Finally finished reading Anna Karenina..
and other books I read in September
Hi there,
I finally finished Anna Karenina this September after a 3 month journey. Was it worth it? Yes! Am I going to continue reading big books? Yes! But more on that later. I also watched the movie which seemed a little weird to me. I didn’t like the stage-like styling of the film. It seemed kind of cheap to me considering the grandness of Russian aristocracy that I’ve seen in other films. However, I do understand why the director choose that direction. I think he was trying to differentiate his film from the many existing adaptations of Anna Karenina. Anyway, here are more books I read in September and a longer review of AK.
What I read in September
Tethered by Tracy Anne Ong
First of all I want to say Hi!! to Tracy who reads this newsletter. My god how you write so beautifully!
Tethered is a memoir by Tracy, the owner of my go-to independent online bookstore in my city. I first encountered Blithe Books Independent in 2021 when I bought a cute edition of Pride and Prejudice. In 2022, I had learned Tracy was in the hospital when I sent a message to ask if they can source a special edition of One Hundred Years of Solitude for me. Several months after that, the bookstore went quiet. In 2023, they posted in Instagram that they were back and they will be launching The Stroke Fund. This is when I learned Tracy had a stroke but I never really knew the extent of it until I read her memoir.
Tracy was at the cusp of life when she suffered from a brainstem stroke that affected several parts of her body. This memoir chronicles her journey to recovery. In the prologue, Tracy states that this book starts with an immense suffering but is not a depressing book. It’s true. It’s a hopeful book. As you move forward with the memoir, along with Tracy’s recovery, you yourself the reader, will feel more hopeful towards your life and everything around you. Take inspiration from Tracy who, even after suffering from a stroke that left her right side paralyzed, still see the beauty of life from a new set of eyes.
Stroke changes a person physically, mentally, and emotionally. Tracy’s memoir is an exercise towards understanding the changes people go through after a stroke. In 2021, my mother also had a stroke, and after reading this book, I realized how self-centered I reacted in response to my mother’s illness. I didn’t understand her emotional outbursts and the state of mind she had while adapting to her changing body. This book reminded me to be more understanding towards my mother.
Tracy, it is rare for somebody to befriend their bookseller and so I am grateful to know you and I got to read your journey.
The Woman Who Had Two Navels by Nick Joaquin
Connie Escobar says she has two navels and flees to Hong Kong to have the other one removed. As the narration moves to Hong Kong, we meet a couple of Filipino expats each carrying their own meaning of the Filipino identity.
Nick Joaquin once said that ”the identity of a Filipino today is of a person asking what is his identity.” Before our colonization, Filipinos had no national identity. The Philippines is an archipelago composed of 7,107 islands each with its own culture and political structure. Each region would feel like a different country to an outsider.
In 1565, the Spaniards colonized the Philippines for 333 years. Can you imagine how many lifetimes and generation is that? Enough to eradicate whatever has been established already before the Spaniards came. Then, came the Japanese and the Americans.
Now, who’s to say what the Filipino identity is? With this long history of colonization and different cultures, it seems like the Filipino identity is a hodgepodge of different cultures, birthing a uniquely separate one. In the book, I feel like Joaquin explores this idea. He also suggests (in my opinion at least) that maybe being Filipino meant differently to another person depending on his social economic status, circumstances, and year of birth.
Going back to the book. It took me a long time to read this 200 page novella. It was difficult for me to read and I was confused all the time. I understood it as I read along but I didn’t understand it in its entirety. I didn’t understand the characters’ frenzy with a woman having two navels. So what if the woman had two navels? What is it to them? Why did the characters care about this privileged selfish woman (Connie Escobar) so much? The character's conversations seems unnatural, ridiculous even, and rife with hidden meanings. Each of the character's decisions didn't make sense to me. I have a couple more of complaints but will stop there.
The writing and imagery in this book, though, is wonderful. Hong Kong fog envelopes me every time a character boards a ferry. Old Manila comes alive. I can hear the click-click of shoes and carriages upon cobblestone pavements. In the book, there's a scene in Intramuros (the old walled city) where two characters, Concha and Macho, sit beside a fire tree. I know that scene. I am familiar with it. Here in the Philippines, fire trees are in full bloom in the summer and I am always amazed whenever I pass a highway with lots of fire trees lining the road. Under the shade of that fire tree are people lounging the afternoon away with laughter and the latest gossip with a banana cue in hand.
So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park
After reading The Woman Who Had Two Navels, I needed something light and cute so I picked up So We Meet Again which I discovered from
of What to Read If.Investment banker Jesse Kim gets laid off from her prestigious banking job and moves back to her parent's house in Tennessee. At home and jobless, Jesse thought of relaunching her old Korean cooking channel on Youtube as a marketing strategy for releasing her line of Korean sauces. In her first attempt of live streaming, her parents became the accidental star of her show. The family's hilarious and loveable interactions in every video led to a lot of business opportunities for Jesse.
