I’m in the biggest reading mood so I decided to spend my weekend reading as many books as I can. So grab yourself a cup of tea or a beverage of your choice and follow me along as I take you through my weekend of reading!
Let’s Pick Out Some Books
The hardest thing for me is picking out what I want to read. Now that the weekend is finally here, I’m itching to pick up some books that I can get sucked into and loose myself in. This work week and the past weekend, I spent most of my time trying to finish “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. It’s a pretty slow moving book with flowery writing and this heavy, dream like atmosphere. One of the things that really stood out from my experience with “The Night Circus” is how the story started off all beautiful and fantastical and then ever so slightly transitioned into something much more drearier and heavier in tone. It’s hard to explain but one minute, you’re reading about this beautiful circus that attracts guests from all over the world and then the next minute you’re reading about a story with to a sinkhole like predicament that threatens to upend everything.
All that said, it wasn’t the must uplifting book. So I know that whatever I decide to read this weekend, it’s got to be some mindless entertainment. Lucky for me, I took a trip to the library and the bookstore the evening before and I got a good selection to choose from.
After much compilation, I decided to go with:
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
- Ice Planet Barbarians – Ruby Dixon
- Emma – Jane Austen
I like how I wanted to read fast, easy books and have “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” on my weekend TBR. I don’t know much about this book other than it was mentioned in Hannah’s video of her favorite reads and decided to give it a go. I’m more of a “go with the flow” reader so I don’t really set reading goals for myself but I somehow managed to find one involuntarily after January came to a wrap. I really want to try reading books that are out of my comfort zone or in a genre I don’t really read.
I can strongly say that I haven’t been itching for a romance constantly like I did last year. So January was a month of reads like “Station Eleven” and “Dava Shastri’s Last Day”. I’ve read sci fi, dystopian (?), general/contemporary fiction, and magical realism. And I loved it. I loved dipping my toes in all these different genres.
So when I knew I wanted to spend this weekend reading, I knew that I wanted to pick up another general fiction novel and when Hannah mentioned Ocean Vuong’s novel, I decided to pick it up from the bookstore.
On the topic of picking up books that are out of my comfort zone, I decided to pick up “Emma” as well. I’ve been listening to the movie score while working and it’s just so cheerful and soft. It’s making me want to watch that movie but as a reader, I feel like I need to fulfill my reader duties and read the book first.
This will be my second Jane Austen. I think it was almost two years ago, that I read “Pride and Prejudice”. I struggled getting into it but as soon as I reached the second half, I got sucked in. So getting a copy of “Emma” wasn’t too much of an outlandish decision for me. I’m definitely not planning to read this book in a day. This is going to be a weekend read where I read a couple of pages until I get sucked into the plot and decide to stick with it as my main read. I don’t want to force myself to read classics because I’m already overwhelmed by them and by forcing the reading, I’m worried I won’t get the full experience of diving into Jane Austen’s writing.
I have a feeling “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is going to be a pretty heavy read so I know I need a book to lift me back up. That’s where “Ice Planet Planet Barbarians” came in. This has gotten quite the buzz on the internet and I’ve seen some romance youtubers I follow talking about it last year so it’s time for me to check it out as well.
Day One – Friday
I’ve been waking up super early the past few days so I managed to get a hard start on this book and wow, I’m so glad I started off my weekend with this book. I will forever stand by the fact that sometimes, we find the books that we need when we need them. “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is a book that will stay with me forever.
The writing is an explosion of beautiful and at times, violent imagery that you’re not going to find anywhere else. Just ender 300 pages, this book will build you up and destroy you in a multitude of ways. This book follows the coming of age of a young Vietnamese boy grow up in a world far away from the war ridden land his family escaped from but somehow carry out his life still trapped in that very war. Major trigger warnings for PTSD, addiction, abuse, grief, war horrors, animal cruelty, and slurs. There were certain descriptions of things that occurred during the war that were incredibly descriptive and disturbing and if you’re planning to eat while reading this book, I wouldn’t. There was only one major scene with the disturbing imagery that you want to avoid while eating but it’s hard to describe since there aren’t any chapter numbers.
Sitting with my cup of tea at 6 a.m, I read the quotes that opened the novel: “But let met see if — using these words as a little plot of land my life as a cornerstone — I can build you a center” by Qiu Miajoin. That’s exactly what this book did. The entirety of this novel was a letter drafted by Little Dog to his mother. The letter is an outpouring of everything Little Dog hasn’t been able to tell his mother and the decision to choose a letter as his mode of communication is symbolically powerful considering the fact that his mom doesn’t know how to read English. In other words, this letter is full of raw vulnerability and honesty that he has never been able to tell or convey to his mother.
This book had the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read. I honestly need to read it again. In fact, the one thing I would say if you plan to read this book is that even though it’s small, don’t read it one sitting. It’s such a heavy read with sentences full of meaning and purpose that it’s better to take it in like an expensive cup of wine. Take it in slowly so you can enjoy the richness of it all.
I don’t want this to be a review but this book is now an all time favorite so I’ll leave it at that. I finished this book fairly fast and even as I write this weekend reading wrap up, I can’t get the words out of my mind. I’ve fallen in love with Ocean’s writing and I know that as soon as the sun rises again, I’m going to the bookstore to get his other works.
Day Two – Saturday
I’m so happy that I picked up Ocean’s book first because that book was so heavy and has quickly become my favorite but it’s time for something much easier and light hearted to read. What better book to pick up next then an alien-human romance? I’m hoping that “Ice Planet Barbarians” is the exact opposite of what “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is.
A Morning Update:
Oh my… when I said I’m excited for this book to be the opposite of Ocean’s book, I didn’t know how literal that statement was going to turn out. I’m only fifty pages in but the writing in this book is just something. I don’t want to be mean and writing is subjective but I found the writing to be a bit cringey? One can argue that all the romance books I read are cringe which is fair but I think that everyone has their specific level of cringe they are willing to deal with or look past and this book toed the line in the first few pages. There are so many weird phrases like “Billy the badass” and “silly Susan” that feel so out of place and jarring to read? It adds such a comedic tone to the narrative that I don’t think was intentional. Also, the group of girls we’re just introduced to are quite annoying.
There’s this one character named Liz who’s way too sunshine and rainbows for being trapped in a pod that just crashed after they spent way too long in a pod with their feces flying everywhere. I couldn’t believe how Liz ganged up on this one girl, the only girl, with common sense and survival instincts. Liz literally just said, “Maybe you shouldn’t offer suggestions”.
There’s also just a couple of technical writing errors. I’m not usually a picky reader when it comes to the technical aspects of the writing but I think that with the annoying, way too happy tone of certain characters in this book so far, I’m just picking them up a bit more.
I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit nervous lol.
Evening Update:
Well. That was an experience. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading this book in almost one or two sittings and I really enjoyed it. This book ended up to be quite an entertaining read. In the beginning, I really wasn’t liking the writing but as soon as Vektal, our hero alien, was introduced and he called Georgie his Shoershie, I was hooked. There was just something so innocent and precious about him and I loved reading how that contrasted with his need to protect her at all cause. I didn’t mind the writing as much when the plot follow just the two main characters but in all the scenes where Georgie was interacting with her fellow humans, I was harshly reminded why I didn’t mesh with the writing. It was also surprisingly a very fast read and a short one as well so if you’re looking for an entertaining read, I suggest picking this one up!