Interlude: You Started It – Jackie Khalilieh

~ nicolenogi

You know when you very excitedly add an author or a book to your TBR and then TOTALLY forget about them? Yup. I was SO excited to rediscover Jackie Khalilieh’s books on my list! I actually read Something More first and debated making a post about it – I could get two posts out of her books this way – but I’m on a pretty good reading streak right now and reasonably confident I’ll have read something else by the time I have to scrounge up an August post. And yes, I know, I’ve pretty much stopped posting covers to twitter, since most of my favorite people seem largely inactive these days (and also I’ve kind of stopped checking if they ARE still active), but the other half of the reason is because I’m slowly transitioning to reading more books on Kindle, and taking a photo of a cover on your Kindle screen is just not very exciting in my view.

Anyway, back to Jackie Khalilieh. If, like me, you’re a first-time reader, I recommend reading both Something More and You Started It – if you like one, you’ll probably like the other. The feeling of both books reminded me a bit of reading Crystal Maldonado’s books (that reminds me, I know there are still 1-2 of her books that I haven’t read…) and also Jenn Nguyen, maybe even more so Jenn Nguyen with the laugh-out-loud moments. Long story short, we like Axel, we don’t like Ben, and Amo Eli is awesome.

I am super excited for Khalilieh’s next book, which is out in early August! (Ok, so there’s a chance that the August post will also be about Jackie Khalilieh, it kind of depends on how this new book is priced, since I try to wait for good deals on Kindle.)

Title: You Started It

Author: Jackie Khalilieh

Genre: YA Romance

Book Type: Novel

Would read this author again: Yes

Interlude: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares

~ nicolenogi

I’m not sure if it’s because it’s summer or because I’m seeing graduations happen left and right, but I decided it was time for a trip down memory lane by rereading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

It’s funny, I remember reading these books as a kid and looking up to Lena and Carmen and Bridget and Tibby and wondering if I would ever be that cool or have such interesting adventures. As an adult, I can now confirm I’m not that cool, but I do find I’m seeing a lot in the books now that I didn’t recognize when I was younger. The biggest thing is probably realizing how well Ann Brashares captures the emotional journey of being a girl at the various stages depicted over the course of the series. I never read that many books in the contemporary genre when I was in the actual age group for middle grade and young adult, and in hindsight I wonder if it’s because these supposedly realistic and relatable characters were not, in fact, reflective of my experiences at that age (kind of like those books they made us read in school where we seemed to be expected to relate to the main characters on some universal level, except I just…never did).

Anyway, I have no idea what it would be like to read this series for the first time as an adult, but if that’s you, give it a try if you’re into fun girly adventures with all the feels!

Title: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Author: Ann Brashares

Genre: YA Contemporary

Book Type: Novel

Would read this author again: Yes

Interlude: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry – Joya Goffney

~ nicolenogi

I swear, having a Kindle (yes, I know, an unfortunate number of my dollars are now going to that man) is making a huge difference in my ability to actually read the books that I keep promising myself I’ll read one day.

I remember vaguely when Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry came out, namely because the title was so catchy and I immediately wanted to know the story behind it. Happily, the story did not disappoint (it’s always sad when a book you’ve been wanting to read forever turns out to be a letdown) – in fact, I spent way too much time reading this book when I should have been doing other things, which is pretty much THE sign that I really loved it. I don’t often feel this way about YA contemporary, but I actually wish this book had been around when I was a teen, because I definitely didn’t have many motivators to force me to face my fears.

Anyway, if you’re like me and looking for a break from Grown Up Work Life, give this book a try!

Title: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry

Author: Joya Goffney

Genre: YA Contemporary / YA Romance

Book Type: Novel

Would read this author again: Yes

Book Spotlight: Folk Remedy – Jem Yoshioka

~ nicolenogi

To learn more about Book Spotlight, read this.

Phew, wasn’t sure I was going to get this up while it was still April.

I remember following Jem Yoshioka back when the book community of color was still active on twitter (maybe it still is – I’m not able to be around as much as before, so I’m not sure) and I’m so glad to see her work getting published. Folk Remedy is a fun, colorful story and an interesting example of one expression of nikkei creativity and creation.

For my fellow (is it more gender-inclusive to use a different word here?) nikkei readers, did anyone else think some of the dialogue and the ways some of the characters behave felt as if they were being presented/socialized as white? Or perhaps not necessarily white – I don’t have the experience of being mixed race, so I can’t say if they were being presented/socialized as mixed race (also, obviously not a monolithic experience) – but not Japanese in the way I’m accustomed to thinking of as Japanese. It reminds me a bit of what I saw another Asian person say online once about ATLA – the visual elements feel Asian, but the characters act white. (Of course, this all very much depends on how you define ‘Asian’, which is a worthwhile discussion, but not one for this post.) I’m still unpacking my thoughts, but I think my initial reaction has to do with how I see the white default becoming extremely pervasive in certain elements of certain nikkei communities, sometimes but not always correlated with how many generations those spaces are removed from Japan. I can only speak for myself, but I think it’s worth considering, because if we consider the broader cultural context (milieu?) as we move forward in times and places as nikkei, and who we want to be aligned with, or learn from, or work together with, we should probably take a hard look at trends like this and see if we’re equally – and equitably – implementing influences from Black, Indigenous, Latinx people, etc. (hint: 50% white people and 50% everybody else is not the answer).

