superborb

Home Is Not Here, by Wang Gungwu: a memoir about growing up in Ipoh around the time of WW2. From qian's rec! It was interesting to read about his experiences and the people he met. I found it especially interesting that the Chinese-in-China were more likely to have been learning English for cultural value, as opposed to the overseas Chinese learning it primarily for its usefulness. However, could have used editing to avoid repetition and inconsistencies and also generally needed copyediting. Enjoyable if you're curious about the time period, but I didn't find it insightful enough to be a blanket rec.

In Other Words, by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated by Ann Goldstein: Memoir of the author's reasons for, after a series of successful English works, making the decision to learn and then write exclusively in Italian. Quote "I believe that reading in a foreign language is the most intimate way of reading" perhaps sums up her approach to Italian. Some interesting thoughts on language -- the chapter on how people would not understand her Italian because they perceive her to be a foreigner really hit. Though, I found it interesting that she had the experience of people in the US perceiving her English as requiring justification (portrayed as emotionally to the same degree as in Italy), when I've heard often from the younger generation of immigrants in my circles that this is much less common in the US compared to Europe. Anyway, I found the experience of reading moderately excruciating: she's just so pretentious and I found it repetitive (I simply do not care about wallowing around in language to this extent). On a more serious note, her extreme, for lack of better word, foreignization of language felt strange. Perhaps related to her much more extreme experience growing up bilingual? Because she's a writer? A register of discussion that I do not usually engage in? I would be curious what people thought about this, but I also cannot recommend it generally.

Hui-Lan Koo, Madame Wellington Koo: An Autobiography, as Told to Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer: Madame Koo grew up fabulously wealthy in Java, the spoiled child of the "Rockefeller of Asia", and the book covers her childhood in the 1890s through China during the warlord period and finally as the wife of the Ambassador of the Republic of China during WWII. From qian's rec! Could use an editor. I found it really weird that she doesn't mention her first marriage/son to the point that she refers to her children with her remarriage as if they were her first/second. She's so wildly rich and out of touch that I found it easy to sympathize with the people who looked and chafed at this wealth disparity. Her preoccupations are just so consumerist? You can tell she really cared about what other fancy people thought of her and those are the feelings that lasted the decades until she told this story. I guess she is obligated to care about the glamorous diplomatic life, but it's so glittering... What a waste of money, food, and time. Fascinating to read about though, and the little tidbits about people are interesting; wish it was more of the tidbits and less of her preoccupations. Her beautiful pink palace in Beijing sure is memorably described!

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, by John le Carré: A classic (/the/ classic?) cold war spy novel! skygiants recced this here. I was a bit surprised at how... serviceable the prose read? Not that I expected it to be High Lit or anything, just the distance between 1963 and 2024 seemed very narrow! I felt a bit like le Carré couldn't imagine why someone would be attracted to the communist ideology and so Liz came off as-- not childish, but unexplainable in motivation. Still, a classic for a reason, a fast moving and exciting read.

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat (Season 1): cute f/f jdrama (total runtime 2.5 h) basically summed up by the title -- a woman who would really love to cook larger meals discovers her neighbor has a big appetite. The social commentary is definitely a major part of the show, but never felt too heavy handed (e.g. severe period pain means you should go to the gyn) -- the realization of the protag that she's lesbian takes a few eps, but it always felt natural along the way. I like that the food is home cooking food and not super fancy! Though Japanese home cooking uses so much plastic wrap lol. (I knew this, but still!) The main leads both felt like normal people and so did all the side charas; no OTT obnoxious coworkers here, just normally obnoxious ones! If the summary sounds appealing, it is well executed and I would recommend!

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (2019 drama and the 2020 special): Cute adaptation from a manga following the life of a middle aged gay couple and centered around the food they cook for each other. (Though despite their age and living together, you later realize they aren't that serious yet -- part of the arc is their relationship developing!) Lots of fun moments -- loved the subtle humor of the supermarket lady and the bargain grocery shopping, and there were several scenes that were genuinely laugh out loud -- but sometimes the drama was just so prolonged. I know this is very jdrama style, esp when adapting from a manga, but I do feel like this is presented more as a slice of life (realistic) drama instead of leaning into that type of humor as a comedy drama, so it felt out of place when it got so extended. The emotional arc as the main chara's parents and the main chara himself come to terms with him being gay was so satisfying ("ARE YOU HALF-ASSING YOUR HOMOSEXUAL LIFESTYLE" iconic), though the main chara's stress over being closeted and his internalized homophobia was extremely extended and painful to watch. The real down factor in this show is the secondary pairing, who are SO ANNOYING; they do catalyze some interesting discussion over gay culture, but is it worth the ridiculously OTT childishness... (Another adaptation issue where because the slice of life vibe is trying to play it as normal when it needs to be played as OTT.) Anyway, cute and satisfying, and I enjoyed that there were lots of extended cooking scenes! Except when they did ketchup pasta.

Er. Perhaps I should have broken this month into halves. Or started doing Reading Wednesday? I'm posting this a few days early anyway, bc I anticipate CNY will take up considerable time this weekend.

( Audiobooks: The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, read by Daveed Diggs; Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi, read by Soneela Nankani; Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge, read by Joshua Akehurst; A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin, read by Harlan Ellison (DNF); The Beginning Place, by Ursula K. Le Guin, read by Rob Inglis; 树上的鱼, by 刘保法, read by 羽瑶 (DNF); 三生三世谁许桃花, by 雨微醺, read by 刘艳丽 and 艾威 (DNF) )


( Books: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers; Where the Wild Ladies Are, by Aoko Matsuda; How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith; Country Driving, by Peter Hessler; How Much of These Hills Is Gold, by C Pam Zhang (DNF); Land of Big Numbers, by Te-Ping Chen )


( Visual media: The Great Canadian Baking Show (season 4), The Handmaiden (2016), Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up!) )

I am here, months late (though not that late really, it just came out last October), to tell you that Cherry Magic is VERY CUTE and I enjoyed it a lot.

The premise: as Adachi was still a virgin when he turned 30, he developed the ability to hear the thoughts of other people! Cue the discovery that his handsome, popular, and gregarious coworker Kurosawa is IN LOVE WITH HIM?!?!

It's a light romance show, with 12 eps of 25 mins. All the characters, including the side characters, are so earnest and lovely. There's just enough conflict and meaningful backstory for characters to feel like they aren't a prop, while still being a speedy show. Because of the premise, you get to know the introspection and feelings of characters in a natural way!

I was worried because of embarrassment squick, but it didn't get me at all: the conflicts are all relatively quickly resolved and earnestness on all sides meant that no one was unduly embarrassed.

Nearly all the characters are very earnest (how many times can I say the word earnest? It was my main impression!), and most of the conflict is for various characters to recognize their true feelings and then blurt them out. (It's uh, very jdrama in that way.) So, it's not very deep plot wise, but it did get some interesting perspectives in.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot! Would recommend if you are in the mood for a light romance with fun side characters.