6 Life Lessons from 14 Books I Read in January ‘24
Hey friends! I read 14 books last month, and these books took me on a cerebral ride.
Here are the life lessons I took away from the joy of reading them :
#1 Grief and Resilience
Grief, loss of the loved on, finding strength, motivation and resilience to carry on with life
Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
The Cloister by Katy Hays | Dark academia vibes ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 3/5
#2 Life Lessons & Self-Discovery
Lessons of life, on being present in the moment and expressing genuine gratitude to loved ones, finding beauty and self-discovery through little things and finding beauty within the ordinary life.
One quote that stucked with me, “You can’t make an omellette without breaking eggs” which essentially means “We all make mistakes!” - Quoted from A Stroke of The Pen. This resonates to me so much because without doing it, then how else we are going to learn and be better at things.
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 4/5
The Forest of Wool & Steel by Natsu Miyashita ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 4/5
A Stroke of The Pen by Terry Pratcheet ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 4/5
The Cat Who Taught Zen by James Norbury ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
#3 Productive Lifestyle
Play, People, Power, Purpose and Process are main components of productivity. It’s beyond just a long to-do lists that need you to get it done. I wrote my takeaways in the Booknotes section.
Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 4/5
#4 Feminist, Dystopian, Dark Themes
Feminist, dystopian, dark, emotional and a strange journey for me! I appreciate how these stories are written, they unveil the reality of truth that remains taboo, society pressure/ toxic culture don’t approve when someone act/decide/think differently than the society norm and how today’s media shape design us to conform to “blind belief”. There’s trigger warning here - child/sex abuse, rape, paedophile, incest, pitch dark depression
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
The Woman in The Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
Idol Burning by Rin Usami ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
#5 Sci-fi and dystopian
This book left me to feel a sense of a hope, a beacon glowing in the grim reality of post-disaster Japan (nuclear contamination). We think we are making progress with technology will connect us closer across the globe; but what if one day things happened in reverse. And we are not able to make contact with the outside world, kids are weak and constantly sick, the next generation in that world has a limited education opportunity?
The Emissary by Yoko Tawada ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 5/5
#6 Critical Reading and Media Assessment
This book reminds us to assess the way we read the world; not a manual guide on how to read books but includes other form of media, films, podcasts or even square petite post on the Gram.
This book made me question what’s our reading ethic, our awareness of inclusivity, our critical thinking when process information that’re usually default represents the white people / or the western in America. I am re-reading this book to dig deeper and analysing her message with a fresh eye ~ hence, I can’t be sure how’s my final rating will be like. At the moment, I am rating this book as 3/5 for now- stay tuned for my booknotes (not too soon though)
How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo (Pending to rate )
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