asian readathon – But First, Kafka

May is always one of my busiest months (birthdays, holidays, the first time in the year when the weather gets nice and suddenly we’re not longer cooped up indoors), so when I signed up for the Asian Readathon for Asian Heritage Month, I was worried I was getting in over my head. I was especially nervous because I’d been in quite a reading slump so far this year, but I surprised myself by not only reading six books for this readathon, but also both of my Book of the Month selections and one (of three, sadly) books from my online book club!

All of the books I selected for this readathon were already on my tbr list, so it felt good to knock that number down a bit. I also made it a goal this year to read more books by POC, so this felt like a perfect reason to do that. If I want to read these books anyway, why not do it during a time to celebrate and bring awareness to these authors and stories (of course, we shouldn’t be reading these books exclusively for one month of the year). What I’m learning is that I really enjoy stories about different cultures, especially those that include mythology and folklore from said cultures. Who knew that young adult fantasy still had my heart?

The Asian Readathon had five simple rules, as follows:
– Read a book written by an Asian author.
– Read a book featuring an Asian character who is a woman AND/OR older.
– Read a book by an Asian author that has a universe you would want to experience OR a universe that is totally different from yours.
– Read a book by an Asian author that has a cover worthy of googly eyes.
– Read a book by an Asian author that has a high rating OR was highly recommended.

I found that all of these books covered multiple rules. For example, The Ones We’re Meant to Find was written by an Asian author, had a universe that is totally different from mine, had a cover worthy of googly eyes, AND was highly recommended by a handful of my friends. In that regard, it was easy to reach this goals of the readathon, and I loved the loose interpretations here. It took a lot of the stress away from the readathon, and I had a lot of fun with it!

I already wrote full reviews for both The Ones We’re Meant to Find and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, but here are some mini reviews for the rest of the books.

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I decided to participate in the Asian Readathon this year for Asian Heritage Month! Reading stories by or about POC, especially Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAIP), is one of my reading goals this year and every year, so why not have more fun with it by partaking in a readathon.

There’s more information on the YouTube video where Cindy explains the challenge in more details. There’s also a Google Doc with information about book clubs and a directory of Asian books for any guidance!

This year’s challenge is loosely themed around ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ and is meant to be easy, accessible, and open to interpretation.

Rules:
Read a book written by an Asian author.
Read a book featuring an Asian character who is a woman AND/OR older.
Read a book by an Asian author that has a universe you would want to experience OR a universe that is totally different from yours.
Read a book by an Asian author that has a cover worthy of googly eyes. 👀
Read a book by an Asian author that has a high rating OR was highly recommended.

These challenges can be combined if you want to make it even easier!

The twist:
You can combine challenges and read in any order; however, EACH book you read should feature a character or author of a different Asian ethnicity. This is to encourage cultural diversity.