January Books

I only read three books this month which is not great but not too bad either. I have had a severe case of the January blues this past month so I have struggled to motivate myself to function let alone read books. But luckily the days are getting longer day by day and spring is on the horizon so maybe February will be a much better month overall and in terms of reading.

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

A little bit of Japanese short fiction to get my year started, it was an easy and cute read but I would say that it was nothing particularly special. The Guest Cat tells the story of a Japanese couple who are bought closer together by the frequent visits of a neighbours cat.

The Power of Nunchi by Euny Hong

I picked up this book as I felt like I needed some wisdom to start off the new year and the new decade. I don’t think I received said wisdom I was looking for if anything this book felt like a bit of a cash in on the rising global popularity of Korean media. I think Nunchi is probably far more complicated than Hong makes it seem and as I am not Korean I probably don’t even understand 1% of what it actually is.

The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

I have mixed feelings about this book. I hated it but I also kinda liked it. It’s a complicated relationship and we are working on it as I write an essay on it this coming week. Modernist and impressionistic, The Good Soldier is one of the most meandering books I have ever read. But that’s the point. The narrator is struggling to get his story out so that’s why the plot is a bit like a Jackson Pollock painting, which is infuriating but utterly mysterious at the same time. It’s a modern classic so you should feel compelled to pick it up, so go do that!