November has thus hit me like a truck - I’ve had a bunch of work to do, EE, TOK essay1, and the normal hustle and bustle. This month (after midterms…) I’m challenging myself to get through these lovely books that I’ve started in some part of the past.

for school

鲁迅 《鲁迅小说全集》 济南：山东画报出版社，2019。
Lu, Xun. “Lu Xun’s Collected Novels” (in Chinese.) Jinan: Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2019.

白先勇 《台北人》《纽约客》 桂林：广西师范大学出版社，2010。
Pai, Hsien-yung. Taipei People as well as New Yorkers (in Chinese.) Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2010.

I’ll be intensively studying these two short story anthologies for the next few days in preparation for the midterm Paper 2. I’m especially looking forward to this because I plan on going through all of Pai’s works analytically. However I do think that Lu Xun’s works are generally less complex in their messaging so they will definitely also be prioritized. The Paper 2 is a beast!

威廉·福克纳 《十三篇》 杭州：浙江文学出版社，2023。
Faulkner, William. These 13 (in Chinese.) Hangzhou: Zhejiang Literature Publishing House, 2023.

Another work I’m digging into for Chinese as it’s an assigned reading — will probably be lower on my list though. I read the opening piece, “Victory”, and it didn’t leave much of an impression.

韩起澜 《苏北人在上海：1850-1980》 上海书店出版社，2024 Honig, Emily. Creating Chinese Ethnicity: Subei People in Shanghai, 1850–1980 (in Chinese.) Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2024.

One that I’m originally reading for the TOK essay, of which I picked the most common prompt to write about: prompt 1. Even though my answering framework no longer requires that I go ahead and read this in depth, it doesn’t seem like a hard nor long read, and I’m looking forward to finally learn about both the city that I grew up in and how the people from my paternal side go about in the city during Honig’s period of investigation. I’ve had the hardback since March on a completely spontaneous run-in at the beautiful Zikawei Library which I have to go re-visit some time.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Klara and the Sun. Alfred A. Knopf, 2021.

And of course, Ishiguro’s latest novel which I’m studying for the High Level Essay prescribed in my Lit course. Just because I’ll probably have to finish my draft after midterms, this book and its story (which gets creepier every extra time I read it) will be on my radar.

off-topic

Hong, Cathy Park. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. One World, 2020.

Zauner, Michelle. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir. Alfred A. Knopf, 2021.

Ip, Manying. Being Māori-Chinese: Mixed Identities. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2008.

Vuong, Ocean. The Emperor of Gladness. Penguin Press, 2025.

Dinniman, Matt. Dungeon Crawler Carl. Ace, 2024.

Kuang, R. F. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. Harper Voyager, 2022.

Huang, Xiaoming. China and the Liberal International Order: Roots of a Plural World Order. Routledge, 2026.

See you at the end of the month!

  1. These are writing assignments from the IB. The EE is 4000 words and the TOK essay is 1600. My brain is currently broadcasting 7070. ↩︎