jo-onhi

[jo-onhi]

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“honestly, don’t you two read?”

— hermione granger, harry potter and the philosopher’s stone

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via

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packing

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digitally doodled on my vintage planner I scanned from the antique shop

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absolutely love reading such a well-written story and falling a bit in love with the author based solely on the way they write. like baby the way you italicize words makes my heartbeat quicken.

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something that really fucking breaks my heart is how young so many of the journalists giving us on-the-ground coverage from gaza are. motaz is what, 24/25? bisan is 26 at most? they're my age. i cannot fathom the enormity of the trauma and grief that they are carrying while also going to such extreme lengths to ensure that israel does not erase this genocide from our collective memory. they are so terrified of being forgotten. inshallah they will live, we will never forget them.

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love is stored in the journal! scans of my little journal documenting my japan trip across 12 days :> featuring food packaging, photobooth pictures, tickets, and stuff i picked up from the ground 🍀

read it here

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hello! it's been a while since you've posted any essay collection 👀 would you be willing to share your favourites of this year with us?

yes! here you go —

Disunited Kingdom by Fintan O'Toole

South Asia's place in contemporary climate fiction by Evan Tims

What's the matter with men? by Idrees Kahloon (archived)

Power to the Caribbean people by V. S. Naipaul (archived)

Can Russia ever be democratic? by Kyle Orton

Death by Design by Daniel Callcut

Joshimath: once upon a town by Rahul Pandita

Exposed by Sadie Levy Gale

In the Shifting Embrace of the Ganga by Arati Kumar-Rao

(Less essay, more interview) Matty Healy by Alexis Petridis

The Roots of Global South's New Resentment by Mark Suzman

How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis by Alex Palmer (archived)

This review of Oppenheimer by Richard Brody of the New Yorker (archived)

India's new growing elite by Shekhar Gupta

There are definitely more I'm forgetting and which I will try to excavate!

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simple joys

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pressing my wilted orchid flowers

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🎀More of my silly little sketchbook drawings 🎀

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september 𓇗

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Can I ask for your book recommendations / your favourite reads?

I've done posts like this before, so for something a little different even though I'm probably still recommending the same books every time haha, have my favourite few books that I've read every year since 2017.

2017

A Darker Shade of Magic series by V.E Schwab

If We Were Villains by M.L Rio

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

2018

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

2019

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Things We Say In The Dark by Kirsty Logan

2020

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (part of her Wayward Children series, but a lot of them have a standalone novella vibe to them).

2021

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E Schwab

A Spindle Splintered by Alix. E Harrow

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

2022

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

Dark Rise by C.S Pascat

Honourable mention to the podcast, The Magnus Archives, which I listened to instead of audiobooks for a significant chunk of the year and really enjoyed overall.

2023 (so far!)

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy by Stephanie Garber

Yellowface by R.F Kuang

In The Lives of Puppets by T.J Klune

The Wicker King by K.C Ancrum

Honourable pre-2017 mentions go to...

The Secret History by Donna Tart, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

[jo-onhi]

(photo ID: a screenshot of a post by killrockstar that says "get more out of life. read a fucked up book.")

by popular demand (aka @biconachilles asked) my rec list of fucked up books (that will fuck you up)

the sparrow - mary doria russell (this is for the people who haven’t read this one yet. i know most of my friends now have but listen. LISTEN.) it details the first contact between earth and an alien race, and the narrative ping pongs between 2016, where a group led by jesuit priest and linguist emilio sandoz detects the first signs of alien life and begins the journey to the distant planet, and 2060, where emilio is back on earth, the only survivor left of the expedition, mind and body traumatized and brutalized

vanished birds - simon jimenez. a mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman who runs a ship that travels through space and time–meaning while she runs through the stars, the people she knows age and move past her. this child, placed in her care, has the potential to change the world, and she finds herself desperate to protect him from those who would do him harm. i also recommend his second book, the spear cuts through the water, for an equally devastating fantasy read.

cantoras - carolina de robertis. this book follows five “cantoras” (uruguayan slang for queer women) throughout each of their lives during the uruguayan dictatorship, their personal journeys into what it means to love other women, and what it means to find haven in friendship with other women like you.

