Adventures in Reading

Over the weekend, I finished A New Earth: awakening to your life’s purpose by Eckhart Tolle and started reading Lisa See critically-acclaimed novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

I’m reading it for a book club and so far I LOVE it. I love historical fiction and love reading books by Asian American authors so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

I’ve only read the first few chapters and have already found See’s writing to be beautiful and emotionally moving. The theme of female friendship and and See’s detailed description of 19th century China make for a mesmerizing read!

I’d never heard of nu shu (女書, nǚ shū in pīn yīn) — secret writing used by women in China to communicate with their female friends — and am fascinated that this was See’s inspiration for this book. Will have to do some research and see what I can learn about it.

Yesterday I finished reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth and overall I’d say I liked it and recommend it.

While most of the concepts were familiar to me as Buddhist ideas, it was nice to be reminded of them. I did not like his use of his own terminology, though I suppose it makes the concepts less intimidating to non-Buddhists.

To summarize, the book is about letting go of your ego, be aware of your emotional baggage and learn to let go of it, avoid putting “good” or “bad” labels on things, and become enlightened.

Now I’m on to Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See! As a Chinese-American, I’m very much looking forward to reading it!