Mel The Bookworm

[Last While In Books] Nobels, BIPOC, and Reviews

A person, seen from the waist down, holding an open book and glasses, lap covered in a brown blanket with a few small pumpkins around them.

Hello, fellow readers. Pay no attention to the time between this post and the last. These aren’t the reviews you’re looking for. There is no hiatus in Ba Sing Se. There is, however, diverse and bookish news to share so without further ado… There are, as always, many more things happening in the world ofContinue reading “[Last While In Books] Nobels, BIPOC, and Reviews”

[REVIEW] The Truth According To Ember, by Danica Nava

The Kindle cover of The Truth According To Ember, depicting a long haired, smiling, attractive Indigenous couple facing each other, sits on a balcony, propped against a potted plant, with stripes of sunlight splashed across it.

(Buy this book here.) Before I begin, let’s all please clap a little for this, the very first romance novel about Indigenous people by an Indigenous writer published by a traditional publisher. Then, let’s all boo those publishers for depriving us all of something so good for so long. And then, let’s clap again becauseContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Truth According To Ember, by Danica Nava”

[REVIEW] Black Star, written by Eric Glover, drawn by Arielle Jovellanos

The Kindle cover of Black Star, depicting a woman trapped in a glowing space tube, is held up in a dark movie theater in front of a projection screen. The movie playing is the classic camp film Dark Star.

(Buy this book here.) I’ve had a remarkably pleasant year in reading, by which I mean I’ve liked almost everything I’ve read. If I haven’t liked it, I’ve understood it, so my reviews in 2024 have all been pretty positive, although mildly so. Everything’s been good, but nothing’s really knocked my socks off. (Let’s ignoreContinue reading “[REVIEW] Black Star, written by Eric Glover, drawn by Arielle Jovellanos”

[REVIEW] The Eyes Are The Best Part, by Monika Kim

The Kindle cover of The Eyes Are the Best Part depicts a wriggling eyeball held in a pair of silver chopsticks. The Kindle lays on a colorful paisley bedspread.

[You can buy this book here.] This book is so gross. It’s also creepy, unsettling, and really really smart. Ji-Won is a college freshman living at home with her younger sister Ji-Hyun and their fragile, anxious Umma(mother), a first-generation Korean immigrant who works in a grocery store. Ji-won’s father has recently left the family forContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Eyes Are The Best Part, by Monika Kim”

[REVIEW] The Book of Disappearance, by Ibtisam Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon

The weathered looking Kindle cover of The Book of Disappearance stands propped up against metal balcony bars, overlooking a hill full of houses.

(Buy this book.) One day Alaa’s beloved grandmother gets up, takes a bath, puts on a lovely dress and headscarf, spritzes on her favorite perfume, sits on a public bench overlooking her native Jaffa (also called Tel Aviv), and dies. Heartbroken, Alaa begins to journal his memories of her, and the memories she shared ofContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Book of Disappearance, by Ibtisam Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon”

[REVIEW] Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler, by Ibi Zoboi

The author's hand hold's the colorful, modern art collage of Star Child featuring front and side profiles of Octavia Butler's face on a background reminiscent of stars, up in front of a blurry green and yellow background, probably garden plants.

(Buy this book here.) When I was in elementary school I went through a phase of trying to read all of the middle-grade biographies available in my school’s library. There was a mass-market series of them in a shelf right next to the librarian’s office. They were old and cheap, mass-produced, bound in nubbly plasticizedContinue reading “[REVIEW] Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler, by Ibi Zoboi”

[REVIEW] The Idea of You, by Robinne Lee

The Kindle cover of The Idea of You, showing the very pretty kissing couple from the film adaptation, is propped up on a dining table against a woven handbag behind a wide green mug of milky coffee, next to a blue and white chinaware planter.

(You can find this book here.) I wasn’t really planning on reviewing this age-gap, popstar, Amazon Prime-adapted romance but it’s weirdly icky, so let’s discuss. It’s fine that French-American gallery owner Soléne is 20 years older than her 20-year-old lover Hayes. It’s fine that he’s a member of the world’s biggest boy band. It’s fineContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Idea of You, by Robinne Lee”

[REVIEW] Walking Practice by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle

The cover of Walking Practice by Dolki Min, displaying a weird, grotesque alien,is held in the lap of the writer's sundress. In the background you can see a very gross beach.

(Buy this book here.) Spoilers abound, because there was no other way. Sometimes, it takes a people eating alien to show us just how much dating, gender expectations and hook-up culture can suck. This debut novel by enigmatic queer Korean literary figure Dolki Min follows an alien stranded in Seoul, light years away from home,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Walking Practice by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle”

[REVIEW] That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon, by Kimberly Lemming

A Black woman's hand holds the Kindle cover of That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon, featuring a pretty Black woman and a sexy elf in a passionate clinch, up in front of a lush potted basil plant.

(Buy this book here.) You’ve probably already heard of this smash-hit monster romance about a pink-haired sistah named Cinnamon and a demon (but not really?) named Fallon. While tarrying on the path home to her family’s spice farm after a drunken festival to celebrate the band of heroes sent to kill the demons threatening theContinue reading “[REVIEW] That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon, by Kimberly Lemming”

[REVIEW] Blood At The Root, by LaDarrion Williams

The Kindle cover of Blood At The Root, depicting a magical Black boy standing in front of an ancient tree, is held up in front of a slightly less ancient, very green real world tree.

(Buy this book here.) Malik Baron has had the usual fantasy hero’s rough start in life. He’s an orphan who’s finally aged out of the abusive foster homes he grew up in, and he has the prickly, exasperatingly self-destructive, suspicious personality to show for it. He also has erratic magic powers and no idea whereContinue reading “[REVIEW] Blood At The Root, by LaDarrion Williams”