War id finally over, i finally feel like a person again. For the past year, being able to even engage with my hobbies has been immensely difficult due to school and my co curriculars and burnout doesnt really help. at last, i have the time and space to rest, to do whatever i want and engage in the projects ive been putting off for so long!! i intend to read at leat six books at the very least this year, at least six since ive not really been able to get back into reading and been in a bit of a slump lately. six feels doable. i know being able to get your mind to read is a skill I'll have to train myself to have again now that technology's rotted my brain but ill carve away at the rotten parts and let the more competent, trained ones have a chance as well.
Ive been getting back into reading lately and just finishesd Ocean Vuong's "On Earth were briefly gorgeous" the other day and its lyrical, immersive and captivating tone really drew me in. Its a semi autobiographical literary novel discussing Vuong's relationship with race, masculinity, identity and queerness as well as a sort of account of his family's history after the Vietnam War. its heartwrenchingly beutiful and really just makes you feel so much. I certainly don't regret reading it.
Currently, Im reading Cho Nam Joos "Kim Jiyoung, born 1989" and though ive not read that much of it, its another piece of literature that hits me and speaks to my experiences in this world, beng seen as female. The book follows Kim Jiyoung and her experiences with institutional oppression as a woman in every fascet og her life, from her childhood to her educational life and well into her adulthood, how she slowly loses her mind and identity where the social role of "wpman" swallows her whole and her identity as the person she is no longer remains. I look forward to finishing it because its a very promising piece of work that adresses some of my biggest fears due to been raised and percieved as female in this society. I hope its a book i find myself appreciating and liking
Some other books i plan to read are Pierre Bordiu's "Habitus", which talks about how the habitus (social exposure) of a person influences and shapes the social actions of the person, as well as his "Distinction", which is about the social inequality that exists due to the concepts of "high" and "low" class art as well as how the working class's lack of "taste" being a result of them not having the cultural capital to enjoy such tastes but also how the ruling class itself shits the goalpost constantly as a way to gatekeep what is "tasteful" while being the ones who get to decide what "taste" looks like.
Id also like to read R F Kuang's "Poppy WAr", which is historical literary fiction about the crisis that was the opium war as well as her "yellowface", which is about a white author posing as being asian as a way to profit off of the culture. i hope this is a period of time when im able to read and absorb all the great literature i have access to and work on my analysis skills abit more. Every day im thankful for my access to education and to literature because books are what have made me the person i am today and shaped my soul.
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