Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!
This week’s theme is ‘Holiday Reads (Books you love reading during the holiday season)’, and initially I was going to talk about some books I’d recommend in the winter/Christmas time, but I feel like that’s something I’ve talked about before so I’m straying away from the topic this week.
This year I’ve been taking part in the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge, hosted by Shealea @ Shut Up Shealea, CW @ The Quiet Pond, Lily @ Sprinkles of Dreams and Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads, a reading challenge designed to encourage us readers to reach for the Asian authors on our bookshelves. My aim was to read between 1-10 books by Asian authors, while hoping I might read more, and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve read 7. That’s not even one a month.
What’s really frustrating is that of that 7, I’ve read 4 novels, 1 novella and 2 novelettes. Both of the novelettes are by Zen Cho, so I’ve only actually read 6 Asian authors this year, and of the 7 I haven’t had a single 5 star read and 3 of them ended up being really disappointing reads.
Gah! Needless to say, I’m frustrated with my progress for this challenge this year, especially when there’s so much Asian-inspired fantasy I’m still so excited to pick up and just haven’t been reaching for. I don’t know why.
So this week, I thought I’d share 10 own voices Asian-inspired fantasy books I own copies of that are still on my TBR. I need to kick my butt into gear and read these damn books!
The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan: Unlike the other books on this list, which are all high fantasy, this novel is contemporary fantasy and I think the only reason I haven’t reached for it yet is that I haven’t really read any contemporary this year. I do love the sound of this one, though! I love stories about mothers and daughters, so it’s time I got to this one.
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang: I got a copy of this through NetGalley and still haven’t read it because I’m trash. I really want to get to it, I’ve just been putting it off because I know parts of it are going to be an absolute gut-punch to read.
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang: This is one I’m planning to read before the end of the year! I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about this self-published novel and I want to know what all the fuss is about.
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: This book has been on my TBR for years and I’ve started it before, but put it down because I wasn’t quite in the mood for it. I believe this book is the first in a trilogy, and while the second book has also been out for a while I don’t know when the third book’s coming so, much like The Name of the Wind, I think it’s one I’m putting off until I know there’s an end in sight.
Jade City by Fonda Lee: This is another one I’ve tried starting a couple of times and just haven’t been in the mood for. I’m determined not to give up, though, because I feel like I could love this one.
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco: Witches! Why haven’t I read this one yet? I know Jolien @ The Fictional Reader loves this one, so it’s about time I got to it.
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh: Women posing as men is one of my favourite tropes in historical and fantasy fiction, and I love the sound of this novel, but after I really didn’t like Ahdieh’s latest novel, The Beautiful, I’m a little nervous that her writing style isn’t for me.
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan: I KNOW. I keep talking about how I want to read this novel and how its premise is one of those stories I’ve always wanted even though I never knew it, but because it deals with sexual assault I’ve been putting it off simply because I kind of hate reading about sexual assault. I find it really upsetting, and I have to be in the right mood for it.
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He: This debut novel includes outlawed magic, another favourite trope of mine, and with a heroine thrust into power after the unexpected death of her father it’s giving me The Goblin Emperor vibes. Considering The Goblin Emperor is my favourite book, I need to read this.
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri: To be honest I know very little about this novel, but it’s set in a world based on Mughal India and that’s a setting I just don’t see enough, which is why I picked up a copy for my Kindle when it was fairly cheap. Plus it’s published by Orbit, who are one of my favourite SFF publishers.
Which books made your list this week?
The Sword of Kaigen! Yes Read that now. And Girls of Paper and Fire, and poppy war and Jade city. Some of my favorites of this year!
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It’s soo easy to get behind on thing we’re interested in or think we should have read by now. Timing can be so weird! Regardless, I hope you love and appreciate each of these as you get to them. I have a lot of great things to say about quite a few of these but I’m going to single out The Poppy War–the two books that have been released are some of my favourites I’ve read this year, so I am excited to see what you think!!
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Jade City is one of my favorites! I’m in the middle of Jade War right now and it’s brilliant. By the way, I’ve been listening to the audiobooks.
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I have a ton of these titles still on my TBR too so you’re not alone. The Poppy War is one I definitely want to read soon though. I’ve seen nothing but wonderful reviews for it.
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Ahhh I really hope you’ll get to read The Astonishing Color soon. It was such a beautiful, beautiful read, I loved it so much ❤
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I haven’t read any of these, either, but I hope you love them all!
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Thanks! 🙂
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Sad to say I haven’t read any of these, but some of them do look and sound like books that would appeal to me. I’ll await your reviews! 🙂
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Thanks Lisa! I’ll definitely be reviewing all of these when I get to them.
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Nice topic! I remember wanting to read Jade City. All of these look pretty great though.
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Thanks! 🙂
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I hope you get to read these soon. They look great!
My TTT
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Thanks, I hope so too! 😀
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Oh, I have The Poppy War on my Kindle and The Bone Witch on my TBR! Great list.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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Thanks! I hope you enjoy them both when you get to them. 🙂
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You must read Empire of Sand! It is one of the most beautiful novels I’ve ever read. I also need to get to several of these.
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I’ll go ahead and bump that one up my TBR!
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I hope you get to all of these in 2020. Good luck!
Here are some holiday reads I would like to read: My Top Ten Tuesday.
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Thanks! 🙂
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This is a wonderful list of books with so many of my favorites 😍😍😍
And I have Empire of Sand and Sword of Kaigen on my tbr too… I’ve only heard great things about them, so I hope both of us love them too 😊😊😊
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Thanks! I’m so excited for The Sword of Kaigen, I hope we both enjoy it. 😀
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The Poppy War, The Sword of Kaigen and Jade City are all on my list as well. There really are a lot of great Asian inspired fantasy books out there😁
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I hope you enjoy all of those when you get to them! 🙂
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This is such a great list. I’m saving it to refer to later. I’ve been reading even less Asian literature than you have, and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that.
My TTT.
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Thanks Lydia! It can be so hard to fit in everything we want to read, can’t it?
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I still need to read the astonishing colour of after!! I have bought that book aaaages ago and it’s still languishing unread on my book shelves 🙈
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Haha it’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one! I hope we both enjoy it. 😀
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These look great! Will have to add some to my own list~
Lotte | http://www.lauvlotte.wordpress.com
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I hope you enjoy them if you reach for any of them!
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I still want to read a BUNCH of these books too. The Astonishing Color of After was actually on my list of books to still read before 2020.
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*is. It IS on my list and I WILL read it. Haha
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It’s good to know I’m not the only one!
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Girls of Paper and Fire is an amazing book. I just bought book 2 next month. All these books look amazing.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it, I really want to cross it off my TBR!
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