The White Book by Han Kang

The White Book
by Han Kang

Find out more about this book and author:
Goodreads
BookExcerpt

Published: 2019
Publisher: Hogarth
Genre: Literary, Korea
Hardback: 160
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
In the spring, when I decided to write about white things, the first thing I did was make a list.

While on a writer's residency, a nameless narrator wanders the twin white worlds of the blank page and snowy Warsaw. THE WHITE BOOK becomes a meditation on the color white, as well as a fictional journey inspired by an older sister who died in her mother's arms, a few hours old. The narrator grapples with the tragedy that has haunted her family, an event she colors in stark white--breast milk, swaddling bands, the baby's rice cake-colored skin--and, from here, visits all that glows in her memory: from a white dog to sugar cubes.

As the writer reckons with the enormity of her sister's death, Han Kang's trademark frank and chilling prose is softened by retrospection, introspection, and a deep sense of resilience and love. THE WHITE BOOK--ultimately a letter from Kang to her sister--offers powerful philosophy and personal psychology on the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit, and our attempts to graft new life from the ashes of destruction.

My two-bits:

I felt enveloped in white when I read this. There are different iterations of snow in several forms as well as a theme of loss.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The Vegetarian
by Han Kang

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt

Published: 2016
Publisher: Hogarth
Genre: Literary
Hardback: 192 pages
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
Before my wife turned vegetarian, I'd always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way.

A beautiful, unsettling novel about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul

Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

My two-bits:

I found this to be a surreal read with some colorful artsy scenes and stark medical depicted images.

Themes of body image, oppression of women, dreams and freedom run throughout.

One of those books where I am not quite sure I like it but agree that it is written well.

~*~
* part of Tournament of Books 2017 (here)

* part of Korean Book Challenge (here)

* part of Book Passage Literary Prize Book Group (here)

WINNER of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Publisher's Weekly • Buzzfeed • Entertainment Weekly • Time • Wall Street Journal • Bustle • Elle • The Economist • Slate • The Huffington Post • The St. Louis Dispatch • Electric Literature

Stacking the Shelves & Sunday Post - 2.18.17

Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
AND
Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer (details)
~*~
Actually did some in-store book shopping this week. I saw so many wonderful new releases that were tempting...

~*~
Bought:

The Longshot
by Katie Kitamura
-Sports
Amazon | Goodreads
HAD to pick this up after Katie's author event I attended. Her brother was there whose hands are pictured on this book cover.

The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
Powells | Amazon | Goodreads

The Sound of Things Falling
by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
-Literary, Historical
Amazon | Goodreads
GOT these two for a face-to-face book group I recently joined.

For Review:

Ladies Man
by Katy Evans
-New Adult, Romance
courtesy of Romance Read-of-the-Month Club -Thanks!
BarnesNoble | Goodreads

Love Letters to the World
by Meia Geddes
-Poetry
courtesy of author -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads
JUST in time for April's National Poetry Month.

Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen
narrated by Alison Larkin
-Audiobook, Classic, Romance
courtesy of narrator -Thanks!
Website
LOOKING forward to this latest Jane Austen audiobook by Alison. This will be the 4th out of Jane's six novels that Alison has presented in audio.

FYI: For every Jane Austen audiobook download bought via the link below, $5.00 will be donated to the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, a non profit dedicated to helping communities in literacy crisis in honor of Jane Austen. (details)

Author event:

Booksmith in San Francisco hosted an event with Min Jin Lee to celebrate the release of her latest, Pachinko. Found out that the beginnings of this novel started in 1989 when Min was 19 years old. Part of the inspiration for the story was from a missionary's lecture that included a sad story of a 13 year old Korean boy who committed suicide due to racism in Japan.

Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
-Historical, Japan, Korea
Amazon | Goodreads

Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco hosted an event with Katie Kitamura in conversation with City Lights Buyer Paul Yamazaki about her novel, A Separation. She mentions how the story gets into how we are mysterious to each other as we are mysterious to ourselves.

A Separation
by Katie Kitamura
-Mystery, Thriller
Amazon | Goodreads

OTHER things on my shelf: kinda book-related

JOINED a face-to-face book group at Book Passage, Corte Madera (details). The theme includes books that received literary prizes.


AND watched: in theatre

Oscar shorts: Live Action (here)
Ennemis Entreniers
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights
Sing
Timecode

ALL of these were special in their own way and different ways. I enjoyed them all. Kinda leaning towards Silent Nights. It will be interesting to see which wins.

Oscar shorts: Animation (here)
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper

ANOTHER varied bunch of goodness. Pear Cider and Cigarettes tops my list.


Currently flipping through: from the library

Nanotecture
Tiny Built Things
by Rebecca Roke
-Architecture
Amazon | Goodreads
The most wide-ranging, comprehensive and inclusive book on small-scale architecture ever published

An inspiring, surprising and fun collection of 300 works of small-scale architecture including demountable, portable, transportable and inflatable structures as well as pavilions, installations, sheds, cabins, pods, capsules and tree houses.

~*~
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

Book Passage Literary Prize Book Group

Potpourri of Literary Prizes 2017
with Carol Benet
Book Passage in Corte Madera (details)
This group reads authors that have won literary prizes including the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle.

~*~
I decided to join another face-to-face book group. The theme for this one has a focus on literary prize winning books. I am looking forward to experiencing and analyzing these books. And, most of all, discovering why they made it to the prestigious top.

~*~
Picks for January to June:

Eileen
by Ottessa Moshfegh
-Historical, Mystery, Thriller
Pen/Hemingway Award 2016
Amazon | Goodreads | my review

The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
-Literary, Korea
Man Booker International Prize 2016
Powells | Amazon | Goodreads | my review

how to be both
by Ali Smith
-Art, Historical, Literary
Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2015
Costa Novel Award 2014
Goldsmiths Award 2014
Amazon | Goodreads | my review

Libra
by Don DeLillo
-Historical, Literary
Irish Times International Fiction Prize 1989
Amazon | Goodreads | my review

The Sound of Things Falling
by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
-Literary, Historical
International Dublin Literary Award 2014
Amazon | Goodreads | my review
Picks for September to January:

The Land at the End of the World
by António Lobo Antunes
-Literary, Portugal
Amazon | Goodreads

A Manual for Cleaning Women:
Selected Stories
by Lucia Berlin
-Literary, Short Stories
Amazon | Goodreads

A Horse Walks Into a Bar
by David Grossman
-Literary, Israel, Jewish
Booker International Prize
Amazon | Goodreads

The Sellout
by Paul Beatty
-Literary, Humor
Amazon | Goodreads

Judas
by Amos Oz
-Literary, Jewish
The Man Booker International Prize 2017 shortlist
Amazon | Goodreads