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Last three weeks-ish I read 9/14/20 - 10/5/20

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoum Kim

Eat A Peach by David Chang

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

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I didn’t plan read two books about Korean Americans at the same time. Even though The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoum Kim is a novel with the protagonist born and raised in Korea Town in LA, whereas Eat A Peach by David Chang is a memoir of someone from Virginia, there are so many similar sentiments in their narratives. What stands out the most to me is the anger, so much anger at their immigrant parents, made a lot worse by the communication barriers. Both narratives also feature some version of regret for not knowing their parents and having huge gaps of understanding, while convincing themselves they were loved - just not the way they saw how their peers were loved or how it’s portrayed to them in media. I had previously listened to David Chang’s podcast episode where he talked about his father right after he passed away (came out on Fathers Day), and was really moved. The relationship with his father is not the central focus in Eat A Peach; however, it was mentioned and he also wrote about his struggle with bipolar disorder and all the raw emotions in his journey. The writing struck me as both very self conscious and egotistical…which reminds me of some of my therapy clients.. I didn’t expect to read about such difficult mental health struggles (that he wouldn’t have it or that he wouldn’t be open about it? Idk), but I am glad he’s able to write about it and put it out in the open. The Last Story of Mina Lee is a semi-mystery novel, which is a good hook, but with a kinda let down reveal, although I would much prefer this than something totally not believable. I really enjoyed reading the journey the characters went through though! 

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram is a sequel to Darius the Great is Not Okay, which I read last year and LOVED. I just remember reading it on the muni one time and couldn’t stop crying.. and then cried some more after I got home.. I did not cry reading the sequel. I had forgotten a bit about what kind of teenager Darius was in the first book, but I think he did mature a bit in this sequel. I vaguely remember feeling so much for him and also kinda annoyed at how sensitive he was while reading the first book. I didn’t feel this way as much with the second book. It’s still his voice for sure.. but I wonder if the more mature version of it makes me feel less somehow? Idk. I also feel a little disappointed by the ending. It didn’t have the same emotionality as the first book (as I remember???). Overall a fast and entertaining read. I love all the descriptions of tea in it, and miss all the normal high school things the characters got to do, like going to a school dance and playing soccer and going over to friends houses… 

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Last few weeks I read 7/28/20 - 9/13/20

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory 

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I’m not sure which genre A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green falls into.. It’s kinda YA, but feels more mature than your typical YA books, maybe like a transitional age youth novel? It’s been categorized as a sci-fi, but I feel like the sci-fi elements are not as pronounced in the book.. anyway, I really enjoyed it! It’s the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, which came out in 2018. I remember liking the first book but have forgotten a lot of the plot, but it didn’t matter as much. I like the sequel a lot better! Unlike the first book, the sequel is told from multiple perspectives, and I really enjoyed reading the different voices and seeing how each character developed. There are some really smart and poignant commentary on wealth, influence, systems in place, social media, and society in general.  

Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan is the first book I finished reading after giving birth.. I’m so happy reading books is still possible when you have a baby! I pretty much read the whole book while breastfeeding, which occupies like half of my waking hours these days… and I definitely felt like I was reading about my own life when opening this book and the opening passages describing the main character breastfeeding in the middle of the night lol I really enjoyed the book! The author does such a good job describing these two main characters (mom and babysitter) that they feel very real. It does read more like a character study and the whole book is not very plot driven. It makes me think about all the things unsaid, relationships that were so solid at one point but dissolved, privilege and what you really deserve/are worth, the loneliness of being a mother, intention to help vs the outcome, and of course, the Hollow Tree. 

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory is another book I read mostly while breastfeeding, but I didn’t read it as carefully as Friends and Strangers. I think because I’ve read most of Jasmine Guillory’s books, this one feels like it follows pretty much the same tropes.. there’s great descriptions of food, career driven main characters who have a good friend each (who will probably have their own books one day), some discussion of race and social issues, a breakup right before the end of the book where they get back together and live happily ever after. It makes fun, light reading and def makes me want to eat some cake. 

[yufay11]

Last week I read 7/21/20 - 7/27/20

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper

Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me by Sopan Deb

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Both books I read last week are memoirs, which I’m realizing is the genre I read and enjoy the most! ..unless it’s a celebrity memoir, which I haven’t liked most I’ve tried to read. 

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper is a memoir of an emergency room physician who writes about healing others in a deeply unbroken system as well as healing herself from past traumas. I thought it’d be more like Atul Gawande’s books, with anecdotes that explores the medical system and systems of care. But this book reads a lot more personal, even though it’s also interspersed with many patient cases that paint a picture of the hectic life of an ER physician. I really like how the author embraces brokenness - and the notion that better things emerges from brokenness is immensely hopeful. 

Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me by Sopan Deb is a memoir of a son of immigrants trying to reconnect with his parents and get to know his family. The author has the day job of a NYT writer and the fun job/hobby of being a comedian, so you can expect his writing to be both serious and funny :P I know many versions of this story, being an immigrant and surrounded by immigrant families - the frustration of being different, non-communication, and the attempt to connect and get to know your roots. Although I would say Sopan’s story is a more extreme version, given how estranged he was to his family and just how little he knew. It’s also very hopeful, because he did take the steps to reach out to his parents and got to know their stories before it was too late. 

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Last two weeks I read 7/7/20 - 7/20/20

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

Spinning by Tillie Walden

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener

The Upside of Being Down: How Mental Health Struggles Led to My Greatest Successes in Work and Life by Jen Gotch

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I probably wouldn’t be drawn to Kevin Kwan’s new book after having read/skimmed through all three Crazy Rich Asians books if not for the quarantine.. but since I’ve been locked inside for so long and there are so many heavy things going on in the world, Sex and Vanity is a very good escape read - rich people’s lives with a lot of name drops and always in glamours settings. The book is really not so much about what happened with the characters as it is about the setting of the insanely rich, and Kevin Kwan does a good job setting all the scenes - with just a dash of sarcasm. It’s so interesting that rich people are so obsessed about money? 

I also found it interesting that the mothers/mother-figures are very present and involved in the story, while there is no father figure. (Which is also the case in Crazy Rich Asians!) Is it because the stereotypical rich mom is one who hosts, entertains, and talks to her kid??? 

Spinning is a graphic memoir by Tillie Walden, who chronicles her years growing up as a competitive skater. It takes less than an hour to finish, but the story is so raw and powerful. There aren’t a lot of colors, which really adds to the melancholy of the story. I could almost feel the coldness of the all those 4am practices in the ice rink… There are many heavy themes in the book and some parts were really difficult to read. Also the author is so young! I’m really glad that she was able to find her way to art, and use it as a way to process all those trauma she went through. 

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener is a book I heard about back in January, and the hold at the library was something ridiculous like 12 months. I think the only other book that had close to that long of a wait was Becoming by Michelle Obama.. Anyway, I finally got it and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to! I feel like the culture at Silicon Valley in the past ten years is something that people just had enough distance from to really reflect on. The author does a really good job capturing just how it feels. It’s also a very personal account, with a lot of self doubt, self righteousness, self humoring, etc. as the author tries to figure out her place in a male dominated culture. The author is clearly very highly learned, because there are a lot of words I had to look up while reading the book.. and I just learned the phrase “uncanny valley” refers to this dip in the graph of relationship between an object’s resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object, which is super interesting on its own. I always thought the title just refers to the Silicon Valley being uncanny, which it probably also does :P 

I didn’t know anything about ban.do or Jen Gotch’s other work before; I think I was solely drawn to her memoir, The Upside of Being Down, because I thought it was a good title :P I liked the messages in the book and the way she talks about difficult things and difficult times in her life without forgetting to throw in some self deprecating jokes. Maybe because I hadn’t known her work beforehand and didn’t have more context, I didn’t feel as connected to her voice as I did with some other mental health related memoirs. I can’t pinpoint what it is, if anything, this book is maybe a notch too earnest and wholesome for me?? @.@ 

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Last week I read 7/1/20 - 7/6/20

Born A Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Beach Read by Emily Henry

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I haven’t watched many comedian shows or late night shows and out of the ones I have watched, most I didn’t enjoy. I knew very little by Trevor Noah before reading this book, only that he’s a mixed person born during apartheid in South Africa and now he’s a comedian in the US. I’ve picked up a few memoir/essay collection written by celebrities before, but never really liked any, but Born A Crime is so good! It’s funny but definitely heavy. Trevor Noah recounts his childhood with all his mischiefs and trauma, some regular growing up stuff and some very specific to living in South Africa during its transition post-apartheid as a mixed race person. He wrote a lot about the strong female figures in his life, particularly his mother - which makes me think about the strong women in my life and also how being brought up by strong females affects a person. 

The Last Flight by Julie Clark is another female centric book, featuring strong female characters. It’s a pretty hyped new book with good reviews and an interesting set up that’s almost like a mystery, but I don’t know if I would categorize it as a mystery/thriller after having finished it.. it’s more about how these women live with and try to escape from their difficult circumstances, which in itself is an important discussion to have and I’m glad the author shed light on these women and gave them voices they deserve. 

Beach Read by Emily Henry is also a pretty hyped new book this summer with good reviews, but I didn’t get into it and only skimmed through the book. The setup is intriguing enough, and it follows the being annoyed but attracted to each other trope, but I wasn’t convinced by the characters from the beginning.. 

