While having a post-dinner coffee in #KualaLumpur yesterday, I came across this book (they’ve got a few piles strategically scattered in this cafe I was in)—which was #IanMcEwan’s very first: a collection of short stories of love and sex with a touch apparently of depravity and the macabre, published in 1975. As an introduction, here's an excerpt from his 2015 foreword.

#edreads #foundreads #bookqueue #bookstadon #reading

Current reads.

I had wrapped up a story on zoonotic disease that sparked my further interest on the subject, hence the Sonia Shah pick. Three chapters in and so good already.

I've also always been interested in stories about memory, history, and the legacies of conflicts—how it commemorates and how it's weaponised—and I'll admit to having thought about turning to short fiction too to explore these themes. For now, though, I'll just read them 😅

#edreads #reading #bookstadon

Some memories of my mother exacting her punishments on me, for wrongdoings that in hindsight were surely too benign to get so mad about, definitely resurfaced. But what I found most relatable and affecting in the book as an adult though—and I really got very emotional reading it!—was her account of how her resulting social anxieties from the trauma she experienced played into how she deals with her friendships and relationships.

#edreads #reading #bookstadon

Though the physical punishment her mother subjected her to as a child was way worse than anything I ever experienced (I wouldn't say I was abused, for example), reading this did make me wonder how the childhood beatings I got—both at home and in school (I went to a Chinese vernacular school, where it was permissible)—have shaped me. I never really thought that it affected me, except for maybe how I deal with authority, bosses included. But who knows?

#edreads #reading #bookstadon

As good as everyone says it is. I'll be honest, I don't think I would have picked it up had it not been for the three recommendations from friends, because I guess there has been some reductive writing on #trauma and too much therapy speak on the internet. There was a point in the book where it seemed like she might just cycle through all the treatments she was trying to get better, but then it became more self-exploratory, asked deeper questions.

#edreads #reading #bookstadon #stephaniefoo

Got this preview in the mail a couple of months back from the UK-based Emma Press of a friend's debut memoir about coming of age in #Japan, struggling to find her place in a city where she worked as a tour guide and coming to terms with the mystifying loss of a close friendship. Flory is a lovely person and this is a very relatable, gracefully written book. It's also available for purchase now: https://theemmapress.com/shop/prose/essays/how-kyoto-breaks-your-heart/ <3

#edreads #bookstadon #readingcommunity #travelwriting #memoir

Got this preview in the mail a couple of months back from the UK-based Emma Press of a friend's debut memoir about coming of age in Japan, struggling to find her place in a city where she worked as a tour guide and coming to terms with the mystifying loss of a close friendship. Flory is a lovely person and this is a very relatable, beautifully written book. It's also available for purchase now: https://theemmapress.com/shop/prose/essays/how-kyoto-breaks-your-heart/ <3

#edreads

A little breather between assignments...

#edreads #bookstadon #readingcommunity #literature

What I left with from the bookshop today as I think more about the subtle form differences in #nonfiction #writing.

#essays #briandillon #writingcommunity #bookstodon #edreads #edwrites

Another pilgrimage to my favourite place in cities.

#bookshops #berlin #edreads

Love popping into #bookshops I stumble upon while walking in #Berlin (which I remember were gratifyingly considered “essential” businesses during the pandemic)—even when they’re ones like these with no English-language books.

I did buy a German copy of Raymond Carver’s Cathedral once though in rather too ambitious hopes of improving my German—you see, I'm still at baby-talk level 😅

This is Antiquariat Wiederhold near Weinberg Park.

#edreads #edtopophilia #bookstodon

Was staying a stone's throw from Al-Saqi Books last autumn while we were in #London for a close friend's wedding. Stumbled upon it by chance and popped in for a browse as W.C. (the "Willing Companion" 😆) is very much inspired by #Arabic history and culture. Recently tried to order him an art book he had looked at as a present for Christmas but it was already too late...

#edreads #bookshops #bookstodon

Sad news 😔 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/3/after-44-years-londons-first-arabic-bookshop-closes-down

"Established in 1978 as the first #Arabic bookstore in #London, Al-Saqi Books represented a treasure trove of literary works for Arab expatriates living in the city and across Europe. It was an essential destination for Arabs visiting London, who were buoyed by the fact that they could get their hands on books that would otherwise be censored in their own countries."

#edreads #bookshops #bookstodon

Kicking off #reading in 2023 with these two #novels ❤️

#edreads #bookstadon #laurengroff #emilystjohnmandel

I don't look at it often, but author notes and highlights on Goodreads can be interesting: https://www.goodreads.com/notes/5324495-atonement/155509093-ian-mcewan?ref=abp

This from #IanMcEwan on #Atonement—easily one of my favourite #novels of all time.

#edreads #bookstodon #writingcommunity

#RobertMacfarlane on #wayfinding, across the physical world and among one another: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/07/01/wayfinding-landscapes-inside-us/

More #curated #readings from my #newsletter on #writing and #exploring the world: https://movableworlds.co/p/landmarkings10

🧵 #MovableWorlds #edreads

#AlejandroChacoff on how our digital age is costing us our ability to wander, in a piece that rakes over a brief history of #flaneuring and reflects on #AntonioMuñozMolina’s rambling narrator in his novel To Walk Alone in the Crowd.

Read it at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/30/is-the-digital-age-costing-us-our-ability-to-wander

More #curated #readings from my #newsletter on #writing and #exploring the world: https://movableworlds.co/p/landmarkings8-2

🧵 #MovableWorlds #edreads

#PaulSalopek on how walking and writing the world, on a journey that will take about a decade with his Out of Eden project (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/), reveals the artificialities of conventional journalism.

Read his interview at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-june-19-2019-1.5180133/anna-maria-tremonti-s-most-memorable-interviews-paul-salopek-the-pilgrim-1.5180139

More #curated #readings from my #newsletter: https://movableworlds.co/p/landmarkings7-2

🧵 #MovableWorlds #edreads

Next, #LouiseErdrich on a writer's sense of place. Read it at https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/28/books/where-i-ought-to-be-a-writer-s-sense-of-place.html

More #curated #readings from my #newsletter: https://movableworlds.co/p/landmarkings6-2

🧵 #MovableWorlds #edreads

Resuming this thread after the holiday season! Here's #JackHerrera with thoughts on the usefulness of journalism and activism as an approach in looking at the world, through the art of #MinervaCuevas.

Read it at https://issuu.com/columbiajournalismreview/docs/cjr-spring21-0614/34

More #curated #readings from my #newsletter: https://movableworlds.co/p/landmarkings5-2

🧵 #MovableWorlds #edreads