Back on my now-defunct blog, I used to try to recap what I was reading at the half-way mark and at the end of the year—both to mixed success. It appears the last time I did the “Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag” was in 2021… so, clearly, it’s time to do it again!
For those unfamiliar with this tag, it’s typically a series of questions asked to readers who then answer them based on the books they’ve already read in the year. Most often, this happens on Booktube and I think Instagram? But I’m doing it here, too. Why not? Feel free to follow along at home and answer these yourself!
Question 1 - Best Book You've Read So Far?
Based on the next question, I’m putting down Out by Natsuo Kirino for this one. This is a book I saw get talked a lot about on booktok (which I’ve observed from the periphery) and not many other places, to be honest. It’s certainly not the most stunning, prose-wise, but it’s an excellent examination of the characters it is about and a rivetting read the whole way through. Out is about four Japanese women who work the overnight shift at a bento box factory and how all their lives unravel when one of them murders her husband. It does an excellent job examining this initial action and its ramifications and was a thrill the whole way through.
Question 2- Best Sequel You've Read So Far?
Hands down, this goes to Jade War by Fonda Lee. I was going to put this for #1 as well, but I feel like that’s cheating. I love how Fonda Lee took the elements she set up in Jade City and expanded upon them and how the plot continues to unfold. I’m about 3/4ths through Jade Legacy now and the fun just doesn’t stop. Also, Fonda has an incredible way with writing the most shocking scenarios.
Question 3 - New Release You Haven't Read Yet But Want To?
I have several answers for this, so here’s a list:
When the Stars Alight by Camilla Andrews
Untethered by Fonda Lee
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon
Jade Shards by Fonda Lee
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon (waiting for it at the library)
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Question 4 - Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year?
I think the only one on the above list not out yet is Camp Damascus (update, according to him, it is), so I’m going with that one. I’ve always observed Chuck Tingle from afar and think he’s a modern wonder of the publishing industry, so I’m excited to see him write a more “serious” work and what he does with it!
Question 5 - Biggest Disappointment?
A lot of what I’ve read, to be honest, I knew I either wasn’t going to enjoy and didn’t, knew I would enjoy and did, or thought I wouldn’t like it and was surprised by it. That in mind, I think my default answer is Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk. I did have fun reading this book, and think there’s a few vital lessons I was able to take from Palahniuk’s advice. That said, he made a lot of… questionable statements at times, like this one:
"To sell an extra hundred thousand books, depict a white person teaching a black person how to read. White people who love to read think everyone should love to read. Plus it flatters readers to show them a character who can’t read. It’s the ultimate way to make your reader feel superior and thus to sympathize with a character. Best of all, it validates reading as a pastime. Whether it’s the movie Fame or Driving Miss Daisy or The Color Purple, teaching a black person to read is a plot device that never, ever gets old."
Which is… definitely a choice. A bad one at that.
Question 6 - Biggest Surprise?
I think this one goes to Dark Wizard by Jeffe Kennedy. I picked this up during one of those “stuff your Kindle” events because it seemed like one of the more interesting out of the lot. It’s not my favorite book ever, and I can’t say I’m interested enough to see how the rest of the series plays out, but for a book I thought I was going to end up hate-reading… I didn’t. That’s a surprise all on its own. And I kind of liked it, all things considered. So it has that going for it.
Question 7 - Favorite New Author?
I definitely want to read more works by Natsuo Kirino, so her! I’ve only read Out, but the last time I was at Barnes and Nobel, there was another book of hers there.
Question 8 - Newest Fictional Crush?
As I’ve said in years past, I don’t really have fictional crushes. The closest we’ll get is Kaul Shaelinsan. She could murder me. The most character of all time.
Question 9 - Newest Favorite Character?
Can’t say I have a NEW favorite, to be honest. This answer could also go to Shae. Really, most of the characters from that series.
Question 10 - Book that Made You Cry?
This one is going to go to Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson. It’s a book a therapist recommended to me a long time ago and only got around to reading more recently. While it’s not necessarily “good” that I related and took some valuable lessons from this book, it was reassuring, at least.
Question 11 - Book that Made You Happy?
A lot of what I’ve read so far has been pretty dismal, to be honest, or about darker subjects… So do I really have a good answer here? I don’t know.
Question 12 - Most Beautiful Book You've Bought this Year?
I’ve stopped buying books for the most part and will get them via the libary if I can—with an exception-ish to ebooks. That said, I think this one goes to The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall. I didn’t technically buy this one—a friend bought it for me cause they wanted me to read it—but I’m going to count it nonetheless.
Question 13 - What Books Do You Need to Read By the End of the Year?
I read many books at the same time, so here’s a non-exhaustive list of what I’m reading that needs to be finished AND books I’m planning on reading soon. The current list of books I need to read is as follows:
Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee (finished this one actual I AM IN TEARS)
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Three, edited by Paula Guran
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Mythos by Stephen Fry
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Dangerous Women edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
Dragon Soul by LJ Swallow
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
The Psychology of Zelda edited by Anthony M. Bean, PHD
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The Pool of Two Moons by Kate Forsyth
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Sorceress and the Incubus by Mallory Dunlin
The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
The Throne of the Five Winds by S. C. Emmett
When the Stars Alight by Camilla Andrews
Deep Roots by Vanessa Roades
Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North
Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate edited by Sannion (which. Yikes dude. Considered stopping cause of that tbh)
But what about you? Have you read anything fun lately? Do you have anything you're itching to read? Let me know below!