2 Bookstores to Visit this Weekend in Houston
I visited two wonderful bookshops during my trip to Houston. While many books caught my eye, I only allowed myself to buy a couple. Although I do hope to buy the rest eventually. Here you'll see all the books I considered buying, the ones I did buy, and my first impressions of them all.
EXPLORELIFESTYLE
What I Wanted to Buy at Murder by the Book:
They say not to judge a book by its cover but look at how good this book looks! I was also very curious about what sort of mysteries Grandpa would be solving. I’ve really enjoyed Japanese slice-of-life where you solve a misunderstanding, learn a lesson, and come out with a sense of rightness and warm fuzzy feelings (looking at you The Kamagowa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood!). I’m sure this Gandpa would help me feel that way again.
Puzzles & Perils: The Crystal Quest by Dr. Gareth Moore & Laura Jayne Ayres
I am not a fantastically smart person when it comes to solving puzzles, I am still stuck on my medium-level difficulty sudokus, but telling a story through them feels so DnD, so fantasy, and I am so curious as to how that would work! I might need to read this book with someone else just so they can do the puzzles I struggle with. …I only hope that doesn’t end up being most of them.
Suspicion by Seichō Matsumoto translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood
Honestly, the cover caught my eye. That’s truly the only reason this book is on the list. I don’t usually like to know the background of a book before I pick it up, I really enjoy going into them blind, and this is definitely one such book where I’d want to go into blind and figure out the shocking mystery along the way. The visual cues as I read the novel would, undoubtedly, be based off the cover’s color palette and I think this would make for an engaging reading experience, no matter what the plot ends up being.
When you spend the day in the museum district of Houston, there are two bookstores you absolutely must check out. And the nice thing is, they’re within walking distance of one another! So park at Murder by the Book to get your thriller mystery suspense novel, then cross the street and head over to Brazos Bookstore for literally any genre you might enjoy.
I’ve gone to both bookstores on a previous trip to Houston and thoroughly enjoyed myself. For this trip, however, I didn’t want to absolutely fill my luggage with books, so I held myself back. Although many books still got my attention.
What I Bought at Murder by the Book:
Strange Pictures by Uketsu, translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion
I have seen this bright green book everywhere on Pinterest and I got so curious about it. Japanese horror really hits different and I was curious about the literary tone of this one, what the cadence might be like. Plus, this is a book you can’t just listen to through an audiobook because half of the mystery is drawn on the page! I’ve seen people very volatile against this book while others adore it, so I can’t wait to go through the journey this book provides to see what I think about it.
What I Wanted to Buy at Brazos Bookstore:
I’ve seen this recommended a few times on Pinterest. I think I’d either hate it or love it based on how the characters are in this story. Although granted, I know nothing about it. We’re going purely on vibes.
Mother-Eating by Jess Hagemann
Because what do you mean ‘A Documentary’? This book is obviously meant to catch readers off guard and startle them, and since it’s meant to be a horror story, I do wonder how well this comes across via the author’s writing style. I would also be curious to see the topics discussed in here. Are they shocking for the sake of shock, or well-coordinated with a deeper meaning? I don’t know, but I look forward to finding out one day!
I have been meaning to read R.F. Kuang for a while now, so I definitely don’t think starting off with this book is a good idea. From what I understand about this book and the author’s style of writing, it’s important to know the basics of where the ideas within the story come from first to truly understand and enjoy the storytelling. I absolutely love that. I yearn for the days of Summer Reading Lists with questions regarding the deeper themes of the story to answer per chapter, and I want that experience with this book.
It is so much easier to find a bunch of books to enjoy at a general bookstore. But I did say earlier that I was holding myself back this trip, so I decided to only buy one fiction book and one graphic novel.
Navigating With You by Jeremy Whitley and illustrated by Cassio Ribeiro
I am an avid graphic novel fan. As a little kid I actually hated reading because I was so slow at it. But with graphic novels, the story is already illustrated on the page so I didn’t have to spend so long imagining every single sentence drawn out in my mind. This specific graphic novel just looked cute. Let’s go P.O.C. characters from two different backgrounds who want the same thing! Just like my method of choosing books, this is also all based on vibes, but they do seem immaculate.
The Harrowing by Kristen Kiesling and illustrated by Rye Hickman
Now this story seems like it would be intense. How could it not be? The harsh grey on black colors are only punctuated by the bright red of the gloves and ghost-like background. I expect it to be your regular ‘I now have powers I must learn to control’ but with a lot more heart and angst.
I love a good foodie graphic novel, and I felt especially called to eat some ramen after seeing this book. The art style seems very fun, even if the colors are so pale you can barely tell them apart from the rest of the scenery. All in all, this seems cozy, a sweet adventure with heart. That is one thing I can always say about graphic novels, they always have a lot of heart to them.
What I Bought at Brazos Bookstore:
The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke
This is a hopeful reach. After reading the book’s summary, something I only do for books I’m seriously considering purchasing, I was convinced that it would involve body horror. The way things are described, however, doesn’t make it clear for certain whether I’m right or wrong about this. I do enjoy my body horror books so I hope my assumptions about this story are correct!
Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews
I was so worried I might be wrong about the first book I got having body horror that I asked the store clerks of Brazos Bookstore about it. While they weren’t sure about that specific book, they could confirm for me that this one had both body and plant horror, a two for one! I had seen this cover many times on Pinterest but for some reason didn’t consider it too much. I certainly considered it then, and bought the book upon recommendation.
Fustuk by Robert Mgrdich Apelian
This is the graphic novel I ended up picking! Food and family themed with such rich colors and an art style that felt different from everything else on the shelf! I expect to be a little sad reading this book, trying to find similarities and differences between the main character’s ethnic family and my own, but one thing is certain: This book will have delicious dishes that I’ll want to eat one day. I really look forward to reading and experiencing this story!
If I am completely wrong about the premise of some of the books I listed, please let me know (no spoilers!) and I do so look forward to writing a review of the books I bought! ….Eventually!
If you want to see how much I spent on these books and my trip to Houston in general, feel free to check out my Budgeting the Trip Blog or the Trip Activity Blog if you want to see everything else I did in Houston. For the FULL Itinerary (20+ pages of day by day events, maps, alternative locations, parking, and more) consider buying my literary magazine as a guide in planning your own trip to Houston!
