recently read: natural beauty by ling ling huang
19: the best books i read this year, the worst and on connection by kae tempest
Knowing what book someone is reading and what parts they resonate with most can be so intimate. It reveals their interests, where their head is at, and what excerpts are so significant that they will mark up a page because they think it’s worth revisiting at a later time. I’m fascinated by what books others gravitate towards and I find that it helps me get to know them better and gives me a small glimpse into who they are at their core. No one asked for these book reviews, but maybe it’s my way of showing who I am and what I’m interested in – beyond the clothes, the products, and my career. Or at the very least, encourage some to look up from their phones and instead towards the pages of a good book.
This year I read 28 books and I still plan on reviewing each one, but for now, as I’m clearly very behind, I’ll share with you my thoughts on numbers 15 and 16 along with the top 10 books I read this year… and a few of the worst.
Book no. 15 of 2023
Natural Beauty - Ling Ling Huang
I was really excited about the premise of this book — the lengths we go for beauty for money or power and how we blindly and faithfully follow beauty trends or treatments without question or concern of its side effects. I think it was a great concept and the story was a page-turner, especially at the end, but ultimately, it just felt so over the top and grotesque and unbelievable. So much of it was hard to wrap my head around. If executed differently and in a way that was more realistic, I think it would’ve been a much more powerful story.
I did enjoy the themes of beauty and power, consumerism and self-worth and I look forward to reading more books with similar lessons — feel free to share recommendations in this vein in the comments if you know any!
Secondhand copy of Natural Beauty can be found here.
Underlined quotes:
“I often wondered in these moments what it cost them to never show fragility. Only determination and resilience in the face of their new country.”
“It’s more permissable for women to be mediocre than it is for them to be fat.” About thin privilege here.
“They teach me what I need to be afraid of to become beautiful.”
“People in buildings barge in on one another, create and resolve conflicts and fall in love while I exfoliate, microcurrent and mask.”
“Customers who are fully satisfied require no further satisfaction. They must be sold a version of themselves that is constantly just out of reach.”
“[He] offered me beauty, power, a chance to change the world… He gave you just enough power to take it from other women.”
“Maybe youth, I think to myself, is something the privileged can afford.”
Book no. 16 of 2023
A small but mighty book about our need for connection and closeness to others in our individualistic and competitive society. Encourages the reader to self reflect and consider how what we put out there and what we consume helps or prevents us from connecting with ourselves and others.
Buy from independent bookstores here.
Underlined quotes:
“When life is the pursuit of status and status is measured in wealth, we grade the outcomes of our existence by the possessions we accumulate or the goals we can tick off our bucket lists.”
“What good does it do me when I am sat with the truth of me? Where does [money and accolades] get me if I can’t bear my own company, can’t relax in my own skin?”
“The focus on what I can successfully generate, on what I can monetize, on what I can contribute, is a systemic imprint that enforces a production / consumption mentality and keeps me in the thrall of needing to work to consume to value myself.”
“Things will go wrong. You will make mistakes. You will end up doing things that don’t feel entirely right. This is how you learn how to dig at your compulsions… There is something wrong with allowing yourself to be coerced into action because you haven’t come to terms with what you yourself want or don’t want from your creativity.”
“The person with the great ideas that judges other people’s output as inferior to what they themselves could produce, but has never actually committed themselves to producing anything in full; this is the fallacy of artistic endeavor.”
“Why am I up here? What do I want? What is it that I’m trying to do?… What were my motives then?… I was of the times, but not of the depths. I was creative. But not connected.”
“It’s down to self-respect. How can I respect myself enough to give myself the energy I usually reserve for the people I perform for? The people I have to impress?”