Whenever it is time to summarize, I feel how fast time passes. Half of 2024 is already over. Thanks to a long Spring Festival holiday, I read nearly 20 books in the first half of the year. So here is a light summary.
In April, I also completed the 365-day WeRead reading challenge and received a one-year membership plus 500 book coins.
Rating guide:
2/5: not very recommended
3/5: average
4/5: recommended
5/5: highly recommended
Red Poppies#
- Author: Alai
- Publisher: Zhejiang Literature and Art Press
- Genre: literature - Chinese literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: January
- Time spent: 9h 49m
- Reason: It had been on my WeRead shelf for a long time, and after listening to a podcast episode I became interested.
- Impressions: This novel reads very smoothly. The plot is engaging and the language is easy. The jury of the 5th Mao Dun Literature Prize praised its language as “light and charming,” so the reading threshold is low. The story itself is also compelling.
- Rating: 4/5
Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768#
- Author: Philip A. Kuhn
- Publisher: Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore
- Translators: Chen Jian / Liu Chang
- Genre: historical analysis
- Reading format: WeRead + print book
- Reading time: January
- Time spent: 9h 02m (WeRead) + not counted (print)
- Reason: I no longer remember.
- Impressions: During the Qianlong reign, a series of “soulstealing” cases broke out. The author uses these cases to analyze Qianlong society and explain why the so-called prosperous age hid deep crises and why a sorcery panic erupted. The book is quite academic, so some parts were difficult to read.
- Rating: 4/5
The Nonexistent Knight#
- Author: Italo Calvino
- Publisher: Yilin Press
- Translator: Wu Zhengyi
- Genre: literature - foreign literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: January
- Time spent: 3h 26m
- Reason: Wang Xiaobo is one of my favorite writers. I once heard that his favorite author was Calvino, so I became curious. Calvino has the “Our Ancestors” trilogy, so I started with The Nonexistent Knight.
- Impressions: The style feels absurd, fairy-tale-like, and strange. The simpler the story, the richer the meaning. This book mainly explores why a person exists, how they exist, and what existence is. It is easy to read and can be treated as a fairy tale.
- Rating: 3/5
The Moon and Sixpence#
- Author: W. Somerset Maugham
- Publisher: Tianjin People’s Press
- Translator: Li Jihong
- Genre: literature - foreign literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: February
- Time spent: 8h 16m
- Reason: Maugham is a very popular literary master, and this classic had been on my shelf for years. I read it during the Spring Festival holiday.
- Impressions: The narration is unusual: the narrator is “I,” but the protagonist is Charles Strickland (based on painter Paul Gauguin). At the beginning, the narrator shares many personal opinions, which feel unrelated to the story and make it a bit slow. Once the plot unfolds, it reads smoothly. Discussions often focus on whether to choose the moon (spiritual ideals) or the sixpence (worldly reality). It depends on the reader.
- Rating: 4/5
I Deliver Packages in Beijing#
- Author: Hu Anyan
- Publisher: Hunan Literature and Art Press
- Genre: literature - nonfiction
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: February
- Time spent: 7h 38m
- Reason: This book ranked in Douban’s top three for 2023. As someone working in Beijing, I was curious about other people’s work experiences.
- Impressions: Although the title is about delivery, the book is not limited to that. It tells the author’s experiences across many different jobs. The strongest feeling is authenticity. As a working-class person, the author writes his experiences and real thoughts without holding back. It may not be very literary, but it is definitely documentary.
- Rating: 4/5
Judge Dee Mysteries: First Collection#
- Author: Robert van Gulik
- Publisher: Shanghai Translation Publishing House
- Translator: Zhang Ling
- Genre: mystery / gong’an detective fiction
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: February
- Time spent: 15h 06m
- Reason: During the Spring Festival holiday, Youku released the TV series Judge Dee Mysteries starring Zhou Yiwei. The adaptation was poor: the cases were messy, the acting was uneven, and even some important roles were gender-swapped. After watching more than 20 episodes, I gave up and reread the original.
- Impressions: The book consists of multiple cases. When originally published, it was probably one case per volume, but recent editions bundle several cases together. Because the author is Dutch, the book is translated; this translation is widely praised and relatively new (2019). Some cases are excellent, but there are still plot holes. The story style and character portrayal are westernized. Compared with the TV series Detective Di Renjie, the two works have completely different styles. In this book, Di Renjie is more of a detective than a historical official, so it could have been any detective.
- Rating: 3/5
My Memories of Old Beijing#
- Author: Lin Haiyin
- Publisher: Writers Publishing House
- Genre: literature - Chinese literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: February
- Time spent: 4h 05m
- Reason: I listened to a podcast recommendation and decided to read it again. I have read it twice before.
- Impressions: No matter how many times I read it, it is still engaging. The curiosity, friendship, and family bonds in those childhood stories still move me.
- Rating: 5/5
Judge Dee Mysteries: Second Collection#
- Time spent: 16h 36m
- Other details: same as above
1984#
- Author: George Orwell
- Publisher: Yilin Press
- Translator: Sun Zhongxu
- Genre: literature - foreign literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: March
- Time spent: 9h 55m
- Reason: I read this after hearing a podcast recommendation. I had already heard of it beforehand.
