Better than Black Mirror, I promise.

Long time no book! Spent the last few months tending fretfully to my book garden instead of reading anything due to acute anxiety. Eventually forced myself to choose a book and went with Bedford‘s memoir, which is turning into one of my favourite coming-of-age books of all time.

Brillat-Savarin for me, Daniel Tiger for friend's kid.

"That's a bit pointed, no?" said my partner.

"That IS the point."

TFW you crack open a bilingual book and
1. Immediately fight the translator.
2. Hate the KMT for taking over everything in Taiwan.
3. Feel a deep shame for reading the English text instead of the Chinese because it's much faster that way.

Lending this out today! The age-old conflict between independent kids and problematic parents lies at the heart of this book, but while it is only resolved through death, the characters behave sensibly for the most part and sacrifices are acknowledged. This makes Inheritance far more relatable than most Western "troubled middle-class family" novels, and the author's candour when it comes to difficult family relationships has been most cathartic.

Not the best book to read while feeding the uterine beast fistfuls of ibuprofen. Should have chosen something familiar and comforting, but it's hard to do that when pacing the floor restlessly while cursing god and man.