Miss Clueless

A little recap of what I've read in the past three months.  January ~Anne's House of Dreams by Lucy Maud Montgomery ~A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul ~Arrival/Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang ~Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw February ~A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf ~Winter Recipes from the Collective by Louise Glück  ~Dottie by Abdulrazak Gurnah  ~The Enigma of Arrival by V. S. Naipaul  ~The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón March ~Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ~The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ~Anne of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery ~Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan ~The Stranger by Albert Camus ~The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov To pick a favourite from each month: For Jan, I liked  A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul so much. I've been reading books by Western authors, mostly by white people, about white people. I've also read some Asian authors, but I...

Some titles describe. Some titles intrigue. And then, some titles don’t just name a book—they  whisper a feeling. For me, the most beautiful of them all is On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous  by Ocean Vuong I picked up this book following Andrew Garfield's book recommendations. When I first heard/saw this title, I was like, wow! Hmm... While I may not like the book as much (I mean, my favorites are other books), the title of this one tops all else I’ve read. I just want to appreciate it by making a blog post about it. It's a title that holds love, grief, beauty, and brevity—all at once. It doesn’t ask for attention. It deserves it. And a few others that live rent-free in my head (some of these may not be what you call beautiful, but I just like them): To Kill a Mockingbird The Book Thief One Hundred Years of Solitude Howl’s Moving Castle The Catcher in the Rye A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Bell Jar Never Let Me Go Piranesi Beloved The Time Traveler's Wife And Then There W...

I finally ticked off a major milestone this month—I went on my first international trip! Vietnam was the destination, and I went along with my sister and a friend.  We planned it all within two months, which, in hindsight, felt a bit rushed. In our excitement, we tried to cover too much in too little time. Our itinerary was built for seven days, but when you take out the travel days, we were really left with only five. We now realize we could have planned it better—maybe focused on just one or two regions instead of trying to do everything. Still, no regrets. We took a ton of photos, shared some laughs, and made memories. A Few Reflections from the Trip One of the biggest takeaways for me was realizing how much I value solo travel. Don’t get me wrong—traveling with friends and family is lovely. You share the highs, split the logistics, and there’s always someone to take your picture. But I did find myself longing for the kind of freedom that only solo travel allows. To go whereve...