#violet kupersmith

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

#build your house around my body #violet kupersmith #book poll #have you read this book poll #polls

[caribeandthebooks]

Caribe's Top Reads

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

Genres: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Horror, Adult Fiction

Setting: Vietnam

Description: Two young Vietnamese women go missing decades apart. Both are fearless, both are lost. And both will have their revenge. Part puzzle, part revenge tale, part ghost story, this kaleidoscopic novel set in Vietnam spins half a century of history and folklore into the story of a missing woman.…Read more on Goodreads/Storygraph

Content Warning information can be found via the above Storygraph link.

#build your house around my body #violet kupersmith #vietnam #read around the world #historical fiction #magical realism #horror #adult fiction #favourite reads #diverse reads #diverse books #book tumblr #booklr #bookblr #books #book blog #book recs #book recommendations #read around the world challenge

[rekatur]

06.22. 🐍

#currently reading #there are snakes #build your house around my body #violet kupersmith #books #book journal

[mirillel]

Winnie felt better in the sunlight. She let her hand rest on the tree's ropy trunk. The bark was smooth beneath her fingers. These were the breed of strangling ficus that spent two hundred years braiding their bodies around a host tree, killing it while gradually assuming its form. Parasite, doppeldänger, sarcophagus. Winnie admired it.

Violet Kupersmith, Build Your House Around My Body

#was actually really feeling this once it got started #but unfortunately it lost me somewhere on the last 50 pages #literally just finished it so i'll have to settle my thoughts a bit but initially i'm a little bit disappointed #quotes #literature tag #build your house around my body #violet kupersmith #not tolkien

[quo-usque-tandem]

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

#currently reading #books #reading #Build Your House Around My Body #Violet Kupersmith

[creepykuroneko]

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Here are some books I highly recommend written Asian authors.

1. Stories for punjabi widows ( sorry for not saying the full name of the book I don't want Tumblr to hide this post for " inappropriate material") by Balli Kaur Jaswal. This is not a collection of short stories. This is a novel set in London that focuses on law school drop out Nikki who is trying to pay the bills well finding her place in life. On a whim she takes up a teaching job at her local Sikh Community Center. Before she knows what's going on her students have hijacked the class and turned it into a writing workshop for their favorite scandalous subject. Full of love, humor, drama, trauma, and secrets, Nikki starts to understand the women in her community better and starts to ask the harder questions she's been ignoring her whole life. This book was a joy to read. Be forewarned there is both humor and heartbreak. Trigger warning: arranged marriages, child brides, bride burning, domestic violence, harassment, threat of violence, physical violence.

2) NOT your Sidekick by CB Lee. I love love love this book! A young adult novel set in the futuristic world. You have queer main characters, a comedic villain, loving and supportive parents, fear of not being good enough, confronting the model minority myth, having to compete with the gold star older sibling, this book hits on some really good issues. Jess is in high school and is the most average person in her family. Being the only person in her family who does not have super powers she's trying hard to not let anyone see how upset she is when she accepts the fact that she's never going to be a superhero. Determine to make her college application look good, she signs up for an internship. After signing a non-disclosure agreement she finds out she'll be interning for the local c-list super villain. Things aren't exactly as they seem though, the more research Jess starts to do, and the more she starts to think about it, she's convinced that the government is up to something and the superheroes are involved. Well I'll admit this is the type of story that you can immediately figure out how it's going to end from the first chapter that doesn't mean that it's not enjoyable. Trigger warning: racism

3. We hunt The Flame by Hafsah Faizal. This fantasy novel was a delightful fairytale rich in Arabic lore. Zafira is a hunter who is just trying to keep the people in her Village alive as they have no means to grow food or hunt on their own thanks to a curse that has taken over her country. Enter Nasir, the prince of death. An assassin who has to do his father's evil bidding. When Zafira meets a witch who sends her on a magical quest that should help restore magic to the land, the sultan sends his son after Zafira to intercept her quest. Alliances, foes, magic, mystery, the book keeps you guessing who's going to betray who up to the end. Trigger warning: violence, death.

