From and About Asia Reading Project

This week, I'm very excited to announce that I have decided to take part in a new reading challenge: the From and About Asia project. The project was started by my favourite booktuber, The Bookish Land. You can hear more about the project and their inspiration for it in the video announcement below and the relevant website page, but I will also try to explain it here.

Essentially, the project chooses a different country from Asia each month, starting in May (Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States). For each country, those participating need to read two books, one for each of the categories below:

Category I: a book by an author from that country

Category II: a book about the culture of the subregion where the country is from

For example, the country chosen for May is North Korea, so the book for category one needs to be written by an author from North Korea. The book for the second category just needs to connected to the culture of North Korea's subregion, Eastern Asia, so it could potentially be a book from or about countries like China, South Korea, or Japan.

I absolutely love this idea and the way it is presented, because it has a clear focus but also allows enough flexibility that everyone can read books appealing to their specific interests. It's always important to read diverse books and books from different countries too. I am also happy to have the opportunity to support and celebrate Asian authors, especially given the recent rise in hate crimes against Asian people worldwide. In short, it's a great project and I'm really excited to be participating.

So, which books will I be reading for the first month? I was a little torn for the first category, since there are several North Korean books I have been wanting to read for a while now, but I think I have finally settled on The Accusation by Bandi. This is a collection of short stories written pseudonymously by a North Korean author still living in the country. I am particularly interested in this book because it was written by someone who continues to live in North Korea, rather than a defector, as the authors of the most popular books about the country (such as Park Yeon-mi and Lee Hyeon-seo) often are. Although both have some appeal, I slightly prefer the idea of reading fiction to a memoir as well. 

I will admit I'm struggling a little bit more with the second category, probably because it's significantly broader. Since I'm anxious to choose a book which doesn't violate the rules of the category, I am considering reading one of the books mentioned specifically in The Bookish Land's video about their North Korea and East Asia book choices: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. On one hand, I already have a digital copy of this book (unread of course) and have previously enjoyed Ng's work. On the other hand, I feel this is a slight cop-out. Would it be better to read a book by a new author I haven't previously explored? I am still thinking about this. I will most likely read the book about North Korea first and then come back to this one, but I will be sure to mention my final decision in a later post!

At this point, you might be thinking, "Wow, this sounds so cool! How can I join in?". Well, you can explore The Bookish Land's videos that I embedded above, as well as the page on their website which includes all the details about the challenge. I believe they have also set up a Discord for participants, linked in the descriptions of their videos, but I think that joining that is optional. 

Even if you won't personally be participating, I hope you have enjoyed reading about the project so far and will continue to read my upcoming posts about my progress with it. Once again, I'm so excited to take part in this and learn about new Asian authors. 

Finally, for any Americans reading this: Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!