At the beginning of 2021, I was inspired by a few people who had done a year in review concept for content they consumed (tv, movies, etc.), so I decided to do the same this year with books! For every book I completed, I jotted down a few thoughts and gave them ratings - similar to how one would give reviews on a platform like Goodreads. I only reviewed books I read cover to cover, so my ratings will skew toward the higher end of the spectrum, as I tend to discard books I don’t enjoy reading.

I’ve long believed that looking at the books one reads is a window to their soul. Whenever I’m at someone’s house and see their bookshelf, I feel like I’ve been exposed to an intimate facet of their personality. There are so many interesting things you can infer about someone from their bookshelf! So without further ado, here’s a look at some of the ideas, aesthetics, and stories that have captivated my mind this year.

Stats:

Books read: 32 (20 Fiction, 12 Non-Fiction)

Unique Authors: 28 (23 Men, 5 Women)

Most Read Authors: Ursula Le Guin (3), Haruki Murakami (2), Kazuo Ishiguro (2)

Average Rating: 4.23 (4.2 Fiction, 4.29 Non-Fiction)

warning: some spoilers may be contained in the following reviews

Men Without Women - Haruki Murakami

A mesmerizing series of stories about men dealing with the loss of women they loved. The stories seemed to get more surreal / abstract / Murakami'esque as they went on (the latter stories were a bit confusing to follow). All in all, a solid collection, but I think I tend to prefer Murakami's longer works, as they allow for more character exploration (such as the introspective, brooding male protagonists), and absorption into the bizarre tapestry he constructs. - 3.5/5

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

A wholly disappointing read. This novella is about a struggling salesman (Gregor Samsa) who gets turned into an insect and has to deal with the burden his plight creates for his family. Initially, his father is the oppressive figure, who scorns Gregor and reluctantly has to take on the onus of providing for the family, but as the story progresses, even his submissive mother and caretaker sister slowly start to neglect him and view him as an obstacle to their lives as well. I expected this piece to be more philosophical in nature, with Samsa's inner dialogue yielding important revelations about his life, but I felt like those portions just didn't do it for me. The plot does keep you on edge and holds your interest, as I had a very difficult time predicting what was going to happen and what the ultimate conclusion was going to be, which kept me hooked and chugging through the work. - 2.5/5

Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing weaves together vignettes that trace the lineage of two half-sisters from Ghana. One thread stays in Africa, where members experience life against the backdrop of the hardships of tribal warfare and colonialism. The other thread migrates to the U.S., where slavery, Jim Crow, and drug abuse befall the families. Among all of this strife, there is beauty in the relationships formed and belief systems developed, with the simple yet beautiful writing of Gyasi carrying the work. Most of the stories felt evocative, and it was pleasing to see the two threads converge toward the end (although a bit cliche and expected). - 4.5/5

Rabbit - Patricia Williams

The memoir of Ms. Pat, a black, female comedian I first discovered on the Joe Rogan podcast who made me laugh more times than I can count. Her life feels like it is straight out of a movie - grew up in the ghetto, teenage pregnancy, sold crack, worked her way out. There are so many absurd and exotic feeling facets to her upbringing because I had such a different life growing up that the novelty just kept me hooked throughout. I liked how her ghostwriter was able to preserve her voice even when polishing up the narrative. Overall a quick and entertaining read about someone who has overcome an incredible amount of adversity and has the good sense to reflect back on her life using humor as the vehicle. - 4.5/5

Ficciones - Jorges Luis Borges

A crazy collection of short stories that have all sorts of mind-bending elements. The Library of Babel (a thought experiment where a library contains the infinite and complete set of all text), A Circular Ruin (idealism run amok with people as figments of other people's imagination) so many crazy stories that twist and turn your head up and down. The qualms I had with these stories was that his writing style felt a bit choppy and he threw in too many obscure references and names (at least obscure for my uncultured ass). - 4/5

Exhalation / Stories of Your Life - Ted Chiang

Ted Chiang has utterly blown me away with these collections of short stories. He's one of those writers that can write extremely simply, but there is a certain power to the ideas he explores that takes ahold of you. My favorite stories in these collections include "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (the acceptance of determinism), "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" (AI ethics in the metaverse), and "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" (meditation on how memories & written records shape reality). 5/5