4. Build your house around my body by Violet Kupersmith. Written by a mixed-race Vietnamese American author, this book is about loss, wanting to be accepted, wanting to belong, wanting to fit in and find community, as well as the emptiness left by colonization. The book takes place over about seventy years. It jumps around time periods and focuses on several different characters. Nothing is told in a linear fashion so I know some readers have been confused by this. Basically we learn about Vietnamese American Winnie who has moved to Vietnam and wants so badly to fit in and find her home amongst Vietnamese Nationals but she just doesn't fit in with Vietnamese society. We also follow the childhood of three best friends who grew up in Vietnam and learned about their eventual dirft apart as they enter adulthood. There is an orphan boy who is living under the tyranny of French Catholics and we hear about how he got to watch the French be chase out by the Japanese. Then those Vietnamese children who were under French rule became oppressed by Japanese colonisation. Missing women, people looking to sell Vietnamese women as brides for foreigners all over the world, a ghost, plantations, build your house around my body feels like one big Vietnamese ghost story. Trigger warning: child abuse, violence towards women, murder, death, exploitation of people.

5. In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. Kenji is an unlicensed translator and tour guide for tourist in Tokyo. One day Kenji gets a American client who makes him very uneasy. Most of the book takes place in Kenji's mind as he contemplates what's going on in the world around him and whether or not his client is acting weird or is just being an obnoxious American. With a violent serial killer on the loose and many coincidences piling up Kenji's paranoia might be justified. Well there's not much plot to the book itself, I really suggest it because of all of its social commentary. Although published in the 90s, it deals with Timeless issues that are still culturally and universally relevant to this day. Issues like sexism, exploitation of sex workers, cultural identity, domestic violence, xenophobia, loneliness, poverty, consumerism, are just a handful of the subjects this book touches on. There is a moment in the book i like where the tourist tells Kenji that he is surprised to see the Japanese youth dress the exact same way that African-American youth dress in New York. Even Kenji has a moment of realization. In the beginning of the book he is quick to condemn teenage girls who become sex workers to pay the bills, saying that if they weren't out at night with adult men they would not get hurt but by the end of the book he gets mad at how everybody always blames the girls in these situations and never blames the adult men who attacked them. Trigger warning: gore, mutilation, Bloodshed, violence, body parts being sliced off, murder, this book is not for the faint of heart. If you seen the 1990s Japanese horror film the Audition, Ryu also wrote the Audition novel. In the Miso soup follows a similar style of it's a slow build-up to the scary scene.

6. Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar. If your fans of Neil gaiman's Stardust you'll like Star daughter. Sheetal is the daughter of a South Asian man and a literal star. Her mother came down from the heavens and fell in love with her father but when Sheetal was a child her mom returned to the heavens. As her 17th birthday draws near, Sheetal is unable to control her new powers, and ends up accidentally injuring her father. Wanting to correct her mistake, Sheetal and her best friend travel to the mysterious Night Market to try to find a cure. Instead they end up in the heavens where her mom resides and finds that her maternal side of the family are extorting her. In exchange for healing her father they want Sheetal to be their champion in a competition that will decide who gets to rule the heavens for the next millennia. Lies, family secrets, tragedy, love, Beautiful lore, and even more beautiful outfits, this fairy tale is a lovely young adult novel. Trigger warning: abuse, torture, mental health decline, blood

7. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. A mix of folklore, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical fiction, if you're a fan of Pacific Rim I recommend Iron Widow. This book is very fast-paced from the get-go there's a battle, death, and bloodshed from the very beginning. Wu Zetian is the main protagonist of the story. On a quest to avenge her dead sister, Wu Zetian isn't going to let anyone get in her way, not her family, not her best friend, not the government, not the patriarchy, not even the aliens invading the planet. Li Shimin is the sexy but scary inmate with a mysterious past, on death row for murdering his entire family, who finds himself unwillingly being partnered up with Wu Zetian. Gao Yizhi is the rich son of one of the wealthiest men in the country and he's not afraid to rub it in your face if you piss him off. In fact my favorite line from this book comes from Gao, " you can't kill me, I'm rich!". He's very self aware and also Wu's best friend who wants to help keep her alive. As the three characters who are completely different come to rely on one another they end up uncovering multiple conspiracies and forming a wonderful polyamorous Triad. Trigger warning: mentions of sexual assault, death, abusive family, torture, violence towards women

8. Arsenic and Adobo by  Mia P. Manansala follows the shameful life of Lila as she unwillingly returns to her small home town to live with her auntie after she is unable to get a job with her college degree and a bad breakup. Her tia Rosie runs a Filipino restaurant and is being harassed by the local food critic. Unfortunately for Lila the annoying food critic is also her ex-boyfriend. Things get worse when he dies at her aunt's restaurant and shenanigans ensue from there. Full of love, Millennial and Gen Z humor, lots of delicious food, and unapologetically Filipino this book is definitely not your grandma's murder mystery. Bonus points, there is some recipes at the end of the book. Trigger warning: death, murder, mentions of addiction.

