How delightful are those fresh, untouched pages!

The pleasure of reading is multiplied during exam periods. Everything seems fun when compared to reviewing(alas how I started this blog!) So here I am, happy to be back with 2022’s reading record.

I like both fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction is not immediately “useful”,and thus it is looked-down by some of my more career-oriented acquitances. But it teaches us so much about life. Biographies and history are bounded by the limits of real events. The psychology of those characters are restrained to what they were willing to reveal in interviews (often not very much) and the author’s guesswork. In other words, you never seem them as thoroughly as you can see a fictional character.

Enough of my justification! Hope you will encounter good stories that inspires you too.

1. Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante 5/5

Wow what a masterpiece! It’s my second time reading contemporary Italian novel, and now that I live quite close to Italy (a mere two-hour drive), the story pulls me even more. A powerful, realistic account of the entangled lives of two women – class struggle, gender, poverty, violence, literature and academia, child rearing, men and sex, escaping the shadow of parents….this book has so much to offer.

Interestingly, it’s the time I find a female character whom I admire in a book – I wish to have Lila’s resilience, kindness, intelligence, righteousness, straightforwardness, despite the vicissitudes of life. She is not perfect, not a saint – cantakerous, jealous, stubborn, manipulative – but I don’t aspire to be a saint either. I aspire to be someone with a strong character, who doesn’t bend in front of the lures of money and power. I aspire to say “who gives a damn” without constantly doubting whether by not giving a damn, I have forgone a useful tie.

I also talked to a friend into reading this with me, and I am so glad that she found the story interesting too. I can’t wait to discuss this with her. So much to talk about – meandering themes, symbolisms, decisions and transformations of characters.

2. From my life I write to you in your life by Yiyun Li 4/5

Yiyun Li interests me in particular because she is Chinese, but she writes in English, her second language. She also has a master’s in immunology(I was once a bio student), but now a creative writing professor at Princeton.

Unlike many Asian writers, Yiyun Li lived in Beijing till she was 22, and her English is not perfect (I watched her interviews on Youtube). Her parents don’t speak English, and she refuses to have her books translated – so her mother can’t even read her work.

I’ve wanted to read her fiction for a while now, but for some reason I have trouble reading dark stories and stories setup in China but told in English. I will try again.

So I started with her autobiography, which I adore so far (I am about 2/3 in). She precisely reflects upon the questions that I have in mind —- what’s her relationship with Chinese and English? with her depression (she was hospitalized twice due to suicide attempts)? with the land of China? with the Chinese culture?

3. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton 4/5

Very sassy, very funny, very insightful observations about our modern cosmopolitan life. Such a fun read! I especially enjoy the parts where she deals with Tinder meets and her father’s deterioriating Alzheimer’s. I don’t know how Dolly Alderton manages to mingle touching moments with witty remarks about the harsh reality. But she can, and it’s amazing.

My only complaint is that the characters are a bit thin in my opinion.

4. The courage to be disliked 5/5

Glad I ran into this fantastic philosophy-psychology book, which answered 90% of the questions that I have been having in my head recently.

There are a few concepts that I enjoy in particular:

  1. separation of tasks – whether another person likes you or not, it’s not your task, so don’t even spare energy on it. Social interaction fear mostly rises from the thought “I want to look XXX in YYY’s eyes”.

  2. teleology vs etiology – there is no benefit of lingering around past trauma, past embarrssements, past failures or success. Freudian explanations of every current phenomenon doesn’t help you to live your life better. The moment is now, and life is a series of well-lived moments. Be present.

  3. the world is not a competition – when you see everything as a competition, then everyone becomes your enemy.

  4. you will inevitably be hurt by interpersonal relationships – unless you are a hermit, or a yeti.

5. Changer l’eau des fleurs par Valérie Perrin

C’est le première livre que j’ai lu entièrement en français, en plus des romans que j’ai finis pour mon cours français à Yale. Je suis heureuse que j’ai trouvé quelque chose qui est juste un peu plus haute de mon niveau, et qui m’interresse. L’histoire est assez simple, et il n’y a pas beaucoup de charactères, mais les emotions sont fortes, et les personalités de charatères réels. Il y a toujours une épithète avant chaque chapitre, et je les trouve tellement belles.

6. My life in full – biography by Indra Nooyi (the CEO of Pepsi&Co)

She speaks extremely sincerely in her book, and her messages strong and useful. Two take-aways: 1) she really worked a lot. I mean, A LOT. People who get really coveted positions have made great sacrifices. Juggling between her enormous business responsibilities, constant travel and a young family of two daughters, I can’t imagine her keeping any personal time for herself, or hobby, or sports. She admitted that she never needed to sleep much (around 4-5 hours would suffice for her), and that she didn’t exercise at all during her time at Motorola. As glamorous, successful and powerful as she is, not everyone wants that kind of life. 2) you can juggle family and work, but it’s not easy. She had extensive help from her relatives (per Asian culture), a very supporting husband, some colleagues and assistants. She also said that she felt guilty for her absence during her two daughters' childhood and teenage years. It’s possible to do both fairly decent, but not easy.

Lastly, I find her style of writing quite self-congratulatory, sometimes to the point of borederline unbearable. There is also too much unsolicited Pepsi marketing messages.

7. Klara et le Soleil

J’aime bien Kazuo Ishiguro, et j’ai déjè lu deux autres de ses livres “Never let me go” et “A pale view of hills”. C’est incroyable qu’il puisse créer les images, les scénarios, les caractères, avec une langue simple, sans la vocabulaire sophistiqué ou les structures complexes. Je sais que si je le lis en français, je pourrais comprendre presque tous, et c’est le cas. La traduction est précise, et même si c’est dans une autre langue, je peux sentir le style et la mélancolie au travers de la traduction.

8. Trois par Valérie Perrin

Second book by Valérie Perrin, another long read in French. The story was beautiful, about childhood, family, loss, grief, friendship, love. Read in French.

9. Simple

Recommended by my boyfriend. Funny, light-hearted, young adult book about a boy and his disabled brother. Quick, fun read. I long for a similar co-location. I especially appreciate the boy’s perspective of the story.

10. Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue par Patrick Modiano

Having read Dora Bruder in Enlish while at Yale, I had some faint memories of Patrick Modiano and his distinctive style. This book is about the brief life of a young woman, told from many people’s perspectives. I find the perspective refreshing, and the structure innovative. It also touches on a question that always interested me – how others see us, how we see ourselves, and how are we shaped by our past.

11. The secret life of pronouns

Recommended by my Data Science professor. I didn’t finish it, but glanced through relatively quickly. It’s about natural language processing and how pronouns can reveal the inner psychology, personality, various objective characteristics (gender, age etc.) about a person. I find the writing style a bit trite.