My Month in Books | Q2 (April-June) 2025 + A Mid-Year Check-In

I can’t count how many incredulous statement I’ve made already this year about how fast time flies by – but it’s true! I felt like I’ve just published my Q1 wrap-up and now, here we are: it’s July, in the middle of (I’m sure, will be short but sweet) summer, and doing a mid-year check-in already. My Q2s have always been historically slow, due to work deadlines and life happenings (for some reason, something major always happen this time, I swear 😂) – and 2025’s is no different.

But before I hop on to my mid-year summary, I wanted to take some time talking about the books I’ve read this past quarter ~

My April to June

During Q2* of 2025, I’ve read 7 books:

• In Search of Perfumes: A Lifetime Journey to the Sources of Nature’s Scent by Dominique Roques – 4.5/5☕
• The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong – 4/5☕
• Grief is the Thing With Feather by Max Porter – 3/5☕
• The Strawberry Pancake House (Dream Harbor, #4) by Laurie Gilmore – 2.5/5☕
• Blackmail and Bibingka (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery, #3) by Mia P. Manansala – 4/5☕
• Murder and Mamon (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery, #4) by Mia P. Manansala – 3.5/5☕
• Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai by Nina Mingya Powles – 4/5☕

* roughly included books I’ve finished in the early days of July

The books in the last 3 months have been a healthy mix. And I must admit that my reading only picked up around the tail-end of May, so a lot of it have been finished and read in quick succession.

One book that I’ve laboriously tried reading through the slow early months of this quarter was Dominique Roques’ In Search of Perfumes. I’ve briefly talked about it in my Q1 wrap-up and the sentiments I’ve written before hadn’t really changed much. It was unexpectedly so good – in a sense that this is not the type of book I would usually go for and seek out. I wouldn’t have discovered and read it if not for a bookstore visit where I randomly saw this in featured shelves – but it has now since become one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read this year, and maybe ever.  It ticked all the boxes of what a good non-fiction book for me is: a perfect blend of culture, people, travel, and nature. It is also very informative without being too technical. But most of all, I love how much respect and appreciation pulses through the whole book from the author to the raw materials and the people that cultivates it. It was definitely a love letter to the perfume industry. I definitely gained a deeper appreciation of perfumery and the natural materials I usually only read as fragrance notes. If Roques ever releases a second installment of this book talking about other perfumery raw materials (because there is still a lot to explore), I would absolutely buy it and read it.

Another reading experience that I deeply cherished was with Ocean Vuong’s latest novel, The Emperor of Gladness. I didn’t really rate this too high (compared to my initial expectation, at least, of me rating it an absolute 5) but the more interviews I read and hear of Vuong talking about this book — the premise of it, the context of writing it — the more I grow to appreciate this book as a unique work of art. On writing a book without any improvement arcs, because that is how a lot of people’s lives are and these stories are rarely ever put in the spotlight. I’ve thought about how much of an uphill battle reading through those 397 pages was, looking forward for a payoff (and I did get it, maybe in a different way than I was initially imagined, but a catharsis nonetheless). And in retrospect, realizing how, even with literary fiction where they’re mostly character-centered rather than plot-focused, we are (at least, I am) conditioned to wait for that moment when it all makes sense: a point when the story reaches a pinnacle, someone gets the girl or the boy, a dream is realized, or something finally unfolds. But real-life often usually is not the case – you hope for it and you never know if it will actually come, but you keep on living because what can you do anyway?

This is one of those few books that I will find very hard not to think about long before I finished it – and for that gift of exposing myself to this kind of stories, I thank Ocean Vuong for it. I keep coming back to those last sentences, how perfect they were in closing this story:

“And they sounded just like people. Soft, simple people, who live only once.”

Another short book that I casually finished amidst the chaos of work is Max Porter’s Grief is The Thing With Feathers. A realization came to me while I was leafing through is that: ‘it doesn’t hurt as much now‘. I have a complicated (and maybe deep) relationship with grief because of the losses I’ve experienced in my life. I’ve always been wary with reading books that center grief as I never really know how it will affect me. So I surprised myself when I bought this book one random Saturday, browsing in an independent bookstore near the park. But maybe that was the universe nudging me toward a new understanding of myself. It’s the same sensation I felt recently rereading the lines I’ve marked and pages I’ve tabbed in Lily King’s Writers and Lovers. I can’t really say that I’ve fully healed — can anyone ever truly heal completely from the grief brought on by death? — but knowing that things like this won’t send me into a random spiral feels like progress. I’ll take that as a win.

