This is my second year to be wrapping up the year in books, and I have found that looking back on the books I have read in a year really does help me remember the ideas, emotions and journey I went through. I do hope that I will keep the habit for many years to come.
This year, I wasn’t able to keep up with my own reading challenge and succeeded in only reading 29 books the whole year, its quite a set back from my ultimate 50 books per year goal, but nevertheless I was able to make other milestones in my reading.
This year was the first time I was able to read a serious book in German, and the tittle I read was nonetheless Kafka’s The Metamorphosis or Die Verwandlung in German. Franz Kafka, as you might already know, is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature. And since as a German speaking writer, he wrote all his works in German, I have always dreamt of reading Kafka in his native language because I read that the ingenuity in which he wrote in can only properly be understood in German. Since out of the many world literature work, only German language is at all reachable by me, I was determined to try reading it in German. And being able to read this book had seriously been a personal achievement of mine because it was damn hard, but I made it (though it took me a months time). I am planning on slipping in one German book per year from now on, in an effort to practice my German language ability.
For the full lists of books I read this year, visit this link. Below are the most notable of books I read this year, also if you want more in-depth reviews of these tittle, go to my Goodreads page, that I attach on the end of each review.
Lean In
by Sheryl Sandberg (2013)
Genre: Nonfiction, Business, Feminism, Leadership
“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
This book had changed my life in many ways. As a person growing up from a feminist family, I have always considered myself as a feminist. The word itself is a badge of honour I wear proudly. But the issues of feminism had always been about other women, and how they are not as lucky as I am or the people around me. This book is the first book that was able to show me the extend to which I also am disadvantaged by gender. And even more, it showed me how much many of the problems I see my female friends are having, are actually tied to gender and their specific experience as a woman. Nothing then was the same anymore. As Sheryl put it beautifully “We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.”
Read more review here.
From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000
by Lee Kuan Yew (2000)
Genre: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, Economics
“I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.”
Another life changing book for me. Lee Kuan Yew is the embodiment of pragmatism and realism, two things that are always rather looked down upon by idealists like me, yet he brought more concrete change to Singapore in one single lifetime than any critic of him could ever do. He showed that progress does not need to be as linear as Western type intellectual like to describe it, it does not need to mean that the way to progress is a ladder, it sometimes can mean, making your own path, despite what everyone else is doing.
Read more review here, also Lee Kuan Yew’s wit in particular is very quotable and telling, if you have no time to read this 700 page long book, go here for his quotes. These quotes might actually change your mind.
Just Mercy
by Bryan Stevenson (2014)
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Social Justice, Politics, Law
“Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”
Bryan Stevenson is a personal hero of mine, and this book is a great reflection of who he is. With every page I am deeply moved by the strength and conviction he has of his cause and his humanity. He also wrote honestly about his inner struggles, stating humbly again and again how broken he is. And moving forward to suggest that if only everyone of us can acknowledge that we are all broken, we wouldn’t condemn others for their brokenness so easily. Just Mercy is a testimony of compassion and the promise of humanity.
Read more review here.
Snow Country
by Yasunari Kawabata (1937)
Genre: Nonfiction, Business, Feminism, Leadership
“In the depths of the mirror the evening landscape moved by, the mirror and the reflected figures like motion pictures superimposed one on the other. The figures and the background were unrelated, and yet the figures, transparent and intangible, and the background, dim in the gathering darkness, melted into a sort of symbolic world not of this world. Particularly when a light out in the mountains shone in the centre of the girl’s face, Shimamura felt his chest rise at the inexpressible beauty of it.”
This is is the only literature book on the list this year for good reason. Yasunori Kawabata is one of those writers I have come to love to hate. The books he writes reads selfish, and in many ways I felt that he objectifies women in a way that only he can. Yet the lyrical strength of the sentences he had put together in this book is unrivalled. Oftentimes I find myself remembering the scenes he had written so beautifully of, immersing myself in the sadness and loneliness of the Snow Country of his dreams. Definitely one of the best literature work out there.
Read more review here.
Interested in reading my list for 2016? Go here.