Hi, friends! Can’t believe Q1 of 2025 has come and gone already… I am happy for the longer days and spring weather we’ve been having despite the pollen (I have been medicated regularly for days)! SAY NOTHING by Patrick Radden Keefe A bit embarrassing but I told a lot of people about this already—I was one of those people who didn’t know Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were two separate countries (until last year, gasp). I had read a number of books set in both Ireland and Northern Ireland but always thought Northern Ireland was Northern part of Ireland, sort of like New England region of the US. That…

Hi, friends! February was a short month but I read quite a bit, though a couple of my reads are technically not real books… here’s everything I read last month: THE MAKING OF ASIAN AMERICA by Erika Lee Asian Americans are often left out of American history, and it’s important for me that I make efforts to seek out stories about Asian people in America. The Making of Asian America may be the most recent, comprehensive work about Asian American History as it covers events that predate the founding of the United States all the way through mid-2010s. Unsurprisingly, I learned so much while reading The Making of Asian America–the…

Hi, friends! Now that January is FINALLY over (it’s always the longest month of the year…), I’m sharing my thoughts on the six books I read in January: ALL ABOUT LOVE by bell hooks This was a partial re-read since I attempted to read All About Love a while back but I tend to be slower with this genre/format (a collection of “self-help” essays) and I had to return the library book before I could finish it. Reading a chapter or two each day but not every day, it took me a couple of weeks to finish All About Love and I see myself returning to it (at least certain…

Happy New Year, friends! Hope the holidays were good to you and that 2025 has been good to you so far. Today, I’m sharing the five books I read in December: LOVELY ONE by Ketanji Brown Jackson Naturally, I expected the memoir of the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court to be inspirational, which it absolutely is. My biggest takeaway from Lovely One was that the Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has lived such a full life. From having grown up as a debate kid in Florida to being a theatre kid in Harvard to successfully raising her two daughters with her college sweetheart while both continue to…

Happy December, friends! Almost a week into the month, and I’m finally getting around to sharing my November reads on here. I’ll blame it on Thanksgiving being so late this year which did throw me off. LAST BOAT OUT OF SHANGHAI by Helen Zia Since reading Shanghai Girls years ago, I’ve wanted to learn more about Shanghai and Chinese history in general. I’m pretty sure I learned about Last Boat Out of Shanghai on TikTok, perhaps from an author interview? As the name suggests, Last Boat Out of Shanghai is about those who left China before Mao and the Communists took control of the country. They come from different worlds…