What I Read in August 2025

Hi, friends! Here’s everything I read in August (a few days into September because I just got back from my first trip to Chicago!!):

JADE LEGACY by Fonda Lee

You know I am obsessed with Jade City series, and I am happy to report that Jade Legacy, the last book of the trilogy, did not disappoint! In each Jade City book, the Kaul family faces new challenges on another magnitude. Jade Legacy spans across several decades and the world beyond Kekon. The way Fonda Lee develops the story over the three books paints the earlier struggles smaller in retrospect but it really speaks to her ambition and ability in developing the world of Green Bones. I am still not over the series, and now I am harassing Rex to read the series ASAP!!!

THE DRAGONS, THE GIANT, THE WOMEN by Wayétu Moore

In The Dragons, The Giant, The Women, Wayétu Moore writes about her family’s escape from Liberia’s first Civil War (which I knew very little about), the new life they build for themselves in the United States, and her eventual return to Liberia. Moore writes beautifully in a way that really reflects her lived experience at that time (for example, the part of her journey from Monrovia to the village of Lai is told through the lens of a freshly five-year old). Some chapters are from her mother’s perspective from when she was a graduate student living in New York with no way to reach her family following the onset of the Civil War, which added more context and perspective to the story.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Jane Austen

Influenced by my friend Megan, I decided to do “Austen in August.” Sense and Sensibility was my third Jane Austen book, and I found it to be quite different from the other two I read. Sense and Sensibility follows two sisters Elinor and Marianne, who represent sense and sensibility respectively, and their hopes, prospects, and heartbreaks. The narrative gradually switches to center Elinor’s views and feelings over Marianne’s but I found the beginning chapters to be equally lukewarm towards both sisters so it took longer to form an attachment to the characters. That was exacerbated by fact that I was not as familiar with the overall plot of Sense and Sensibility as I did with Pride and Prejudice and Emma going into it as well as Sense and Sensibility being a much shorter body of work so you don’t have as much time to become invested in the story. However, it was still a lovely read!

THE HOUSEMAID, THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET, THE HOUSEMAID’S WEDDING & THE HOUSEMAID IS WATCHING by Freida McFadden

My older sister Jiyoung and I had a very bookish day in July, and we got each other books we each really enjoyed for us to read. My pick was The Poppy War Series (have you seen the new covers?!), and Jiyoung’s pick for me was The Housemaid Series. I had cancelled my library holds on The Housemaid audiobooks after months of waiting so I was happy to finally read them!

While waiting for the Housemaid audiobook holds, I had listened to a couple of Freida McFadden’s other books (The Teacher & The Boyfriend) so I thought I knew what to expect but The Housemaid series read quite different? I will even say that each book in the The Housemaid series read very differently despite the fact that they all follow the same protagonist Nina, who works as maid for rich families, thus the title of the books. There are turns and twists and plenty of suspense if thriller is your genre!

A MAP OF HOME by Randa Jarrar

A Map of Home is a coming-of-age story of Nidali, the first-born child of Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, whose childhood spans across the globe as she is born in Boston, spends her childhood days in Kuwait and then later in Egypt following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait before being back in the US, but this time in Texas rather than Boston. Nidali is rebellious, charming, and humorous despite the hardships she encounters and survives. This debut novel (the author has a number of publications under her belt now) reads like a real memoir, and I had to keep reminding myself it’s a work of fiction!

P.S. I’m currently reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelly for AP Lit Book Club. Up next is R. F. Kuang’s new book Katabasis which I just picked up while in Chicago over the weekend!