Author: triketora

It’s a little embarrassing to check in on my 2025 goals and see how far off the mark I landed. So much for monthly blog posts — literally I wrote nothing in the last year, and this is the first post since my new year’s resolutions post. In my defense, major life changes (not too hard to infer from my booklist below!) shifted priorities. I managed a 6:55 minute mile in mid January before my body completely changed on me. I did read 2 books in Chinese, and started more regularly speaking Chinese at home, but didn’t make much other language learning progress besides. Most of my nonfiction reading was on pregnancy, motherhood, and parenting. And for the first year in quite some time, I clocked in at under 100 books for the year. Emoji face with single tear.

1. Sweet Bean Paste, Durian Sukegawa ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, Michiko Aoyama ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. The Surrendered, Chang-rae Lee ⭐⭐⭐
4. Tokyo Ueno Station, Yu Miri ⭐⭐⭐
5. Running Smart: How Science Can Improve Your Endurance and Performance, Mariska van Sprundel ⭐⭐⭐
6. Butter, Asako Yuzuki ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture, Euny Hong ⭐⭐⭐⭐
8. Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler ⭐⭐⭐⭐
9. It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying Is Okay Too), Nora McInerny ⭐⭐⭐
10. Nothing Serious, Emily J. Smith ⭐⭐⭐
11. The Kamogawa Food Detectives, Hisashi Kashiwai ⭐⭐⭐⭐
12. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing ⭐⭐⭐⭐
13. Orbital, Samantha Harvey ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. Taiwan Travelogue, Yang Shuangzi, translated by Lin King ⭐⭐⭐⭐
15. Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy, Angela Garbes ⭐⭐⭐
16. What Happened to Nina?, Dervla McTiernan ⭐⭐⭐
17. Ghosts, Dolly Alderton ⭐⭐⭐
18. 轉世成身 My Body Is a Reincarnated Population, 陳翊朗 Oscar Chan Yik Long ⭐⭐⭐⭐
19. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt ⭐⭐⭐⭐
20. Anita de Monte Laughs Last, Xochitl Gonzalez ⭐⭐⭐
21. The Room on Rue Amelie, Kristin Harmel ⭐⭐⭐
22. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Anne Carson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
23. Private Citizens, Tony Tulathimutte ⭐⭐⭐
24. 有型的豬小姐, 李維菁 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
25. The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory ⭐⭐⭐⭐
26. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
27. Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting, Pamela Druckerman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
28. The Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler ⭐⭐⭐⭐
29. Sea Change, Gina Chung ⭐⭐⭐
30. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, Sarah Wynn-Williams ⭐⭐⭐⭐
31. Garbage Town, Ravi Gupta ⭐⭐⭐
32. Half a Lifelong Romance, Eileen Chang ⭐⭐⭐⭐
33. Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World, Danielle Friedman ⭐⭐⭐
34. None of This Is True, Lisa Jewell ⭐⭐⭐
35. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, Cat Bohannon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
36. A Mercy, Toni Morrison ⭐⭐⭐
37. The Old Woman with the Knife, Gu Byeong-Mo ⭐⭐⭐
38. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
39. You Dreamed of Empires, Álvaro Enrigue ⭐⭐
40. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore ⭐⭐⭐⭐
41. Call Me, André Aciman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
42. Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell ⭐⭐⭐
43. Purple Lotus, Veena Rao ⭐⭐⭐
44. Red Sky Over Hawaii, Sara Ackerman ⭐⭐⭐
45. In the Woods, Tana French ⭐⭐⭐⭐
46. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant ⭐⭐⭐⭐
47. Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service, Michael Lewis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
48. Cribsheet, Emily Oster ⭐⭐⭐⭐
49. The Descendants, Kaui Hart Hemmings ⭐⭐⭐
50. Matrescence: On Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood, Lucy Jones ⭐⭐⭐
51. A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting, Casey Johnston ⭐⭐⭐
52. The Tennis Partner, Abraham Verghese ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
53. Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris ⭐⭐⭐⭐
54. Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
55. Eve’s Hollywood, Eve Babitz ⭐⭐⭐⭐
56. The Furrows, Namwali Serpell ⭐⭐⭐
57. Lot: Stories, Bryan Washington ⭐⭐⭐
58. Maybe in Another Life, Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐
59. The Marriage of Opposites, Alice Hoffman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
60. One True Loves, Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐
61. Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, Amanda Hess ⭐⭐⭐⭐
62. Birds of a Lesser Paradise, Megan Mayhew Bergman ⭐⭐⭐
63. Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐
64. The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak ⭐⭐⭐⭐
65. The Old Drift, Namwali Serpell ⭐⭐⭐
66. The Paris Apartment, Lucy Foley ⭐⭐
67. Meltdown: Greed, Scandal, and the Collapse of Credit Suisse, Duncan Mavin ⭐⭐⭐
68. Transcription, Kate Atkinson ⭐⭐⭐
69. Headshot, Rita Bullwinkle ⭐⭐⭐
70. Instructions for a Heatwave, Maggie O’Farrell ⭐⭐⭐⭐
71. The Best Birth: Your Guide to the Safest, Healthiest, Most Satisfying Labor and Delivery, Sarah McMoyler and Armin Brott ⭐⭐⭐
72. The Bump Class: An Expert Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, Marina Fogle and Chiara Hunt ⭐⭐⭐
73. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao ⭐⭐⭐⭐
74. Across the Sand, Hugh Howey ⭐⭐⭐
75. The Colony, Annika Norlin ⭐⭐⭐
76. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold ⭐⭐⭐⭐
77. The Secret History, Donna Tartt ⭐⭐⭐⭐
78. Precious: The History and Mystery of Gems Across Time, Helen Molesworth ⭐⭐⭐⭐
79. Memory Lane: The Perfectly Imperfect Ways We Remember, Ciara Greene and Gillian Murphy
80. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
81. Audition, Katie Kitamura ⭐⭐⭐
82. What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Heidi Murkoff ⭐⭐⭐
83. Dream Count, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ⭐⭐⭐⭐
84. Unsettled Ground, Claire Fuller ⭐⭐⭐
85. The Montessori Baby, Junnifa Uzodike and Simone Davies ⭐⭐⭐
86. Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans, Michaeleen Doucleff ⭐⭐⭐⭐
87. The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother, Heng Ou with Amely Greeven and Marisa Belger ⭐⭐⭐
88. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman ⭐⭐⭐
89. How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids, Jancee Dunn ⭐⭐⭐
90. The Wedding People, Alison Espach ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
91. Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent Is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think, Bryan Caplan ⭐⭐⭐⭐
92. The Glassmaker, Tracy Chevalier ⭐⭐⭐⭐
93. Blue Sisters, Coco Mellors ⭐⭐⭐⭐
94. Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam ⭐⭐⭐
95. The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong ⭐⭐⭐⭐
96. The Names, Florence Knapp ⭐⭐⭐
97. Universality, Natasha Brown ⭐⭐
98. The Magicians, Lev Grossman ⭐⭐⭐
99. The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry, Kathleen Flinn ⭐⭐⭐

