What to Read When ???
Idk man the night is dark and full of terrors I've got nothing clever to say
Welcome to Amateur Bibliotherapy, my newsletter about book-y things. Use this Google Form at any time to tell me about what you’re reading—you might be featured here or on my Bookstagram! I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that I may make a small commission if you make a purchase through my affiliate links. That commission will be donated to Welcome To Chinatown.
Hi. Despite my best efforts to do nothing at all, I have actually been busy doing a great many things. The most time-consuming of those things is also an exciting one: I am starting a new job! While I’ll miss cutting through midtown Manhattan’s clutter via 6 1/2 Avenue, eavesdropping on Broadway professionals as they gossip between rehearsals, and perusing the Huemanbooks display at Ground Central while I sip my coffee, I’m sure I’ll meet a glorious new cast of familiar strangers near my new office downtown.
Other than that, I’ve been stress-eating cardamom orange rolls and setting up two separate reading nooks in my apartment.
A Dispatch from Martin’s Reading Nook
After Martin sent out his guest newsletter a few weeks ago, I realized that this is actually a newsletter for Martin fans. As such, I thought you might like to know what’s up on his side of the apartment. Apart from cooking up a storm and reading Dostoevsky, he recently placed second in a trivia contest and won a cute mason jar radio. He has now permanently tuned it to the local classical station, much to my chagrin.
A Dispatch from *MY* Reading Nook
I’ve been reading along a pretty strong gradient of dark to light, sliding around on an existential color bar for some semblance of emotional balance. I’ve organized my recent reads below in the hope that they will inspire some light at the end of a dark tunnel.
From Dark to Light
📖
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag by Kang Chol-hwan and Pierre Rigoulot. As one of the first published accounts of North Korea’s prison camps, The Aquariums of Pyongyang chronicles Kang’s gruesome experience as a political prisoner starting at age nine. After enduring 10 years of indoctrination, malnutrition, abuse, and just about every emotional and physical form of trauma at Yodok concentration camp, Kang was released only to find himself under threat of returning there for listening to illicit radio transmissions. I could only read about his escape through China in search of asylum in South Korea in small portions to alleviate the tension, but it was a tremendously informative read.
🚍
The Book of M by Peng Shepherd. When a man in India realizes that his shadow has disappeared, it seems like a miracle or a scientific marvel. But when he starts to lose his memories as well, chaos ensues around the world as people become “shadowless” and forget their skills, loved ones, and their own identities. Though the concept intrigued me with its promised echoes of The Memory Police and Station Eleven, it needed to be edited by about 100 pages and had too many plot holes to stand fully on its own. But I found many of the characters compelling and felt invested in their plight by the end.
🍚
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. I’m so glad I finally read this one after feeling like just about everyone read it last year except me. Zauner, who performs music under the moniker Japanese Breakfast, writes about her relationship with her mother and what it felt like to care for her at the end of her life. It’s also an expansion of her New Yorker essay of the same name from 2018. Zauner anchors every experience in the book to food, the primary mode through which she and her mom communicated and one of the key mechanisms that helps her grieve. It’s a devastating but gorgeous account of Zauner’s reconnection with her Korean identity, personal growth, pursuit of big dreams, extreme guilt and love. It was a glorious gut-punch to read.
📝
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. I relished reading this steamy modern romance. The book follows two well-known authors who have secretly been communicating through their books for years, though they haven’t seen each other since a fated June week when they were teenagers. This book swung from romantic and hilarious highs to poignant, devastating lows—there’s an early description of attempted sexual assault and a lot of reflection on childhood trauma—and kept me invested through it all.
🦊
Where The Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda. This collection of Japanese folktales reimagined through a feminist lens made a perfect accompaniment for my morning coffee: each short story bestowed something bewitching and thoughtful on my day. Though some tales were stronger than others, each one set a clear tone and perspective that made them stand apart from each other.
🖨
LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin. I zipped through this one, given its composition as “part roman à clef, part social history, part service manual, part parable, and, consistently, a transportive, joyous read.” It relays the tale of TekServe, a tech repair shop hailed as a “precursor to the Apple store” with a whimsical flair, and the ragtag group of technicians who made it into a trusted destination for repairs of all kinds. I’d recommend this book to folks with a general appreciation for character-driven vignettes and technical minutiae, what with the sentient printer parts and all that.
💓
Electric Idol by Katee Robert. I read this over the course of 6 feverish hours, because you simply can’t put down a smutty retelling about Eros and Psyche that includes a fake relationship trope and a deeply implausible murder plot. You simply can’t!
A Dispatch from Your Reading Nook
Enjoy a (very) belated report from our group Google Form about the books you’re reading! Today’s is from Abbey Hendrix, who was *almost* my neighbor in Brooklyn except that she moved to San Francisco before I got to her neck of the woods and she’s now busy living the west coast dream. Her taste in all things is immaculate.
Amateur Bibliotherapist: Abbey Hendrix
Whatcha Readin?: Commonwealth, Severance, Plainsong; I liked all of those. I didn't like Leave the World Behind—it left me incredibly unsettled and I hated every character. It enthralled me enough for me to finish it; however, I had a terrible experience reading this book on an extremely bumpy plane from SF to NY + with it being accompanied by pandemic life, it made me feel like the world was truly ending.
Favorite Bookstore(s): Books Are Magic (NY), Blue Willow Bookstore (HTX), Greenlight Bookstore (NY), Browser Books (SF)
Alright, that’s all for now. I’ll catch you on the flip side.