My Best of 2018

Here I am, 19 days into 2019 before finally deciding to hop on the bandwagon and share my favorite reads of 2018. I think I’ve only read about 30 books last year, which is not much, but I’m hoping that will change this year.

I get most of my books from second-hand bookstores because from where I live, that’s mostly where the good stuff’s at. So here are my top 10, without further ado and in no preferential order.

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This was the first book that introduced me to the great Khaled Hosseini, and it turned out to be a great introduction. Since then, I’ve been on a look-out for more of his books. It was a wild ride, this one. My heart couldn’t help racing wildly with every struggle the protagonists had to go through.

“And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.”

2. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

I can’t stress enough how much I adore stories rich in local color. This one definitely didn’t disappoint. With every chapter, you’d go from loving to angry to compassionate in a heartbeat.

“…surely the body also remembers each kindness, each kiss, each act of compassion? Surely this is our salvation, our only hope – that joy and love are also woven into the fabric of the body, into each sinewy muscle, into the core of each pulsating cell?”

3. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Despite loving classics, I was a little late on this one. I didn’t expect the story to be what it was but I enjoyed it, and I pulled an all-nighter for it! Nothing less from a classic, I always say.

“…and his heart pained him with longing for that which was passed.”

4. The Road Home by Max Arthur

I love reading experiences of real people during the great wars. It inspires awe in me, thinking that those countless men and women made sacrifices for those they had left behind. As I finished this one, I remembered how 2018 would mark the 100th year since the signing of the armistice.

“But there was an upside to my experiences in the war – I learnt the values of everything – human beings in particular.”

5. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

I had this copy for a long time before finally picking it up. With Anne Tyler, I just love waiting before I bask myself in her comforting prose. Delayed gratification, that’s what it is, in the words of another blogger. I’m glad to say I have another AT waiting for me, A Slipping Down Life, a rare title, so imagine my delight.

“But still, you know how it is when you’re missing a loved one. You try to turn every stranger into the person you were hoping for.”

6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

It was because of Emma Watson that I picked this up. No regrets. All the while, I kept asking myself how if I had the same disease that ailed the author, would I also have the same resilience that he had? Probably not.

“I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as desperately as I need to breathe.”

7. The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister

Another war experience. Even before I started reading this, I knew the author would lose her entire family during the war; but I couldn’t help hoping that maybe a change of fate had happened. That way, Nonna would not have had to live her new life without the love of the family she lost in her homeland.

“Since we cannot turn back, but live our lives now and tomorrow and after, we need to be aware of evil things, which may always be with us until death…it is life after death that fills us with great hope, and we should never be afraid of dying. However, if we learn to survive even when we are faced with death, we become stronger and can live until God is ready to take us into eternity.”

8. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Undoubtedly, after A Thousand Splendid Suns, I knew I just had to read this. This was such a painful book to read. If you haven’t, please you really have to.

“For you, a thousand times over.”

9. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

I never thought I could actually taste food just by reading about them. Ruth Reichl could do make you do that and more. I couldn’t resist trying her grandmother’s recipe of the classic potato salad.

“When I look at society, all I could see is a bunch of frustrated shadow people who have surrounded themselves with rules to insulate them from life. What passes for real is the most blatant kind of fabrication. I don’t want to live a complacent life.”

10. The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan

What’s better than an Amy Tan book? Her autobiography, of course! Amy Tan is one of those writers that makes me pick up my pen and attempt to become a writer myself. I got this cool phrase about fiction from her — an artful portrayal of words.

“Faith is the confident assurance that what we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us even though we still cannot see it ahead of us.”

My picks served as perfect companions and distractions during the ups and downs of 2018. I know that re-reading them someday will bring me back to the time when I first read them – to bittersweet moments. Let’s read more books this year; but more importantly, let’s make good memories, so that re-reading our next top picks would bring only nothing but joys.

The Harry Potter Spells Tag

Thanks to Zöe of readingbythemoonlight , I was introduced to The Harry Potter Spells Tag! Potterheads would definitely get a kick out of this fun tag. No doubt I did, and boy was it such a welcome distraction.

Here goes!

1. Expecto Patronum (A childhood book connected to good memories)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Of course. This is where it all started. Little did I know that when I checked this out at the formidable high school library when I was only ten years old, my life would be changed forever. Seriously. I had a happy childhood in part because of HP. My love of reading stemmed from my love of Harry Potter and for that, I am forever grateful.

2. Expelliarmus (A book that took you by surprise)

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Remember the part in the movie where Yvaine was pouring her love out to Tristran? You know, “No gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you love me, too. Just your heart in exchange for mine.“? It was because I wanted to see those words in the book itself that I read it (and also because I like Neil Gaiman). It was a huge shock for me, however, to find that not only is that wondrous profession of love totally absent from the book but also that the ending itself is vastly different from the movie.

3. Priori Incantato (The last book you read)

Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene

Fresh from two heavy novels, I wanted something light and easy. Good ol’ Nancy Drew always makes for light reading and brings me back to my early reading days.

4. Alohomora (Book that introduced you to a genre you had not considered before)

The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler

Fans once questioned that since Harry witnessed his mother’s murder as a baby, he should have had the ability to see thestrals from then on. J.K. Rowling later explained that being only a baby, Harry had not yet grasped the concept of death at such a young age, so only when he saw Cedric Diggory get murdered did he finally see those gentle elusive creatures.

