
8. First book you ever read?
9. Last book you finished?
10. Last series you finished?
11. Last book you bought?
12. Favorite genre?
13. Favorite book inside that genre?
14. A genre you never reach for?
15. Do you read poetry/in verse?
16. Do you read popular science?
17. Do you read middle grade?
18. Do you have any book box subscriptions?
19. Favorite bookish item?
20. Current bookmark?
21. Strangest object ever used as a bookmark?
22. Book sleeves/jackets or no?
23. Who's your fictional significant other?
24. Favorite couple?
25. Favorite villain?
26. Favorite book adventure?
27. Series, duology, trilogy, or standalone?
28. Mixed media or paragraphs?
29. Favorite adaptation?
30. Do you prefer film or TV adaptations?
31. What's a book that needs adapting?
32. Favorite book world?
33. Favorite writing style?
34. What's a book you love that most people don't know about?
35. What's a popular book you hated?
36. Favorite childhood reads?
37. A book that changed your life?
38. What's a book you hated in school?
39. Do you buy to collect?
40. Do you donate books?
41. Favorite reading snack?
42. Favorite reading position?
43. Natural light or lamp light?
44. Outside or inside?
45. Breaking the spine or keeping it smooth?
46. Do you read in other languages?
47. What's a series you want to finish this year?
48. New releases you're excited about?
49. Who's your favorite bookish influencer?
50. Do you have a channel, blog, or social media page where you talk about books?
1. Hardcover or Paperback? Hardcover, but I don't mind Paperback too much if the book isn't a favorite or 5star read.
2. Dust jacket on or off? While reading-off and shelved-on.
3. Secondhand or New? New or Like New; this pandemic has me rethinking how people use their items.
4. Audiobooks or no? YES! I'm listening to an audiobook of Clap When You Land right now and it's narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo herself and another black latinx person and I LOVE IT! It's really beautiful.
5. Do you cover buy? I try not to, but if a book is written by a bipoc author and I think a premise is interesting then a pretty cover is more likely to get me to buy 😂 I'm weak.
6. What's a good book with a bad cover? Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon. It's a black love sapphic novella that's also sex worker positive! This novella is one of my favorites, but this cover is hideous LOL
7. What's a bad book with a good cover? I'm not gonna bother linking it but this piece of crap series lmao
It's soooo problematic and it's a shame because there’s so much to love about it but the main characters' relationship is predicated on:
1) an older non-human man buying a 15-year-old girl at an auction (human trafficking),
2) calling her dehumanizing things like “puppy” right after she was sold, lording it over her that she's "expensive," and every character acknowledging she’s a “child” (especially him),
3) constantly invading her privacy and trying to touch and bathe her without her permission,
4) telling her she has no choice in matters but is “free to reconsider”,
5) calling her his bride, and
6) her being a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD CHILD (pedophilia) 🤦♀️
8. First book you ever read? I don't remember. My mom had me reading as a baby LOL
9. Last book you finished? The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. I love it so much. Definitely recommend it for fantasy and lovers of political intrigue, diaspora commentary, and people who want more Vietnamese-inspired narratives (with a dash of Japanese and Chinese inspirations). It's also a really short read.
10. Last series you finished?
Manga: Bloom Into You by Nio Nakatani
Novel: the Blood of Stars duology by Elizabeth Lim
11. Last book you bought? Oh boy, if we don't count preorders I made, I had a bit of a haul recently. I got: Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B Alston, The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Mirage by Somaiya Daud, and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo. I'm really excited to dig in!
12. Favorite genre? Fantasy and Science Fiction, both with a generous serving of Romance ☺️
13. Favorite book inside that genre? I HAVE SO MANY THOUGH LOL This genre spans so many cultures and worldviews~ my recent favorite is Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. Please read it~ it is SO good and I need more people to squeal over this with 😭
14. A genre you never reach for? Grimdark. Like I said in my last survey, I don't like that it's dominated by white people wanting an excuse to write problematic shit.
15. Do you read poetry/in verse? Yes! I'm really loving Elizabeth Acevedo's work.
16. Do you read popular science? I don't know what that is so probably not.
17. Do you read middle grade? Yes, absolutely! I'm starting off Blackathon with Amari and the Night Brothers as soon as I finish Gideon the Ninth (which I'm loving so far).
18. Do you have any book box subscriptions? No. They're too expensive and it's usually just a bunch of warehouse items with pretty typography and a logo slapped onto them. If I want a special edition book, I'll buy it elsewhere.
