millie 🎀

it has been the most amazing start to the week going to see not one but TWO brilliant authors: mieko kawakami and r.f. kuang. it was so incredible to hear both of these writers speak about their books and it made me want to read their whole backlists asap 🏃‍♀️💨 i loved hearing kawakami talk about the way that she seems to have a different perspective on her books than her readers do, and that she works hard to shine a light on the people who do not normally get written about. she was a very vibrant and fun speaker and i was so grateful to see her on her first ever visit to australia 🎙️🌟 i had only previously read one book by r.f. kuang, being yellowface, but now i am so keen to read everything she has ever written. she is so insanely intelligent and inspiring. i loved hearing insight into the behind the scenes of her books and the processes that went into them. i will definitely be picking up katabasis soon as somehow she has encouraged me to take a journey through hell… 🖤🐈‍⬛🎓 i’m so grateful to have the opportunity here in brisbane to attend such amazing bookish events! thank you to @avidreader and @briswritersfest 🫶 have you been to many author events? have you read any books by either of these authors? 📖🎤

may is asian heritage month, so i collated a list of my favourite books by asian authors to recommend to you 🎏🪭💮🌊 of course, it is important to read diversely all year round, but i wanted to join in and provide these recs! some of these books are translated, some of them are originally written in english - and they are all great books that you should read! so many different themes are explored through these books including love, friendship, the female body, the publishing industry, and lots more. these books make me want to travel to japan or south korea and i have learnt lots from them! maybe you’ll find a new favourite in here?? let me know if you have read any of these, or if you have any recs to add to the list! 💌

april wrap up 🏖️☕️🧩🃏🥞 hello may!! the month of april for me started with a lovely visit from my family - we all stayed at the beach and had the most relaxing week. the second half of the month was when it started to really cool down here in brisbane, which has been so nice for cozy reading and lots of card games with my housemates. another highlight of april was of course noah kahan’s new album! i read 6 books in april - my favourite being two twisted crowns by rachel gillig. i read three literary fictions, one romance, one ya mystery, and one fantasy! april reads: ⟢ nova scotia house (4 stars) ⟢ snow country (3.25 stars) ⟢ the night we met (3.25 stars) ⟢ killer instinct (4 stars) ⟢ two twisted crowns (4.75 stars) ⟢ the book of mother (3.25 stars) i’m attending a couple bookish events in may which i’m super excited for, including seeing mieko kawakami and r.f. kuang!! what was your favourite book you read in april? 🤍

i had been waiting for tuesday the 28th of april for so long because it was the date that TWO of my most anticipated releases came out! 🕺🕺 yesteryear was released so much later for us australians so i had to wait (not very patiently) until the 28th and i was at the bookstore to buy it that morning 🤭🐄 everyone is saying this is the book of the year so i just had to get my hands on it ASAP! american spirits by anna dorn also came out on tuesday - i loved perfume & pain by her so i had been sooo excited for her new book! i believe it follows a famous singer who hires an assistant, only to find out that the person she hired is a crazy obsessive super fan 🎤👩‍🎤 it sounds chaotic and unhinged, which is what i loved about anna dorn’s last book 🤪🤩 i also bought into the blue which recently seems to have popped up everywhere all of a sudden?? but everyone is raving about it!! literary love stories are one of my favourite genres, so i expect to love it just as much as all of you are 💙😌 clearly it was a VERY successful book shopping trip and i can’t wait to start reading! let me know which one i should read first? 📖🫶

my fav bookstores in my city 🏙️🤍☀️ i saw you all posting your lovely bookstore recommendations for independent bookstore day and even though i think this is unfortunately not something celebrated in australia, i wanted to share some of my favourite bookstores here! we did actually just have a global book crawl though where you could get stamps and earn little prizes for going to lots of different bookstores across brisbane! i know there are heaps more amazing bookstores in bris that i am yet to try but am so excited to when i get the chance! i’m so lucky to be surrounded by so many great indie bookshops! there are actually two new releases that i would like to get my hands on asap so another book shopping trip is in my very near future 🤭 please give me more book shopping recs! though i fear i will have to put myself on a buying ban after i get my anticipated releases 😭 what was the most recent book you bought? 🤎

read with me for an hour 📖⏳🧚‍♀️☕️ every morning that i don’t have work or other early commitments, i try to set a timer and read for one hour so i wanted to share that with you today! it was a rainy morning so it was perfect to make a hot coffee and cuddle up in bed with my current fantasy read, two twisted crowns by rachel gillig. i’m loving it sooo much but getting through it slowly because i’ve been pretty busy. but omg so obsessed with ione & elm in this book <3 today in brisbane kinda felt like the first cold day of the season which is super exciting hehe i can’t wait for winter. my peter rabbit winter pajamas even made their debut for the year 🤭🐇 anyways i read 47 pages in my hour of reading this morning which is about average for me! are you a fast or slow reader? 🤍

new books i’ve bought recently 🥹 lately i’ve picked up some books that have been on my radar for a while and also some new releases! i’ve heard such good things about these books so i just had to add them to my endless collection. i really need to start making a dent in my physical tbr or go on a book buying ban 😭 has anyone else been playing tomadachi life since it came out the other day? i’ve been OBSESSED and it’s really cut down on my reading time unfortunately oops. gotta get back on the reading grind hopefully with my new books 🙂‍↕️ the book haul: ಄ if it makes you happy ಄ gunk ಄ slanting towards the sea ಄ sisters in yellow ಄ almost life ಄ dead ends let me know if you’ve read any of these, i need motivation to start them asap! 🤎

𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 by charlie porter 🏡 “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦… 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵, 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵, 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭.” Nova Scotia House tells the story of a gay couple, Johnny and Jerry, amidst the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s in the UK. Johnny narrates the story years after their relationship has ended, remembering Jerry’s youth and his radical experiments in queer living. Naturally, it was a devastating read. Admittedly, I really struggled with the book’s writing style to begin with - it is very unique and doesn’t conform to normal grammar rules. But I found that I got used to it after a while and there ended up being some very beautiful quotes. The second half of the novel was absolutely heartbreaking and I had constant tears in my eyes, especially upon reflection that aspects of it aren’t even fictional - these horrible things really did happen during the AIDS epidemic. I learnt a lot and it made me so sad for all the lives lost to something that could have been cured earlier. The setting was beautifully crafted and I enjoyed the mundane descriptions of Jerry and Johnny cooking and gardening and just doing life together. I also really appreciated Jerry’s character and his desire for ‘queer magic’ and the way he experimented different lifestyles that might not conform to normality. It thought it was a very unique book and despite struggling initially, one that I’m very glad I stuck with. Thank you Penguin for the gifted copy 🧡

i have spent the past week or so at the beach spending time with family, playing cards, doing a jigsaw puzzle, and of course reading. i started off the trip reading ‘nova scotia house’ by charlie porter, which reflects heavily on the aids crisis of the 1980s and 90s. naturally, it was such a heartbreaking read but one i am glad to have read. i hope to post a full review soon. before the beach trip i had started reading ‘snow country’ by yasunari kawabata but put it on pause because it felt too contradictory to read this book at the beach lol. but i ended up picking it back up anyway and despite it being the complete wrong setting to read it in, the book’s beautiful descriptions of nature and snowy scenery were my favourite part. i will always love japanese fiction <3 and today i started reading ‘the night we met’ by abby jimenez which i’m really enjoying so far! i wasn’t a big fan of the first in this interconnected series, ‘say you’ll remember me’, but this one is already shaping up to be a lot better. chris is honestly the dream guy and it’s been the perfect beach read! what have you been reading lately?

april tbr 🐇☕️💌🐣 i hope everyone had a nice easter weekend! i’ve been spending time with my family by the beach which has been lovely! i’ve been very focused on a jigsaw puzzle hehe so haven’t been doing all that much reading but these are the books i would like to try to get to in april! i’m mostly focusing on continuing some series and reading my proof copies for the month of april. a couple books also carried over from last month’s tbr 🫣 what’s one book you’re most excited to read this month? 💗

march recap 💘📖🕺☀️🐄 what a busy and fun month march was! i can’t believe we’re already in april 🥺🥺. march was full of beautiful moments like spending lots of time with my housemates, throwing a sleepover party🤭, getting some exciting book mail, and going to the cinemas to watch a new 5-star movie: project hail mary 🚀!! i also had SUCH a great reading month with only one read less than 4 stars! the books i read in march: ❤︎ one dark window (4.75 stars) ❤︎ first-time caller (4 stars) ❤︎ happy place (re-read) (4.5 stars) ❤︎ wretch (3.5 stars) ❤︎ heart the lover (5 stars!!) ❤︎ before i let go (4.25 stars) i can’t wait for another fun month in april, and to hopefully find some more great reads!! i hope you all have a lovely easter long weekend <3 🐣🐇🍫 what was your favourite book you read in march?

book series i’m in the middle of ⭐️💌📚 normally i’m not a big series reader as i mostly read literary fiction which often consists only of stand-alones. but as i’ve been branching out of my usual genres, i’ve realised i’m in the middle of quite a few series! while i sometimes find it difficult to commit to a series, i can definitely appreciate them as it means i can stay with my favourite characters for longer 🥹 i’m particularly excited to finish the shepherd king duology and to continue the naturals series. i’m so curious to find out how these stories end! and the beartown series… i’m so scared to read the last book 😭 i’m actually currently reading ‘before i let go’ by kennedy ryan but i’m loving it so much and already know that i want to read more of these characters in the next two books! i love utilising my library for book series as i can put them on hold as soon as i know i want to read them, and then i can’t put them off any longer before they’re due back! what book series are you in the middle of? 📖