It’s how I feel with Anne Tyler and her special brand of literary realism. I might have read other works on literary realism before her but it was this, The Amateur Marriage, that truly opened my eyes.

5. Riddikulus (Funny book you’ve read)

The Dim Sum of All Things by Kim Wong Keltner

Call me boring but I don’t think I’ve really read a lot of funny books in my lifetime. This was the first book that came into my head (That house party fiasco was hilarious). The second one was Every Light in the House Burnin by Andrea Levy, and I don’t think that was even meant to be a funny book.

6. Sonorus (Book you think everybody should know about)

The Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The local color of this one is just too powerful that you could immediately feel yourself transported to its setting. This should be a school reading. I personally think it would be a great study for writing majors.

7. Obliviate (Book or spoiler you would like to forget having read)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Don’t get me wrong. I ADORE Little Women. This is definitely one of my comfort books but sad to say, I still can’t get over the fact that Jo did not end up as Mrs. Theodore Laurence. Sometimes, while in the middle of reading this, I wish I could forget that Amy ended up with Laurie.

8. Imperio (Book you had to read for school)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Surprisingly, I reread this one long after I finished it as a school reading. Who wouldn’t? It contains some of the most insightful thoughts in literature.

“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

9. Crucio (Book that was painful to read)

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

In a way, our reception of a book can be affected by our current emotional state. I had my heart broken shortly before picking this up. Oh it was suicide. Every line was another stake to my already bleeding heart. I suggest reading this when you’re truly happy. Otherwise, I salute your bravery.

10. Avada Kedavra [Book that could kill (interpret as you will)]

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Once you go Austen, there’s no going back. Need I say more?

Oh, that was fun! Thanks again to Zöe for introducing this to me. And like her, I tag anyone who’d like to have a go at this.

Let’s escape, just you and me

I found this picture on Twitter not too long ago, re-tweeted it, choosing mirrors and escape hatches:

Courtesy of Goodreads

When something so bothers you and you can’t seem to properly function without it clawing at your every thought, how do you get away from it? We all have our ways. Watch a movie. Work in the garden. Knit a sweater. Get drowned in alcohol.

Bookworms would undoubtedly grab a book and lose themselves in a story wholly different from theirs.

In the time between now and when I first saw the picture above, a lot has happened to make books as escape hatches take on a higher level of escapism.

I have since discovered that hollow words, broken promises, and a reluctantly changing love can gnaw at you until you feel so forlorn that no book could distract you enough even for a couple of minutes. I went from one title to another. From non-fiction to fiction. From classics to contemporary. Love and Responsibility. No. Romantic Tales from Old Korea. No, not that. The Prophet. Please no. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. No, no, no!

It felt as though I was losing my passion for reading. At that thought, I was filled with guilt and sorrow – no, I cannot bear to lose two loves! I pleaded to my bookcase, Please. Please give me something to forget all this. Even for just a while. Something with such strong local color that would immediately transport me somewhere else. Let me live someone else’s life for a while. This is too much.

Apparently, my bookcase heard my plea because it coughed up Thrity Umrigar’s The Space Between Us. This book had been in my case since April 2017, and had been waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. True to what I was seeking, I momentarily lost myself in its rich local color and gripping story. True enough, I got to live someone else’s life.

A rich book

The struggle for the perfect distraction is still here. I recently passed up three titles before settling on another one, but I know this will pass. Anyway, here’s one good quote from The Space Between Us:

“The past is always present. No such thing as bringing it up. The past is like the skin on your hand – it was there yesterday and it is here today. It never goes anywhere.”

Love and loss

My to-be-read pile, I have lost count of. It may have even reached to a hundred for all I care. But it’s still there, the urge to keep purchasing; and this year might end with even more books to be added to my I-promise-to read-these-this-year resolution.

These would not even suffice.

The sad bit is – although I purchase with a relentless hunger, my reading habit has unfortunately dwindled. The passion for it is still there, no doubt about it, but I have come to realize that when there is an unspoken restlessness inside you, it would manifest itself in your outer reality.

My heart and soul are restless. The only means that could calm them is leaving with no promises of returning, and to comfort myself, I turn to my books even more. But these don’t seem to give me the comfort I deeply seek. I move from one book to another. Read one chapter, find it lacking, move on to another, find that I need fiction, grab one, but this would not even suffice.

The year is quickly coming to a close. I pray that it would close with more kindness than when it opened.

Alike, after all

Just recently, I was delighted with a thread on Twitter which I can’t recall what about anymore. All I remember was a response from one user who said he was also glad to find that despite our obvious differences, human beings are just alike.

I don’t really know why I find so much joy in knowing how people everywhere are just fundamentally alike – we laugh and cry for more or less the same reasons – yet it still surprises me when the expected unexpectedly happens.

Every person strives to be unique but an isolating feeling cannot be helped when one desperately strives to be too unique. The irony in the situation is that despite the uniqueness, one still delights in meeting a kindred spirit.

This picture may seem irrelevant.

I don’t know what I’m driving at here, but I don’t think I’m the only one who starts a post with promising ideas and end up with incoherence. Let me end it with this quote from Alice Walker’s The Temple of My Familiar.

“Above all, resist the temptation to think what affects you is peculiar to you. Have faith that what is in your consciousness can be communicated to the consciousness of all. And is, in many cases, already there.”