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List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
Ok. I am going to keep this post relatively short, at least as short as possible. I feel like I babble on too much, & get totally off track from the main topic. So, I’m supposed to list three books that have had an impact on me. It’s hard to narrow down my (not-very-extensive) list down to just three books, but I will try. Um, do Japanese comic books count?
I read the book Harriet the Spy as a young pre-teen, generously gifted to me by my dad & his Book-of-the-Month club subscription. At first, I started reading the book because at the time my dad was nagging me to get into the habit of reading books like he did, & he wanted me to take more of an interest in reading instead of watching so much TV. I just wanted to get him off my back, plus I had nothing else to do in my room, since my parents would not let me have a TV or a stereo in my room like my siblings did. Little did I know, I would eventually fall in love with the character Harriet M. Welsch.
This book, at the time, really inspired me to start writing. I really wanted to emulate the book’s main character & write down absolutely everything happening around me & everything I saw. Of course, I was also going through some faux angsty phase, & I mostly wrote in my journal about how unfair my parents were being & how mad I was at them. Still, this book really shaped my life as an amateur writer. I don’t write down everything about other people. Instead, as evidenced by this blog site, I write down everything about myself. There is one other thing, however, that I’d like to mention. This book never got me to try tomatoes. I didn’t discover the deliciousness of tomatoes until well into my adulthood.
Hector and the Search for Happiness was a light & happy read. I really connected with the main character Hector & his quest to find the meaning of happiness. At first, after reading the book, I thought to myself that I might want to try my hand at studying to become a licensed psychiatrist, but I decided against that notion, because I realized that I had to root out all of my own personal issues before I could diagnose & sort out other people’s issues. I’m not a particularly complex or troubled person, but there are some things rooted in my life that deserve more than a few family counseling sessions.
Reading this book had me assessing all of the things in my own life that made me happy. I was surprisingly impressed that I matched up with most of the observations listed in this book. I genuinely felt, & still feel, happy in my life. I was emitting happiness & attracting happiness in many aspects of my life. This book helped me to realize that even those that appear to be happy on the surface could be struggling with finding their inner happiness as well. That thinking gave me much needed comfort. As I’ve gotten older, I have learned to not compare my happiness so much to others’ happiness.
I read Bringing Up Bébé while I was incubating my offspring. I have to confess something. I originally bought this book because I wanted to become a very informed woman before I ever got pregnant. Also, I was attracted to the colorful book cover. I was thinking it would be a long while before I ever got pregnant, so I bought this book for some future I never expected would happen so matter-of-factly.
This book helped me understand so much more about motherhood that I thought I had already figured out from my many previous years of experience in childcare. I had already thought that I was pretty well-equipped to become a new mother. I mean, taking care of other people’s children for so many years of my life really gave me a sense of experience; that is, until I read this book. This book really taught me a lot about having to be very flexible, not having to compare your child-rearing with other people’s experience, & not to worry about meeting age guidelines/expectations.
I highlighted so many passages from this book, it practically looks like a school textbook. I even tried to make the book’s gâteau au yaourt (yogurt cake) from its recipe. This book answered a lot of my lingering motherhood questions & somehow calmed my fears. I would definitely recommend this book to any lady who wants to get knocked-up & procure a tiny human beean into existence. This is a really good book written by an anxious mother to other anxious mothers, in the tone of an anxious mother, not the tone of a college professor, or stuffy parenting expert, or certified pediatric doctor.
I know I’m only supposed to pick three books in this post prompt, but I couldn’t leave out the book Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. I watched the cult classic movie adaptation of this book & its widely panned sequel Battle Royale II: Requiem before I ever read the book. So, I already knew what the story was about. I had seen the first movie at the request of a close friend of mine during our first attendance to an anime convention. We both fell in love with this movie, & subsequently returned to the convention the following year dressed in cosplay costumes of characters from the movie.
Reading the book gave me more insight into the storyline, rather than only watching the movie itself. Yes, I loved the movie & understood its meaning, despite the bloodiness & gore being the center of everyone’s attention. However, I felt more deeply for the characters while I was reading the book. I would read this book on the subway during my commute back home after work. I would get so engrossed in the book that I’d almost miss my transfer station.
This book, Battle Royale, taught me the meaning of friendship & how much would I sacrifice to protect a person I loved & cared so deeply about, also about trust & loyalty. This book also taught me that cunningness can be both an intelligent trait as well as an evil trait, & that you don’t have to “play the game” to win the game. Having a pure & honest heart can really guide you down the right path to freedom. Yes, sacrifice is difficult, but also necessary. To this day, I really, genuinely, wholeheartedly value & cherish my close friendships. I have a few different groups of friends that I am close with, & we all would throw down for each other if necessary. We are each other’s tribe.
