Nestled up against the steps of City Hall in LA is a large placard with missing posters for the recently disappeared in the city.

15. a moon in a dewdrop by ishii rogetsu/trans. alexander dolin
5/10/25
N/A
read this for class and i’m counting it, in the past i’ve been middling on haikus but as my japanese improves im realizing that translations don’t really do justice how lovely the simplicity of them is? i really liked this!

14. a little devil in america by hanif abdurraqib
5/4/25
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
at this point if hanif abdurraqib says jump, i say how high, this was excellent! his reflections on music (ie merry clayton!) are usually my favorite, but i’m biased because i LOVE a good music based essay, and this does deliver!

13. crime and punishment by fydor dostoevsky
4/25/25
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
this was a Project but man oh man, first life changing classic in a while for me? no one told me how hilarious it would be!!! obsessed with how vibrant and convoluted the writing was!! on a craft front (duh but y’know-) life changing!!!

12. the bomber mafia by malcolm gladwell
3/27/25
⭐️⭐️⭐️
it’s been a sec, forgot to update this because i’ve been so busy but this felt pretty lukewarm anyway so not much of a loss? i’m not really into military history, and despite attempts at big picture insight, this didn’t really prove me wrong?

That!!

BUT i will say that i thought lucy gray felt more one note/manic pixie dream girl in the book and the movie was what really brought her to life, so maybe the movie will flesh this out more? one can hope, i am excited, ready to be hurt, etc! (tldr; could’ve added like 100ish pages for pacing imo-)

-which felt refreshing honestly and gave a lot of weight? i feel like we never really got to know lenore dove bc most of her appearances are either from a distance, flashbacks, or her in prison, so it was sad but it didn’t feel as grounded? i might condense a mental thesis/essay on this later-

KINDA SPOILER ZONE: but like my main thing holding me back was that the pacing felt somewhat off in a way that affected my emotional investment, like i feel like tbosas earned it’s tragedy in the third act more because more time was spent with the characters back in district 12 after the games-

11. sunrise on the reaping by suzanne collins
3/24/25
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
i’m behind on my goal and will talk spoilers in replies but essentially just as devastating as promised and pretty good!!

(also will note for posterity that the last time i read macbeth was high school sophomore year may 2020 (yikes what a time 🫣) so i cannot speak for the adaptation decisions, my feelings are mostly for the story on it’s own merit 👍)

10. lady macbeth by ava reid
3/11/25
⭐️⭐️⭐️
i loved reid’s prose like always, but i feel more mixed on this one? during the reading process the story would have me, then lose me again, over and over, so i’ve kinda settled into an eh position 😔 (shoutout to the cover though, big big fan 🔥)

as it stands, a generational run 🙏

9. the trial by franz kafka
3/6/25
⭐️⭐️⭐️
i know they’re not trying to do the same thing, but i prefer what the stranger by camus does more than this? i’m sorry kafka 💔