Objectively, there’s quite a lot in this book that I didn’t get because of how heavy-handed the author was with using metaphors and styling the words into cryptic passages. It toed the line between fantasy and reality — which sits comfortably within the realm of surrealist works. It’s not my vibe right now, and it probably contributed to me not appreciating this book as much as I could have. I got the 10 year anniversary edition from Faber (I love this publisher!) which included original drawings and marginalia from the author. They are charming but some of it were a bit creepy.

There is also Nina Mingya Powles’ Tiny Moons, which I discovered because it was from the same publisher as another favorite, How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart. It was a short but very sweet offering (92 pages!) but I read this oh so slowly. It was a nice meditation on identity and memory through food (something I’ve been very drawn to lately). Finishing this, and reading more and more of this kind of books, I realized that it is the type of writing that I can realistically do. This little book gave me mushy feelings that felt like a mix of hope and inspiration. It was nice.

This last set of books were a series of audiobooks that entertained and kept me occupied during my spiral-y anxious times the last few weeks. I slowly eased into listening to audiobooks again and it was such a welcome change. The initial reason might not be ideal but I learned to find things that make me enjoy the activity again. These accompanied me during my cooking as well as walking and running. Laurie Gilmore’s The Strawberry Patch Pancake House was the sort of mindless fluffy romance that one might need from time to time. I rated it low just because I can’t keep my brain from screaming and counting all the HR violations they were doing pursuing this romance. It was not ideal and, if I’m honest, too irresponsible for me to enjoy listening to it. I was glad things got resolved, but I couldn’t overlook all the red flags, so I never got too invested in the main couple’s story.

On the other hand, I finally continued on Mia P. Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery books with Blackmail and Bibingka and Murder and Mamon. While I really read it for the continuity, the comfort factor is that keeps me coming back. I love the cast of characters so much because I recognize a lot of them in my own upbringing. The classic Pinoy food spread that they have all the time makes me drool and my stomach grumble, and all the fusion recipes keep my brain’s gear spinning – I wanted to experiment in my own kitchen and try a lot of them as they all sounded nice! While I’ve admittedly read better cozy mysteries, it still is always such a comfort coming back to Mia’s world.

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Now, on to the mid-year check-in~

My 2024 Reading Challenge Update

At this point, I am not even past half of my target for this year. 😅 I’ve consistently set a small target year-by-year and with this, I should average 2 books per month. According to Goodreads’ calculation, I am currently 2 books away to get back on track and I am surprisingly (and happily) okay with it. I personally like that shift in thinking. While I have no doubt I will be able to achieve my goal by end of year, I am glad that I was able to get to that point of being gentle with myself and not compare myself against other book content creators in terms of how much books I’ve read. While there are definitely books that I read mindlessly (I believe some books are meant for different purposes), I think I am slowly curating my holistic reading experience into what I actually like and not being too influenced by trending titles online. To create a reader identity that I am happy with, that’s the goal. 💖

Mid-Year Favorites

I chose these three as the stand-outs so far in the first half of 2025 (in no particular order): How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart (review), In Search of Perfumes (see above thoughts), and The Emperor of Gladness (see above thoughts).

What I’m currently reading and looking forward to

These are two books that I am actively reading right now and look forward to finishint:

• On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej balle (tr. Barbara Haveland) – I was softly DNFing this book for a couple of months because of how repetitive it feels (that’s literally the premise of the book so it’s not a criticism) but after reading Jacqui’s review of this book and the various points raised by other reader(s) meticulously curated and mentioned in Jacqui’s post, despite not being engaged with the book much (such a thoughtful reviewer, right?!), it piqued my interest again to pick this book. So yes, I am returning it in my currently reading pile.
• Comfort Eating: The Joy of Secret Snacks and Naughty Nibbles by Grace Dent – This book just feels like a hug and I love it.

2025 Book Read Count as of writing: 10 /24

HOW ABOUT YOU? HOW WAS YOUR READING MONTH THIS past quarter and first half of the year? DID YOU HAVE ANY NOTABLE FAVE? 

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