[yufay11]

Last week I read 6/24/20-6/30/20

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Ordinary Insanity: Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood in America by Sarah Menkedick

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I read The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle last year, and didn’t like it. But I was intrigued enough by the premise of her new book, In Five Years,  to give it a try… and didn’t really like it again =/ It’s very much on me, since I read a review that kinda spoiled the whole book for me, so I skimmed some parts and never really got into it. But I also wasn’t drawn to any of the characters.. they are either really bland or annoying to me. Also, the blurb of the book made it seem like a romance story, which it really is not. I’m fine with the plot line not centering on a romance, but I’m irked by the ending where there was a promise of a relationship, as if the main character needed that or as if that’s a reassurance for the reader. 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a mystery book with an extravagant wedding on a remote island as its backdrop. I liked the scene setting - although at times it did feel a little too on the nose, like the author was trying too hard to foreshadow something menacing, but overall I enjoyed reading about the different threads leading up to the wedding night from different perspectives. It felt a little slow in the middle, but I think the author tied it up well in the end. It didn’t feel like a plot twist when I got to the thing/the reveal, more like.. just progression of the plot. 

I’m reminded of Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner, which I read just two weeks ago, also about a murder mystery taking place at a glamours wedding. The vibe is very different, but I feel like there’s something about wedding being the ultimate performance one puts up, with a cast of characters that you have history with? Another interesting theme in both book is the glamour and carelessness people perceive, paralleling the misery and lack of love the bride feels. 

I was really looking forward to reading Ordinary Insanity: Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood in America by Sarah Menkedick. It’s got good reviews and feels like a timely, necessary topic for me to read about. It’s a very well-researched book about perinatal mental health. I skimmed through some of the neuroscience-y parts that I know I wouldn’t retain… and haven’t finished the whole book yet, but from what I read the main thesis can probably summarized as the whole system is rigged against women: “here’s an overwhelming amount of info that doesn’t really help you comprehend the risk involved, presented to you at a time when everything in your life is super overwhelming! You make the decisions, just make sure you never hurt your baby! Good luck!” The author cites a lot of research about how becoming a mother changes the woman’s body and brain chemistry, making her more prone to anxiety, fear, obsessive thoughts, etc. But from all the case interviews and the author’s account of her own experience, the real gaping hole is when these women suffer, they are not believed and helped with adequate mental health care in a timely manner. Which goes back to the system being set up to keep women disempowered, “oh you keep having suicidal thoughts and/or visions of your baby being hurt? That’s normal, it’s the hormones, just deal with it! Conveniently there isn’t much medical research that look into perinatal mental health!” The doctors could just dismiss their patient, not even registering what she said as red flags; they may not be equipped with basic screening questions for depression, anxiety, OCD, etc; they might have made a referral but it requires too much work on the patient part to follow up; the mental health provider may not be a good fit... none of it should be this hard! But no change is brought about by waiting around - be unsatisfied, be angry, and speak out.

[yufay11]

Last week I read 6/17/20 - 6/23/20

Anna K. by Jenny Lee

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

Here For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in American; Essays by R. Eric Thomas

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Anna K. by Jenny Lee is a retelling of Anna Karenina set in modern day New York with posh high schoolers. I was pretty drawn to the story immediately - it’s just like Gossip Girl! Who wouldn’t want to read/watch the drama among a bunch of rich teenagers?... I thought the author did a really good job giving each character a well rounded picture, just like Tolstoy...there’s so much compassion and attention for each character that you just feel them as living beings. But I really doubted if the author is going to end the book with a similar weight as the original Anna Karenina. I mean, they are just high schoolers in this reimagination of the story, so what if this girl dumps her bf and goes with another guy?! And because I really like the original book, particularly the tragedy of it, I just didn’t know what I should expect from this retelling that’s seems to have a much lighter tone. 

I didn’t have to worry at all - the story ended with just the right balance of tragedy and hope, even though it’s quite different from the original! The author includes a short essay on how she fell in love with the story of Anna Karenina and how she got the idea of this retelling, which I loved. There’s already a sequel book planned and also a tv series in the works, and I can’t wait to see all the posh-ness on screen!

I did not plan to read I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown and Here For It by R. Eric Thomas at the same time. They are both memoirs/essay collections by black authors reflecting on growing up as a black person, along with coming to terms with and claiming other identities, in the US. Despite the tones of the two books being totally different, there are some very similar stories and messages (memories of being called the n-word the first time, occupying spaces that are predominantly white, dealing with white people, trying to figure out what it means to be black); religion is also a big part of both authors identities and it was interesting reading about how their spiritual journeys developed with time. 