19. Favorite bookish item? I have so many, but I really love this enamel pin inspired by Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim (sorry for the low quality).
20. Current bookmark? An advertisement for some manga (I'm too lazy to look)~ I got it from a Japanese bookshop (Kinokuniya)!
21. Strangest object ever used as a bookmark? A hand vacuum 😂 It was a bad book so I didn't care if it cracked the spine.
22. Book sleeves/jackets or no? Usually no, but if I'm freaked out by the cover...I should invest in a book sleeve to cover those up 😂
23. Who's your fictional significant other? I have sooo many~ my most consistent one is Arjuna from the Fate series. It's mostly because there's always new content for him so there's little to no chance of him fading out of existence once fandom is over. Plus, LOOK AT HIM!!!
AAAND AND AND AND!!! After waiting for TWO YEARS for him to come to the NA servers, his new looks are FINALLY arriving!!! LOOKIT HOW PRETTY 😍 he's a magical cat boy now.
[spoiler because images are a bit big (500px at the widest)]
The second stage (last photo) is my favorite form, but nobody draws it~ gee, I wonder why... 🥴
24. Favorite couple? My most recent one is be a bit of a Black Sun spoiler: [Spoiler (click to open)]Xiala and Serapio 😭 I just want them to be happy together!!
25. Favorite villain? I can't think of a single book villain I like because all of the ones I'm thinking of right now are morally reprehensible, boring, and/or I don't really care about.
26. Favorite book adventure? I can only choose one!? I have so many 😭 Delicious In Dungeon by Ryoko Kui is absolutely incredible. It's about a group of adventurers who are much like any other D&D group or Medieval England-like RPG adventurers that don't have much resources but need to go back into a dungeon to save one of their friends. Due to their lack of money and food, they eat whatever they fight in the dungeon and it's hilarious and thrilling. If you've never read a manga series before, let this be your first ☺️
27. Series, duology, trilogy, or standalone? I'm a mood reader so it really depends on how much energy I can dedicate to a subject 😅
28. Mixed media or paragraphs? If it's not something like text messages or letters, I'd prefer paragraphs. Something over the top like House of Leaves gets really distracting.
29. Favorite adaptation?
30. Do you prefer film or TV adaptations? It depends how long and how much there is to a series (worldbuilding, characters, etc). Some are better suited to film, some are better suited to television. Either way, the book is almost always better so NEITHER 😂
31. What's a book that needs adapting? If I weren't worried about any kind of erasure (like whitewashing, Eurocentrism, etc), Black Sun and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.
32. Favorite book world? There are so many amazing, fantastical worlds augh...so hard to choose. It'd have to be a world I can thrive in. Maybe New Game by Shotaro Tokuno because no straight men are in the world and the LGBT+ men who show up have only appeared for like 1 page out of the entire series. Also, everybody wins and everybody is friends or more.
33. Favorite writing style? I absolutely love dual/multiple POV and nonlinear storytelling. I don't know how these incredible authors do it, but they do it soooo well because these styles could easily go wrong.
34. What's a book you love that most people don't know about? I read Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o and The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad and they're both must-have picture books! I know a lot of people know about them, but I think it deserves way more attention.
35. What's a popular book you hated? Sparkly vampires 😂 I think it's hilarious that as it ages, people are slowly realizing that it's blatantly offensive and terrible and people weren't just hating on it for fun--though I wouldn't blame them for that either.
36. Favorite childhood reads? Guess How Much I Love You is still one of my favorite picture books to this day.
37. A book that changed your life? I, Rigoberta Menchu, An Indian Woman In Guatemala. It's a collection of testimonials from indigenous Guatemalan citizens that Menchu compiled. I read this in early college and some of the testimonials still haunt me to this day. My eyes were opened for the first time to the fact that American imperialism and colonialism is still alive and thriving today.
38. What's a book you hated in school? I remember really hating 1984 because it felt like being trapped in the mind of a horny white dude which is a mind I never want to be in. It was so incredibly uncomfortable, especially when he described women /shudders. So gross. It's yesteryear's Ready Player One lol
39. Do you buy to collect? Aaaaaah...yeah. I'm trying to be more intentional about my purchases nowadays.
40. Do you donate books? Ya, I only donate what I want others to enjoy that I liked.
41. Favorite reading snack? I try not to have my books around food because 10000% there will be debris 😭
42. Favorite reading position? On the bed, on my belly, surrounded by blankets and plushies, with my Squishmallow under my chest, and my arms hooked under or around it.