I haven’t formally declared any new year’s resolutions for myself in quite some time, much less written anything down, much less publicly. My memory is melting away but the last time that I remember doing so was perhaps in college, on a thankfully now-long-deleted Xanga. But I’m back! I feel like I could use some deliberate goal setting and public accountability as I near a stage of life known for existential crises. While work is its own thing, and I’m solidly in the habit of setting targets and OKRs there, I want to be making progress in my personal life, no matter how professional pursuits are going.

Fitness. It’s taken me almost 2 decades to get into a habit of working out and I might be ready to progress beyond activity goals (just get out there and do stuff) to achievement goals (though still only in good fun and nothing too serious). I’m thinking:

• Run a 6:45 minute mile.
• Do a headstand.
• Do a pull up.

Language learning. It is a perpetual aspiration of mine to get better at Chinese, but with no plan and no discipline of course that doesn’t happen. I also always get briefly inspired to learn new languages whenever I visit different countries, but the interest lasts me about 3 sessions on Duolingo before the unhinged green owl starts harassing me. For this year, I’m going to try a little harder:

• Read 2 books in Chinese.
• Finish the Real You Mandarin course I bought last year.
• Learn hangul so I can comfortably sound out Korean words (even if I don’t know what they mean).
• Learn hiragana and katakana so I can comfortably sound out Japanese words (even if I don’t know what they mean).

Reading. I read a lot of books every year, arguably too many, especially without any particular direction and since my reading trades off against other things I could be doing. I won’t explicitly try to read less — hopefully as I work towards other goals my time will naturally shift — but I do want to be more intentional in what I read:

• Read the classic novels that are in my TBR stack right now and that I keep putting off.
• Read 2-3 books on religion.
• Read 2-3 books on politics/history.
• Read 2-3 books on economics.

Writing and journaling. This is the year I’m going to stop being lazy about writing and actually force myself to do it! And I mean writing that isn’t cringe-y content marketing on LinkedIn:

• Write at least 1 blog post a month.

Community, family, and relationships. I’m appreciating more and more the wisdom of investing in community and relationships. Don’t give the people you love the most your leftovers! I’ve been getting better about this but I want to keep improving. I’m content to leave this area of goals vaguer and non-SMART since these are general directions I want to push instead of checklist items to mark off:

• Re-connect with old friends.
• Host more friend gatherings.
• Spend more time with family.

I’m a little nervous to put this out in the world because what if I utterly fail at my resolutions? The shame. Ah, well, I’m the only one that really cares. Happy 2025.

In 2024, I read an average of slightly more than 2 books a week, for a total of 106. It was mostly a lot of literary fiction that I did not regret but that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend, either. I had a couple of mini-themes with books by authors from and/or set in Finland and Korea since that’s where I traveled on holiday; about gut health, to try to understand and fix my own ailments; and about autocracy and American politics, post-election. I completed only one book in Chinese, again a disappointment but also not a surprise.

Although most of what I read is fiction, most of what I recommend is non-fiction: Invitation to a Banquet, Fuschia Dunlop; Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore, Patric Richardson and Karin B. Miller; How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World’s First Talking Dog, Christina Hunger; The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Alice Schroeder; I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, Ed Yong; The Light Eaters, Zoë Schlanger; Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It, Richard V. Reeves; Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, Anne Applebaum.

The best fiction I read in 2024: When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut; Hang the Moon, Jeannette Walls; The Women, Kristin Hannah; Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese; Intermezzo, Sally Rooney; Contact, Carl Sagan.

1. Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Invitation to a Banquet, Fuschia Dunlop ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Happiness Falls, Angie Kim ⭐⭐⭐
4. We Could Be So Good, Cat Sebastian ⭐⭐⭐
5. In Memoriam, Alice Winn ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. Food Pharmacy, Lina Aurell and Mia Clase ⭐
8. Tom Lake, Ann Patchett ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
9. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros ⭐⭐⭐
11. Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore, Patric Richardson and Karin B. Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
12. Atalanta, Jennifer Saint ⭐⭐⭐⭐
13. Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, Refaat Alareer ⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. Breathing Lessons, Anne Tyler ⭐⭐⭐⭐
15. How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World’s First Talking Dog, Christina Hunger ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
16. When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
17. Land of Milk and Honey, C Pam Zhang ⭐⭐⭐⭐
18. Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: 50 Poems for 50 Years, Joy Harjo ⭐⭐⭐⭐
19. Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami ⭐⭐⭐⭐
20. How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World, Deb Chachra ⭐⭐⭐⭐
21. Glucose Revolution: The Life-changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar, Jessie Inchauspé ⭐⭐⭐⭐
22. The Hunter, Tana French ⭐⭐⭐⭐
23. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Alice Schroeder ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
24. The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang ⭐⭐
25. Extremely Hardcore, Zoe Schiffer ⭐⭐⭐
26. A Winter Book: Selected Short Stories, Tove Jansson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
27. Making a Scene, Constance Wu ⭐⭐⭐⭐
28. I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai ⭐⭐⭐⭐
29. Wandering Souls, Cecile Pin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
30. Super Gut: A Four-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight, Dr. William Davis ⭐⭐⭐
31. I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, Ed Yong ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
32. The Five Wounds, Kirstin Valdez Quade ⭐⭐⭐⭐
33. Gut, Giulia Enders ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
34. The Microbiome Connection: Your Guide to IBS, SIBO, and Low-Fermentation Eating, Dr. Mark Pimentel ⭐⭐⭐⭐
35. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
36. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Sáenz ⭐⭐⭐⭐
37. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover ⭐⭐⭐⭐
38. The Love of My Life, Rosie Walsh ⭐⭐⭐
39. Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give, Ada Calhoun ⭐⭐⭐⭐
40. A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine ⭐⭐⭐⭐
41. It’s Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry in Everything, Kate Biberdorf ⭐⭐⭐⭐
42. Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers, Chip Heath and Karla Starr ⭐⭐⭐⭐
43. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas ⭐⭐⭐
44. The Loneliest Americans, Jay Caspian Kang ⭐⭐⭐⭐
45. A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J. Maas ⭐⭐⭐
46. Sociopath: A Memoir, Patric Gagne ⭐⭐⭐⭐
47. The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa ⭐⭐⭐⭐
48. The Bee Sting, Paul Murray ⭐⭐⭐⭐
49. May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases—And What We Can Do about It, Alex Edmans ⭐⭐⭐⭐
50. House Love: A Joyful Guide to Cleaning, Organizing, and Loving the Home You’re In, Patric Richardson and Karin B. Miller ⭐⭐⭐
51. The Perfumist of Paris, Alka Joshi ⭐⭐⭐⭐
52. Lady Las Vegas, Susan Berman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
53. We Are Called to Rise, Laura McBride ⭐⭐⭐⭐
54. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut ⭐⭐⭐⭐
55. Summer, Ali Smith ⭐⭐⭐
56. Expecting Better, Emily Oster ⭐⭐⭐⭐
57. Funny Story, Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
58. 孩子你慢慢來, 龍應台 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
59. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
60. Hang the Moon, Jeannette Walls ⭐⭐⭐⭐
61. The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley ⭐⭐⭐⭐
62. Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life, Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas ⭐⭐⭐⭐
63. The Lions of Fifth Avenue, Fiona Davis ⭐⭐⭐⭐
64. Beautiful Country, Qian Julie Wang ⭐⭐⭐⭐
65. The Book of M, Peng Shepherd ⭐⭐⭐⭐
66. Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano ⭐⭐⭐⭐
67. My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Otessa Moshfegh ⭐⭐⭐
68. Beach Read, Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
69. The Light Eaters, Zoë Schlanger ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
70. The Women, Kristin Hannah ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
71. The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu, Katja Pantzar ⭐⭐⭐⭐
72. Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, Vendela Vida ⭐⭐⭐
73. The Summer Book, Tove Jansson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
74. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, Florence Williams ⭐⭐⭐
75. Trust Exercise, Susan Choi ⭐⭐⭐
76. Stolen, Ann-Helén Laestadius ⭐⭐⭐⭐
77. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David Wallace-Wells ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
78. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
79. In True Face, Jonna Mendez ⭐⭐⭐⭐
80. Girls That Never Die: Poems, Safia Elhillo ⭐⭐⭐⭐
81. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck ⭐⭐⭐⭐
82. Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner ⭐⭐⭐⭐
83. Ninetails: Nine Tales, Sally Wen Ma ⭐⭐⭐
84. About Alice, Calvin Trillin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
85. Intermezzo, Sally Rooney ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
86. Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It, Richard V. Reeves ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
87. How to Say Babylon, Safiya Sinclair ⭐⭐⭐⭐
88. Help Wanted, Adelle Waldman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
89. A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik ⭐⭐⭐⭐
90. The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik ⭐⭐⭐⭐
91. Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, Anne Applebaum ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
92. The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik ⭐⭐⭐⭐
93. The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel ⭐⭐⭐⭐
94. Contact, Carl Sagan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
95. Tyranny of the Minority, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
96. All Fours, Miranda July ⭐⭐⭐
97. Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure that AI Works for Us, Gary Marcus ⭐⭐⭐
98. The Husbands, Kelly Gramazio ⭐⭐⭐⭐
99. The Idea of You, Robinne Lee ⭐⭐⭐
100. Exit Right, Mark Achler and Mert Iseri ⭐⭐⭐⭐
101. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
102. James, Percival Everett ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
103. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt ⭐⭐⭐⭐
104. The Mermaid of Jeju, Sumi Hahn ⭐⭐⭐⭐
105. Please Look After Mom, Kyung-sook Shin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
106. The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It took some convincing to get my partner to commit to doing the Hetta-Pallas hike. As Americans with limited ability to get away from work, we only take a week of summer vacation, and that week is supposed to be the top-up for our depleted batteries that gets us through to the winter holidays. Three days of backcountry hiking with heavy loaded packs and staying in communal wooden huts without modern amenities, if you’ve never done such a thing before, is not the obvious centrepiece for a rest and relaxation holiday; not to mention the additional logistics — for us, coming from New York — of three days of plane, bus, taxi, boat, and waypoint hotel on the way there, three days on the way back.

It was wonderful, though. We loved our entire experience. It turns out that a few days in the pristine, picturesque fell landscape of late summer in Finnish Lapland was the perfect reprieve from the noisy jostle of New York City and the constant existential anxiety of startup founder life. Finland isn’t rugged and dramatic with craggy cliffs like Norway even just over the border, nor otherworldly like its other Nordic neighbor Iceland, another destination for outdoors enthusiasts, but it’s beautiful and serene and the peaceful expanse inspires awe and reflection.

None of the things we worried about were really too bad at all. The transit to Hetta was long but soothing in its own way as we journeyed north and further north into the Arctic Circle; we got to watch the scenery pass by and read quietly on our Kindles. Our packs were moderately heavy at 20 pounds apiece but once we properly strapped in and got going, they were well manageable, even as we trudged up rocky ascents. The huts were cozy and functional and although there was the inevitable snoring and farting of hut companions at night, being worn out from the physical exertion of hiking helped us to sleep through regardless. There was a rustic charm in having to fetch and boil our own water from the river for drinking and food prep. 

As an unexpected bonus, our hike was bookended by exquisite meals at Lapland Hotels Hetta and Lapland Hotels Pallas which are otherwise extremely retro, dormitory-style hotels as you might expect in a park. The head chef is a rising star who just won Finland’s Young Chef of the Year in 2024 and his talents are on full display with the dinner menu.

The Trail and the Huts

Hetta-Pallas is a 55km, point-to-point hike within Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Finnish Lapland. It’s famous within Finland, not just as a backpacker’s hike and perhaps even more so as a cross-country skiing trail in the winter, though it’s less known internationally and most of the people we met on the trail were Finns who wondered what had brought us all the way there.

