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BooksPlanted: January 1, 2026
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My favorite books are horror and fantasy but I love exploring all sorts of genres. If you are on StoryGraph, let me know!
2025 Books2026 Reading Log
Below is a collection of the books I read in 2026. They are sorted by date read, with the most recent reads being on top.
StatsCURRENTLY READING: 3
FICTION BOOKS READ: 5
NON-FICTION BOOKS READ: 1
DNF COUNT: 1
GENRE FILTER
Click on a cover for more information and my rating/review.
How Ideas Are Born: Illustrators on Creative Processes
CURRENTLY READING
Rating: (TBA)
yeehaw!
Starling House
CURRENTLY READING
Rating: (TBA)
Listening to the audiobook!
The Melancholy of Resistance
CURRENTLY READING
Rating: (TBA)
Reading for Bookbug! I am so slow reading this omg
Chess Story
Date Read: 02/11/2026
Rating:
Read for Bookbug. Review coming soooooon but will live here: Chess Story Review
Ways of Seeing
Date Read: 02/10/2026
Rating:
A compilation of seven essays, three of which are wordless. The opening essay is my favorite, I think, because it went into how we perceive a painting depending on the context of the physical image (in a gallery? in a magazine advertisement? reproduced on television?). What does an "original" work mean when its reproduction can be viewed so easily and freely? It was written like 50 years ago (holy cow the 70s were 50 years ago) but remains especially relevant today as artists share their work widely online, AI is scraping our work and spitting out derivative slop, and all of the above are juxtaposed with online ads and influencers trying to sell us a product or idea. The other essays were excellent. I daresay this book is lifechanging to me in that it is pushing me to think critically about what it means to be an artist, what I do to influence how people perceive my art, and how I myself engage with others' art. Man.
Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project
DID NOT FINISH
Rating: (DNF)
I was supposed to read this for my IRL book club but utterly failed to read more than like 10 pages lmao (January was busy and horrifying and distracting)
My Pen is the Wing of a Bird
Date read: 02/02/2026
Rating:
Picked this book for Storygraph’s read around the world 2026 (Afghanistan).
I am filled with so many emotions as I read this book, both for the stories themselves and for the real-life women of Afghanistan, who need our support more than ever. The acknowledgements section in the back makes everything feel more tragic, knowing that these stories were collected right before the Taliban’s uprising again. It feels almost impossible to rate this book, knowing the situation and context in which these stories were written and compiled.
What I appreciate are the snapshots of everyday life in Afghanistan. Moments of joy, grief, and hope. All I have known about Afghanistan are the war and impoverished living conditions, and some of these short stories let me see a bit beyond that into the humanity of its people. I really recommend picking this book up, for the challenge this year or otherwise.
Klara and the Sun
Date Read: 01/18/2026
Rating:
This was lovely. It felt kind of slice-of-life for a long while before we get that big plot point in the big city. I found some of the dialogue strange and unnatural, but it could also be due to Klara’s first-person recollection of events. I can see why this is getting a film adaptation and I look forward to seeing it when it releases.
Yellowface
Date Read: 01/03/2026
Rating:
I love a good book with a terrible MC. The first person view was great to get into the mind of a narcissistic woman playing the victim the entire time.
The ending scene in the stairs was a little unsatisfying. Like it was good, but underwhelming because it was predictable. I did, however, love the end-end.
Rating System
For many years I would rate my books, shows, movies, etc. completely on vibes alone, until I saw a rating system, below, created by aromanticduck on Tumblr. All my media reviews on Yogo Magpie will use it because it's incredible and simple to use. I won't specify if it's spicy or bland tho
| Nothing really wrong with it | A few things wrong with it | So many things wrong with it | |
| Lots of awesome things | 5 stars | 4 stars (spicy) | 3 stars (spicy) |
| A few awesome things | 4 stars (bland) | 3 stars (mild) | 2 stars (spicy) |
| Nothing really awesome | 3 stars (bland) | 2 stars (bland) | 1 star |
The idea is that you rate the thing on how much stuff you loved and how much stuff you hated, and those things weigh against each other. There's only one way to get 5 stars or 1 star, so those should end up as the rarest ratings, with 3 stars being the most common.
'Spicy' means that the thing inspires emotion, whether positive or negative, while 'bland' means it doesn't affect you much either way.
An example of a 3-star (spicy)—for me personally—would be the Twilight series, beacuse there's plenty of garbage in there but also some things that are like crack to me. I can't think of an example of a 3-star (bland) because by nature they don't stick in the mind.
(This also assumes giving 0 stars isn't allowed. That'd throw it out of whack...)
I started building this page during HTML Day 2025!
