Tag: Book Recommendation

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

CW @ The Quiet Pond26 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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Year of the Asian Reading Challenge – Book Recommendations for April’s Prompt: Power!

CW @ The Quiet Pond14 Comments

Varian the green toad wearing armour, holding a sword in front of them. Text underneath: BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Year of the Asian reading challenge; April Prompt: Power!

It’s a new month today, and you feel like checking up with Varian today. The last time you had tea with them, they showed you some books to read for the Year of the Asian reading challenge, and they were wearing a cute panda costume! It’s been awhile since, but Varian did briefly mention in your last visit that they were working on something super big and cool.

When you find Varian at their side of the pond, they’re wearing something super cool – a shining suit of armour! They look great in their costume, and are holding a big broadsword in their webbed hands.

varian - yarc2019apr“Hello friend!” Varian greets, walking up to you. “I’ve been so eager to show you. What do you think? My previous costumes have all used soft material, but I thought I’d try my hand in using harder materials and something more exciting.” They hold the sword out in front of you, and strike a pose like a warrior ready for battle!

You tell them what you think of their costume, and Varian beams at you. “I appreciate your honesty, friend. I think I still need to work on my colour choices. I didn’t want it all to be the same shade of red. I’ll improve for next time!

“What I wanted to share with you was my inspiration for this suit of armour. For the Year of the Asian reading challenge, it’s all about power!” Varian pauses for a moment. “But in saying that, power isn’t only expressed and embodied in physical strength, and that power can sometimes be invisible, insidious, or empowering.”

You nod. Indeed! And so you settle down by their spot by the pond, and listen to what book recommendations Varian has for today.

Hello friends! Welcome to April and our fourth month of the Year of the Asian reading challenge!

I hope all of you are going well with your reading challenges so far (be sure to let me know your progress in the comments below)! 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.

This month’s prompts, to help you find some neat reads, is POWER! Power is such a fun prompt, so I’m super excited to recommend some books all about power to you all today.Read More »

My Year of the Asian Reading Challenge TBR, West & South Asian Book Recommendations — and An Apology

CW @ The Quiet Pond31 Comments

Text: YEAR OF THE ASIAN, A 2019 READING CHALLENGE. My very west and south asian tbr, and an apology. Image is of Xiaolong the pink axolotl wearing an upside down purple flower hat eating a bowl of rice, and holding chopsticks.

Hello friends. 💛

Welcome to my TBR for the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge! Yes, I know: it’s already February, I am one of the co-hosts, and why haven’t I made my TBR yet?! To be fair, I’ve been absolutely swamped with my Masters (only a week and a bit to go before hand in, good grief 😭), and have been writing up my blog posts in the dead of the night after a whole day of writing. Phew. I can’t wait for this Masters thesis to be over.

(Also, I apologise for the recycled graphic today! Unfortunately I’m a bit pressed for time and couldn’t draw something new, but look out for a special TBR illustration the next time I share books I plan to read.)

But, before I get onto my TBR, there’s something that needs to be said, which has shaped the TBR that I will be sharing with you all today.

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