Most people start in Hetta, which is farther north, and make their way south to Pallas.

There are multiple campsites along the way, some of which have reservable huts so that you can be guaranteed an indoor sleep spot. The reservable huts are spaced to split the trail approximately into quarters, which makes for a very comfortable 4-day hike; or you can do it in 3 days if you skip the middle hut for a longer hike on the middle day, which is what we did. If you are even more ambitious, the hike is doable in 2 days with an overnight stop at the halfway point.

Starting from the trailhead at Hetta, the reservable huts that you encounter are:

• Sioskuru (8 spots available)
• Hannukuru (24 spots available; also has a wood-burning sauna)
• Nammalakuru (12 spots available)

The trail ends in Pallas at Lapland Hotels Pallas, coming right up to the corner of the parking lot.

Day by Day on the Trail

Day 1: Hetta to Sioskuru (15km)

After you get the boat transfer to the trailhead from the one guy who does them (and who also runs the jewellery shop, Koru Laakso, which is where you go to request the transfer, prior reservation not needed), the well-marked trail starts gentle and flat through pine and birch forested woodlands before climbing above the tree line.

In mid-August, the color of the trees and the ground cover is just starting to turn. It’s not yet the full red, orange, and yellow of “ruska” fall foliage, but you can imagine how beautiful and rich the warm tones of leaf and brush will be.

As consolation for missing out on fall colors, though, you get the end of blueberry season. You can partake in the Finnish tradition of berry-picking to gather fresh fruit as topping for your morning oatmeal or to pop directly into your mouth.

Day 2: Sioskuru to Hannukuru (13km), Hannukuru to Nammalakuru (14km)

The stretch of trail from Sioskuru to Hannukuru is the easiest of the four segments, mostly flat on easy, wide dirt trails and the occasional duckboard paths through areas still wet underfoot. It’s the classic fell landscape, relatively “barren”, with few trees until you descend again towards the campsite at Hannukuru.

This is by far the biggest campsite along the whole hike, with the most spots in the reservable huts, abundant grounds to pitch a tent, and a wood-burning sauna with a path directly to the swimmable lake a few paces away. I enjoyed watching a fellow hiker take his fluffy white dog in for a dip.

We originally intended to stay at Hannukuru on our second night, actually, but given how fast we made it there, we decided to trek onwards to Nammalakuru after a short break to replenish our water supplies from the well.

Thank goodness we got that water. We were arrogant from how easy the last bit of the trail had been, and we were completely rocked by the steep elevation gain and steady climbing. There was a lot of scrambling, sweating, and swearing that surely that trail marker in the distance MUST be the top, until we got further and saw that there was yet more incline. It felt endless but eventually we made it to Nammalakuru, and still with many hours of daylight left, too, thanks to the late late sunset of arctic summer.

Day 3: Nammalakuru to Pallas (13km)

The last section of the trail has still more elevation gain though it’s not nearly so aggressive, and the fell landscape is arguably the prettiest in these final kilometres. The best moment is coming up to the mountain ridge when suddenly the views open up and you can see all the expanse of forest beneath you, with shiny, glinting pockets of water.

The last descent overlooks the Pallas hotel. We had worried about how we would get to our post-hike accommodations but as a fellow hiker assured us, the hotel is impossible to miss. For how refreshing a multi-day retreat into untouched nature is, it’s a nice feeling to saunter down towards modern amenities and know that you’ll be able to set down the heavy pack, shower and be clean again.

The local reindeer herd makes a good welcoming committee, too.

Getting In and Out

It’s a very long car, bus or train ride from Helsinki to Rovaniemi (±10 hours), and still quite a few more hours to get to the trailhead at Hetta, so you probably want to fly to Rovaniemi and then figure out regional transit.

From Rovaniemi, there are a couple options for getting in and out of the park to do the hike.

We opted for a combination of bus and taxi. On the way there, you can take the bus from Rovaniemi to Enontekiö (4.5 hours), where the stop is directly across from the departure dock of the boat transfer to the trailhead and also walking distance (20 minutes) from Lapland Hotels Hetta, thus a very convenient place to stay before the hike. Upon finishing the hike in Pallas, you can stay at Lapland Hotels Pallas, as we did, and there is another series of buses that you can take from there back to Rovaniemi. Due to timing we had to book a taxi to get us from the hotel to the bus stop at Levi to catch an earlier bus to Rovaniemi, but if you’re not tight on schedule, you can definitely work out a bus-only itinerary.

The car options involve either driving to Hetta and booking a car transfer to move the vehicle to Pallas at the endpoint of the hike, or leaving the car at the hotel parking lot in Pallas and hiring a taxi to get to Hetta. No matter your method of arriving in Hetta, you need a boat transfer to get to the actual trailhead. The guy at Koru Laakso who does boat transfers also does car transfers and offers a discount for the package deal.

Note that Rovaniemi is a bigger town with more flights going in and out — RVN has declared itself Santa’s official airport— but Kittilä is another option that is even closer to the Hetta-Pallas hike. The Kittilä airport is on the bus routes to/from Rovaniemi so if you find flights that work for you, the buses should be easy to manage as well.

Packing List

I found this blog post from Aino on the “In the Woods, Dear” blog an invaluable resource in putting together my packing list. I’d make a couple of small tweaks for this specific hike, though, especially if you’re staying in the reservable huts.

