One of my favorite hobbies is reading books! A lot of people might not know this about me, but I grew up reading all kinds of different novels. In the past few years, I’ve done a lot more exploration of translated cultural novels. Some of my favorite authors are Haruki Murakami, Wei Hui, and Ruth Ozeki.
I always spend a lot of time browsing through bookstores in Shanghai. On second thought, visiting local bookstores is a constant motif through out my travels, because I think there is almost no better place to read a book about a specific place for the first time than the city itself! Shanghai, like many other asian cities has a lot of various “bookstores” in the residential neighborhoods. However, these are actually more of student bookstores- selling mainly textbooks, workbooks, and stationary. Most of the bigger bookstores can be found in shopping districts and the upper levels of malls.
I read a lot of translated and cultural books overall- they are one of my favorite genres- but I read even more when I’m in Shanghai. One book that I picked up from a bookstore is the “A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers.” Not the absolute best novel out there, but definitely still a curious and engaging read.
In my past visits to Shanghai over the years, some of the books I’ve bought and really fallen in love with have been Candy, by Mian Mian, and Shanghai Lover, by Wei Hui. These are both considered controversial books in China; in fact, Mian Mian’s books have all been banned in the native language! For a while, they could only be purchased at underground bookstores. These books explore the provocative realms of drugs, sexuality, and what I coin “modern apathy.”
Hope you guys enjoyed this post. What are your favorite types of books to read? 😀
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[…] I thought it was about time to do another lifestyle post. I have another post on Shanghai reads that I wrote last September here. […]