I don’t think I’ve experience quite the same oppression personally or harbor the same anger that are voiced in these books - my skin color is different; times have changed since these two particular authors were growing up; we have different personal histories etc.. but something I felt very related to was just the confusion. R. Eric Thomas writes when he first arrived at Columbia University, he hadn’t figured out his blackness yet, but he knew it wasn’t the whiteness he saw all around him. This is the systemic racism that’s all around us! That it’s the default… and if you are not that, you are on your own to figure out what your thing is, without the help of seeing your people being represented and without the same outlet of your story being told.

There are many really good lines I highlighted while reading both these books - how they critique this system built by and for whiteness and how they struggled to find their space in it. But this is by far my favorite one:

“When you believe niceness disproves the presence of racism, it’s easy to start believing bigotry is rare, and that the label racist should be applied only to mean-spirited, intentional acts of discrimination. The problem with this framework - besides being a gross misunderstanding of how racism operates in systems and structures enabled by nice people - is that it obligates me to be nice in return, rather than truthful.” 

- Chapter 7 Nice White People, I’m Still Here

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Last week I read 6/10/20 - 6/16/20

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo 

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir by Jason Rosenthal

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I haven’t read an adult romance novel for a while and thought The Idea of You by Robinne Lee would be a nice, light decompressor while being bombarded with a lot of heavy news and content lately. I did not expect to get so swept away by the story! The main characters are perfect in a way I’m pretty sure no real humans are. Their relationship is so cute and passionate and also tender at the same time. And of course the settings are always glamorous and the author name drops these clothing brands I don’t even know while describing what the characters are wearing but I can just imagine they look fabulous. So yeah, all things you want in an unrealistic romcom... which is why I was so blindsided when I got to the end and it (spoiler alert!) wasn’t a happy ending!! Even though it was a very unlikely coupling (40 year old divorcee who has a preteen daughter and a 20 year old lead singer from a popular boy band), I find myself really convinced and rooting for them and had trouble coping with their breakup at the end... But I think also, sometimes what makes a romance story good is the fact that it ends at the moment when it can be preserved without the wear and tear of daily life. 

There are self deprecating jokes about boy bands throughout the book, but at one point there was a comment about how if your music make so many people happy, then it’s good art. Which makes me think about romance novels or romcom movies/shows - they can be very well written, like this book, or well made, but still only be considered cheap entertainment because they are just light and happy and not serious enough. 

Clap When You Land is the new book out by Elizabeth Acevedo! She’s written two acclaimed YA books already, one in verse and one in poetic prose, both of which very powerful. This one is written in verse again. I think I enjoy books written in prose more just because I’m more used to those and also, when I read passages in verse, I always feel like I can’t make them sound punch-ful because I don’t have good cadence? Maybe I will enjoy it more if I listen to it as an audio book… I really liked the story, though. It’s pretty incredible how much she packs in those short lines. I also like how on some pages she plays with the spacing of the words, something you can’t do with a book written in prose, to add more visual impact. 

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner is pretty different from what I expected plot-wise, but exactly what you would expect theme-wise. I was a little bored during the first third, because it keeps going back to add more background information on the characters. But a third in, something surprising happens and the story goes pretty quickly after that. There were some pretty interesting and insightful commentary on social media, lives portrayed vs. lived, body image issues, things our brain keep telling us even as we work very hard to think differently, who someone really is, how do you know when you really know someone, etc. 

A while ago I flipped through one of Amy Rosenthal’s memoirs, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which was pretty interesting and innovative. I heard about Amy Rosenthal through John Green and vaguely remember reading that viral NYT article You May Want to Marry My Husband. So I was pretty excited to read the new book by her husband, Jason Rosenthal, My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir. It’s not bad, and it’s also a little bland… I got the sense that the author shared a very deep love with his late wife, that she was an inspiration and presence of joy, and that she didn’t deserve to be robbed of all the years that they had planned. And also, I can’t help but think, you had such a good life together already, surrounded by so many people who love you and support you; you had access to all kinds of resources, including very good healthcare and end of life options that respect what you want, AND as painful as the loss is, you get to tell your story. Not to say they shouldn’t have all that.. I just feel like compared to the books I’ve read on similar topics before - The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams, From Scratch by Tembi Locke, or When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi - all of which I loved and felt so deeply for, this one didn’t hit me the same way. 

