I took this book mainly on the strength of its title, “I decide to give myself some time”. In addition, I am a fan of the Japanese illustrator, 高木直子’s books and wondered how the Korean 李彦姃 would compare to her. From the title, I expected a lighthearted, soothing read.

As you can infer from the size of the book, each page succinctly conveys her thoughts on a theme, which is followed by a comic strip extending her sentiments on the same theme. However, it was in my TBR list for the longest time, probably because I felt that reading Chinese books wouldn’t yield much utility in my day-to-day life. But recently, I have decided that tsundoku (acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them) is the antithesis of danshari (decluttering). So, I made space in my schedule to read it.

李彦姃 takes us on an introspective journey into her soul. She has some cool metaphors about the human heart. A mishap with her water purifier prompted her to think about how shallow her heart is - that a slight stimulation would cause ripples in her emotional state. She yearns for a deeper heart to accommodate the raging currents of life. I also like how she compares her heart to dry 高丽纸 (some kind of Korean tissue paper) as it will become firmer and more robust when given time to dry.

Plus, from her point of view, memories solidify like honey. Did you know that natural honey never expires? I thought it was shrewd of her to make this connection.

Lastly, I like these two lines so much that I’m gonna type them out. On meeting a long-lost high school friend, she writes:
当时的我们，什么也没有过问，便自然而然成了朋友。
因此，时隔多年再次相见，我们也依然是朋友。
Then, we never asked anything of each other and naturally became friends.
That’s why we are still friends even though we haven’t stayed in touch for a long time.