Books I read in 2023

Luckily I had time to read some this year. There are about 3 categories: Detective Novels that I read for fun and leisure; books about Revolution; and other literatures.

Mysteries and Detective Novels:

I wish that I will always have an unread Agatha Christie book on the shelf, because it would be the best way to pass a sunny afternoon. One may just enjoy reading on the sofa with sunshine pouring on the papers, and one never has to bother remembering any details afterwards.

This year, three of her masterpieces were appreciated.

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The very first story of Poirot. Never a fan of poisons, I have to admit.

• A Murder is Announced. The first Miss Marple book I read. Not quite impressive. Only things I recall are the nicknames of the sisters and a cat named Tiglath-Pileser, which was the Assyrian King whose name my high school history teacher claimed to be the most difficult to memorize.

• Evil Under the Sun. A signature demonstration of Agatha’s feminism. A woman romantically involved with more than one man is often judged harshly and receives unjust speculation, yet for most of the times she herself would be the vulnerable victim in the end.

There is also The Day of the Jackal. I bought the book in 2019 simply because it is on a top list of detective novels of all time. Having observed how people reacted to Shinzo Abe’s death and reading Boris Savinkov’s biography, I developed an interest into assassination stories. Is political assassination against single target without casualty on civilians in a non-democratic country justifiable? I wonder how similar C is to the countries like R and F 50-100 years ago, and if similar incident may happen.

Revolution:

I somehow believe that it is imminent and I should at least theoretically and emotionally be prepared. I fancy stories from late 19th century to early 20th century, when a whole spectrum of revolutionary ideologies was being put into experiment and actions repeatedly.

• Every Man a King. The autobiography of Huey Long. I wrote about him here. Imagine if he had lived on and run against FDR, what would have happened?

• Rebel Girl. An Autobiography of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, an Irish American social activist. The book focused on her early career and how she worked with International Workers of the World (IWW), delivered speech to crowds since middle school, and organized countless strikes that profoundly promoted workers rights in the U.S. There was one paragraph of her seeing people in Chinese restaurant celebrating in 1912. I have imagined that kind of scene happening to me many times before. Myself in 2020 was expecting to celebrate Unification before my Leuven exchange ended, but now I am convinced that there is something more important.

• Rosa Luxemburg. A biography written by Paul Frolich, a left-wing journalist who survived till 1953. Haymarket Books republished the book in 2010 and I got that from a bookstore in Buffalo in 2022.

• Two books by John Reed: The War in Eastern Europe, Insurgent Mexico. I have said many times that Reed had one of the most romantic and adventurous lives I could hope for. After graduation, he lived with Pancho Villa’s men in the early years of the long Mexican Revolution. I am pleased every time to see the optimism and friendliness of these revolutionists, as it is like a reinforcement of stating that a bright future is ahead. The Eastern Europe book accounts his adventures on the front in Serbia, Ottoman Empire, Romania, and Russia during the WWI earlier years before Bulgaria joined the war. Boardman Robinson’s sketches helped delivered the tragic of a poor yet belligerent region. Interestingly they played Bridge for a week when detained in a hotel by Russian military officials. Reed was a Harvard alumnus. (Two main way to promote Bridge: by blood, or by a prestigious school.)

• Animal Farm. I guess it is never too late to read it.

• 二手时间, by Svetlana Alexievich. It is surprising to see so many real and fictious stories that look exactly the same to our people’s history and present. Sometimes it is a torment to read, as we cannot see the way out. Like those lyrics said, “want to break free, yet not able to face it.”

• 无路可逃 & 一百个人的十年 by 冯骥才. Cultural Revolution is revolution, is it? L once said that during the covid years of 2020 to 2023 people were exactly “no place to escape.” People nowadays are warning for a second CR, yet interestingly, the last one is left-wing, and the coming one is far-right.

• 天国之秋 by Stephen Platt. I recognized the author since reading 湖南人与现代中国, one of the most inspiring reading experiences I got that helped shape my self-identity. Platt’s book focused on the importance of foreign intervention and the charisma of Hong Ren-Gan.

• Morte Accidentale di un Anarchico. Piazza Fontana, la luna rossa e rossa di violenza. I guess I should be ready for next semester’s Italian course.

• 五四运动史, by Chow Tse-Tsung. A best place to look for analogies for all the unspeakable student movements of this country, as May the Fourth is luckily the source of legitimacy of almost all parties.

• About 1848: 1848, Year of Revolution, by Mike Rapport, a nice introduction to the revolutions in Europe from 1848-1851. I got to know Repubblica Romana of 1849 for the first time, and hoped to read more romance on Mazzini and Garibaldi. Therefore, I tried Gadfly, and was disappointed. What a shame to tell this kind of story with the background of revolution. I read 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and The Civil War in France written by Marx. To be honest, I was not able to comprehend anything.

• 北京法源寺 by 李敖. Those Hunanese reformer and revolutionist are always inspiring to me. My family visited the temple later in a cold winter Saturday. Unfortunately, I could not get access to the relics the book mentioned. There was a lovely black cat, and a group of people attending the ritual of embracing Buddhism.

Literature in general:

• 酒吧长谈 by Mario Llosa. A mind-blowing reading adventure. A perfectly-comprehensible multi-thread storytelling. I guess it could be put under Revolution category too, but it’s more about a young enthusiastic drifting away from ideals. I got the book in 2018 when I was still taking that Spanish elementary course in RDFZ, and I would practice pronouncing “Conversación en La catedral” every night going to bed.

• The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Bulgakov. I got the book from a blind book-exchange game organized by ESN at Language Café of LUISS in April 2019. I swapped out my Panama Papers as I guessed that I may not pass our custom. I suppose not all craziness is attractive to me and I seriously know little about religion.

• 纽约客(白先勇). If I had read it in 2018, I promise I would have got sentimental.

• 海都物语, by 塩野七生. Simply wanted to read of the history of Venice Republic. What a heroic history of Republican ideas in actions of pragmatists.

• Two books about Prussia and German Empire as a by-product of addiction to Paradox Interactives games. 不含传说的普鲁士 by Sebastian Haffner, and 脆弱的崛起 by 徐弃郁. There’s already serious comparisons of our situation to Germany’s in pre-WWI era. Beware: please make more friends.

• 蛙 by 莫言. First time reading his book. How about a sequel of new generations?

• Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. All I was thinking: wow the protagonist in already 50?

• 野草 故事新篇. Please forgive me for not completing my high school reading requirement. I felt T made Lu-Xun an icon close to God in my class at that time, and I remember the serious-looking face of my jocular desk-mate when he was reading 坟.

• 与时俱进的启蒙 by 徐贲. Thankfully he is still publishing books. The materials matter less than the reassurance that there is still light shining into my room.