9. The Bone People by Keri Hulme. Kerewin is a painter and indigenous Maori woman living in isolation in New Zealand. One day she finds a mute white child named Simon in her house. No one really knows much about Simon. He washed up on the beach one day after a shipwreck and doesn't talk. He is still able to communicate with other characters. He is both kind and loving but also prone to temper tantrums, violent outbursts, and stealing. Joe is a mixrace widower who takes on the responsibility of being a foster father for Simon but due to his alcoholism he abuses and beat Simon. As the three characters confront their own identity issues and trauma, they come to love one another and form a family together. This book is unsettling but at the same time heart-warming. Trigger warning: violence, alcoholism, child abuse.

10. The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Set in South Korea, this psychological drama takes place in 3 parts, all from the different points of view of Yeong-hye's relatives. Yeong-hye decides she is going to become a vegetarian one day. This decision does not come about in a quiet subtle way but rather radical in your face shock as her husband walks into the kitchen one day to find meat on the floor and in the trash can as she announces they will no longer have meat in their house. From her husband's point of view we find out that he is an unreliable narrator as it's clear he's pretty toxic, possibly even abusive towards his wife and constantly belittles her. In her brother-in-law's prospective he sees Yeong-hye as very attractive and wishes that his perfect Korean model wife was more like her sister. I won't give away any spoilers from the final part which is told from her sisters perspective but I will say it is sad. Ultimately the book is about conformity and how much Yeong-hye has had her life ripped away from her by her family, friends, and Society. Trigger warning abuse, toxic relationships, family abuse, attempted suicide, blood, medical abuse, mental health issues.

That's all for now. Have you read any of these books? Do you like any of them? Got any books to recommend for AAPI month?

#aapi #books #readers community #booklr #desi #Polynesian #korean #japanese #Filipino #Chinese

[wrongpublishing]

You Should Diversify Your Horror Rec List (Rec List Enclosed)

by Rae Maybee.

If you’re a Western reader, hopelessly in love with horror as hard as I am, you might have found you’ve gotten bored of the common tropes involving demons, poltergeists, vampires, and zombies. While it might be part of the fun for genre elements to provide reliable elements to a book that you’ll know you’ll enjoy, a predictable ending might conversely not be as hard-hitting and well… scary. 

Psychologist D. Zillmann proposes that enjoyment is the result of suspense and specifically, the anticipation of a resolution.* For this sense of suspense to be at its most acute, a reader must not know exactly how the plot is going to resolve—for better or for worse—because the resolution itself is technically less important than one’s anticipation of it. Dr. Neil Martin, summarizing multiple studies of horror film viewers, also proposes that enjoyment is associated with destruction, excitement, and unpredictability.** In other words, fans enjoy horror because they find it new, interesting, and stimulating; entertainment comes from the exposure to new ideas. (Usually,  horror does this well by shocking and appalling.)

Dr. Matias Clasen’s 2012 biocultural approach to horror, furthermore, examines monsters specifically as an adoptive storytelling form designed to help readers encounter and deal with innate fears.*** Most interestingly, he argues that there is a depth to horror that taps into our upbringing and the instincts we’ve evolved to survive—that is, environmental factors brought on by our culture and other surroundings.

While it is true that many cultures share fears and conceptualize similar ideas revolving around those fears, it is also true that there is a wealth of unfamiliar concepts waiting to be explored outside the boundaries of intra-national fiction. Using Dr. Clasen’s model, one could surmise that writers of different cultures will have grown up with varying fears, based on their unique geographies and socio-political climates. A writer from one continent might write a monster inspired by an animal that another continent doesn’t encounter, to give one broad example. And horror consumers will attest that religious and mythological elements play a big part in many subsets of the genre (those tend to be known for inspiring fear.)

To give an example from my own experience, when a reader who has consumed nothing but American horror is exposed to say, a demon possession in a book they’re reading, they may be able to predict its strengths and weaknesses (ergo, an exorcism). However, that same reader picking up a book from, say, Bolivia, might find themselves introduced to a threatening Pishtaco and especially worried about the powers it might yield. 

