Drama-Lovers Book Club

 Ashu:

Hey y'all! I've been always thinking about joining this club but I was hesitant becuase I rarely read stuff after getting into drama world and I thought I'd get kick out if I don't read a book in a month lol but after reading some conversations I guess that's not the case, it's just to encourage each other to read and not forcing cuz then I'd love to join! 

How nice to see you joining our book club, dear @Ashu!

 Ashu:

Also would love it if y'all recommend me your favourite books! I like every genre but prefer psychological and like dark, deep, tragic stuff more lol

I'd recommend Sebastian Fitzek's books like Therapy, The Soul Breaker, or The Package.

 penel:

How nice to see you joining our book club, dear @Ashu!

I'd recommend Sebastian Fitzek's books like Therapy, The Soul Breaker, or The Package.

Thank you so much for the recs! I'd definitely check them out one day ^^

 Mon:

Hi, I'm Mon!

Welcome! Good luck with your challenge! I hope we can help ^_^

Hi!! I'm May I had no idea about this Club till I looked on someone's Profile Kapetria and clicked the link and it brought me here to this beautiful world,  So I used to read books every day till I found KDramas/BLs  and I don't know why I stopped Wattpad and Goodreads and Kindle were my life!! I Still love and I've been wanting to get back at it so maybe you all could encourage me and help me find new books!!

 Bebe22:

Hi!! I'm May I had no idea about this Club till I looked on someone's Profile Kapetria and clicked the link and it brought me here to this beautiful world,  So I used to read books every day till I found KDramas/BLs  and I don't know why I stopped Wattpad and Goodreads and Kindle were my life!! I Still love and I've been wanting to get back at it so maybe you all could encourage me and help me find new books!!

Welcome, dear May to our book-club family!
Let's encourage and motivate each other to read more :)

Hi, guys. I can't believe we're entering the last month of 2021. This year has been so short and yet so long *quietly sobbing*

Anyway, I finished four books in November, but three of them are short, less than 200 pages-long. [EDIT: My post got very long. Apologies in advance.]

	Angels With Dirty Faces by Jonathan Wilson is a book about Argentinian football, and it was an alternatingly riveting and tedious read. It's pretty extensive in charting the development of football in Argentina since its introduction by the British until now. I read this book for the football (obviously), but the chapters that I found most interesting were the ones that put football in the background, so to speak, with more focus on contemporary social/political situations (and how it affected football). In contrast, my concentration was noticeably wandering whenever I read yet another description about the rise and fall of a particular club. TL;DR Only recommended if you have GREAT interest in Argentinian football.
	Yamamoto Satsuo was one of the most prominent leftist director in postwar Japan, and My Life as a Filmmaker is his posthumous memoir. It's pretty straightforward in chronicling his life (don't expect juicy tidbits or tea-spilling--although there's one thing that might come as a surprise, which is that he didn't think highly of Hara Setsuko's acting, even though he only had good things to say about her as a person). The most interesting parts for me were the challenges that he faced during his time as an independent filmmaker--whether it's dealing with thugs, or securing funding and searching for new ways to fund the socially-conscious movies that he wanted to make. And oh yeah, he's also a big believer in making a movie accessible, or even entertaining, for the audience, in sharp contrast to some of the younger directors with similar political commitment (I'm thinking of people like Oshima Nagisa et al).
	This book looks at the various ways that Hongkongers define (and are encouraged to define) themselves. Upon reading it, I felt like it might not be the best book about the topic for laypeople (in short, not quite what I was looking for ) but it did give me more insight into the complexities of political activism in Hong Kong and how central identity politics are for Hongkongers in their attempt to assert themselves against China. An in-depth review of the book if anyone's interested (not mine, obviously): here
	The last book I read in November was Japanese Cinema and Otherness, and it's pretty much what its title says. It looks at how Others--be it foreign nationals or ethnic minorities in Japan, like Okinawan and ethnic Koreans--are represented in Japanese cinema. I think I've only watched one movie among the ones the author discussed in her book, but what's fun about reading critical assessment like this is that I got to see new perspectives that I didn't even consider before.

3,096 days by Natacha Kampusch (French version).

I didn't think I would ever read this book bc I didn't want to be a voyeur but as it had been lying around for years in my library, I went for it.

 The writing is a bit too flat with lots of stretches bu I was surprised by the character of this young girl and the tone she sets for the story, no exaggeration.
Even though nothing of what she went through is hidden, a hell, she has such psychological strength in her that the atrocity she went through during those 8 long years never falls into pathos. I don't think anyone can imagine even 1% of what she went through, especially at that age, and one wonders how she can live after that.

This book will be one of those that I will never read again, I can't say that I enjoyed reading about someone else's misfortunes but what is certain is that I came away with a lot of questions and even though I won't have the opportunity to see her in real life, respect to her.