Kaiun
🌒𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕤𝕪・𝔻𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕡𝕚𝕒𝕟・𝕊𝕔𝕚𝕗𝕚・𝕄𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕪・𝔽𝕠𝕝𝕜𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕖・ℂ𝕠𝕫𝕪・𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕪🌘✧┊ᴄʜᴏᴄᴏ ᴘᴇᴀɴᴜᴛ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴇʀ✧┊ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ ᴇɴᴛʜᴜsɪᴀsᴛ✧┊ʟɪsᴛᴇɴɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴀɪɴ, ᴇɴɢʀᴏssᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴏᴏᴋ
2639 points
Kaiun started reading...
14h
Daughter of No Worlds
Carissa Broadbent
A former slave fighting for justice. A reclusive warrior who no longer believes it exists. And a dark magic that will entangle their fates. Ripped from a forgotten homeland as a child, Tisaanah learned how to survive with nothing but a sharp wit and a touch of magic. But the night she tries to buy her freedom, she barely escapes with her life. Desperate to save the best friend she left behind, Tisaanah journeys to the Orders, the most powerful organizations of magic Wielders in the world. But to join their ranks, she must complete an apprenticeship with Maxantarius Farlione, a handsome and reclusive fire wielder who despises the Orders. The Orders’ intentions are cryptic, and Tisaanah must prove herself under the threat of looming war. But even more dangerous are her growing feelings for Maxantarius. The bloody past he wants to forget may be the key to her future… or the downfall of them both. But Tisaanah will stop at nothing to save those she abandoned. Even if it means gambling in the Orders’ deadly games. Even if it means sacrificing her heart. Even if it means wielding death itself. Fans of epic romantic fantasy like Sarah J. Maas and Raven Kennedy will devour this tale of dark magic, passionate romance, vengeance, and redemption.
Kaiun commented...
14h
Thank you for the insightful reading, and I hope the stressful life stuff lessens for you soon~! 💕
I recently picked up The Witch's Guide to Manifestation and I think it can fit the nonfiction reading. What I've read so far has been a nice companion for thinking about and planning goals but not stressing or obsessing over them, if that makes sense ☺️
The fiction reading is exciting and I feel like it's something I'm always hoping to find, but don't specifically search for 😛
Hello, friends.⚘️
It has been September for... some days :D...
( Listen, I never said these posts would come on the first of every month, please temper your expectations, thank youu 🙂↕️😋😂 )
I have been going through it, folks. I had so many stressful things to take care of in August and that's going to extend to this month for me as well, and in some ways into the next. I feel like I have been behind on life-stuff all month and it really messed up what would normally be my downtime and my reading practice.
BUT!
We shall not crumble under the pressure of the world!
We shall get hard stuff done and also get better at taking care of our mental health! 🙂↕️
We have committed to bookish tarot check-ins every month, and so you better believe that's exactly what we will do. Grab a chair, let me be your most humble host, and let's look at some pretty cards and talk books. Come, come, come… ☕️ _
How this works
I pull some cards for us and write a little bit about what I’m seeing when it comes to reading inspiration for the month ahead. You are welcome to simply take what resonates from the reading and move on with your day, or, if you think of any specific books that align with what I’m describing, comment those titles down below for people to check out. These readings don’t aim to be particularly predictive, and they aren’t meant to be taken as gospel. This is simply a bit of fun, something to bring you some reading inspiration if you need it, and an opportunity for us to further connect as a community.
_
I’m using the Lilifer tarot deck, created by Marion Costentin, published by Little Darkness. The spread is designed by me.
Here are the questions we will be looking at, and the cards we got. For a better experience, I recommend viewing the pictures below on the Pagebound website!
Okay, friends. General advice for our reading practice in September seems to be pretty grounded. We're talking about simple day-to-day things, the little steps that ultimately take us to where we want to go. No earth-shattering, mind-bending energies here. There is a bit of a limbo, a bit of potential for discomfort, but it seems temporary and manageable. Let’s talk!
Our general reading inspiration and potential is represented by the Seven of Pentacles. This is a slow-moving energy. It’s the seeds we planted slowly growing over time. They won’t grow any faster if we sit and stare at them, overthinking and second-guessing ourselves, but if we are patient and consistent, they yield the most delicious fruit. The energy of this card is what we need every time we’re working on something that matters to us and that we want to make a key part of our life at any particular time. It’s a steady energy, not a spur-of-the-moment, flighty one.