against the loveless world - susan abulhawa. a beautiful book that centers a palestinian refugee who grew up in jordan. she tells us her story from a solitary confinement cell in israel and we follow her as she goes from life as a refugee in kuwait and jordan before she finally makes her way back to palestine, where she discovers politics are deeply intertwined with love and she risks everything to return her family back to their native land

kartography - kamila shamsie. raheen and her best friend, karim, share an idyllic childhood in upper-class karachi. their parents were even once engaged to each others' partners until they rematched in what they call "the fiancée swap." but as adolescence distances the friends, karim takes refuge in maps while raheen searches for the secret behind her parents' exchange. what she uncovers reveals not just a family's but a country's turbulent history-and a grown-up raheen and karim are caught between strained friendship and fated love.

betty - tiffany mcdaniel. it centers the eponymous betty, and is basically a both brutal and just devastatingly beautiful coming of age story of a girl who is half white, half cherokee, and she takes completely after her dad in a way her siblings dont

starless sea - erin morgenstern. a book about books! a book about stories and libraries and a boy who falls into the lush, imaginative world of stories within stories, and who falls in love with a beautiful, broody storyteller.

the swimmers - julie otsuka. the first half is told in first person plural (”we” voice) and centers a group of people who all frequent the same swimming pool–until a crack is found at the bottom and sends everyone into a spiral. the second half of the book follows one particular swimmer, alice, as she begins to lose her memories to dementia

the southern reach trilogy - jeff vandermeer. a feverish set of books that follow the ongoings around "area x," a place where strange nature is slowly encroaching on the regular world and changing the people and places it takes over. i loved all of them, though many people's favorite is the first one. but i think they work best being read all at once.

hollow - brian catling. it follows three different people set in fantasy middle ages, possibly europe–one: a group of mercenaries hired to transport the new oracle to the main monastery nestled in a mountain rumored to have once been the tower of babel, two: a young monk without a voice who goes on a pilgrimage to see paintings he believes will reveal the future of the empire, and three: a peasant witch woman who is desperate to free her jailed son and makes a group of unlikely friends in the process

the people in the trees - hanya yanagihara. listen, yes, miss yanagihara is controversial for good reason but i havent stopped thinking about this book since i read it. i saw someone call it a post-colonial lolita and that's exactly how i feel.  it follows dr. norton, a scientist who discovers what is known as selene syndrome (a condition that affects the local populace where the people live nearly immortally but their minds do not) on a fictional micronesian island that has been untouched by the western world. and while that IS the general plot, it is told from dr. norton’s pov, and we know at the beginning of the book that he has been accused of child rape by one of the many micronesian children he’s adopted from the island

the houseguest and other stories - amparo davila. a book of creepy short stories that say "hey wouldnt it be fucked up if a weird little creature just showed up in your life and wouldn't leave? that would be really fucked up right?"

fever dream - samanta schweblin. a woman named amanda lays dying in a rural hospital clinic. a boy named david sits beside her. he is not her child, but together, they weave a strange story about ghosts and toxins, and dying children. short and nightmarish

the space between worlds - micaiah johnson. a sci-fi multiverse novel about a woman who is the most prolific world jumper bc her parallel selves seem to constantly die, but even then she can't outrun her past

i could've made this even longer! but this is where i end this. enjoy yourself! read a fucked up book!

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food as a metaphor for existence, food as a love language, food as just food (poetry recommendations)

September Tomatoes by Karina Borowicz

Ode to Tomatoes by Pablo Neruda

I Ask My Grandmother If We Can Make Lahmajoun by Gregory Djanikian

Here, There Are Blueberries by Mary Szybist

The Orange by Wendy Cope

Oranges by Gary Soto

From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee

Persimmons by Li-Young Lee

Eating Together by Li-Young Lee

Self-Portrait as So Much Potential by Chen Chen

Chasing Utopia by Nikki Giovanni

In the Kitchen by Chen Jun

Food by Brenda Hillman

Miss you. Would like to grab that chilled tofu we love. by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

I love you. I want us both to eat well by Christopher Citro

Baked Goods by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Bread by W. S. Merwin

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