- Impressions: Compared with the books above, this one has a higher reading threshold because it contains many political terms and new language explanations, which can be obscure. The story itself is excellent, but some scenes feel oppressive. Do not project yourself into it too much.
- Rating: 4/5
Judge Dee Mysteries: Third Collection#
- Reading time: March
- Time spent: 16h 49m
- Other details: same as above
The Cloven Viscount#
- Author: Italo Calvino
- Publisher: Yilin Press
- Translator: Wu Zhengyi
- Genre: literature - foreign literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: March
- Time spent: 2h 15m
- Impressions: Another title in the “Our Ancestors” trilogy. The protagonist is split into two halves, one evil and one saintly, and later reunites. We are all torn into incomplete people, so how do we pursue a whole life?
- Rating: 3/5
Siddhartha#
- Author: Hermann Hesse
- Publisher: Tianjin People’s Press
- Translator: Jiang Yi
- Genre: literature - foreign literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: March
- Time spent: 3h 46m
- Reason: I forgot.
- Impressions: In simple terms, the book shows the process of Siddhartha attaining enlightenment. Many people call it a masterpiece, and it is inspiring for them. But I felt little after finishing it and even found it a bit boring. Maybe I am too young, or my Buddhist affinity is too low.
- Rating: 3/5
The Third Chimpanzee#
- Author: Jared Diamond
- Publisher: CITIC Press
- Translator: Wang Daohuan
- Genre: popular science
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: March
- Time spent: 15h 20m
- Reason: I have always been interested in popular science. Most people might not know Jared Diamond by name, but you may know his bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel. The Third Chimpanzee is the first book in his “human history trilogy.”
- Impressions: This book answers many questions about human traits and secrets, such as evolution, life cycles, and language evolution. It also discusses issues like tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and ecological crises. It is not too hard to read; the only part I struggled with was the chapter on language evolution. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 5/5
Bathing#
- Author: Yang Jiang
- Publisher: People’s Literature Publishing House
- Genre: literature - Chinese literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: April
- Time spent: 7h 42m
- Reason: This book was recommended by WeRead. I had never read any of Yang Jiang’s works, and the reviews were good, so I decided to read it.
- Impressions: At first I thought it might be a memoir like We Three, but after reading the introduction and opening, I realized it is about a group of intellectuals before and after liberation. The “bath” refers to ideological remolding in a political movement. Although most of the story happens after liberation, the prose and story style feel like a Republican-era film.
- Rating: 4/5
Going Out at Eighteen#
- Author: Yu Hua
- Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Press
- Genre: literature - short story collection
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: April
- Time spent: 3h 23m
- Impressions: This is a new release from Dook, but the stories were written long ago. These are Yu Hua’s early works: some are obscure, some absurd, and some magical realist. Overall, I did not fully understand all of them.
- Rating: 3/5
Clarkson’s Farm#
- Author: Jeremy Clarkson
- Publisher: Taihai Press
- Genre: literature - essays and miscellany
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: May
- Time spent: 3h 43m
- Reason: WeRead recommended it. By then I had completed the reading challenge and lost some motivation for a while, but I still wanted to keep reading. So I chose this light, low-barrier book.
- Impressions: It is an easy read. Watching a billionaire lose money running a farm is oddly satisfying.
- Rating: 3/5
The Baron in the Trees#
- Author: Italo Calvino
- Publisher: Yilin Press
- Translator: Wu Zhengyi
- Genre: literature - foreign literature
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: June
- Time spent: 6h 41m
- Impressions: Another title in the “Our Ancestors” trilogy. It tells the story of a twelve-year-old boy who decides to live in the trees to resist his current life, and keeps doing so until he dies in his sixties. During that time, he grows, learns, hunts, falls in love, and lives in the trees without ever coming down. Compared with the other two books, this story is less fantastical and more believable. The author’s goal is not the story itself but how a person can reach wholeness beyond individualism through persistence and effort.
- Rating: 4/5
Stories of Your Life#
- Author: Ted Chiang
- Publisher: Yilin Press
- Translator: Li Keqin
- Genre: foreign literature - science fiction short story collection
- Reading format: WeRead
- Reading time: June
- Time spent: 7h 07m
- Reason: Recommended by a podcast.
- Impressions: I like sci-fi, but these stories did not interest me and felt a bit boring. A few of them are not even sci-fi, so putting them in the sci-fi category feels odd. Overall, not very recommended.
- Rating: 2/5
Yao Guai Shuo#
- Author: Zhang Yun
- Publisher: Beijing Science and Technology Press
- Genre: Chinese monster studies theory
- Reading format: print book
- Reading time: June
- Time spent: not recorded
- Reason: I have always liked strange things. I heard the author on a podcast, got interested, and bought the book.
- Impressions: After reading, I was very disappointed. The book claims to be the foundational theory of Chinese monster studies, but it does not provide a clear or academic framework. Many arguments lack logic. A large portion of the content is just retellings of monster stories from ancient books, written in modern vernacular. This made me suspect the author was padding the book to earn a fee. It has neither theory nor depth and can only be treated as a story collection.
- Rating: 2/5
These are the books I finished in the first half of the year. I also started several books that I did not finish, so they are not listed here.