Reading Retreat: THE MERMAID’S TALE by Lee Wei-Jing
I loved reading this book. It doesn’t have much of a plot, as it’s mostly about Summer’s (main character) search for the ideal ballroom dancing partner and the people she meets in her dancing classes. But I loved it for:
• the insight into ballroom dancing and a comparison between it and seeking an actual life partner - I know little about ballroom dancing, so I loved learning more about it.
• the revelation that in Chinese vocabulary, the relationship between dancing and water is more implicit - this was explained in what I think is the best translator’s note I’ve read yet, bec Darryl Sterk acknowledges his sources and explains his choices.
• the fact that it made me research more about Taiwanese dance companies, because a colleague mentioned that one of the townships we passed by during our Taiwan East Coast bike tour last January had become a creative hub after a former dance troupe member established a studio there. I learned that the longest standing and most popular Taiwanese contemporary dance company was actually founded by a writer, who had already published two works of fiction in Taiwan and was also a fellow at Iowa’s Creative Writing Workshop before founding Cloud Gate.
• I looked at some of the performances that Cloud Gate was famous for and among them, I found this video of a performance they had in Chishang’s rice paddies, which took me back to when we saw that area a few months ago. It made me realize that I really loved that trip, and I want to go back there.
I know half of these things have little to do with the text, but I read to be transported and to learn new things. On both counts, THE MERMAID’S TALE was a delight.
I did place a lot of tabs on portions that struck me. Perhaps I’ll put them here at some point. But yeah, did another yin yoga + reading session. I highly recommend it!
Anyway, this is the fifth book I read during this long weekend’s reading retreat, and it is technically Monday now where I am, so I suppose my retreat is done. It wasn’t entirely a “retreat” since I spent it at home, and I can’t entirely avoid responsibilities while I’m here, but all in all, I think I was able to set some boundaries and achieve goals.
I’d say what I really did retreat from this weekend was social media. My screen stats say I only spent a total of 42 mins on the Meta apps the last 3 days. That is a win in my book.