Black girl horror & K-Drama in book form

The Reading Nook #11

Welcome to another edition of The Reading Nook! Today, I’m sharing my July reading journey as well as some recommendations. I hope you enjoy this. Let’s get into it.

What kind of reading month was it?

It started as a slow reading month until I stopped trudging through a book I wanted to like but didn’t and finally marked it as DNF. Then I moved on to books I enjoyed and surprise, surprise, I didn’t spend as much time reading them.

Aside from that, since I have a hard time finishing nonfiction books, I’m excited about a new reading routine I adopted and have stuck with where I read 15 minutes of my nonfiction book daily. It led me to finish Collapse Feminism in less than two weeks when I had previously been struggling with it for about a month.

July Reading Journey 

Top Books 

❁ The Black Girl Survives in This One Edited by Desiree .S Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell
(Published April 2024 | 354 pages | Horror Fiction, Paranormal Fiction, YA Fiction, Short Stories, Anthology)

This anthology pays homage to Black girls in horror after years of being invisible or discardable. As the name suggests, it’s a collection of stories where the Black girl survives every. Single. Time.

All the stories are either written by women or enbies and they put spins on popular tropes. This anthology has a healthy mix of horror elements. There are werewolves, demons, zombies, ghosts, cults, haunted houses, cursed items, deadly games and more.

Shoutout to

Nzinga Bandida

who recommended this book in a newsletter post because I had so much fun reading it plus, the cover is amazing! Look at those braids and nails. I also like the foreword by Tananarive Due which gave a brief history of Black girls in horror and made me reflect on why I like horror (I’m still not sure 😭).

Inevitably, some stories fell flat for me or were unmemorable, but the ones that hit, hit.

My top five in no particular order were: Harvesters by L.L. McKinney (the first story), TMI by Zakiya Dalila Harris, Queeniums for Greenium! by Brittney Morris, Inheritance by Camara Aaron and Black Girl Nature Group by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite.

You should read it if you’ve been searching for a Black final girl or you enjoy speculative fiction.

❁ A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
(Published May 2024 | 368 pages | Historical Fiction, YA Fiction, Romance, Mystery)

It’s 1506 in Joseon and King Yeonsangun (the worst tyrant in Korean history) is killing off people like human life is worth nothing while also kidnapping and accumulating women as if they are objects to be toyed with and displayed.

There’s also a killer on the loose nicknamed ‘Nameless Flower’. The anonymous killer murders nobles and government officials who support the king and leaves mocking messages addressed to the king on their dead bodies written in blood. There’s a reward out for anyone who finds the killer.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul, the spoiled daughter of a magistrate who was executed by the king, loses her older sister in one of the king’s raids and, regardless of their rocky relationship, Iseul is determined to find her sister, no matter what it takes. Even if it’s finding out who Nameless Flower is to bargain with the king for her sister’s freedom.

Daehyun, an illegitimate prince and King Yeonsangun’s half-brother, who has spent the last few years suppressing his grief from losing his mother and brothers because of the king has plans to overthrow him and bring peace to the kingdom.

The chapters alternate between both Iseul’s and Daehyun’s perspectives and when they cross paths, they eventually join hands to save her sister and plan a coup to depose the king. However, there are many obstacles: the king's anxiety over getting assassinated and his army of over forty thousand soldiers, Nameless Flower killing off potential allies, and their budding feelings for each other, amongst other things.

I had been waiting for this book for so long because if you’re looking to read a well-written and viciously captivating Korean period drama with a mystery that keeps you on your toes and a subtle romance that makes you blush, June Hur is the person to read.

I was HOOKED on this book. I loved all of the relationships from the friendships to the romance. I also enjoyed the journey to figuring out who Nameless Flower was and the extreme tension that made me hold my breath in fighting scenes when the characters were cornered and it looked like there was no way out. I didn’t want it to end, but unfortunately, it did.

Trigger Warnings: Violence, murder, lots of blood, & mention of rape

You should read it if you’re a fan of historical K-dramas with a heavy dose of mystery and some subtle romance.

Here are some quotes I liked from the book:

Life had taken me to strange and frightening places before, and even in my darkest and loneliest hour, I had always found treasures hidden in the deep. And I knew I would find them again.

One is imprisoned by a thousand rules as a woman, and no one will explain to me why such rules exist.

Why is it so irrationally difficult for men to simply leave women alone?!

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Honourable Mentions

❁ Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibe
(Published June 2024 | 288 pages | Coming of Age, Gay Fiction, Literary Fiction)

This novel set in Port Harcourt follows the life of Obiefuna. After years of trying and failing for a child, Obiefuna is born to his parents and with his birth comes good fortune for them. Obiefuna is believed to have brought along with him ‘blessings’.

As he grows older, his babyish charisma gives way to a boy who strays from the standard rules of boyhood—to the horror of his father who is quick to anger. But Obiefuna can always find a safe place with his mother.

When his father brings Aboy, an apprentice from the village, to stay in their house and soon finds Aboy and Obiefuna in a compromising situation, Obiefuna is sent off to a Christian all-boys boarding school.

Each chapter alternates between Obiefuna’s and his mother’s perspectives. We follow Obiefuna on his journey through secondary school and his first few years of university, navigating his sexuality in a toxic and religious all-boys boarding school and homophobic Nigeria. And we watch as his mother struggles with not having him at home.

I liked that we got to see his mother’s point of view. I’ve never read a mother-son POV story before but I found it fitting because of their deep connection.

