Tag: Book Recommendation

Year of the Asian Reading Challenge – Book Recommendations for September’s Prompt: Mental Illness Awareness!

CW @ The Quiet Pond9 Comments

book recommendations: asian books about mental illness

Hello friends, and welcome back to the Pond! It is the beginning of September, which means that we are now in our ninth month of the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge! (Where does time go?)

In case you haven’t heard, myself and three brilliant book bloggers (Lily, Shealea, and Vicky) are hosting the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge (or YARC!), a year-long reading challenge dedicated to reading Asian literature by Asian authors.

Our September prompt is one that is both exciting and important: mental health awareness.

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Loved This Ghibli Film? Read This Book! Book Recommendations with Varian the Toadshifter

CW @ The Quiet Pond32 Comments

Text: Book Recommendations: Loved this Ghibli film? Read this book! Image: Varian the Toadshifter wearing San from Princess Mononoke's red mask, wearing a fluffy white cape, and holding San from Princess Mononoke's knife.

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening friends! What do you think of Varian’s costume of San from Princess Mononoke? Princess Mononoke is perhaps my favourite Ghibli film of all time; it’s a beautiful story with powerful themes and compelling characters, especially San, the human girl raised by wolves.

In case you’re new to the Pond’s recommendation posts, the recommendation posts are brought to you by Varian, the Pond’s very own Toadshifter who is knowledgeable in all kinds of magic! One of Varian’s ambitions is to get better at sewing, hence why whenever Varian has shown you their latest costume, they will always recommend a book that inspired that costume.

As you might have already guessed, today’s book recommendations theme is ‘Studio Ghibli’. Read More »

Book Recommendations with Varian – YA Science-Fiction/Fantasy With F/F Romances!

CW @ The Quiet Pond27 Comments

Book Recommendations: Young Adult SFF with F/F Romances. Images: Varian the toad wearing a shirt that reads 'Master Mischief was right about the cheese'

Welcome back to the Pond, friends! I hope you are all reading some wonderful books and are ready to add more to your to-read list today!

In case you’re new to the Pond’s recommendation posts, the recommendation posts are brought to you by Varian, the Pond’s very own Toadshifter who is knowledgeable in all kinds of magic! One of Varian’s ambitions is to get better at sewing, hence why whenever Varian has shown you their latest costume, they will always recommend a book that inspired that costume.

We have been blessed with more books that more sapphic representation lately, and I’m excited to share even more with you all today. I thought I would spice up today’s book recommendation post by recommending you all books that not only have f/f representation, but are also science-fiction/fantasy stories as well. Reading stories about queer girls always makes my heart happier, and I hope you all can add some of these books to your to-read lists!

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Year of the Asian Reading Challenge – Book Recommendations for June’s Prompt: Pride!

CW @ The Quiet Pond32 Comments

Text: Book recommendations, queer Asian characters. Image: Varian the toad, wearing a rainbow skirt and holding a rainbow flag over their head, smiling.

Today is the first day of June! And you know what that means: it’s the first day of Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

You visit the Pond, feeling a lot of emotions today. You decide to visit Varian the Toadshifter – they’ll know exactly what you need.

An illustration of Varian the toad, wearing a rainbow skirt and holding a big rainbow flag about their head, smiling. They wear a sash that says, #YARC, with an aromantic and asexual pin.When you find Varian, they are wearing their rainbow skirt (the one that they wore a few months ago when you first met them!) and they’re holding a really big rainbow flag.

“Happy Pride, friend!” they greet, jumping over to you while waving their big rainbow flag. They sense how you are feeling, and they give you a smile in solidarity. “I understand, my friend. Pride can bring out a lot of feelings – some are positive and joyful, some may be feeling like they are not enough, and some may feel like they don’t belong. But the thing is, friend, you and the others who feel like they are not enough or feel like they don’t belong? They are enough. And they do belong.”

Image: Varian pointing to a pin attached to their sash; the pins are of the aromantic and asexual flag.They point to the pins stuck to their sash. “I’m wearing these pins in solidarity of my asexual and aromantic friends out there. Pride month is for all queer friends, and all I want is for my queer friends, especially asexual and aromantic friends, to feel joy and love.”

They settle down by the Pond, and gesture for you to join them by the water. “Today, I want to share with you some books that you can read! Xiaolong is still helping out with the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge, so she asked me to recommend some books with queer Asian characters to you!”

This sounds delightful! And you’re always looking for more books to read. You tuck in, set yourself down next to Varian, and listen to the books they have to recommend.

Hello friends! Welcome to June and our sixth month of the Year of the Asian reading challenge!

In case you haven’t heard, myself and three brilliant book bloggers (Lily, Shealea, and Vicky) are hosting the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge (or YARC!), a year-long reading challenge dedicated to reading Asian literature by Asian authors.

Now that it’s June (I… can’t believe it’s June already?) it’s time for a new prompt to help you find some reads! This month’s prompt is PRIDE, just in time for Pride Month where we celebrate all our queer friends. Therefore, for June, our recommendations are centered around novels with queer and Asian main characters. This month, read a book in which the main character is queer, whether it is stated outright or mentioned more subtly.Read More »

Book Recommendations with Varian – Happy Asian Pacific Heritage Month! Books By Maori and Pasifika Authors

CW @ The Quiet Pond18 Comments

varian - pasifika

It’s been two weeks since Varian showed you their cross-stitching, and you’re back at the Pond today to see what books (and costume!) Varian is going to show you today.

You approach their spot in the Pond, but they don’t look like they are there. You crane your neck, looking around, when you hear —

“Hello friend!”

You jump, startled! Varian was standing by a flower bush of red flowers, and they blended right in! Varian is wearing a dress, with red flowers sewn onto its ruff collar!

Varian the toad wearing a green leafy dress, with red flowers. Holding a flag with the words #APAHM on the flag.Seeing you jump, they chuckle. “I’m sorry to have scared you, friend. I wanted to surprise you – really surprise you! – with my new costume. I suppose I am getting better because I blended in with Gen’s flowers.” They pull at the collar slightly, and adjust the red flower so it sits up right. “But I really wanted to make a costume befitting for the books I want to share with you today!”

Oh yes! The books! You were so bedazzled by Varian’s dress you completely forgot. Now you are definitely excited to hear about the books they have to share with you today.

Hello friends, and welcome back to the Pond! 💛

Welcome to another one of Varian’s recommendation posts. In case you’re new to the Pond’s recommendation posts, the recommendation posts are brought to you by Varian, the Pond’s very own Toadshifter who is knowledgeable in all kinds of magic! One of Varian’s ambitions is to get better at sewing, hence why whenever Varian has shown you their latest costume, they will always recommend a book that inspired that costume.

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