To bring it to back to Folk Remedy, I’m not saying Yoshioka was wrong to depict her characters this way. For all I know, I could be wrong in my interpretation of how she intended these characters to come across. Rather, I just hope everyone in our communities is being thoughtful and intentional about not just their work but also the broader (and maybe sometimes harder-to-see) influences that may be underlying certain choices. Also, hey western publishing, don’t encourage the ripple effect of ‘Japanese’-work-by-nikkei-creators-but-only-if-understandable-to-white-readers.

I’m out of time for this post, but as a final note of clarification, I really did enjoy Folk Remedy and look forward to the sequel, it just brought up a lot of other wider thoughts about our communities and some trends I’ve observed – I know I’m not the only nikkei reader out here thinking about these things.

Title: Folk Remedy

Author: Jem Yoshioka

Genre: Fantasy

Book Type: Graphic Novel

Would read this author again: Yes

Book Spotlight: Sky Country – Christine Kitano

~ nicolenogi

To learn more about Book Spotlight, read this.

Moving forward, I think I’ll use this format for Book Spotlight posts as well. I like it better than my original format.

It’s been a while since I read poetry and I’m glad I got back into it with Sky Country. Sometimes it takes time for me to finish a book of poetry, but I read Sky Country in one quick sitting. I’m still not entirely sure what was so compelling about these poems. Maybe the feeling of home? I didn’t necessarily identify a lot of parallels between Kitano’s and my experiences, but nevertheless the experience of reading felt comforting and familiar. Reading Kitano also reminded me that it’s been a bit since I read any nikkei historical fiction and it’s probably time to get back to it. Work has seriously cut into my reading time – more precisely, my reading brain – lately and I’m realizing I do better overall when I consistently read a solid mix of books.

Title: Sky Country

Author: Christine Kitano

Genre: Poetry

Book Type: Poetry

Would read this author again: Yes

Interlude: Moomin – Tove Jansson

~ nicolenogi

If you’re reading this and you don’t know Moomin, stop reading this and go look up Moomin! No, seriously.

I read the Moomin novels as a kid and more recently the collected paperback comics. Both are truly excellent. I don’t think I’ve ever read a series where the novels and comics had such a similar, seamless feel as the Moomins (usually I tend to prefer one format significantly over the other, but this was not the case with the Moomins – maybe because the author and comic creator are the same? that hasn’t been the case with Marjorie Liu’s work, though, I definitely prefer her comics and graphic novels to her longform novels, but I digress…I should do my next Interlude post on Marjorie Liu…).

(Also I just realized I can change the font on these posts, how many years have I been doing this?)

Funny, I’m so fond of Moomin, but I’m having trouble coming up with words for the feelings. Never mind, it’s always going to be better to read Moomin than to read someone talking about Moomin anyway. See you next month if work doesn’t eat my life.

Title: Finn Family Moomintroll, etc.

Author: Tove Jansson

Genre: Fiction

Book Type: Novels, comics

Would read this author again: Yes

2026 Reading Goals

~ nicolenogi

Here we go, reading goals for 2026!

Short story collection Award winner Poetry Nonfiction Science fiction
Debut (YA) Non-US-based writer Book in a series Independent press Picture book
Thriller Fantasy Novel (any genre) JA history (fiction or nonfiction) Debut (Adult)
Comic or graphic novel Recommended to me Mystery Horror Novel in verse
Middle grade Nikkei writer Published before 2000 Biography or memoir Historical fiction

2025 Reading Goals Results

~ nicolenogi

I really wasn’t expecting to make bingo this year, but somehow I did. And I mean really wasn’t expecting, as in, I assumed I hadn’t until I looked at my bingo card just now and realized I did. How’s that for a nice holiday surprise?

For those who keep track, I got a diagonal bingo, top left to bottom right. Here are the books:

  • Navigating With(out) Instruments – traci kato-kiriyama
  • The Breakup Lists – Adib Khorram
  • The Fall of Whit Rivera – Crystal Maldonado
  • I’ll Have What He’s Having – Adib Khorram
  • Almost Sunset – Wahab Algarmi

Adib Khorram and Crystal Maldonado are definitely turning into two of my favorite authors. It’s somewhat unusual for contemporary YA to hold my attention, especially across multiple books from the same author, but I will definitely be keeping up with these two. I also recommend Khorram’s adult romance novels for a definitely-not-YA but equally fun reading experience.

Here are the other books I read toward my bingo card. The order of the books reflects the order going straight down the bingo card, from left to right, row by row, with the 5 bingo books omitted.

  • The Mochi Makers – Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson
  • Indiginerds – Alina Pete (ed.)
  • The Buffalo Hunter Hunter – Stephen Graham Jones
  • Will’s Race for Home – Jewell Parker Rhodes
  • Mapping the Interior – Stephen Graham Jones
  • Reasons We Break – Jesmeen Kaur Deo
  • Behind My Doors – Hena Khan
  • The Asiri – Roye Okupe
  • Nayra and the Djinn – Iasmin Omar Ata
  • TJ Powar Has Something to Prove – Jesmeen Kaur Deo
  • Exposure – Ramona Emerson

I already wrote a separate post about it, but The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones was hands-down the best book I read this year. (I keep accidentally calling it The Buffalo Buffalo Hunter when I recommend it to friends, but I can’t be the only one…) Reasons We Break by Jesmeen Kaur Deo was a close second. It was one of the books that I was super excited to add to my TBR at the time, but, as often happens, I completely forgot about it, read TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by chance, and was happily surprised to realize Reasons We Break was its sequel.

All in all, though I may have barely scraped by with a bingo, I’m pretty satisfied with the reading I did this year. See you in January, by which time I will, of course, have actually made my bingo card for 2026 Reading Goals.