Trick Mirror - Jia Tolentino

Jia truly feels like the voice of yuppies. In this hodgepodge of short stories that range from expository to argumentation, Jia explores topics such as feminism, religion, capitalism, and the internet through her own personal narrative. She writes with intense fervor, although she does seem to straw man the merits of the people and entities she is trying to debase (e.g. Amazon, Uber, Peter Thiel). My favorite story in this collection is "Losing Religion and Finding Ecstasy in Houston", a story that reflects on her childhood and spans from organized religion, drugs, and the local hip-hop scene and synthesizes them in this divine, metaphysical way. In general, I really appreciate the way she earnestly navigates complex issues and has a self-awareness to her that's reflective in how she comes to conclusions in her essays. - 4/5

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

Loved this memoir and meditation on running and how it's been a transformative aspect of Murakami's life. Key Takeaways:

1. Running is meditative - Murakami talks about how when he's running while listening to music he transcends into a flow state, a state of mind where he's in this harmonious rhythm with his body and hyper-present in the moment. This "void" that he enters sounds incredibly blissful, and it feels like a great way to surrender yourself to the activity at hand.
2. Running is hard - The long distance running he partakes in involves running 200+ miles a month in many instances, and during long races he has traversed up to 60 miles. He'll battle intense cramps and fatigue in order to muscle through races, and his M.O. is that he will never ever slow down and walk. It is a principle he has maintained since he started running. I really value that philosophy, many times when working out I'll compromise and make my workout easier or apply less intensity if I'm feeling lazy, but I want to have the grit to set a goal / routine when working out, and stick to it.
3. Running requires consistency - He likens running to writing a novel - in order to write a novel he believes you need to consistently sit down every day and write for 3-4 hours. It is hard work, in which you have to unravel yourself and really dig deep to write profound literature, and he believes running not only enhances his endurance / willpower, it also gives him the physical stamina to sustain himself when writing novels. 5/5

The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

Decided to reread this novel to see what the experience would be like, given the last time I've thought about this narrative was back in high school, and I was blown away by how much accumulated life experience can impact one's perception of literature. A couple of examples I think exemplify this observation. First was the characters in the novel - in high school, they felt like abstractions on paper, I had never met anybody that embodied the ethos of these rich folks from the 1920s (but now my experience in finance has given me a flavor for it). Second was the sheer vapidness of the accumulation of wealth and partying that Fitzgerald aims to critique in the novel. Now that I'm earning money and have indulged in some form of the hedonistic material pleasures described in the novel, the criticism feels a lot more visceral and relatable. Fantastic read, I ripped through it in only a few short days and proceeded to watch the movie immediately after :) 5/5

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

A novella about an old fisherman on a drought who ventures out deep in the sea and has a multiple day bout w/ an enormous marlin as he attempts to reel him in. He eventually succeeds, but the marlin is consumed by sharks on the man's voyage back home much to the man's dismay. I really enjoyed this story and read it in one day due to the simple but forceful prose, and loved the stream-of-consciousness musings of the old man over the course of his solo adventure. The old man respects nature (he often praises the marlin for being such a beautiful and magnificent foe), and understands his place in it while also demonstrating an intense resiliency and pride in himself and his role that demonstrates the true nature of his character. 5/5

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

A sweeping historical fiction account that details the lives of Koreans living in Japan in the colonial and post-colonial period in the 20th century. I learned a lot about the history between the two countries and loved the character-driven aspect of the novel, many of the characters felt deep and real. I particularly loved the discussion about the nature of Korean identity in Japan, where being Korean was perceived so negatively even many generations down the line (super difficult to assimilate even if you knew language / customs flawlessly). The book lasted 200 pages too long imo, I thought the first half of the book was fantastic and read just like some of my favorite historical fiction novels (e.g. A Fine Balance, The Kite Runner), but the 2nd half felt diluted as the pacing got faster, there were random time jumps in between chapters, and many more characters (much of whom MJL never spent the time to make us care for) kept popping up as pseudo-protagonists in the 3rd person narrative. 4/5

Animal Farm - George Orwell

Finally got around to reading this classic. An apt allegory for the Russian revolution, it was written simply, cleverly, and left you in awe over the course of just 100 pages! Can see why this is classic high school reading material it really does pack a punch and feels like a pretty instructive allegorical novel (similar to Lord of the Flies). 5/5