I had to read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies for an English class in eighth grade. I didn’t understand a darn thing.

At the time, I got pulled out of the regular English class to join a diverse group made of a Caucasian boy, a Spanish girl, and me, a Vietnamese kid. Our teacher was from Ireland. We took turns reading the book and I loved our teacher’s accent.

In the past few weeks, Đạo had to read it for his English class and he recommended it to me. I read it again more than 30 years later. This time I understood the book much better. When there were no rules and orders even kids became savages. It is such a dark fiction for young adults.

I enjoyed Golding’s writing. While I was reading it to escape the current events, I couldn’t help wondering about the future of our country. The majority of America had made the decision to take us back. It is just a matter of how far back we will go.

In the last few weeks, I turned to books on buddhism keep myself from checking the news and going insane. K. Sri Dhammananda’s How to Live Without Fear & Worry is filled with insightful advice. As I was reading, I started to put sticky notes on the passages that I found useful.

Last Monday, the day before the election, I went back to Lancaster to visit my aunt and I brought the book with me. When I left her house, I also left the book behind. I only realized it was missing when I was already half way home. I didn’t want to leave the book half read, but I didn’t want to drive back to get it either.

Since this book was not for sale, I could probably find a digital copy of it and I did. Even though I didn’t like reading on my phone, I made the exception. To save the passages I liked, I decided to do a little experience. Instead of pasting the text to my Google Doc, I flooded my Facebook timeline. I would go back to my posts and collect them later, but I also wanted to share positive vibes to family and friends. I hope they would find the quotes useful.

I definitely recommend reading the entire book, but if you don’t have the time, you can read my notes.

My wife picked up this gem at the exit door of Great Wall Supermarket. It’s a tiny little book filled with words of wisdom. I keep it beside my bed so I can read a few lines each morning. I could quote the entire book, but here are a few samples I highlighted:

“Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love.”

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

“Life is an illusion, a dream, a bubble, a shadow. Nothing is permanent. Nothing is worthy of anger. Nothing is worthy of dispute. Nothing.”

“Find your faults, feel deep regret, and correct your mistakes, reform sincerely, practice kindness, concentrate the mind, sever selfishness, awaken.”

“Lovingkindness is giving others happiness. Compassion is removing others’ bitterness. Joy is freeing others from suffering.”

“When things are going well, be mindful of adversity. When prosperous, be mindful of poverty. When loved, be mindful of thoughtfulness. When respected, be mindful of humility.”

Những bài văn ngắn. về con cái từ lúc mới chào đời đến lúc lớn khôn. Nguyên Hương chia sẻ những câu chuyện nhẹ nhàng không bi đát. Những bài học nên theo cho những ai mới bắt đầu làm cha mẹ. Với riêng cá nhân tôi đã có bốn con nên đọc không còn hứng thú vì mấy. Phần hai viết về tình yêu và phần ba viết về mẹ. Đọc cũng tạm tạm.

Qua những bài văn nhẹ nhàng cảm động, tác giả Lê Dương Thể Hạnh nhắc nhở chúng ta nói lên những công lao thầm lặng của bật thầy cô giáo đã dìu dắt chúng ta trên con đường học vấn. Từ mẫu giáo đến đại học, họ đã không ngại khó khăn và luôn nhẫn nại để dạy dỗ chúng ta tới nơi tới chốn như những lời thơ của Thể Hạnh:

Đời thầy vất vả nắng mưa
Tối lên bục giảng, sớm trưa ruộng đồng
Lặng thầm đưa khách sang sông
Trao em con chữ thắm nồng yêu thương
Vòng tay vững suốt chặng đường
Thầy nâng em bước vấn vương ân tình…

Cám ơn tác giả đã viết lên những gì chúng ta muốn nói với bật thầy.

Tôi muốn làm tự do hơn hai mươi năm rồi mà vẫn chưa thực hiện được. Lý do là tôi không có đầu óc thương mại. Giờ đây đã lập gia đình và đã có con cái, việc làm tự do còn không thể được nữa. Nhưng bạn nào còn trẻ chưa có quá nhiều trách nhiệm nên thử công việc tự do. Trước tiên nên đọc sách Freelancer: Muốn tự do phải tự lo của Lê Tuấn Anh. Từ xây dựng portfolio đến phương pháp làm việc hiệu quả đến duy trì những mối quan hệ, tác giả chia sẽ những kinh nghiệm của mình để giúp bạn thành công trong công việc tự do.

Cách đây bốn hay năm nằm trước, lúc tôi mới phát hiện sách tiếng Việt trong thư viện khu tôi ở, tôi đọc rất nhiều sách. Trong đó tôi nhớ nhất là quyển tùy bút mộc mạc, nhẹ nhàng, và đã đem lại cho tôi những ký ức về quê hương. Tôi không nhớ rõ tên sách và càng không nhớ tác giả. Tôi tìm lại trang blog mà cũng không thấy. Tôi trở lại thư viện tìm từng sách một nhưng vẫn biết phải Những ngày rất trong của Trần Nùng hay không. Tôi đọc lại thì thấy không phải. Tôi nhớ quyển sách đó tác giả đã diễn tả món ăn đồng quê rất hay, nhất là món cá kho. Giờ đây cũng không biết quyển sách đó ở đâu.

In the age of digital distraction, reading Yoko Ogawa’s Mina’s Matchbox takes patience. The novel plays with the characters and you are invited to be part of their daily lives. Even though the family is wealthy, they don’t do anything spectacular, except for the young girl who rides to school on a hippo because of her health. The story is quiet yet mysterious. I tried my best not to pick up my phone while reading and hoping for something dramatic to happen. If you want to get away from the digital chaos and want to relax, this is a perfect read. Stephen Snyder has done an excellent job on the translation. If you have never read Ogawa’s works, I highly recommend The Memory Police, which was also translated by Snyder.

Reading Wendy MacNaughton’s How to Say Goodbye brought back the vivid memory of my mother’s last moment on earth.

After they pulled the plugs on her, we had less than a minute to say goodbye. I spoke to her in Vietnamese, “Mẹ, please let yourself go. I love you and you will always be in my heart. Goodbye for now.” A tear rolled down her eye. She stopped breathing. My mother left this world.

This illustrated little book is an honest, heartfelt, and helpful guide on how to say goodbye to someone you love. It’s a gift to see the journey to death through MacNaughton’s visuals and observations. “It’s very courageous to sit with someone while they’re dying.” She wrote, “But you can’t fix this. You’re not in charge. The person dying is in charge.”

Saying goodbye is not easy, but “sometimes it’s just sitting and being there.”

I have been blogging for half of my life; therefore, I wanted to know how to Write for Life. The gist of the book is writing the “Morning Pages.” Cameron writes:

Every morning, set your alarm thirty minutes early and write, longhand, three eight and a half by eleven-inch pages about anything and everything that comes to mind. I always say I would never stand between anyone and their morning coffee, but try to get to the page as quickly as possible-don’t spend forty-five minutes brewing the perfect cup. The faster you get to the page, the better the pages will work for you. Avoid the phone, computer, and email until you have finished your pages. They will act as windshield wipers, clearing away what stands between you and your day.

It turns out that I have been using this method for years. Instead of writing on paper, I type right into this box.