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My top 22 books of 2022. Of all the books I've read last year (huhu, bye 2022), here are the books that left a lasting mark on me until the year ended; both the good and the bad mixed in 😉.

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Days late but still Happy New Year! 🤗

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portrait 👨

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"Everybody has something they speculate and wonder about, no matter how blessed their circumstances. I raised my wineglass a couple of inches, a secret gesture of solidarity to this person across the valley." - Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen)

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paths ↔️

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"People are drawn deeper into tragedy not by their defects but by their virtues.” - Oshima, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami 😺📚

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Just another quick mini painting; didn't turn out the way I planned it but 🤷‍♀️, still posting anyway. Might do little retouches or recreate using acrylic when I'm motivated.

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chasing dreams and relationships built along the way ✨

"Those losses were blocks to build yourself stairs leading up. Think about it. Now you've got the highest staircase." - Baek Yi Jin, Twenty Five, Twenty One

Not too comforting if read plainly but the way Baek Yi Jin's character delivered it and the circumstances Na Hee Do was in made these words comforting and motivating. Loving the chemistry between the two characters, they're the best kind of friends for each other; each their own strongest support system. Especially love Na Hee Do's line, "I am always on your side." 💚

Have yet to finish the series, so no spoilers please haha But hoping (🤞) that it ends well ☺️.

P.S. Sorry, proportions are a bit off, can't seem to get her eyes and lips right/aligned 😅.

cat alarm 😼

First Person Singular (FPS) pt. 1 - Of chance encounters and memories 🍦🐞

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Another three-part painting series for H. Murakami's collection of short stories but now from First Person Singular. The story with The Beatles is probably one of my favorite stories in this book mainly because of a particular scene from which the above painting is based on ☺️.

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"These were both nothing more than a pair of minor incidents that happened in my trivial little life. Short side trips along the way. Even if they hadn’t happened, I doubt my life would have wound up much different from what it is now. But still, these memories return to me sometimes, traveling down a very long passageway to arrive. And when they do, their unexpected power shakes me to the core." ----> the power of memories 😌

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Of willows, airplanes and memories 🚏

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"For a few seconds I stood there in a strange, dim place. Where the things I could see didn't exist. Where the invisible did. Finally, though, the real number 28 bus stopped in front of me, it's entirely real door opening. I clambered aboard, heading off to some other place. - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin

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📸 used a picture from Pinterest as reference

Of willows, airplanes and memories 🛩️

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"Time flowed on in silence, and the trains passed over the rails. He and she were thinking about the very same thing: an airplane." - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (BWSW) by Haruki Murakami translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin

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BWSW is probably my second favorite collection of short stories from H. Murakami after "After the Quake". The random train of thoughts of the characters are unexplainably relatable and the flow of the stories, despite their ambiguity, really strikes a chord in me. The quote above is just one example ☺️. Truly enjoyed the short stories in this one.

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