[yufay11]

Last 2 weeks I read 5/27/20 - 6/9/20

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

In Pursuit of a Disobedient Woman by Dionne Searcey

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

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What an unrestful two weeks. I feel so energized and exhausted at the same time reading all the posts and seeing pictures of protests going on, which makes me oscillate between wanting to engage and wanting to hide. There are a lot of thoughts and emotions, but for now I’m remembering this quote from James Baldwin:

“We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”

I really liked both non-fiction books I read in these two weeks! Untamed by Glennon Doyle is a pretty hyped up new book, although before opening it I really had no idea who Glennon Doyle is and what the book is about (it’s about a little bit of everything). I listened to an interview with her and Brene Brown, which is super empowering to the point that’s almost radical and - while I really liked the message, I also find myself constantly thinking “but that wouldn’t work…”/ “but isn’t that too selfish..” / all kinds of “yeah, but...”, which of course is exactly all the caging and taming that the book talks about. It’s a memoir essay collection touching on love, marriage, motherhood, friendships, public perception, addiction, mental illness, various social issues.. the chapters are pretty short and but they are packed with punches. 

The other non-fiction book I read, In Pursuit of a Disobedient Woman by Dionne Searcey, also discusses quite a bit of the wife’s role in a family while pursuing a highly demanding career. Dionne Searcey writes about her assignment as the NYT bureau chief in West Africa. She’s super honest and vulnerable about both how she did reporting at some really dangerous and unfamiliar areas, and the difficulties she faced at home with 3 young kids uprooted from the Brooklyn life they were used to and a husband who had to curb his own career ambitions and adjust to this new life. 

I didn’t enjoy the two fictions I read as much. A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight and The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides are both mystery/thrillers, which isn’t my favorite genre. The stories are compelling enough and I did get pretty sucked in and just kept turning to the next page. But maybe I’m more a traditionalist in my preference for crime/mystery-solving stories? It irks me when there are unreliable narrators, OR when the narrator intentionally hides a giant clue that they knew from the beginning, just to manipulate the story in a certain way.. I know lies and deceptions are common in any mystery and thriller story, but it’s so not satisfying to me when I get to the end and it turns out the story you’ve been told by the narrator is just false all along. 

[yufay11]

Last week I read 5/20/20 - 5/26/20

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong

New Waves by Kevin Nguyen

The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

Dragon Hoops: From Small Steps to Great Leaps by Gene Luen Yang

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I read quite a bit last week again! The weather has been really hot, which makes me feel more lethargic than usual… so I’ve just been sitting all day and reading/napping, and I guess I’m getting more used to reading ebooks too.

Dear Girls by Ali Wong is one of those books that I’ve waited for like 4 months and finished as soon as I finally got it. It’s funny and entertaining, but not like cheap entertainment. Although, it’s not until the epilogue, written by Ali Wong’s husband, that I realized how much of a performance I experienced all Ali Wong’s writing to be. Since only impression I have of her is a stand up comedian, plus the style of writing itself, it’s hard not to read her words as if she was performing another show.. most of which I assume comes from her life anyway, but it’s still strangely shocking to read that last letter, written by her husband in a very different voice about her. 

I really enjoyed reading New Waves by Kevin Nguyen. I don’t even remember how I came across this book, and knew pretty much nothing going in. And was really impressed and entertained the whole time, from the way the story is set up, to how the author sneaks in these comments about the tech industry and the mid-twenties yuppy lifestyle; from revelations of someone who you think to be your best friend, to discussions around ethnicity and class. I was a bit disappointed by the ending; I guess I was expecting something more dramatic or gives more closure, and instead it just ended in kinda a quiet, melancholic way. 

One major theme in the book is friendship/relationship in the age of the internet, like how much do you really know someone. One thing I keep thinking about is how much in each intimate relationship does one make about the self, and how much is about the other. Like in this book, a lot of what the protagonist goes through is really all in his own head - he thinks he was really close to his friend, to the point that he was seeing her only as how he wants to see her as, as opposed to herself. And he has to work through these realizations and revelations about his friend.. It’s impossible to not have the self in a relationship, but also how much self is too much? 

The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner is my psych read for the week O:) I’ve really enjoyed the last book I read by Harriet Lerner, and her interview with Brene Brown about her latest book. She writes in a very relatable, easy to read way, and I really like her main ideas. Although this book is a bit dated, so it’s probably not as revolutionary reading it now compared to how it probably was when it first came out in 1985. A lot of the ideas in the book are also very western and middle class, which I guess was the main consumers of therapy.

I’ve read and enjoyed all comic books by Gene Luen Yang. He is also a contributor in many very cool comic books, such as Avatar The Last Airbender :D I have to say I wasn’t as enthused when I first found out about his new book Dragon Hoops: From Small Steps to Great Leaps - it’s about the basketball team at the high school he used to teach. But then, I wasn’t opposed to reading it either, so I did. And it’s really good! It’s pretty different from all his other books I’ve read; there’s a fair amount of himself and his writing process in the book, which makes it read more like a memoir than just chronicling the basketball team’s season. I also appreciated the history tidbits. 

