I have always loved to read. As I work toward publishing my memoir, I’ve been reading more memoirs. One recent gem was, The Magical Language of Others, by E.J. Koh: A book so brilliant I forced myself to put the book down just to savor the experience more slowly and think through the words behind her words. Koh is a writer that harnesses the power of negative space, the words left unsaid. In this book, her subtle handling of the pain of miscommunication and unspoken love across generations was masterful. When she dipped into the past and the story arrived on the shore of Jeju Island in Korea, dominated by deep sea diving women that can hold their breath for minutes at a time, my passion for her book crossed over into a form of devotion. Have you ever had that moment?
Somehow it wasn’t so long ago that it occurred to me to follow writers I love on Instagram and Twitter. It’s ironic that it took so long since I’m such a book fanatic, books and social media had felt like two different worlds to me. On IG you might see an author’s new house in the countryside (Alexander Chee!) or see them with the family members so thinly veiled in their work (Siri Hustvedt!), but I especially enjoy seeing announcements on writing and publishing. That way I can sign up for a podcast or a webcast and hear from my favorites, and maybe someday again debate whether to brave the line to get a book signed after a reading. It’s a delight when a long-time beloved author turns out to be a cheeky Tweeter that feels like a friend @AmyBloomBooks, or a constant source of great recs and lively commentary @CarmenMMachado.
On Koh’s Instagram, she posted a stack of Korean American lit she was tackling for her Ph.D. I was awed by the size of the pile and immediately began to imagine the academic quest to read and analyze all of those works. The thought brought on a daydream. All that reading and analyzing, maybe I should get a Ph.D.? I quickly squelched the thought. I’m already an entrepreneur and a writer, two jobs where you never clock out. Still, the impulse stuck with me.
Due to my deep and abiding love for books, I had never wanted to adopt an e-reader. I loved the feel of a book in my hands and the friendly, colorful spines that line the room: a physical marker of the intellectual conversation. As I passed by, I might think of a character or a line or an author on any day, even if I rarely took an old book off the shelf. But when I was preparing for life on the road as a new entrepreneur embarking on a life of long-term travel, it was the only solution. I could carry as many books as I wanted.
Reading my Kindle around the world, I missed the relationship with my bookshelf that allowed me to visually recall my reading list, so I started to make a list. When I finished a book, I would note the title and author, the date, and where I was since that might range from on the beach in Koh Lipe, Thailand to a coffee shop in Tirana, Albania. I also added a few reactions to the work or thoughts on it. I did this for all of 2019 on the road and back at home. Then started up for 2020 back on the road and continued once I returned home again. Two years of tracking.
At the end of the first year looking back on the list was really satisfying. At the end of the second, I noticed something more, I had put more effort into reading recent books of critical acclaim and many more memoirs. I realized that for the first time I felt up to date on the important books being published, had read a good number of the latest, and was pretty well informed on best sellers and trends. This was new for me, since choosing what book to read next is a sacred act in my mind that I had always considered to be outside of any publishing timeline. Reflecting on year two, I felt that tracking my reading had created a story arc of its own.
E.J. Koh’s impressive academic pursuits and book stacks may be well beyond my bandwidth but creating the list had been easy and become a habit. My notes of reflections were building blocks just waiting to be assembled into something more. So why not take it one small step further?
I’ve always liked to say that I see my choice of what book to read and when, as a conversation with the universe. I read for the motivation of learning and discovery, I read to reach new ways of thinking and be invited into the epiphanies and insights of others. Sometimes a book is just a lovely experience, but sometimes it speaks to the very moment I’m in, answering a question that only just formed at the edge of my mind. Sometimes an author speaks through the heavy silence of loneliness and isolation that surrounds certain thoughts or ideas, or perhaps even real loneliness and isolation. These moments that arrive with a flair of magic and inspire feelings of devotion are also inspiring me to write.
My small step forward will be to write about some of the books I read and share it with you. Consider it a sorta intellectual experience, taken lightly so I can live up to my goal of just doing it. I’m not talking Ph.D. thesis, I’m talking a few thoughts and ideas that put books into the context of life. If you are interested in a few of my thoughts on books I’ve read, watch for new blogs in the series: Books in Context.
Follow on Twitter @BooksinContext, also on Medium @lisahanson.