It was both comforting and uncomfortable to read through the boarding school scenes. Comforting because I could relate to a few situations and it was nice to see them reflected in a piece of media. Uncomfortable because I was repulsed by the school: its damaged system and the cycle of cruelty passed on year after year. The author deftly summarises it here:

The boys endured what they endured because theirs was a system that promised reciprocity. The time would come when they, too, would be seniors, at the helm of affairs, free to let off the frustrations accumulated over their years as juniors. The promise of this future gratification made the present suffering bearable, even desirable, for suffering would toughen them and make them more brutal, more skilled in knowing how to break a body.

The book has an undertone of grief and pain laced through it with slivers of hope peeking through. It explores a deep mother-son relationship, friendship and belonging, romance and found family, along with state-sanctioned homophobia amongst other things. I think it also partly explores the question: to what extent would you reject yourself to fit in?

Chukwuebuka Ibeh writes beautifully, almost poetically.

Trigger Warnings: Bullying, Homophobia, & Terminal Illness.

You should read it if you like reading books with beautiful writing or are interested in seeing how a character navigates sexuality and belonging in perpetually dangerous environments.

❁ Collapse Feminism by Alice Cappelle
(Published November 2023 | 222 pages | Nonfiction, Feminism, Politics, Philosophy, Gender)

This book explores the feminist movement online and discusses a wide range of concepts like the girlboss, the tradwife aesthetic, cottagecore, divine femininity, the manosphere, and incel culture along with the online political battle between the right and left wing.

Alice Cappelle is a video essayist on YouTube and I love her videos. I learned a lot from this book—including new words. I have to admit, there were times I was reading and had no idea what I was reading. But if I gave up every time this happened, I wouldn’t read nonfiction.

I loved the sections on gender expression and beauty standards and choice feminism. I also liked how the conclusion tied everything up by summarising and reiterating her points on why we need to reimagine institutions such as work and the nuclear family, amongst other things.

However, because the book discussed a lot of things and dealt with a lot of topics, it could feel a bit scattered and overwhelming at times.

You should read it if you looking for a short feminist literature read or are interested in the intersection of feminism and internet culture.

Here are some quotes from the book I liked:

No single human being can transform society, only collectives can.

While it is true that patterns of toxicity between women can cause psychological damage, it must be stated that toxic femininity is not physically violent, or, to put it more bluntly, toxic femininity does not kill.

There are, in fact, many forms of work outside the capitalist market: education, volunteering, taking care of one’s environment are all valid forms of work. They are just as (if not more) beneficial to society than partaking in what anthropologist David Graeber called “bullshit jobs”.

❁ House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
(Published February 2023 | 384 pages | Historical Fiction, Adult Fiction, African American)

This book set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington DC follows two Black girls: Ruby and Eleanor.

Ruby is a fourteen-year-old girl who lives with her mother, who had her at 15 years old. Despite her family’s poverty, Ruby is determined to be the first in her family to go to college by winning a full scholarship. She’s focused and no one can stop her until she meets Shimmy, the white Jewish son of her Aunt’s landlord whose eyes she can’t stop looking at.

Eleanor similarly comes from a poor background. Her parents have worked extremely hard to send her to Howard University. She’s juggling school work and two jobs to make ends meet when she meets William Pride, the handsome son of one of the Black elite families of Washington, who’s studying to become a doctor and he has his eyes on her. Everything seems too good to be true.

This book is set against a backdrop of racism but it also heavily explores colourism and classism in the Black community. It sheds light on the forced adoption wave that occurred in the US at the time and the story shows how women constantly get the shorter end of the stick—sacrificing their dreams and sometimes themselves— in the majority of heterosexual relationships.

You should read it if you like women’s fiction and are looking to get angry at fictional men and society in general.

Recommendations

I wrote about my relationship with K-drama last month here: I’m a K-drama girlie and I’m not ashamed and in the comments section, I met some fellow K-drama fans. This recommendation is specifically for K-drama fans who are also readers or anyone else who might be interested in exploring fiction set in Korea.

I discovered June Hur last year and the definition of her work is K-dramas in book form.

June Hur, a Korean-Canadian writer (who is also a K-drama girlie) writes historical Korean fiction. Apart from being an important addition to the fiction world by bringing attention to Korean history, her books make you feel like you’re watching a period K-drama with all the chaos and thrill of palace drama and mysteries. They blend history, mystery, and romance.

They also incorporate popular K-drama clichés like the two leads falling asleep on opposite sides of a table and staring into each others’ eyes 😂. They are also an opportunity to see how titles you hear in K-dramas (like jeonha, ajusshi, pyeha, etc) are spelt with English alphabets.

So if you like K-drama, especially historical K-dramas, you’ll probably fall in love with June Hur. I’ve only read two novels and have yet to try out her other two novels, but as she has ascended to my list of favourite authors, I definitely will.

You can check out:

• The Red Palace by June Hur

  (Published January 2022 | 336 pages | Historical fiction, YA Fiction, Mystery, Thriller)

• A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

  (Published May 2024 | 368 pages | Historical Fiction, YA Fiction, Romance, Mystery)

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Currently Reading: Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda and The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins

Excited to read: Nothing at the moment

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That’s it for today! I hope you enjoyed reading. I would love to hear from you so talk to me in the comments or by replying to this email:

❁ What kind of reading month was it for you?

❁ What was the last book you read and loved?

❁ What are you currently reading or excited to read soon?

❁ Will you be trying out any books I mentioned? Or have you already?

Thank you so so much for reading and being here. I appreciate you and I hope August will be kind to you. Bye <3