The card that represents our potential issues when it comes to reading is the Six of Swords. This card often represents a bit of an uncomfy transition, although one that we expected to happen for some time. What I’m seeing from this is a suggestion of some change in our reading practice in September, the kind of change in routine that we need a little bit of time to get used to. This might be due to a lot of us wrapping up our vacations and going back to work or to academic environments around this time. Regardless of reason, we need to be reminded that our reading habits should be flexible enough to change as the rest of our life fluctuates. If this is not the case (hi), we should look into that and make it our goal to adjust. We deserve to have access to reading no matter what other things are taking place in our life, and if what we are used to doing doesn’t work anymore, we can restart at any time: pause current reads and start something more fitting, change our monthly or yearly goals, and manage our TBR so it isn’t giving us stress.
There seems to be good potential for our reading practice to develop meaningfully this month, but it might be good for us to avoid rushing it, even if we might be tempted. Let’s try to stay away from the “all or nothing” mindset, and see how we can instead be more flexible with our reading goals and the ways we go about reaching them. . _
Now let's see what reading inspiration we can get from the rest of the spread. Nonfiction is where we will start.
We’re looking at the first row of cards as one group. We have the Knight of Pentacles, and the Page of Cups talking to each other. The Knight of Pentacles is our general topic. I’m thinking that here it signifies positive progress and chasing a particular goal in life. This Knight cares so much about this goal, and they are willing to commit themselves and make sacrifices in order to reach it.
If the Page of Cups were to sit with our lovely Knight, it would ask them whether the things that take up most of their time and energy still align with what their heart truly desires. Now, this Page loves life and is full of hope, but they aren’t detached from reality. They understand we can’t always choose to do the job we love, or just go off and follow our passions wherever they may take us. However, they also know that sometimes we lose sight of what we want because of what society tells us we should want. Or that sometimes we convince ourselves that we don’t have any time to devote to our passions at all, even if that may not always be true. This Page also understands that the capitalist society we live in often makes us forget that we have inherent worth regardless of how successful or “productive” we are, and that things can have value even when that value cannot be exactly measured. These topics might be good to look into for our non-fiction reading this month.
We can also look into books that bring us back to our passions, back to our “why”, so we can figure out whether what we spend our time on is still for us, or whether we might have lost sight of ourselves somewhere along the way. This is a difficult question to ponder, and that’s why I think the approach card here, The Six of Cups is really important this time around.
The Six of Cups is often connected to nostalgia and the inner child. This is a gentler approach to this topic. As much as it is sometimes necessary, we’re not destroying anything with fire in this case. Instead, we’re gently pivoting in the right direction. Throw some humor in there while you’re at it.
I think as adults we sometimes forget we also need to be taken care of, and that we deserve gentleness. So for this month’s non-fiction, maybe we’re looking at books which will give us just that: a companion, a hand to hold as we figure out a particular aspect of our life, or a safe space to play and try new things that we feel excited about. This card is also one of stories, and reminiscing on specific moments of the past with the benefit of hindsight, so it might lend itself well to a memoir, if that is your thing. . _
Onto fiction! This is quite an interesting line-up this month.
We open up with The Moon card. The mood and atmosphere here is HEAVY. What I’m immediately getting here are those books where if the atmosphere wasn’t as strong and specific, the stories would end up falling flat. We are looking at stories that feel a bit like fever dreams. Things are a bit more floaty, immaterial. Perhaps we’re in the head of the main character, going through their imaginary scenarios, dreams, and anxieties. Or perhaps the rules of the world that we live in don’t apply the same way in these books. Moonlight often obscures the view, only showing partial pictures of things, so there’s an air of mystery and confusion. It’s the kind of books where you have to get on board early and trust the author that the journey they are taking you on will ultimately pay off.
Now, the Queen of Swords represents the issues for our character(s) in the story. When we’re talking about the negative side of this queen, there’s definitely issues with overthinking and unprocessed emotions. This Moon energy might just be the result of escapism that this character engages in.
This doesn’t have to be literal, and it likely isn’t. The Moon is very comfortable with symbolism, and very at home with allegories. The whole story could be a metaphor for processing specific emotions or difficult life events, which really opens up the options for the books this month.