While also back at home, Jesse runs into her childhood nemesis, the golden boy of her hometown's Korean community and the pastor’s son, Daniel Choi. Ever since they were children, Jesse and Daniel were always pitied against each other and well, like most romance books, they eventually fall in love. Although the story is quite predictable, I really had a nice time reading this book. It centers on the Korean American experience, competitive Asian mothers, and food. Anything that talks about Asian food, I am immediately hooked.
As a whole, I'd say it's less romance but more on Korean cuisine, family life, and female empowerment. A recommended read just for the food alone.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I keep reading that Anna Karenina is the greatest novel ever written yet, I barely know the story of the book. I didn't know there was a Levin. I only knew about Anna. Anna Karenina is more of a character-driven book than a plot-driven one. It is centered on seven characters (2 couples and 1 love triangle). Through these characters, Tolstoy shows us the different variations of love and family life. There are so many characters in this book and Tolstoy uses the different variations of a person’s name all the time, even on the same sentence. And so, when reading this, it is important to familiarize yourself with the character’s names to avoid confusion. My edition (Penguin black spine) had a list of all the principal character's name and their variations.
Generally speaking, Anna Karenina is a book about finding happiness and contentment in life. We see it through how our two co-protagonists, Levin and Anna, live their lives. In the book, there's no distinction or proper partition between Anna's and Levin's storyline. They weave in and out throughout the chapters.
I enjoyed the Levin parts more than Anna. Levin is an aristocrat landowner who's serious about farming methods. His farming chapters get a lot of flak for being boring and unnecessary. But I loved it! It was calming and inspiring to read as a person who wants to build a small farm someday for personal consumption. And also for a person who plays a lot of Stardew Valley. I also believe that these farming chapters were not unnecessary. A lot of his thoughts during these farming scenes allowed him to grow as a person and led to certain decisions he made at the end of the book. An ending which differs from Anna. Anna's storyline is mostly about her infidelity and its devastating consequences. I get why her storyline is adapted more on TV than Levin's. Although at times I sympathized with Anna, I found her selfish mainly because of abandoning her daughter, Annie. Generally, I am not fond of characters who commit infidelity regardless of their gender. As I was reading this book I often wondered why Tolstoy had to create two protagonists and storylines. I found that in the end - when Levin choose what Anna did not.
I have nothing profound to write about Anna Karenina here. Maybe because I read it for three months and forgot most of what I read already? I might have to rethink my strategy for reading big books then. But I also reminded myself to stop dissecting this book too much and be content with the enjoyment I felt reading the book. Anna Karenina is so easy to read. I was enjoying what the characters were doing and saying that I was turning page after page not knowing I already read 50 pages in under 30 minutes.
Maybe after multiple readings I will be able to "get more out of it". Who knows? As one of my favorite Youtube channels have said "Though remember friend, a good story has many readings, and ours is but one."
Watching You by Lisa Jewell
Thrillers are cozy reads and what a beautiful way to end September by reading a thriller. This is my second Lisa Jewell and damn she always delivers. I was hooked and shocked. You'd think you know pretty much how thrillers work by now but then there comes a book that will leave staring at the wall for ages.
The first few chapters describes a bunch of characters watching somebody and also each other for one reason and another within an affluent neighborhood. There's a woman who stalks her neighbor, a teenager watching his neighbors through the window of his house, and another teenager watching her teacher who happens to live nearby. As we go through the chapters, we discover that there's an ongoing investigation surrounding a dead body found in the kitchen in one of the houses in the neighborhood. Some of the characters, also neighbors of the dead person, are suspects.
Watching You is a clever play on perspectives and when you think you know who the murderer is and who the dead body is, you are wrong. We read each character's perspective, how they interpret things, and from there draw conclusions from their own experience. As a reader, you kind of draw your own conclusions too. However, as the story progresses, I kept changing my assumptions because Lisa Jewell is a sneaky and clever writer. What else can I say? It was the perfect end to my September reading.
Substacks I Loved in September
’s simple system of keeping track of your TBR wishlist
on the beauty of writing old school style of pen and paper
This rediscovered work of 14th-century Genoese cartographer Petrus Vesconte posted in
about a place called Recordia which reminds us to truly live in the present- from The Booktender lovingly compiled this list of Bookish Subtackers (including me).
What I Want to Read in October
By the time this newsletter is delivered (October 2), I think I will be finished with Like Water for Chocolate. For the nth time, I am declaring Kavalier and Clay again as my book of the month. I didn’t get to finish it last month but I think I can finish it this October. I am also reading a non-fiction book at the same time entitled Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture which I am loving so much. It makes me so happy to read anything related to Filipino food.
In case you missed this..
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I am so embarrassed to admit that I have not read Anna Karenina yet and I want to SO BAD and your write-up makes me feel that so urgently. I think I will make it a slow-reading challenge, just to remove the pressure from myself.
P.S. Thank you so much for the shout-out. I am so glad you enjoyed that post, I have become so obsessed with the Notes app and I am finding it incredibly helpful in my reading life but in other aspects of managing my day-to-day existence as well.
I have a copy of Anna Karenina and I have been wanting to read it for awhile now! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on it, I am excited to read it soon. 😊