[yufay11]

Last week I read 5/13/20 - 5/19/20

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

It’s Not Like It’s A Secret by Misa Sugiura

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I read a lot last week! On my Kindle and iPad.. it still feels very different reading ebooks. Reading used to be one of my favorite ways of being entertained off screen, and now I do all my reading on some kind of screen.. it’s a lot easier to get distracted (I NEED to check which cats are here on Neko Atsume!), and the amount of screen time just leaves me really tired = = But I guess that’s still better than not reading.

Save Me the Plums  by Ruth Reichl is a book I tried to read last year, but didn’t get into. It’s the memoir of the last editor-in-chief of Gourmet, a magazine I knew nothing about, and describes a world that just feels very far from mine. I picked it up again to give it another try, and I have to say I didn’t enjoy it as much as all the glowing reviews had set my expectation to. It’s a fine book… but I just don’t care as much about the personnel changes and politics of how a magazine is run. If I had known the magazine or wanted to know more about the inside stories in the world of Conde Nast, this would probably be a much more interesting read. Before becoming the editor-in-chief of Gourmet, Ruth Reichl worked as a restaurant reviewer for the NYT and wrote books about that.. which sound pretty interesting. 

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang is about this Asian American recent college grad from SF/NorCal moving to Ithaca because her white boyfriend is going to grad school there. It’s supposedly a novel but reads very much like a personal journal. A lot of introspective feelings and thoughts and not a lot of plot progression. The writing reminded me a lot of Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong. Kinda stream of consciousness-y, interspersed with facts of the real world. A good read overall, although I did get impatient at some point and just wanted some actual thing to happen. 

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura is a very YA book, with all the YA book elements. I stumbled upon Misa Sugiura’s second book, This Time Will Be Different, and read it despite not liking the cover art (!)..and felt very connected to the main character in that book. So I’ve been wanting to read her debut novel, which also has pretty good reviews. Like any good YA book, it’s a fast read, with a good balance of lightness and seriousness. But I didn’t feel as connected to the main character here. It was still an enjoyable experience reading it, the first YA book I’ve read in a while. 

[yufay11]

Last 3 weeks I read 4/22/20 - 5/12/20

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett

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It’s May! 

Flowers are blooming and sun is shining. I’ve been sitting outside on the balcony more and going on walks more consistently. And I’m just realizing how much people mow their lawns and do yard work @.@ like, all the time! 

Other than that SIP has been going similarly as before. Even though we’ve been doing this for two months now, my week to week schedule still looks pretty different and every week I spend a lot of time just to figure out how this week is going to look like. 

I haven’t read as much as I would like in the past 3 weeks because finally gave in and got Hulu....! And watched 2.5 shows so far: Little Fires Everywhere (the main reason I got Hulu), Looking for Alaska, and Normal People - all shows adapted from books I liked! I read all those books a while ago and don’t remember a lot of details, only big strokes and main dynamics, so it’s been interesting to watch how things are changed for the TV shows. They also all involve some sort of a teenager storyline, and I just can’t get over how old all those actresses/actors are! Real high schoolers don’t look like that >.>

It was a coincidence that I was reading Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid and watching Little Fires Everywhere at the same time. Even though the stories are set in different cities/towns and take place two decades apart, there are a lot of similar themes relating to ethnicity, privilege, people’s self perception of “being helpful”, coming of age, etc. I really liked the author’s voice, but I was expecting more of the story.. It feels like the setup took a long while and finally when things got intense, it ended. 

I also read Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney while watching Normal People, adapted from the novel by the same author. This was not a coincidence and was very much planned. The whole color scheme of Normal People feels pretty pastel-y to me, which is also how the mood of Conversations With Friends feel. I actually enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would - I’ve tried reading it once before, but never got into it, but this time I somehow finished it in like two days. It’s got this distanced, cool feeling to it, but the descriptions are also so precise in an effortless way that just draw you right in. The only things I did not connect with from the story are 1) how much they take the bus, and 2) how much they talk on the phone. 

Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett is my “school read” for this month, which I also came across from listening to Brene Brown’s podcast. It’s been really good so far - and really applicable to work. I especially liked the Mood Meter that conceptualizes emotions on 2 dimensions, pleasantness and energy level. 

[yufay11]

Last three weeks I read 4/1/20 - 4/21/20

Hooked by Nir Eyal

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London by Mohsin Hamid

The Dance of Connection: How to Talk to Someone When You’re Mad, Hurt, Scared, Frustrated, Insulted, Betrayed, or Desperate by Harriet Lerner

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Continuing in this very stressful and very relaxing time, I am finding myself returning to some of the things I used to do but lost along the way. 

