If there's one thing that will revive my basically non-existent reader hobby, it's the yearly Asian readathon hosted by readwithcindy every May for AAPI month. I usually fail but last year, I actually stuck with my TBR and completed all the prompts so I'm feeling tentatively hopeful that I might be able to do the same this year (despite my reading being actually abysmal this year). Also, the prompts are inspired by K-pop Demon Hunters so how could I not at least make a TBR to motivate myself?

1. HOW IT'S DONE: Read a book written featuring a confident, skilled, or highly capable main character OR a book that teaches you something
I actually don't have a specific book picked for this prompt but I'm pretty sure that one of the books on my tbr is going to teach me something or have a capable main character.

2. GOLDEN: Read a book about a character chasing a dream OR a book that has gold on the cover
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 
A PhD student travels with her academic rival into hell to save their professor
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
A girl becomes a palace concubine to save her family and finds herself in the middle of a fight for the throne
Author(s) Representation: Chinese

I would ideally love to read both but only one would actually count towards the readathon since both authors are Chinese.

3. SODA POP: Read a book that is light and fun OR a book with stylish, bold elements (cover design, story setting, fantasy magic, writing style, etc.)
The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura
A bookstore that only appears during the cherry blossom season that offers solace and healing
Author Representation: Japanese

4. FREE: Read a book written by an Asian author where characters balance two different identities OR fighting a hidden/internal struggle
Behind Five Willows by June Hur
Korean-inspired homage to Jane Austen following a reader and writer secretly fighting against government book banning
Author Representation: Korean

5. YOUR IDOL vs. WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: Read a book written by an Asian author that has dark themes OR a book about friendship or chosen family
Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity
A gothic fantasy where a young women who can see the dead enters a contract with the Saint of Silence to save her brother's life
Author Representation: Iraqi

Salt Swept by Katalina Watts
A ragtag crew on a quest to find a hidden treasure in the middle of a raging whirlpool, but they need to find a boat and learn how to sail it first
Author Representation: Filipino