Ok, this is the last one. I promise. I know this isn’t technically a book, but I still read it, & it still impacted me. I have never been a fan of the fantasy or sci-fi genre ever in my life, until I read this 漫画 (manga/graphic novel) series called xxxHolic. I stumbled upon this graphic novel series, not knowing it was a parallel storyline & companion series to another graphic novel I fell in love with called Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, which was a spin-off series to my favorite 漫画/アニメ (anime/manga) series Card Captor Sakura…& all of these different series were created by the famous artist group called CLAMP. I swear things get less complicated from here.
I fell in love with this graphic novel series from the moment I read the first page. This book taught me so much about Japanese culture, tradition, & folklore…better than any textbook or historical novel could. From the moment I started this series, I couldn’t put the books down. Some of the volumes I have read more than once. This book, just like Battle Royale, taught me about trust, loyalty, & friendship. On the flip side, it also taught me to respect the afterlife. I am re-reading this series again, just to refresh my memories of this storyline & to re-ignite my passion for reading graphic novels again. I hope I can glean some new insights after reading this series again & be able to apply it to my life.
Until the next one…I am now currently packing to head back to Los Angeles for the weekend. One of my cousins is throwing a 100 Days Celebration party for her newborn son. My little family unit will only be down south for a quick weekend getaway. I am trying to get Jian to save up all of his precious few vacation days for our ginormous end-of-the-year family trip overseas to Japan. Jian & I haven’t been back to Japan as a duo since 2013, & I, personally, haven’t been back since 2016. We haven’t seen my relatives in years, & we would really like our little bean to meet the other half of her extended family.
I have not been this excited to go on a trip or vacation in a looooong time, & I am super pumped. However, in the back of my mind, I honestly wish we were vacationing somewhere in Europe, somewhere we’ve never been to before, instead of always defaulting to Japan or China. Yeah, I know we have a lot of obligations to pay a visit to our extended families in Asia, but I wish we could sometimes take these precious overseas trips to visit somewhere new rather than go back to the same places.
No matter what though, I am extremely grateful that we can even afford (in various ways) to travel at all. I will never take any trip/vacation, no matter how small, for granted. So, I’m going to enjoy this little weekend jaunt to Los Angeles with my little bean, & that’s all I’m going to say about that. Until the next one, cheers…
Today’s song of the day:
graphic art courtesy of: http://www.ryderdoty.com
Continuing on my year of lists, my “99 Things That Bring Me Joy” journal brings us to the list of my most treasured childhood books. I remember when I was younger, my dad used to be a hardcore member of the Book-of-The-Month club. He really wanted me to get into the habit of reading, more than watching TV like my older siblings (& cousins), so he signed me up for the Childrens-Book-of-The-Month club. We’d get a catalog in the post, & we would select up to three books each month. I was a slow reader (reading was so boring for me back then), but my dad could read at least two books every month.
I distinctly remember reading Harriet The Spy as one of my most treasured childhood memories. This book really shaped my life as an observer of the world, & as a writer. This book was also one of the first Young Adult genre books I ever read in full. I never really had the motivation (or attention span) to read books longer than 50 pages when I was a kid, but this was the first fairly lengthy book I remember reading when I was a kid & really getting swept away by the story.
When I was a young tweenager, I was obsessed with the title character Harriet M. Welsch from the book. (I was not a fan of the 1996 movie at all.) First off, I was so jealous that she lived in such a vibrant city, & her parents let her roam around town unsupervised. I had a couple of close friends that lived on the same street as I did growing up, & my parents wouldn’t let me even walk to their house without asking them. I could not believe this little girl named Harriet was able to galavant around the city all by herself & never got in trouble for it.
I loved Harriet’s curiosity towards everything in life & was always asking questions. My favorite part about this title character was her passion for writing. I feel like her passion for writing inspired my own passion for writing. For a short period of time (let’s just call it a phase in my life, for lack of a better word), I tried to copy &/or imitate this book character. I wore baggy sweatshirts with jeans. I tried to carry a flashlight in my school backpack (but it was a total waste of much needed space). Most importantly, I tried to follow what Harriet had been diligently doing for as long as she could remember: Write. Down. Everything. I tried writing the observations of the environment around me, but things got too frantic, & I couldn’t focus on what to write about. So, I stopped writing observations & transitioned into writing journal entries. I had a couple of Sanrio-themed childrens diaries lying around with pages begging to be filled with my pre-teenage nonsense.
There was one line however I would not cross, one trait that I would not imitate. Under no circumstances would I ever, in my life, eat a ripe tomato & mayonaise sandwich. At that age, I absolutely despised tomatoes. More recently, I have grown to accept eating tomatoes. If they’re in a salad, a hamburger, or in a sauce, I am willing to eat it, but tomoatoes are still not my favorite fruit. That’s where the character Harriet M. Welsch will always differ. There is no way I will ever eat a ripe tomato & mayonaise sandwich, ever.