I vaguely remember those long afternoons the summer of my school years when I called friends and stayed on the phone with them for hours talking about nothing. I don’t remember when was the last time I called someone just to chat before the lockdown started, but I’m finding it an interesting thing that I’m doing again. 

I took out my old calligraphy set that I haven’t touched in years and started practicing calligraphy again. It really forces me to slow down and focus only on the strokes - the present - and also a good practice to let go of the result. 

I started journaling again, at a friend’s suggestion. I used to do it so regularly, but picking it back up was not as natural as I thought it’d be. I find myself writing in English more than in Chinese these days, which shouldn’t be surprising but still is. 

Something I started doing that is new in the last three week is reading on a kindle AND on my iPad :O I always stubbornly resisted e-books and preferred the flipping of pages of a physical book, but I gave in after finding out about the vast e-book collection the library has. 

Hooked by Nir Eyal and In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende were two of the last physical books I checked out from the library before it closed. Both were books I didn’t know anything about but heard of the authors, and both turned out to be pretty good! Hooked is about building a product that’s has people coming back for more on their own. It’s a little bit dated, but gives a clear framework of how the psychology of hooking someone works. In the Midst of Winter is (unlike Allende’s other multi generational family saga works) a story that took place within a weekend, with the characters’ background stories interspersed throughout the book. I find it less satisfying but a lot more readable. The ending is happy and cheesy and makes me feel like the story is not as “deep”, but that’s a personal bias.. I like happy endings, but I just always feel like they don’t balance out the weight of the difficult lives the characters have already lived through. 

Discontent and Its Civilizations by Mohsin Hamid is the first book that I’m reading on my 3+ year old kindle! I really liked The Reluctant Fundamentalist and always wanted to read more by the same author. This is an essay collection, so quite different from the voice in the novel I remember, but I enjoy it. The collection is loosely organized into different topics like life, art, and politics, but they mostly read like standalone, individual thoughts and explorations. There is actually an essay specifically on e-readers! 

As I try to navigate the world of e-books, I’m just learning about the different apps on different devices the library supports.. anyway, The Dance of Connection by Harriet Lerner is a book I’m reading on a different platform. I came across this book from Brene Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us, which I’ve been enjoying on my walks. Because the content is closer related to my work and I’ve been reading it on a different platform, it feels like this book occupies a very different space. I do like it a lot, though. It’s written in very relatable language, and manages to be wise and simple at the same time. 

[yufay11]

Last three weeks I read 3/12/20 - 3/31/20

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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It’s hard to wrap my head around how much things have changed for so many people in the past three weeks. School has been out for over two weeks now, and the closure has just been extended for another month. So I haven’t been going into work. I’ve been doing some work from home, but mostly I’ve just been given a lot of free time suddenly - which should be ideal for getting some reading done, but I’ve been not productive at all (partly because of all those hours spent on Animal Crossing..). It’s been a very strange combo of being very relaxing and very stressful at the same time. 

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy is a book that I had put a hold on over two months ago, and it just happened to become available right before the shelter in place order came into effect, which seemed like a perfect book to read during this time. It’s a little different from what I expected - from the title of the book I expected something kinda self help-y, which this book is not at all. It reminds me a little of the readings I used to have to do for those very liberal artsy classes in college…a way of communication I really wanted to be versed in but just couldn’t find my way around most of the time. I still enjoyed reading most of the book, but it did take a lot more focus and concentration than I thought was needed, and I also didn’t agree with every point the author makes. 

The Museum of Innocence is a panic borrow from the library right before all the libraries closed. I was at the library 15 minutes before they were closing, and thought I needed to get more books. I remembered A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk, which is one of my favorite books of all time, and I haven’t read anything else by him, so I thought it’d be nice to check out another book by him. I chose a random one, The Museum of Innocence, knowing nothing about what this one would be about. I have to say I’m a little disappointed.. I think it’s just the main character I didn’t feel so connected to nor had much empathy for. For over half of the book I felt like he was super annoying and was just forcing myself to bear with it… the writing is still very good, and the story flows and it’s very readable, just like how I remember A Strangeness of My Mind was. 

Know My Name is a memoir by Chanel Miller, the victim in the Stanford sexual assault case a few years ago. I actually didn’t follow the case too closely when it was happening, just remember vaguely that the perpetrator did not get nearly as much punishment as deemed “fair” because he’s seen as this successful college student at Stanford. Miller has published a statement on Buzzfeed anonymously that blew up at that time, but somehow I also missed that. It’s sobering to read such a detailed account by the victim a few years later. It’s really hard to read about how much a person has to put their life on hold to deal with the aftermath of a sexual assault, but it’s more difficult to read about just how unjust the system is and how you can really be hurt again and again by the institutions that were supposed to help and heal you. 