Our third card is The Magician. Note how this card visually stands out with its warm red and orange in a spread full of muted colors. Just from that, I think we’re looking at books where the author was not afraid to commit to their world and everything that makes it unique. The author didn’t intend this book to be for everybody and didn’t mind being different. That said, we’re not talking about uniqueness for the sake of uniqueness. The Magician acts with full understanding of who they are and what they want to bring into this world. This is a distinctly authentic style, and this is evident in the writing.
I’d say we should look into some weirder fiction this month, the books where the atmosphere drips with imaginative visuals, or descends into straight up mental spirals. The singularity of the figures in these three cards is also making me think of first-person POV, so you may want to consider that as well, if you think you’d enjoy having that perspective to the story.
. _
That’s our reading for September! And how I loved sitting with you!
Did you think of any books that fit the reading and that you’d recommend to the rest of the community?
Since I’ve been so over the place lately, I ended up starting many of my currently-reading books from the beginning and opting not to track progress for now. My September plan is otherwise empty, so I’ll just allow myself to see how I feel as the month goes on and only start new things if I either finish something I’m currently reading, or if I officially pause it and put it aside. Hopefully this will help me get back into the groove of things soon :)
Since September has already started, what are we reading?? Are you joining the readalong? Did you plan any buddy reads? 👀☕️ I’d love to hear a few updates from you, friends, I’ve not been too active on here recently.
In any case, thanks for stopping by! ⚘️ _
Previous readings:
August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026
Kaiun is interested in reading...
18h
Ocean's Godori
Elaine U. Cho
Ocean Yoon has never felt like much of a Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo, Jeju Island's beloved female divers. She's also persona non grata at the Alliance, Korea's solar system-dominating space agency, since a mission went awry and she earned a reputation for being a little too quick with her gun. When her best friend, Teo, second son of the Anand Tech empire, is framed for murdering his family, Ocean and her misfit crewmates are pushed to the forefront of a high-stakes ideological conflict. But dodging bullets and winning space chases may be the easiest part of what comes next. A thrilling adventure across the solar that delivers hyperkinetic action sequences and irresistible will-they-won't-they romance alongside its nuanced exploration of colonialism and capitalism, Ocean's Godori ultimately asks: What do we owe our past? How do we navigate our present while honoring the complicated facets of our identity? What can our future hold?
Kaiun is interested in reading...
1d
A Thousand Steps into Night
Traci Chee
From New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist, Traci Chee, comes a Japanese-influenced fantasy brimming with demons, adventure, and plans gone awry. In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again. But with her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did.
Kaiun is interested in reading...
2d
Mothsblood
Lynn D. Jung
Brought to you by Penguin.WELCOME TO UNIVERSITÉ MEURDRAC.HOME TO BRILLIANT ALCHEMISTS.THE HEART OF AN IMPOSSIBLE CRIME. When Larkspur Lee arrived in Paris, it was with nothing more than the ambition in her veins and the magic under her skin.As a student of Meurdrac, one of the few remaining alchemical universities, she burns to prove herself, but lacking the wealth, privilege and connections of the other students, she has to fight twice as hard - and be twice as cunning - if she wants to be considered worthy of immortality.So when Petronelle Flamel, the Grand Magistra of Meurdrac and Third amongst the Deathless, begins searching for an apprentice, Lark decides she'll do whatever it takes to be selected. Failure is not, and never has been, an option.But after a shocking death, she instead finds herself at the heart of an impossible crime - one where the only evidence whispers of Lark's past. And matters are further complicated when the mentor she crossed an ocean and a continent to escape re-enters her life, enticing her to his side once again while secretly wielding an agenda of his own.As the investigation begins and the mysterious Knight assigned to the case, Violaine, becomes convinced that more sinister works are responsible for the murder, Lark must wrestle with both the university's dark secrets and her own as the life she's meticulously built for herself begins to unravel.And as everything around her delves into chaos, Lark has no choice but to decide if the power she desires is truly worth the price.'A triumph of a debut.' CHLOE GONG, NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF IMMORTAL LONGINGS'An absolutely captivating and lusciously vicious tale, Jung's debut is a must-read for lovers of complex protagonists and dark academia fantasy.' KIERSTEN WHITE, NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LUCY UNDYING'With prose so beautiful I wanted to underline every single line, Lynn D. Jung crafts a world that feels vividly, tangibly real and characters that feel even flawed, full of longing, and wonderfully complex. MOTHSBLOOD is a gorgeous, haunting debut' BAR FRIDMAN-TELL, AUTHOR OF HONEYSUCKLE'This is dark academia examined through its most illuminating and necessary lens. Jung is carving out a league of her own.'K. M. FAJARDO, AUTHOR OF LOCAL HEAVENS Lynn D. Jung 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
Kaiun finished a book
2d
Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
" I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir," said Alice, "Because I'm not myself, you see." When Alice sees a white rabbit take a watch out of its waistcoat pocket she decides to follow it, and a sequence of most unusual events is set in motion. This mini book contains the entire topsy-turvy stories of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, accompanied by practical notes and Martina Pelouso's memorable full-colour illustrations.
