I am so pumped for this readathon. As May is Asian Pacific American Heritage month, what better way to get involved than by reading a fuck ton of books with Asian characters and/or written by Asian authors??? I’m grateful that Cindy @ readwithcindy organized this event because it seriously helped organize my TBR.
The twist of the readathon is that each book you read should be focused on/written by a different Asian ethnicity. (i.e. two books written by Chinese authors/focused on Chinese main characters will not both count towards the readathon) Time to understand and read diverse Asian experiences, people!
I am also participating in SailorMoonAThon this month (because apparently I want to really challenge myself) and I’ll be posting my TBR very very soon. I’ll be doubling up some of the prompts for the two readathons because I am not, unfortunately, an actual reading machine.
If you want to participate in the readathon please please watch the announcement video here and checkout all of the prompts and book recommendations crowdsourced by the book community here. It’s basically where I crafted by TBR & you are 100% guaranteed to find something you want to read. (I tried my best to read Asian books last May as well and you can find all the books I obsessed over here.)
1. Read a book by an Asian author
The Dragon Republic | R.F. Kuang
This is written by a Chinese author and is a Chinese-inspired fantasy. I’ve already started this book, but decided to hold off reading it so I could read it for this readathon! I was unbelievable pumped when I was approved for an arc of this baby, and I am so excited to dive back in this month. I want to see my Rin bb go w i l d. If you don’t know anything about this book please go ahead and read The Poppy War as soon as humanly possible.
2. Read a graphic novel featuring an Asian character and/or written by an Asian author
The Boat SBS | Matt Huynh
This interactive online graphic novel experience is written by a Vietnamese author. I saw Cindy talk about this interactive graphic novel in her announcement video, and it looked too intriguing to pass up. I studied creative websites for journalim/story purposes in college so this is is my jam.
3. Read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity
One Giant Leap | Heather Kaczynski
I read Dare Mighty Things last month, and I c a n n o t wait to jump back into this story. This follows an Indian main character who lies somewhere on asexual/aromantic spectrum as she competes for the chance to go to space. It’s thrilling and introspective and overall very very fun.
4. Read a book by Asian author that was originally written in their native language
Sailor Moon Vol. 5 | Aoko Takeuchi
(If you don’t already know) This is a Japanese manga series following some pretty bad ass magical girls. I’ve been periodically reading the Sailor Moon manga series since last year, and I’m having a terrific time. I was never super into the series when I was younger, so I’m pretty much experiencing this story for the first time. I feel like when I’m finished (whenever that will be??) I will definitely jump into the anime series.
5. Read the group book
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings | Ellen Oh
I don’t know much about this book besides the fact that it is a short story collection and covers many different Asian experiences. I’m totally fine not knowing any more than that and am excited to get to it sometime during this readathon!