43. Natural light or lamp light? Lamp light~ I hate sitting in the sun because I have really bad eczema that's induced by my body temperature and the climate. If I get a little bit hot, it's over for me 😩
44. Outside or inside? As much as I'd love to read outside, being inside is less likely to be a bazillion degrees. Gotta escape California heat.
45. Breaking the spine or keeping it smooth? Keeping it smooth. I hate cracking spines 😣
46. Do you read in other languages? Very bad traditional Chinese and equally bad Vietnamese.
47. What's a series you want to finish this year? These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. I still stick by the fact that this should have been a standalone. Initially it was supposed to be and it read like that because the pacing is so glacial for like the first 350 pages. This book didn't need to be that long! 😡
48. New releases you're excited about? Oh my god, so many. I'm gonna put some under a spoiler cut because I'm gonna include pictures. This is the danger zone because at least one of these will grab your attention.
[I was able to condense the list to ten LOL]
Ace Of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: A dark academia Gossip Girl meets Get Out about two students and their struggles against an anonymous bully.
Cover Artist: Adeleke Adekunle
Release Date: June 1
The Chosen and The Beautiful by Nghi Vo: A magical, Vietnamese, and sapphic retelling of The Great Gatsby. GIVE THIS TO MEEEEEEEE. I'M SO HAPPY 😭 Nghi Vo is representing our people wellllll 💖
Cover Artist: Greg Ruth
Release Date: June 1
Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto: A rom-com murder mystery that's also a celebration of Chinese-Indonesian mother-daughter relationships.
1 (accidental) murder
2 thousand wedding guests
3 (maybe) cursed generations
4 meddling Asian aunties to the rescue!
Cover Artist: Uncredited 🥴 Waiting for response
Release Date: April 27
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard: A powerful, sapphic, and romantic fantasy that reads like The Goblin Emperor meets Howl’s Moving Castle in a pre-colonial Vietnamese-esque world.
Cover Artist: Alyssa Winans
Release Date: February 9
The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman: Eighteen year old Nami Miyamoto has a great life and it's just getting started. The only problem is that she's been murdered before she gets to her graduation party. She wakes up in the Infinity and must navigate the afterlife to defeat an AI entity intent on destroying humanity.
Also relatable quote: "My favorite video is Animal Crossing for crying out loud. I don't have the life experience to face off with a Terminator." 😂
Cover Artist: Casey Weldon
Release Date: April 6
Muted by Tami Charles: Inspired by true events (the R. Kelly case), Muted is a fearless exploration of the dark side of the music industry, the business of exploitation, how a girl's dreams can be used against her -- and what it takes to fight back.
Cover Artist: Adeleke Adekunle
Release Date: February 2
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong: The conclusion to Gong's Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920's gangland Shanghai. I don't have the most glowing review of These Violent Delights, but it still had a lot of really great strengths that I'm hoping she focuses on more. I'm still amazed that TVD was her debut and she wrote it while in school during the pandemic. I can't wait to see what she can do when she graduates and she can really hone in on her skills.
Cover Artist: billelis(?) they did the first cover so unsure but asked just in case; waiting for response
Release Date: November 16
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron: Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. This is the tale of an inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her.
Cover Artist: Raymond Sebastien
Release Date: July 15
The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad: A sapphic, thrilling, feminist fantasy about a group of teenage girls endowed with special powers who must band together to save the life of the boy whose magic saved them all.
Cover Artist: Alex Cabal
Release Date: August 3
Wild Women and The Blues by Denny S. Bryce: This historical novel flips between two timelines, the Roaring Twenties, and 2015. In the 2015 timeline a young man, Sawyer, is working on a film project for graduate school, trying to piece together what happened to Honoree Dalcour, a scrappy dancer who is trying to work her way up from one speakeasy to another more glamorous speakeasy. Most of the story focuses on the 1925 storyline, although the mystery being uncovered is also about how the 2015 mystery gets tied together.
Cover Artist: n/a
Release Date: March 30
49. Who's your favorite bookish influencer? I have so many, but I made a list of booktubers I love and I'm going to keep making more. Definitely consider watching those!
50. Do you have a channel, blog, or social media page where you talk about books? I just have my Goodreads here which I regularly check. I can't wait for Storygraph to leave beta because GR is so outdated and just a terrible company overall.