Kaiun is interested in reading...
3d
The Blighted Stars
Megan E. O'Keefe
Stranded on a dead planet with her mortal enemy, a spy must survive and uncover a conspiracy in the first book of an epic space opera trilogy by an award‑winning author. She’s a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they’re found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity’s expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside. He’s the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin’s father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter. Disguised as Tarquin’s new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they make land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she’s sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that’s bigger than both of them.
Kaiun is interested in reading...
4d
Death Wish
Lilly Lu
A supernatural sapphic romance filled with yearning and hope for the future in which a depressed grim reaper comes face to face with the soul who got away--a now vampire who's ready to move on--but first they must track down her killer before he targets another woman.
Kaiun started reading...
4d
Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
" I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir," said Alice, "Because I'm not myself, you see." When Alice sees a white rabbit take a watch out of its waistcoat pocket she decides to follow it, and a sequence of most unusual events is set in motion. This mini book contains the entire topsy-turvy stories of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, accompanied by practical notes and Martina Pelouso's memorable full-colour illustrations.
Kaiun commented...
5d
I noticed The Hobbit did this as well, but I wasn't expecting it to happen in this book too. I absolutely love how they backtrack and revisit all their major stops during the journey while returning home. It gave such a good sense of closure to see what's changed and how everyone is moving forward. Ahh, what a satisfying ending~ (─‿‿─)
Kaiun finished a book
5d
The Return of the King
J.R.R. Tolkien
Begin your journey into Middle-earth. The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The Return of the King is the third part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. The Dark Lord has risen, and as he unleashes hordes of Orcs to conquer all Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam struggle deep into his realm in Mordor. To defeat Sauron, the One Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. But the way is impossibly hard, and Frodo is weakening. The Ring corrupts all who bear it and Frodo’s time is running out. Will Sam and Frodo succeed, or will the Dark Lord rule Middle-earth once more?
Kaiun finished a book
5d
The Return of the King
J.R.R. Tolkien
Begin your journey into Middle-earth. The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The Return of the King is the third part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. The Dark Lord has risen, and as he unleashes hordes of Orcs to conquer all Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam struggle deep into his realm in Mordor. To defeat Sauron, the One Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. But the way is impossibly hard, and Frodo is weakening. The Ring corrupts all who bear it and Frodo’s time is running out. Will Sam and Frodo succeed, or will the Dark Lord rule Middle-earth once more?
Kaiun is interested in reading...
6d
Into the Words: An Etymologist's Field Guide to Plants, Animals, and Nature
Jess Zafarris
Which animal holds the record for having the most common names? When and why did we stop calling giraffes “camel-leopards”? Do mushrooms have anything to do with mush or rooms? Why are dandelions named after lions’ teeth? How should you really pluralize “octopus”? Find out how and why raccoons are named after their hands, squirrels after their tails and olives after their oil. Discover why “dog” is an etymological mystery and “bear” contains a hair-raising horror story. Follow trails word history in the etymological excursion that is Into the Words. This book puts the fun in fungi, leaves language lovers contemplating forest for its trees, and reveals the wonderful stories hiding in our words for birds, beasts, insects, flowers, soil and everything in between. Featuring both the origins of the names of different organisms, this book will captivate anyone who revels in both the glorious chaos and logic of the English language and the beauty and majesty of everything that lives on the planet Earth.
