Three Books I Enjoyed During Circuit Breaker and How It Relates To a Career

Like many others, I found life looking a little different earlier this year in April when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the government implemented the Circuit Breaker. With my day now being confined to four walls and a roof and the occasional grocery run, I had the privilege of abundant time to do whatever I wanted as I was also waiting for my internship to begin in June. I spent my time taking online courses from LinkedIn Learning and Google, struggling while working out together with my friends via Zoom, making dalgona coffee and also picking up a few reads that I’ve always wanted to start on but lacked the time to do so. I’ve particularly enjoyed three books that I read over the Circuit Breaker and picked up some lessons from them that I found useful and applicable to both my personal and professional lives. In no particular order, here they are:

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

Kafka was an impulse buy for me when I first discovered it on the shelves of a bookstore in Narita Airport - but safe to say, it has now become one of my go-to books that I find myself reaching out for once in a while. In this novel, Murakami paints a mysterious universe with two distinct characters, but the reader eventually sees how their worlds intertwine as the story progresses. I particularly enjoyed the magical, dreamlike aspect of Kafka and how the book progresses like a puzzle, with every page like a piece that slowly connects the dots. I also very much appreciated how the other supporting characters in Kafka played their roles in assisting the main characters throughout their journey - which is a lesson that I’ve learned to hold dear in my professional and personal life as well. Having a support system and a network can really help you out, and even guide you to opportunities that you might not be able to find on your own. If you’re looking for a getaway to a world with talking cats, ghosts of World War II soldiers and a Colonel Sanders-like pimp, I think you’d find yourself enjoying this novel as much as I do.

Malice - Keigo Higashino

Who doesn’t love a good mystery novel? In this Higashino masterpiece, the reader comes to discover that the main point of the plot isn’t whodunit - but why. Just one chapter into the book, we see bestselling author Kunihiko Hidaka found dead in his study, with his body discovered by his good friend Osamu Nonoguchi and his wife, Rie Hidaka. Both of them seem to have alibis that check out - but nothing is what it seems. I enjoyed how progressively mysterious the story was - every time I thought “that’s it, right?” I get brought back to another clue or detail that I overlooked, and suddenly everything doesn’t add up again. Malice really reminded me of the importance of little details - no matter how small I thought they were, they all helped to add up to the big picture in the end, and this is something that I’m learning to apply and remember both in my personal and professional life as well. If you’re looking for a fresh twist on mystery novels and the typical guessing game on who the killer is, I would recommend Malice. 

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns follows Mariam and Laila, two Afghanistan women born nearly a generation apart but ultimately brought together by conflict and loss. Having read The Kite Runner (also by Hosseini), I dived into A Thousand Splendid Suns with the same expectations, and I was not disappointed. Throughout the novel, Hosseini explores themes of love, family and most importantly, courage. I loved how brave Mariam and Laila were in their own ways as the book progressed, despite how they might have thought of their circumstances before. As Mariam said in the novel, “There is a way, and I just have to find it.” It can be easy sometimes to just let our circumstances define us, but what I’ve learned is to at least try, no matter how small of an act it may be, and this is one takeaway from A Thousand Splendid Suns that I would want to incorporate in my life, no matter where I am.

In summary, I’ve learned that:

1. Having a supportive network is important
2. Improving my attention to little details helps in painting the bigger picture
3. You’ll never know until you try

One of my new year resolutions this year was to read more, and I’m glad I found the time to do so during the Circuit Breaker. There are a couple more reads on my to-read list that I’m hoping to pick up soon, and I can’t wait! If you have any must-read book recommendations, I’d love to hear what they are - feel free to drop me a message!