• Hiking backpack and rain cover (50-60L is sufficient for a 3-day trip)
• One set of hiking clothing and gear
  • Technical tank top (or 2-3 if you get sweaty)
  • Technical or merino wool long sleeves top
  • Loose long-sleeves blouse (for warm days when you want sun and bug protection)
  • Hiking pants or leggings
  • Hiking socks
  • Waterproof hiking boots (ideally with ankle support)
  • Rain jacket
  • Sun hat
• A change set of clothing and gear for camp, including sleeping clothesComfy shirt
  • Comfy shorts
  • Comfy pants or leggings
  • Comfy socks
  • Camp sandals (most people seem to have Crocs which double as water shoes)
  • Insulating mid layer
  • Warm jacket
• Undergarments
  • Sports bra (or 2-3 if you get sweaty)
  • Underwear (or 2-3 if you want to change occasionally)
• Swimsuit (if you want to go swimming or use the sauna)
• Cooking, food and drink supplies
  • Stove, fuel, and pot (not needed with the wilderness huts on the Hetta-Pallas trail, no reservation needed to access)
  • Mug
  • Water bottle
  • Matches (to light the gas stoves in the wilderness huts)
  • Water purification tablets (some of the water points explicitly tell you to boil the water; if you don’t have time to boil, purification tablets are good to have on hand)
  • Freeze-dried meals (the kind where you just add hot water directly into the bag)
  • Snacks
  • Tea
  • Coffee (preferably instant coffee granules instead of bags to steep, since you need to carry all your trash out)
• Camping and sleeping supplies
  • Tent, sleeping bag, pillow, sleeping pad (not needed if you book a spot in the reservable hut, and for cutting weight it’s lovely to not have to bring all of these)
  • Sleep sack (a thin liner that goes around the pillow and bedding provided in the reservable hut; the website says to bring sheets but you do not want to bring normal bedsheets)
• Personal hygiene
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste
  • Small towel
  • Toilet paper
• Miscellaneous
  • Personal medication
  • Sunscreen
  • Mosquito repellent
  • Trash bag and Ziploc bags
  • Dry sacks
  • First aid kit
  • Battery pack (10000 mAh was way more than sufficient for me to charge my phone; I kept it in airplane mode but I did use it to track the hike on Strava)
  • Eye mask
  • Ear plugs
  • Camera (optional, and heavy, so make sure you really want to bring your gear)
  • Kindle (optional, but you may have a lot of down time to while away at camp depending on how much you hike per day, so recommended)
  • Cards or other games for entertainment (optional)
  • GPS (probably not needed because the trail is so well signposted, there are wooden arrows on tall poles every 40-80 paces, and even in heavy fog you can usually always see to the next marker; but at least have a map)
  • Hiking poles (not really needed for this hike)

Itinerary, Including Transit to/from Helsinki 

In the end, this was our itinerary. Hopefully it can be a useful reference or inspiration! Enjoy.

Day 1: Fly from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, stay at any hotel in Rovaniemi
Day 2: Bus from Rovaniemi to Hetta, stay at Lapland Hotels Hetta
Day 3: Walk to jewellery store/dock, get boat transfer to trailhead, hike to Sioskuru, stay at reservable hut (day 1 of hike, 15km)
Day 4: Hike from Sioskuru to Nammalakuru, stay at reservable hut (day 2 of hike, 27km)
Day 5: Hike from Nammalakuru to Pallas, stay at Lapland Hotels Pallas (day 3 of hike, 13 km)
Day 6: Taxi to bus stop in Levi, bus from Levi to Rovaniemi, stop for late lunch, taxi from Rovaniemi to airport, fly from Rovaniemi to Helsinki, stay in Helsinki

Suggested Reading

In the fashion of wine pairings with good meals, I like to do book pairings with my travels. On the Hetta-Pallas hike, I especially enjoyed these thematic reads:

• The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth, by Zoë Schlanger
• The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu, by Kathy Pantzar
• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, by Florence Williams
• Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida
• The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson

In February I left my beloved London flat that was so ideally situated above a Waterstone’s (literally less than a minute out of my day to pop in and buy a book, my bookshelves are still groaning with the weight of the books I accumulated from three years of living in the danger zone) and moved to a spot in Brooklyn that, while pleasant and cozy, is a cool 22 minutes walk from a bookstore that I actually like (my nearest bookstore, while it is indeed very close by, is a romance shop, I gave the genre a try and that was my only 1-star rated book of the year).

Even with this dismal change in reading circumstances, I think I did a respectable amount of reading, closing out at 105 books for the year. Of these, 38 were non-fiction, a “good” ratio for me given my propensity to load up on “junky” literary fiction. Sadly, I failed to finish a single book in Chinese, though I read about 50 pages of one and I’ll keep plugging away at it in 2024 when I can muster the energy; please encourage me to do better.

Note on my ratings: These are arbitrarily weighted scores based on how much I enjoyed the writing, how much the stories or ideas influenced my thinking, and/or how likely I’ve been to recommend the book. Based on the latter two criteria, it’s mostly non-fiction that I’ve assigned 5-star ratings, but as is probably evident based on sheer volume, for pure enjoyment it’s litfic for me all the way.

