The Wordsmith's Forge

1. What are you currently reading?

• What Fresh Hell is This? Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You by Heather Corinna: my Libby loan on this ended with me about 50% through, so I've moved it to paused. I'm actually a little dubious on how helpful I'm finding it but meh. I put a new hold on it and I guess I'll decide if I'm gonna keep going when I get it again.
• Babel by R. F. Kuang: finally started this and am kinda kicking myself for waiting so long to start it.
• XXXHolic Omnibus vol. 3 by CLAMP: started this yesterday, not much else to say.
• 天官赐福 manhua vol. 3 by 墨香铜臭: I've been waking up obnoxiously early this week, which has at least had the positive effect that I've managed to read a chapter of this a day the last few days.

2. What have you recently finished reading?

• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: ended up with decidedly mixed feelings about this. I have the kind of frustration toward it that I usually get toward things I feel were so close to being fantastic but missed in little ways.
• Kaiju No. 8: Exclusive on the Third Division by Keiji Ando and Naoya Matsumoto: this is a light novel canon-insert between events shown in some of the novel volumes. Ultimately pointless, but I like this 'verse enough that it was nice to get to spend more time with the characters.
• Ogi's Summer Break vol. 2 by Koikawa: (modern BL, gender nonconforming mc) I reserved judgement on this after volume 1 but now that I'm done with the duology... this was a mess.
• Is This the Kind of Love I Want? vol. 1 by Kouki: modern BL with an established relationship between a gay man and a "straight" man. I'm always here for characters who are solidly adults. I'm hoping the second vol. wraps things up nicely (I've got a hold on it on Libby).
• Kaiju No. 8 vol. 13 by Naoya Matsumoto: of course grabbed this as soon as I saw it at the local library and finished it within a few hours.
• Witch Hat Aterlier vol. 9 by Kamome Shirahama
• Renegade Girls by Nora Neus: cute historical wlw that I was judging harshly on a few points up until I found out the main characters were both based on real historical figures. So like. It's just history that middle class white women took the mantle that should have belonged to others, sigh.
• The Science of Ghosts by Lilah Sturges: very interesting ghost story with a wlw trans woman lead that I was enjoying until the end. I seem to have stumbled on a run of "main character has to give up everything they enjoy doing/have poured their passion into for the sake of a partner" stories. This is my third in like two weeks. Ugh.
• Yona of the Dawn vol. 14 by Mizuho Kusanagi: I'm almost out of volumes the library has (again) and sigh.
• FANGS vol. 3 by Billy Balibally: (modern vampire BL) there's no volume 4 yet and I take that as a personal attack.
• Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 18 by Koyoharu Gotouge
• Blue Exorcist vol. 1 by Kazue Kato: this was recommended to me on Tumblr after I put up a post asking what I should read. I was kinda meh on it, honestly; there are no more volumes of it available from my libraries at this time and I think I'm fine with that.

3. What will you read next?

I'm leaving on a family vacation next Tuesday, which involves flying across the country, so I'll probably get a lot of reading done. I'm debating what to bring, honestly, as lots of books will be heavy but not having anything in print will mean I rely too heavily on my phone and the battery might not last. I'm leaning toward bringing either Lip and Sword or the first couple volumes of Yuwu. For graphic novels, I've got three from the local library I want to finish before we leave (Rainbow vol. 2 and vols 2 and 3 of What did you eat yesterday?). On Libby, I'm decently caught up right now - nothing due in the next week - so idk. Oh, also, I have Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch on Libby, with the plan of reading it during the trip, and a couple other novel holds likely to come between now and then. (Yes, I will be bringing about 4x more books than I can possibly read in a week).