"I yearned for everything long gone."

- Schoolgirl (1939), Dazai Osamu -

PAUSE: I am not a performative reader. I do not read just for the sake of appearing cool and intellectual. The books below are just my recent personal favorites (though I admit some of them are definitely not masterpieces by any means). I do not entirely agree with every single remark, theme, or literary choice presented in these works.

Click on the books' covers! | Back to the main section


The Dream of the Red Chamber

Cao Xueqin

Family saga, aristocrats' decadence, portrayal of women


Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh

Historical fiction, Catholic imagery, queer-coded characters


Schoolgirl

Dazai Osamu

Modern novella, adolescent loneliness, fragmented narrative


Carmilla and Mr. Justice Harbottle

Sheridan Le Fanu

Gothic horror, supernatural forces, psychological tension


The Trial

Franz Kafka

Existentialist fiction, absurd plotline, distopian world


The Lover

Marguerite Duras

Autobiography, predatory relationships, colonialism


A Butterfly's Dream of Immortality

Khai Hung

Philosophical novella, vintage comphets, Buddhist ideology


The complete works of Han Mac Tu

Han Mac Tu

Symbolist poetry, romanticism, tortured poet