1. Nefertiti, Michelle Moran ⭐⭐⭐
2. The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, Kathryn Paige Harden ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. Widow Basquiat, Jennifer Clement ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. Spare, Prince Harry ⭐⭐⭐
8. The Story of Art Without Men, Katy Hessel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
9. Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story, Natalie Haynes ⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. Really Good, Actually, Monica Heisey ⭐⭐⭐
11. The Trees, Percival Everett ⭐⭐⭐
12. Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics, Tim Marshall ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
13. Takeaway, Angela Hui ⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. Godmersham Park, Gill Hornby ⭐⭐⭐⭐
15. The History of England, Jane Austen ⭐⭐⭐⭐
16. Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Coco Mellors ⭐⭐⭐⭐
17. The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, Anne Marie O’Connor ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
18. Love, Leda, Mark Hyatt ⭐⭐⭐⭐
19. Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It, Kaitlyn Tiffany ⭐⭐⭐
20. The Paris Bookseller, Kerri Maher ⭐⭐⭐
21. French Exit, Patrick deWitt ⭐⭐⭐
22. All That We Are, Gabriella Braun ⭐⭐⭐
23. Babel: An Arcane History, R. F. Kuang ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
24. Build Your House Around My Body, Violet Kupersmith ⭐⭐⭐⭐
25. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino ⭐⭐⭐⭐
26. A Diamond in the Desert: Behind the Scenes in Abu Dhabi, the World’s Richest City, Jo Tatchell ⭐⭐⭐
27. Frankenstein in Baghdad, Ahmed Saadawi ⭐⭐⭐
28. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck ⭐⭐
29. This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone ⭐⭐⭐
30. The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders ⭐⭐⭐
31. Victory City, Salman Rushdie ⭐⭐⭐⭐
32. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
33. The Candy House, Jennifer Egan ⭐⭐⭐
34. Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel ⭐⭐⭐⭐
35. Buried: An Alternative History of the First Millennium in Britain, Alice Roberts ⭐⭐⭐
36. Disorientation, Elaine Hsieh Chou ⭐⭐
37. The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez ⭐⭐⭐⭐
38. Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World, Lauren Fleshman ⭐⭐⭐
39. Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng ⭐⭐⭐⭐
40. Central Places, Delia Cai ⭐⭐⭐⭐
41. Stay True, Hua Hsu ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
42. Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
43. Yellowface, R. F. Kuang ⭐⭐
44. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelly Van Pelt ⭐⭐⭐⭐
45. Kintu, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi ⭐⭐⭐⭐
46. Trust, Hernan Diaz ⭐⭐⭐⭐
47. Continuous Discovery Habits, Teresa Torres ⭐⭐⭐⭐
48. You Can’t Stay Here Forever, Katherine Lin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
49. I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
50. The Portfolio Life, Christina Wallace ⭐⭐⭐⭐
51. To Paradise, Hanya Yanagihara ⭐⭐⭐⭐
52. The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune ⭐⭐⭐⭐
53. Learning from Las Vegas, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Steven Izenour ⭐⭐⭐⭐
54. Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
55. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver ⭐⭐⭐⭐
56. Fiona and Jane, Jean Chen Ho ⭐⭐⭐
57. The Cherry Robbers, Sarai Walker ⭐⭐⭐
58. Monogamy, Sue Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐
59. Yerba Buena, Nina Lacour ⭐⭐⭐⭐
60. If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
61. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
62. Cultish, Amanda Montell ⭐⭐⭐⭐
63. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
64. Take a Nap! Change Your Life., Sara C. Mednick ⭐⭐⭐
65. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
66. People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
67. Book Lovers, Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
68. Greek Lessons, Han Kang ⭐⭐⭐
69. Wonder Boy: Tony Hsieh, Zappos, and the Myth of Happiness in Silicon Valley, Angel Au-yeung and David Jeans ⭐⭐⭐⭐
70. The Latecomer, Jean Hanff Korelitz ⭐⭐⭐⭐
71. Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital, Elise Hu ⭐⭐⭐
72. Provence in Ten Easy Lessons, Peter Mayle ⭐⭐⭐⭐
73. Villa America, Lisa Klaussman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
74. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, Baek Sehee ⭐⭐⭐
75. Goodbye, Vitamin, Rachel Khong ⭐⭐⭐
76. Rules of Engagement, Selena Montgomery ⭐
77. Happy Place, Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐
78. The Bond King, Mary Childs ⭐⭐⭐⭐
79. The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
80. The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai ⭐⭐⭐⭐
81. Your Face Belongs to Us, Kashmir Hill ⭐⭐⭐⭐
82. All Adults Here, Emma Straub ⭐⭐⭐
83. At Vesuvio, Joanna Blanche Lioce ⭐⭐⭐⭐
84. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison ⭐⭐⭐⭐
85. The Guest, Emma Cline ⭐⭐⭐
86. Horse, Geraldine Brooks ⭐⭐⭐⭐
87. Adelaide, Genevieve Wheeler ⭐⭐⭐
88. Pageboy, Elliot Page ⭐⭐
89. Loveboat, Taipei, Abigail Hing Wen ⭐⭐⭐⭐
90. Simply Clean: The Proven Method for Keeping Your Home Clean, Organized, and Beautiful, Becky Rapinchuk ⭐⭐⭐⭐
91. Emma, Jane Austen ⭐⭐⭐
92. Barbarians at the Gate, Bryan Burrough and John Helyar ⭐⭐⭐⭐
93. Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf ⭐⭐⭐⭐
94. Western Lane, Chetna Maroo ⭐⭐⭐⭐
95. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, Lisa See ⭐⭐⭐
96. What Kind of Woman: Poems, Kate Baer ⭐⭐⭐⭐
97. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, Peter Attia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
98. Prophet Song, Paul Lynch ⭐⭐⭐⭐
99. The Woman in Me, Britney Spears ⭐⭐⭐
100. Unmasking AI, Joy Buolamwini ⭐⭐⭐⭐
101. Loot: A Novel, Tania James ⭐⭐⭐⭐
102. If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery ⭐⭐⭐⭐
103. The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
104. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa ⭐⭐⭐
105. Conversations on Love, Natasha Lunn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As an American, I appreciate the tradition of Thanksgiving and how wholesome it is to have an entire holiday for celebrating gratitude and community. As a Taiwanese-American, I am rather disappointed by the typical culinary fares of the occasion.

This year for Friendsgiving I decided to embrace my Taiwanese roots and swap out the menu for one a little more appetising for someone raised on cuisine from the island nation. Originally I aimed to have 1-to-1 subs for classic Thanksgiving dishes, and there are some of those on the final menu, though in the end I made a lot of things that didn’t exactly fit the theme but that I wanted to cook anyways. In case it inspires anyone else, here’s what I ended up preparing!

TAIWANESE FRIENDSGIVING 感友節 MENU

Wood ear mushroom salad 涼拌木耳
A chilled salad of crunchy wood ear mushrooms, garnished with cilantro
Contains: sesame, soy

Flies’ head 蒼蠅頭
A spicy, salty, sweet dish of glazed garlic chives studded with fermented black beans (the “flies”), five-spice dry tofu, and bright red bird’s-eye chiles
Contains: sesame, soy, (trace amounts of) shrimp, fish

Braised Napa cabbage 白菜滷
A briny aromatic braise of Napa cabbage with mushroom, carrot, and flavours of dried shrimp and anchovy
Contains: (trace amounts of) chicken, shrimp, fish

Dry fried string beans 乾扁四季豆
Blistered spears of string beans with numbing peppercorns and dried chilli
Contains: pork, soy
[This was the sub for Thanksgiving green beans]

Turkey rice 雞肉飯
Shredded, poached turkey in a warm sauce over white rice, served with a sprinkle of fried shallots and a slice of Japanese pickled daikon
Contains: turkey, soy, shallot
[This was the sub for Thanksgiving turkey]

Roast pork tenderloin 炒燒肉
A sweet, sticky roast of tenderloin
Contains: pork, soy, (trace amounts of) chicken
[This was the sub for Thanksgiving ham]

Daikon cake 蘿蔔糕
Steamed rice cakes with grated daikon and dots of ground pork, dried shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms
Contains: pork, shrimp
[This was the sub for mashed potatoes]

Oil rice 油飯
Contrary to its name, not oily; a celebratory dish of sticky rice with slivers of pork tenderloin, shiitake mushroom, carrot, bamboo, and dried shrimp
Contains: pork, shrimp, soy, shallot
[This was the sub for stuffing]

Stir-fried rice vermicelli 炒米粉
A savoury stir fry of thin rice noodles packed with chicken, Chinese cabbage, and carrot
Contains: chicken, shrimp, sesame, soy

Sweet chilli sauce 甜辣醬
A tangy, slightly spicy bright red sauce that pairs with almost anything; try with the turkey, daikon cake, oil rice, or rice vermicelli
Contains: sesame, shallot
[This was the sub for cranberry sauce]

Strawberry margarita aiyu 愛玉 jelly
A tequila-infused twist on a beloved Taiwanese dessert with fresh strawberry purée and lime juice

Cut fruit 熱帶水果
Fresh pineapple, sweet yellow dragonfruit

Taro mille crepe cake 芋頭千層蛋糕
From the frozen selection of Weee!, sorry this is not a dessert household

Nearly all recipes were from the Taiwanese American Cookbook by Win Son or Made in Taiwan by Clarissa Wei. Highly recommend both.

Among the many things I love about European cities, I am most in thrall of the book culture that can sustain bookshop upon bookstore upon bookseller, each window display beckoning passersby to linger and consider, each store criss-crossed with patrons on the cusp of their next reading adventure.

I recently visited Athens and found an entire district of bookstores, multiple streets behind the Academy and the National Library full of stores and stands selling books of every kind imaginable. I wandered in wonder and only regretted that I don’t read Greek. I don’t read French, either; but in Paris I made a tour of English-language bookstores in the Latin Quarter and was giddy at how much there was to explore even in a second language for the place.

Then there is London. London is my paradise as a book lover. How is it possible for there to be so wonderful bookshops? I am in constant peril of acquiring new books as I wander the city, and I’ve never read so much as I have living here. Here are some of my favourite places across London to indulge in my love of books:

Foyle’s (Charing Cross)
Iconic. Five-story, light-filled shop on Charing Cross Road topped with a friendly, cozy café. I love slowly making my way up the stairs, circling around the central atrium and perusing the recommendations that line the walls. My last purchase from Foyle’s: The Dictionary of Difficult Words, by Jane Solomon.
Waterstones Piccadilly
The largest bookstore in Europe, so they claim, and the flagship store for the Waterstones chain. It is immense. You can get lost in whatever genre of book you desire, the selection is unparalleled. If you’re lucky enough to catch their annual Christmas event, they host dozens of authors throughout the store for book-signing amidst mulled wine, spiced chai, and mince pies. My last purchase from Waterstones Piccadilly: The Story of Art Without Men, by Katy Hessel; Cooking, by Jeremy Lee; Dishoom, by Kavi Thakrar, Naved Nasir, and Shamil Thakrar.

Hatchard’s
The oldest bookstore in London, founded in 1797. Next door to Waterstones Piccadilly. Rare books, first editions, but also nicely curated display shelves of new releases with handwritten recommendation notes. My last purchase from Hatchard’s: An art double feature, Portrait of a Thief, by Grace D. Li; and I, Mona Lisa, by Natasha Solomons.

Daunt Books (Marylebone)
The original Daunt Books, right off Marylebone High Street in a beautiful space with elegant oak galleries and graceful skylights. Sometimes called a travel bookshop because of the organisation of the books by geography, it encourages a more leisurely, exploratory approach to the literary wares on hand. I love travel-themed reading and am constantly searching for inspiration by place, so this bookstore is like something out of a dream for me. Fun fact: James Daunt who opened Daunt Books is also the executive responsible for helming Waterstones’s turnaround and has recently been tapped to revive Barnes & Nobles in the States. My last purchase from Daunt: SPQR, by Mary Beard, inspired by a recent trip to Italy and seeing the ruins at Pompeii; and A Helping Hand, by Celia Dale. 

London Review Bookshop
A Rosetta’s Stone throw (ha, ha) from the British Museum, a compact but ample bookshop with excellent curation and recommendations, as you might expect for a store opened by a literary magazine devoted to the review of books. One shelf near the entrance is entirely lined with books that have handwritten recommendation notes affixed beneath each. There is an attached cake shop open Tuesday through Saturday.

Word on the WaterYou’ll find this book barge floating along Regent’s Canal near King’s Cross. If you’ve ever been curious what life is like on one of these riverboats, here’s a delightful excuse to step aboard. It’s a little cramped, but what did you expect? My last purchase from Word on the Water: The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman; How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House, by Cherie Jones; and The Lying Lives of Adults, by Elena Ferrante.

The Market Bookshop (Seven Dials Market)
Almost too small to dignify the title of “bookshop”, this corner of Seven Dials Market is mostly just additional seating for the overflowing food court, but I like it because it is so on theme: all the books are about London, food, or both! (Though to be honest, if you’re really looking for cookbooks, even the Waterstones in Covent Garden a few minutes away has a much better selection.) My last purchase from The Market Bookshop: Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, by Fuschia Dunlop. 

Bonus, for a day trip to Brighton: The Feminist Bookshop
A few years ago I made a deliberate shift in my reading to focus on books by non-male, non-white, and/or non-straight authors, and I can imagine no shop more fitting for my current reading tastes than this spunky little independent bookstore in Brighton, with its focus on books written by and about women, non-binary and marginalised people. For a tiny shop, it packs quite the punch with a built-in coffeeshop, back patio sitting area, and a curious box of brown paper wrapped books for you to try a “blind date with a book”. My last purchase from The Feminist Bookshop: How To Kill Your Family, by Bella Mackie (from the blind date box).

My bookkeeping was spotty this year so I think I’ve left a few reads off the list unintentionally, but here’s most of what I read in 2022! My two absolute favorites of the year in fiction were Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Lessons in Chemistry. On the non-fiction side, I added some history to my reading stack in 2022 (unusual for me) and surprised myself by really enjoying The Guns of August and SPQR. My selection of books was haphazard but I had some mini-themes based on current events in Ukraine, geography and travel to Italy, Egypt, Greece, and France, and the Booker Prize shortlist.

Ratings are based on what resonated with me at the time of reading; sometimes I was just in a funky mood or not feeling a topic, and my rating actually has little to do with the quality of the book. But I stand by my 5-star recommendations.

1. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Land of Big Numbers, Te-Ping Chen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. My Body, Emily Ratajkowski ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. In the Country of Others, Leila Slimani ⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. Notes on an Execution, Danya Kukafka ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. Free Food for Millionaires, Min Jin Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel ⭐⭐⭐⭐
9. A Burning, Megha Majumdar ⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. Good Economics for Hard Times, Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
11. Open Water, Calb Azumah Nelson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
12. Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi ⭐⭐⭐⭐
13. Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, Lisa Feldman Barrett ⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. The Last Story of Mina Lee, Nancy Jooyoun Kim ⭐⭐⭐
15. Black Cake, Charmaine Wilkerson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
16. The King Is Always Above the People, Daniel Alarcón ⭐⭐⭐
17. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach ⭐⭐⭐⭐
18. The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
19. The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
20. War: How Conflict Shaped Us, Margaret MacMillan ⭐⭐⭐
21. Grey Bees, Andrey Kurkov ⭐⭐⭐⭐
22. Bestiary, K-Ming Chang ⭐⭐⭐
23. The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
24. Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice, Bill Browder ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
25. Strong Female Lead: Lessons from Women in Power, Arwa Mahdawi ⭐⭐⭐⭐
26. My Year Abroad, Chang-Rae Lee ⭐⭐⭐
27. How Beautiful We Were, Imbolo Mbue ⭐⭐⭐
28. The Dinner Guest, Gabriela Ybarra ⭐⭐⭐
29. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel ⭐⭐⭐
30. Violeta, Isabel Allende ⭐⭐⭐⭐
31. With This Kiss, Carrie Hope Fletcher ⭐⭐
32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka ⭐⭐⭐⭐
33. The Sleeping Beauties, and Other Stories of Mystery Illness, Suzanne O’Sullivan ⭐⭐⭐⭐
34. I, Mona Lisa, Natasha Solomons ⭐⭐⭐
35. Portrait of a Thief, Grace D. Li ⭐⭐⭐⭐
36. Booth, Karen Joy Fowler ⭐⭐⭐⭐
37. Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan ⭐⭐⭐⭐
38. Gold Diggers, Sanjena Sathian ⭐⭐⭐⭐
39. What My Bones Know, Stephanie Foo ⭐⭐⭐⭐
40. Swimmer Among the Stars, Kanishk Tharoor ⭐⭐⭐⭐
41. The Life of an MP, Jess Phillips ⭐⭐⭐
42. The Swimmers, Julie Otsuka ⭐⭐⭐⭐
43. The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith ⭐⭐⭐⭐
44. Elektra, Jennifer Saint ⭐⭐⭐⭐
45. The Exhibitionist, Charlotte Mendelson ⭐⭐⭐
46. Beasts of a Little Land, Juhea Kim ⭐⭐⭐⭐
47. The Burning Chambers, Kate Mosse ⭐⭐⭐⭐
48. The Book of Form & Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki ⭐⭐⭐
49. Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir, Kat Chow ⭐⭐⭐⭐
50. The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han ⭐⭐⭐
51. It’s Not Summer Without You, Jenny Han ⭐⭐⭐
52. We’ll Always Have Summer, Jenny Han ⭐⭐⭐
53. The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz ⭐⭐⭐⭐
54. The City of Tears, Kate Mosse ⭐⭐⭐⭐
55. The Wolf Den, Elodie Harper ⭐⭐⭐⭐
56. Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain, Amy Jeffs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
57. This Time Tomorrow, Emma Straub ⭐⭐⭐⭐
58. The Land Where Lemons Grow, Helena Attlee ⭐⭐⭐⭐
59. Murder by the Seaside, Arthur Conan Doyle, Anthony Berkeley, John Dickson Carr, Gladys Mitchell, Cyril Hare, and more ⭐⭐⭐⭐
60. The Invisible Circus, Jennifer Egan ⭐⭐⭐
61. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, Patrick Radden Keefe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
62. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
63. Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, Hal Higdon ⭐⭐⭐⭐
64. The Family Chao, Lan Samantha Chang ⭐⭐⭐
65. Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie ⭐⭐⭐⭐
66. The Library Book, Susan Orlean ⭐⭐⭐⭐
67. If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio ⭐⭐⭐
68. Matrix, Lauren Groff ⭐⭐⭐
69. Lobby Life: Inside Westminster’s Secret Society, Carole Walker ⭐⭐⭐
70. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
71. How to Kill Your Family, Bella Mackie ⭐⭐⭐
72. Heatwave, Victor Jestin ⭐⭐⭐
73. Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason ⭐⭐⭐⭐
74. The Immortal King Rao, Vauhini Vara ⭐⭐⭐
75. Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐
76. The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell ⭐⭐⭐⭐
77. The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups from Death by Politics, Bradley Tusk ⭐⭐⭐⭐
78. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Mary Beard ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
79. Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies, Maddie Mortimer ⭐⭐⭐
80. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy ⭐⭐⭐⭐
81. The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty ⭐⭐⭐
82. All That’s Left Unsaid, Tracey Lien ⭐⭐⭐⭐
83. Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory, Deena Kastor ⭐⭐
84. Joan, Katherine J. Chen ⭐⭐⭐⭐
85. Fleishman Is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner ⭐⭐⭐⭐
86. The Family Outing: A Memoir, Jessi Hempel ⭐⭐⭐⭐
87. Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery, Christie Aschwanden ⭐⭐⭐⭐
88. A Helping Hand, Celia Dale ⭐⭐⭐
89. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan Karunatilaka ⭐⭐⭐⭐
90. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins ⭐⭐
91. Dog Years, Melissa Yancy ⭐⭐⭐⭐
92. We Show What We Have Learned & Other Stories, Clare Beams ⭐⭐⭐
93. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Bryn Greenwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐
94. Who’s Irish?: Stories, Gish Jen ⭐⭐⭐
95. The Paris Library, Janet Skeslien Charles ⭐⭐⭐
96. The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro ⭐⭐⭐
97. Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body, Clare Chambers ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
98. Love Marriage, Monica Ali ⭐⭐⭐⭐
99. Glory, NoViolet Bulawayo ⭐⭐⭐⭐
100. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan ⭐⭐⭐⭐
101. Oh William!, Elizabeth Strout ⭐⭐⭐⭐
102. The Twyford Code, Janice Hallett ⭐⭐
103. Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie ⭐⭐⭐⭐