I don’t know where I got these books, if I chose them from the monthly book subscription, or if someone gifted them to me. All I can remember about reading this series of books as a child was how much of a sense of wonder & imagination these stories brought to life. I would often study the illustrations in the books in great detail, trying to examine every nook & cranny of all the animals’ houses. There was just such vibrant detail in the visual depictions of all the scenes. Oh, & the food illustrations made my mouth water!
I’m not a big fan of mice, but the mice in Jill Barklem’s books are just too adorable to resist. When I was a child reading these books, I would get so immersed in my own wild imagination. I would daydream that I was living in a treehouse just like the ones depicted in all of the books. The stories were so much fun to read, & I would become so engrossed in them that I could also imagine that I was in the story along with all of the woodland animals.
I was sad to learn that, one day, when my parents were cleaning out the storage closet, they found this set of books, but one of the seasons was missing. No matter how hard we searched, we could not find the last book to complete the set. Also, the pages had been severely yellowed & water damaged, so I was not able to salvage this set of books that I cherished so much as a child.
I grouped these two books together even though I hadn’t read them at the same time. These two books are a few of my most memorable & favorite books. They’re not pop-up books, but they are highly interactive. Even as a young child, when I read these books, I was extremely careful when turning the pages & playing with the interactive sections of the books.
I absolutely love the Jolly Postman & his heartwarming story about delivering fun mail all over town, riding his trusty red bicycle. It’s also fun to read about the classic children’s story book characters every child grew up reading at bedtime, recognizing each of the characters as you turn the pages. My most favorite part of these interactive books were the envelopes inside each page. You can open the pocket of each envelope & find a wonderful interactive surprise inside like: a Humpty Dumpty jigsaw puzzle, a letter from Goldilocks to the Three Bears, or a Red Riding Hood board game.
Even though I’ve grown considerably older since I first acquired these lovely books, I still take them out of the closet every now & again, & browse through the pages. These books will never go out of style, & they are still fun to read no matter what age you are. At one point during Christmastime, I was tempted to gift these books to my young nephew & niece, but they are quite rough & careless with their belongings (especially children’s books), so I decided to squirrel them away & keep them for myself. I am so happy that I’ve kept these books for all these years because they bring me such joy.
Well, this is the end of it, my list of favorite childhood books. It took me nearly “forever & a day” (metaphorically speaking) to finish this blog post. So much has gone on in my personal life since I first began writing this post that I had to put this entire blog on the backburner for quite some time. Now I’m back & ready to resume my writing. Until the next time, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
I recently read a book where one of the main characters was British. It made me swoon every time I heard this gent use this word “dahh-ling” as a term of endearment toward the person he loves. During my brief time spent in London, I was hoping I’d hear this word being used by a local Londoner, somebody, anybody…but alas, I was unsuccessful on that front. I’d still like to hear this absolutely adorable word being spoken by a Brit in person, rather than on TV or in a movie.
So, this word is my chosen favorite word at the moment. Whenever I hear/read this word, I can’t help but think of actress Zsa-Zsa Gabor. I just loved it every time I heard her say this word on the popular classic TV show Green Acres. When I was a kid, I used to watch repeats of Green Acres (as well as many other “oldies”) on the Nick-At-Nite channel, where they’d always show re-runs of classic TV shows from the 50s, 60s, & 70s.
I don’t know why I was so drawn to watching these older TV shows, but I just loved Zsa-Zsa Gabor & her sister Eva Gabor. Those two actresses somehow reminded me of my maternal grandmother…all of them done up in their finest clothes, with their hair perfectly coiffed, all while wearing their best jewels. Also, the theme song to the Green Acres show pretty much summed up my parents’ relationship in one catchy theme song. My mom loved to live the big city life wearing fashionable clothes & her best jewelry, while my dad liked to get down & dirty in the garden. My dad, having spent many years living in Texas, admired farm/ranch living. He could never really live on a farm or ranch himself, but he always dreamed of it. You know, my dad always loved the cowboy way of life. My mom on the other hand, was a city girl that didn’t really love the outdoors, but she tolerated it for the sake of my dad. So this show kind of reminded me of my parents a little bit, but the main actress reminded me a lot of my grandmother.
I just adored the way Zsa-Zsa Gabor would say the word “darling“…as in DAAHHH-LIIING, with a dreamy European accent. As a little kid, I would practice saying this word while looking in the mirror, hoping no one would catch me doing something so silly. To this very day, this word makes my heart flutter. It’s so incredibly romantic & sweet. I feel like I want to incorporate more British slang terms & vocabulary words into my own English vocabulary. I don’t want to come off as a cheesy Anglophile, but I think it would be kind of fun to mix things up a little. I think I might start by using the word “darling” more in my vocabulary. Well, until then, cheers mates!
P.S. I’m going to Los Angeles to see The Killers in concert at the Staples Center! But before that, I’m going to another concert in one week to see Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats along with Kings of Leon… Woah.
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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