Of course, if you’re reading this and you’re already well-acquainted with the monsters of the Andes region of South America, fear not. I’m excited about a few other recommendations for books that will pique your curiosity.

Violet Kupersmith’s Build Your House Around My Body is a good example of a novel that winds around itself and consistently keeps the reader guessing. The story revolves around a young Vietnamese-American woman who has traveled to Saigon to teach English—and, hopefully, reconnect with her heritage. She gets far more than she bargained for, though, as her story intersects with almost fifty years of Vietnamese history coming back to (quite literally) haunt.

Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians is a novel about four Blackfeet Native American men struggling with tradition, identity, and the wrath of a spirit hard-bent on vengeance. Readers are kept on their feet by the intense imagery and shifting points-of-view which never let the tension slack for a moment.

The Queen of the Cicadas, by V. Castro, follows a woman who’s returned to Texas for her best friend’s wedding. Once there, she comes face to face with a local legend, la Reina de las Chicarras, who was born from the unsolved murder of a Mexican farmhand. Part detective story, part tale of revenge, this book introduces readers to a number of goddesses and ghosts—and all the worse, the very harsh realities faced by migrant workers.

Whether it’s with the books above or beyond, I highly recommend seeking out and supporting authors from cultures and nations different to your own. Fear is such a universal emotion, and not only will more international interest boost chances of further translated works (we always need more), their perspectives simply demand to be heard. After all, it’s a big, diverse, and terrifying world out there. You already love it; why not wander further into the darkness?

Rae Maybee is a graduate student from Emerson College’s Publishing and Professional Writing program, and she’s published the following pieces online: “Momentary Imbalance” in The Bluffton University Literary Journal and “Challenging the Best to be Better” in Moreover.

*D. Zillmann (1996). “The psychology of suspense in dramatic exposition” in Suspense: Conceptualizations, theoretical analyses, and empirical explorations eds. P. Vorderer, H. J. Wulff, and M. Friedrichsen (New York: Routledge, 1996).

**Neil Martin, “(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films” Frontiers in Psychology 10 (2019). 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02298 

***Mathias Clasen, “Monsters Evolve: A Biocultural Approach to Horror Stories” Review of General Psycology 16, no. 2 (2012): 222-229. https://www.ucentral.edu.co/sites/default/files/inline-files/monsters-evolve-cineclub-julio-2020.pdf 

#review #gothic fiction #gothic literature #book review #horror books #fiction review #horror fiction #horror literature #tbrbooks #horror tbr #essay #lit essay #horror industry #literary criticism #horror novels #gothic lit #horror lit

[thelibraryiscool]

23 books for 2023

this could never be an exhaustive list, but I thought I’d jot down some books I’m excited to get to this year -- and we’ll see how many I really hit! as a side note, this doesn’t include any series I’m planning to continue/read from more, like tana french or cixin liu.

Corregiodora by Gail Jones

Hiver à Sokcho [Winter in Sokcho] by Elisa Shua Dusapin << read her Vladivostok Circus instead and enjoyed it, so just postponing this one for next year

Der Zug war pünktlich [The Train Was on Time] by Heinrich Böll << in progress

Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager << dnf. did not even get very far. great concept but could not get on with the writing

The Life of Arsenyev [Жизнь Арсеньева] by Ivan Bunin

The Old Woman With the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo 

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith 

Marriage by Susan Ferrier

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišić << in progress

Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto

Désorientale [Disoriental] by Négar Djavadi << in progress

The Lviv Saga [Львівська сага] by Petro Yatsenko

Bleu blanc vert [Blue White Green] by Maïssa Bey

A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople by Patrick Leigh Fermor

1919 by Eve L. Ewing

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

A Home for Dom [Дім для Дома] by Victoria Amelina

Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Asia & Haiti by Will Alexander

Wound [Рана] by Oksana Vasyakina

Ghost Music by An Yu << read her Braised Pork and thought it was just ok, so will not be reading this one any time soon

Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys

and because there’s no rule that says you can’t start a tag thing if you weren’t tagged in one, i shall tag @dauen, @canonicallyanxious, @nonbinaryjomarch, @queenofattolia, @booksnpictures, @fluencylevelfrench and anyone else who wants to do the same xD

#tag thing #books #allie reads #i'm curious what people are excited for #also i wonder how much i'll actually follow the list at all here

[juurensha]

For the book ask! 2, 3?

