Hello, Epic Insiders! It’s another Monday, which means extra coffee, and another day, which means (always) more books! And speaking of…
What Are You Reading?
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So, I finished Queen of the Tiles and discussed it with Tirzah Price on this week’s Hey YA podcast. It was a fun look into Malaysian teen life and the drama of a Scrabble competition. Tirzah made a point of how the author managed to make a Scrabble competition seem intense and action-packed, and I agree! so much so, that I decided to start playing Scrabble myself. I had recently read about word game apps, and about Scrabble’s app, specifically, in a Book Riot article. It has been a bit of a humbling experience, but still a cute one.
My Libby hold for Chinua Achebe’s Collected Poems came through, so I just started that as well. I read Things Fall Apart at my father’s request years ago and really liked it. Like the novel, the poems are about everything Nigeria. From its original religion to philosophy, daily life, and interpersonal relationships. I’m digging it so far!
Then there’s the latest Jujutsu Kaisen chapter that came through on the Shounen Jump app. It was… confusing. It was explaining some character’s power that’s like playing pachinko or something and there was math. This entire arc has a different feel from the rest of the manga, so I’m interested to see how it will end.
Finally, I’ve started Book Lovers by Emily Henry, which has been really fun so far. It’s about a literary agent who is known as a shark for how cutthroat— but efficient— she is when representing her clients. It’s pretty funny and plays around with a lot of romance tropes in interesting ways. For one, the main character Nora is decidedly not a typical kind of romance heroine. She’s a platinum blonde who de-stresses with Peloton sessions and designer shoe shopping. You know those Lifetime movies where a big time city dweller comes to the small town to aid in some small business being absorbed into the larger corporation they work for, only to be charmed into finding love and a change of heart in the small town? Well, Nora is the girlfriend that was left in the city and gets dumped during the male character’s epiphany. Literally. She’s been dumped a few times for those reasons.
She goes on a retreat to a small town in the Carolinas with her pregnant younger sister to lessen the gap she’s been feeling between them, but once there, she realizes editor Charlie Lastra, her nemesis, is also there for some reason. She thinks to avoid him, but starts emailing him, and witty banter ensues.
That’s it for me! What have you been reading this week? Click through to add your reading list to the comments!
– Erica