A few of my favourite things (2020)

Songs

Small FRY's show Mooncake, which features music from Asian and Asian diaspora artists, introduced me to several favourites, including Jaguar Jonze's cover of 'Toxic', Jasmine Sokko - 'I Like It', Sumie - 'Upp Ur Mörkret', and Violette Wautier - 'Smoke'. You can listen on Triple R 102.7FM Wednesday midnight to 2am and catch up on episodes here. I especially love the playlists for 31 December 2020 and 5 November 2020. Thanks Small FRY!!!

Other favourites: Lucy Sugerman - 'i wanna kiss boys cos i'm bored', Friday Night Plans' cover of 'Plastic Love', 박진영 (J.Y. Park) - 'When We Disco (Duet with 선미)', and San Mei - 'Cherry Days' and cover of 'Ribs' (I regret not seeing San Mei live in late 2019).

Finally, it is little wonder the song I listened to most on Spotify was Katherine Ho's cover of 'Yellow'. I played it on repeat as I wrote Echoes and learnt the lyrics.

Books

A couple of years ago, I made small talk with a stranger who wanted to create an algorithm to match people with books. I remember feeling annoyed... then again, was I being a snob? Not everyone has the time (!!) to trawl social media to curate a personalised reading list.

Twitter has no doubt expanded my exposure and access to Asian diaspora writers (particularly Asian-American writers) and translated works, for which I am very grateful. Four of the seven books below, for example, are not available in Australian bookshops.

I was v. lucky to receive an advance copy of Pop Song (May 2021) by Larissa Pham, one of my fav writers. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I savoured Larissa's essays over two months (I usually finish books within days) and immediately wanted to read it again. Erudite, fresh, painterly and tender, her words hum with it. I can't wait for Pop Song x


Online writing

A handful of pieces that stuck with me in 2020:

Last but not least, Yanyi's weekly The Reading letters are deeply generous and nourishing.

(past lists here)

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