In the interest of blogging more (a perennial goal) I plan to write about books as I read them this year, rather than once at the end of the year. We’ll see if I keep it up.
The first book of the year was Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart. It had been on the list for a while and I’m glad I finally got to it.
It’s rare, I think, to read a memoir or biography of a musician like Zauner this early in their career. By that I mean, there are untold numbers of books written about musicians but they’re written about people who are or were already famous. There’s something special about this book showing the creative process that emerges from a young artist encountering immense grief in real time while still trying to figure out what her art is, and how it looks as a vocation.
This book also made me very hungry, which wasn’t totally surprising given the title. Learning to cook, and then cooking, Korean food was a big part of this book and how Zauner connected to her mother and her heritage. These scenes brought back a lot of memories from our own time in Korea, the food we ate and the places we ate it: Kalguksu (knife cut noodles) and seafood by the beach in Incheon. Myeongdong Gyoja. Galbi prepared table-side. Jjigae. Endless banchan and kimchi. Street food on the crowded streets of Hongdae. All of it and so much more textured this book.
If you’re late to the party, go check it out.