Lists

Inspiration

  • an incisive article on the politics of craft, blunt-force ethnic credibility, and the peculiarities of the historical novel
  • Chinese history, revolution, and modernity a la Wang Anyi & Jia Zhangke
  • the strange, terrible, and surrealist a la David Lynch, Roberto Bolaño, & Mariana Enriquez
  • the morning quiet before a trash truck wakes up the neighborhood
  • a cigarette on the balcony after a night out

Books I Like

Fiction:

  • I-Hotel, Karen Tei Yamashita (2010)
  • Bliss Montage, Ling Ma (2022)
  • Fever Dream, Samantha Schweblin (2014)
  • Jazz, Toni Morrison (1992)
  • Things We Lost In The Fire, Mariana Enriquez (2015)
  • Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges (1944)
  • Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino (1965)
  • Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1813)
  • “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary,” Ken Liu (2011)

Other:

  • The Jakarta Method, Vincent Bevins (2020)
  • Blood in My Eye, George Jackson (1972)
  • Marx’s Literary Style, Ludovico Silva (1971)
  • Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation, David L. Eng & Shinhee Han (2019)
  • Hard Damage, Aria Aber (2019)

Music I Like

  • 浮躁 Fuzao, Faye Wong (1996)
  • Heaven or Las Vegas, Cocteau Twins (1990)
  • A Seat at the Table, Solange (2016)
  • Essentials, Erika de Casier (2019)
  • Sunbather, Deafheaven (2013)
  • Love Deluxe, Sade (1992)
  • On the Corner, Miles Davis (1972)
  • Black Classical Music, Yussef Dayes (2023)
  • 7, Beach House (2018)

Some mildly curated playlists: