recently read: happy place and salt houses
23: by emily henry and hala alyan and my favorite AAPI-authored books
Knowing what book someone is reading and what parts they resonate with most can be so intimate. It reveals their interests, where their head is at, and what excerpts are so significant that they will mark up a page because they think it’s worth revisiting at a later time. I’m fascinated by what books others gravitate towards and I find that it helps me get to know them better and gives me a small glimpse into who they are at their core. No one asked for these book reviews, but maybe it’s my way of showing who I am and what I’m interested in – beyond the clothes, the products, and my career. Or at the very least, encourage some to look up from their phones and instead towards the pages of a good book.
Book no. 23 of 2023
With this winning Best Romance in 2023 and its 4-star review on Goodreads, I know what I’m about to share will be unpopular with most. Between this and Love and Other Words, another popular romance book, I might have to swear off the genre entirely…
This was my first Emily Henry book… and maybe my last. I read the whole book in a day and sure, it was enjoyable enough, like watching an easy, lighthearted romcom, but I couldn’t believe how naive and immature it was. The main characters were hard to like — Wyn was incredibly insecure and Harriet was simple and weak. I wasn’t sold on their love story — I didn’t see the chemistry between the two or how they’d make a convincing couple. The ending was predictable, disappointing and cliche. And at times, the writing sounded like something you’d find on a sign in TJ Maxxx.
This was an instant New York Times #1 Bestseller, but it wasn’t for me. If anyone out there has good romance recommendations that have more substance, please let me know in the comments!
Underlined quotes:
“It wasn’t one moment when everything went wrong… When we lost each other. There were dozens, on either side. Missed signs. Dropped lines.”
“Your job doesn’t have to be your identity. It can just be a place you go, that doesn’t define you or make you miserable.”
“I don’t want to feel like I don’t have time or energy to try anything now because everything I have is getting poured into a job I don’t even like. I don’t want to live my life like a triathlon and all that matters is getting to some imaginary ribbon… I want to enjoy life while it’s happening, not just for where it might get me eventually.”
Book no. 24 of 2023
A beautiful, moving multigenerational tale of a Palestinian family who clash over culture, yearn for home and try to keep their stories and histories alive as they are displaced.
It’s a story of soft men and strong women, strained mother-daughter relationships, and perseverance. It’s a reminder that Palestinians are people in love and who experience heartbreak, people with dreams and with flaws, people with friends and families. It’s a necessary humanization, especially during this awful time when media and politicians seek to dehumanize them and as they become numbers and statistics in death toll counts.
I smiled, I shed tears, and fell in love with its characters. I highly recommend, and recommend all to read it now.
Underlined quotes:
“It was a matter of parallel lives, one person having lamb for supper, the other cucumbers. With fate deciding, at random, which was which.”
“Easier, she thinks, to remember nothing, to enter a world already changed, than have it transform before your eyes.”
“‘I thought I had more time —’ Manar stops, embarrassed… ‘To ask her things.’ ‘About what?’ His granddaughter shrugs, ‘Her life.’”
“What is a life? A series of yeses and noes, photographs you shove in a drawer somewhere, loves you think will save you but that cannot. Continuing to move, enduring, not stopping even when there is pain. That’s all life is, he wants to tell her. It’s continuing.”
“Atef understands that he is changing their lives, these children who will take this moment and make something of it, turn it into their own lives…”
My top 10 favorite books by AAPI authors
Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, says AAPI month is a time to speak out, share stories and debunk myths about Asian communities: Our history is also filled with incredible stories of resilience, of persistence, of determination, to fight for our basic rights… This is a celebration of our history, of our culture…
Echoing that Happy Place was not good (!!) & that Book Lovers is much better (!!)
Happy Place wasn’t my favorite Emily Henry — I kinda struggled with it too. But just in case you haven’t read her others — I really loved People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers! Book Lovers in particular was a favorite.