The Power by Naomi Alderman is another panic borrow right before the libraries closed lol It was recommended to me by a coworker a longgg time ago, but has always been kinda the bottom of my list, because I don’t feel naturally drown to sci-fi/fantasy books. I think I often lose patience in the world building parts, but this book, despite being a sci-fi, feels so relevant to the current society. It’s a really interesting take on gender issues and power struggles. 

[yufay11]

Last three weeks I read 2/19/20-3/10/20

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada

Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal

Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

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The Factory has got a distinct Japanese feel to it. I'm not sure if it's because of the translation, or if I'm conditioned by the appearance of black birds in all the Murakami books lol It's a very small book and the story was simple. I like the description of thoughts and feelings these characters have. It always feels both very calm and intense when I read a book by a Japanese author. The premise of the book is very interesting and probably very relate-able to a lot of people, no matter where they are. It's just a little exaggerated and a little absurd.

I picked up Indistractble, but didn’t feel hooked enough to finish it. For a book on the topic of distraction, the chapters are really short and there are convenient summary points at the end of each chapter, not incentivizing readers, or me at least, to actually sit down for a longer period of time and get into it. It’s got more of a blog post feeling. It makes some good points, but it’s very self help-y as opposed to psychology-y. 

After seeing the news that Elizabeth Wurtzel has passed away, I put a hold on her book, Prozac Nation at the library and finally got it last week. I couldn’t read a lot of it at one sitting, because I feel like I hear enough about depression on a daily basis already >.> and then I had to return the book before even halfway through. But I really like her self-reflection, and sure, self-absorption. She sounds like someone who’s been through so much therapy (she was) and has done all the work on herself, just trying to figure out what’s going on. It reminded me a lot of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, which was equally hard to read for me and was actually referenced in this book, too.

[yufay11]

Last two weeks I read 2/5/20 - 2/18/20

Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

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Tightrope took me a while to get through. It’s such a good and necessary book, and a difficult one to read. I first got introduced to Nicholas Kristof as someone who does insightful reporting on China from a western perspective, and have been following him on and off for several years. It’s really touching to read his and his wife’s writing on his hometown, Yamhill Oregon, and the peers he grew up with. It’s easy to say general statements like, “the healthcare system in the US is deeply broken!”, or “too many people in America are dying and struggling from substance abuse issues”. But I guess humans take human sized narratives in a lot better, and those real human stories are definitely hard to read about, knowing they are happening in this country everywhere. The subtitle of the book is “Americans reaching for hope”, but I felt pretty hopeless after reading the book. I guess it’s always possible that things change - just as they did in the past, but… idk, I feel like too many people have died already and too many more are dying, and no one is paying the proper attention. 

Nothing to See Here is a funny, quirky novel. It’s a pretty fast read, and the story turned out to be more predictable than I had hoped. I thought the premise was really interesting and creative, but once the scene was set, everything only followed through… which is not bad, just wasn’t surprising either. It’s pretty good social commentary though. 

[yufay11]

Last 3 weeks I read 1/14/20 - 2/4/20

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth Century China by Jung Chang

The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Russ Harris

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I feel a little disappointed by the Soong sisters book, not knowing exactly what I expected in the first place. The lives of the three Soong sisters were extraordinary and I was excited to learn more about them as humans and women - not just wives to these important people. I guess it's hard not to define the Soong sisters at least partially by their marriages, but I didn't enjoy reading all about their husbands lives. So by the end, I kinda felt I neither learned enough about the historical events, nor did I learn enough about the sisters. 

I know the stories I heard growing up about the Soong sisters and their husbands were most definitely highly selected and biased, and I assume the author is fair and objective - just tries as much as she can - when providing accounts of these people in history. But the more I read, the more I'm feel hesitant. Everything is history is told with some kind of bias, let alone history during such turbulent years. I was also hoping to read more about the sisters' lives after 1949 ("fall" or "liberation" of Mainland China depending on your position), but they appeared to be pretty private, mostly steered away from politics (or kept away), and just lived like very rich people, where they mostly played bridge, painted, prayed, etc... so yeah, disappointing but expected.

My coworker recommended the Happiness Trap towards the beginning of the year. For a book that came out in 2007, I had to wait a surprisingly long time for it at the library. It's basically about the therapy modality called ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, but told in plain, digestible language and kinda self help-y, but I like the approach. ACT wasn't a modality I learned much about during grad school, so it's nice to continue learning. I also find that plain language works pretty well with high schoolers (even those articulate and well spoken ones at LHS!) so I've been paraphrasing some parts of the book to the kids and it works pretty well.