Today, on April 23rd, we celebrate World Book Day, and the beauty of literature! Books are so powerful, they have the ability to absorb us into different worlds, take us on adventures, and influence the way we think. Reading allows your imagination to be set free. It helps to broaden your horizon, gain knowledge, improve your memory and it can be a strong inspiration. Reading is valuable me-time, the tranquility that accompanies a good book can reduce stress and bring inner peace.\u00a0Get inspired, get carried away \u2013 here are some thoughts and recommendations from the YUN Journal team.<\/p>\n
Whether fiction or non-fiction, books always reflect an author\u2019s thoughts and philosophy. I have an inquiring mind on everything and reading books satisfies my curiosity. It always feels good for me to listen to others\u2019 thoughts and lives, helping me achieve a wider perspective. My reading inspiration comes from a popular Korean liberal arts enthusiast and movie critic who discusses one selected book with an author in his weekly podcast. Most of time, I buy books in store (even though there are bunch of cheap deals online). There is almost a ritual in buying books, how the touch and feel the book makes me feel before I make the decision to purchase it. It may sound nerdy but it\u2019s important to find the perfect one, the book that is not crushed on any edge and the love to be the first person to open it. I love the smell of paper and the texture of it in my hands when reading.<\/p>\n
\n \u2028A book that shaped my life is<\/strong> The Course of Love by Alain de Botton.\u00a0<\/em>When a couple fall in love, we all know the excitement of love\u2019s early days and call this love. We aren\u2019t curious about the next step. By following a couple \u2013 Rabih and Kristen \u2013 in this novel, from their infatuation for each other to their (sometimes) chancy married life, I finally realized that real love is not in the falling, but what comes after. I had an epiphany that love is an endless exploration of understanding one another, rather than just an early enthusiasm.<\/p>\n \n My reading recommendation is<\/strong> Arita \/ Table of contents.\u00a0<\/em>As a celebration of the 400th anniversary of traditional Japanese porcelain manufacturing in Arita, this book charts collaborations between 16 contemporary designers and 10 Arita porcelain manufacturers.\u00a0Besides of a short introduction of the dramatic history of Arita which became one of the most famous japanese porcelain producing sites, it\u2019s enjoyable to follow each designer\u2019s process of porcelain-making, from creating a concept to developing the design with various production methods and testing. By combining Arita\u2019s manufacturing skills with the Netherland\u2019s design sensibility, final pieces became original, innovative and contemporary. You\u2019ll appreciate these breathtaking collections following more than 500 illustrations and pictures. It was a delightful moment to experience its long heritage and the meaningful design pieces by a good mixture of ancient and modern masters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have always liked reading and basically adore everything related to books. Of course each book wows me with its content, but I always appreciate a book\u2019s design, the flipping sound of paper and the quiet alone time while reading books. For new books to read, I value other people\u2019s lists. Once I get a satisfying reading experience, then I tend to stick to that recommendation list which is usually from the corner of a favorite magazine or through social media. I mainly shop in offline bookstores because I love the atmosphere there, but recently started to use online bookstores more often.<\/p>\n \n \u2028A book that shaped my life is<\/strong> <\/em> Frankenstein by Mary Shelley<\/em>. I first read this book during the literature class back when I was a university student. This book made me think about \u2018human nature\u2019 on a very deep level, and I realized how complicated each one of us is, and it made me try to understand the world a little more differently.<\/p>\n \n My reading recommendation is<\/strong> The Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter.\u00a0<\/em>Very short synopsis: It is a love story about you wanting to stay, but eventually having to leave.\u00a0I love it, because I like sad stories! I think our life is not always a continuation of happy days. We rather get frustrated, we cry, and get disappointed a lot. There are moments we do not even know how to explain our feelings, and this story speaks for them. It\u2019s a short story that depicts the not-so-bright-side of our lives and it shows that with a very elegant storyline.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I love to read books as they take me to different places, thoughts and ideas. Reading calms me in hectic days, serves as inspiration, helps me to focus, and shape my thoughts and words. I love the gift of the written word, to smell the print, feel the pages, consume the texts, and with each book read I get hungry for more. I\u2019m truly happy that there are so many more out there. I get inspiration for new books in bookstores or the neighborhood flea market, or through recommendations from friends. I love taking my time and browsing through the books, reading, touching them, before I take them home.<\/p>\n \n A book that shaped my life is<\/strong><\/em> basically everything I read from Astrid Lindgren<\/em>, her stories and characters accompanied me all through my childhood and had a huge influence on who I became. With the unique and strong characters she created, she gave kids a voice, and the right to speak, always teaching me to be who I want to be, and that I have the strength in me to reach everything \u2013 no matter if girl or boy, woman or man! And this was so important, so empowering, especially as it was very rare in (children\u2019s) books at the time. The fantastic, mystical, endless worlds she created in her books and adventures she carried me off to \u2013 it fueled my imagination, creativity, and ability to lose myself in a different world through a book<\/p>\n \n My reading recommendation is<\/strong><\/em> The White Book by Han Ka<\/em>n, a personal and powerful autobiographical meditation on the life and death of a newborn sister, who died two hours after her birth. Compiling a list of the white things that are in conversation with her sister\u2019s life and death, the book is structured around those white things that then become a part of the rituals of mourning and remembering.\u00a0I love it, because it is a beautiful and powerful book. It is a collection of thoughts, a fragmented and mysterious text, and in its entity, a brilliant book about grief. It is slow, tranquil, almost whispered. I loved the form and purpose, it became a thoughtful read, and triggered my own contemplation about life, and death.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, on April 23rd, we celebrate World Book Day, and the beauty of literature! Books are so powerful, they have the ability to absorb us into different worlds, take us on adventures, and influence the way we think. Reading allows your imagination to be set free. It helps to broaden your horizon, gain knowledge, improve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hyejin Park<\/em><\/h6>\n
Anika Paulus<\/em><\/h6>\n