Wooo, so happy to get asked!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

I did! The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a favorite I like to read around October (it's a very Halloween book to me, idk), and I always reread some Terry Pratchett throughout the year, and this year was no exception with Small Gods and Night Watch. I also reread Possession by A.S. Byatt, mostly to see if it would stand the test of time, but surprisingly, I liked it as much as I did in college. I also reread Artificial Condition and Network Effect by Martha Wells, my favorite of the Murderbot Diaries series because of course of ART. I also reread Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith, which was just as weird and ghosty as before. Also, got to love The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley for its time travel weirdness again, All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns by A.G Slatter for such good dark fantasy, and Burning Roses by S.L. Huang for the best combo of Western and Asian fantasy that I've ever seen. Also reread Yiyun Li's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, for her reading, and have to say, I liked it better than her more current stuff, and the Robots Vs. Fairies short story collection in which I'm Team Faerie all the way, but willing to listen to the other side as well.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

So not in any particular order but:

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho - I initially bought this book for the "If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again" short story because I LOVED that one, but this entire collection was so good, I can't recommend it any more. Lots of heartfelt Asian fantasy (more Chinese-Malaysian diaspora specifically)

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher - who doesn't love a fantasy story about a princess plotting murder? But this was great, very solid, and I loved all the characters.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura - a moving fantasy story about a bunch of lonely teens coming together, will definitely make you cry at some point.

Mister Magic by Kiersten White - spooky, and although it had its missteps, this was my #1 horror read of the year, with a bunch of former child stars coming back to revive their mysterious show.

The Sense of Wonder by Matthew Salesses - it's probably a combo of its Asian American characters trying to navigate being a second generation Asian American, and also for more personal reasons, but this really hit home for me.

Loved answering these, and if you want to ask more, please do!

#ask games

[bunnybisexual]

#🤍 #hiiii . i own all of these but don’t want to make decisions 👍

[theslitherer]

i have a parasocial relationship with my favorite women authors violet kupersmith and natalie diaz

#i need to like. blow up. looking for when my brother was an aztec to read tn #op

[cozy-possum]

tagged by @aquitainequeen

Last song: New Year’s Day by Charlie Robison

Currently watching: Re-watching the Face Off series from Sy-Fy

Currently reading: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, and Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

Current obsession: These tiny little resin based DIY mini food things!!

Tagging: @twinklecupcake   @curiosweet     @shiloh-sylvanian​   and anyone else who wants to do it!!

#asked #tag game #about me

[pumpkinspicedlesbian]

If you've never heard of any of these feel free to vote based on vibes. Tell me what you voted in the tags! And why if you like!

#they're all around 400 pages maybe? #none of them seem super short or super long to me in any case

[nialltlynch]

Hello. 1 and 3 for the book asks~

1. What are 2-5 already published fiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

off the top of my head: the mercies by kiran millwood hargrave, build your house around my body - violet kupersmith, paradais - fernanda melchor, and the seven or eight deaths of stella fortuna - juliet grames (i got a copy from one of those little free libraries! one of my best finds!)

3. Any poetry on your TBR?

im subscribed to that daily poem email thing (very cool! very recommended!) and my strategy thus far has been to look up poets who seem cool and then seeing if they have a collection. now getting a copy is a different story. the poetry sections at my local bookstores are so small.

thank u!!

#asks and answers #very dope little ask game!! thank u for making it 💟

[spacehorrors]

also in terms of horror i am looking forward to reading, i've currently got on there:

tender is the flesh - agustina bazterrica

friday black - nana kwame adjei-brenyah

nothing but blackened teeth - cassandra knaw

now you're one of us - asa nomani

what moves the dead - t kingfisher

our share of night - mariana enriquez

and i am currently reading build your house around my body by violet kupersmith!

#reading log #ig? #horror

[lesbianriverphoenix]

2, 3 & 25 for book asks 😋📚

Did you reread anything? What?

i don't think i did i was so focused on hitting 100 this year 🫣 but also generally i don't reread many things unless it's old graphic novels or comics when i'm home. and usually song of achilles once a year but 2022 was a skip i guess

What were your top five books of the year?

in no order...

the cabin at the end of the world by paul tremblay

a ghost in the throat by doireann ní ghríofa

the other black girl by zakiya dalia harris

all the white spaces by ally wilkes

build your house around my body by violet kupersmith

What reading goals do you have for next year?

i'll probably start with something reasonable like 75 but if i start going crazy after graduation in may i might up it

#ty so much :) #ask