By the Book: Ethan Liang, '26
Ethan is a December finisher and a Research and Information Ambassador (RIA), which has proved to be his dream on-campus (and possibly off- as well) job, since he gets paid to talk about books and libraries without having to do research and analysis. He has studied history, Asian American studies, and a good amount of Chinese, which inspire and inform his engagement with literature and hopefully the world.
What are you reading these days? I’m currently making my way through Elaine Hsieh Chou’s new short story collection Where Are You Really From. As with her debut Disorientation, she draws up everyday plot lines with absurd twists and details to make some pretty thoughtful and speculative commentary.
Describe your favorite place to read on campus: I like to go to nearby parks and playgrounds to sit and read. Public areas, in general, like while I’m aboard regional rail. It’s a great way to juxtapose what’s going on within the narrative with the many potential storylines going on around me. Also, listening to audiobooks from Libby while walking around campus is a life hack I discovered at Swarthmore.
Is there a book you've read multiple times? Imani Perry’s South to America changed the way I think about this country and its many people and places. When I travel to or am confronted with a certain fact of history about a place in the South, I will revisit that section of Perry’s book as a way to go past the headlines and to think about the rich human stories behind that place.
Who is your favorite author? One of my favorite writers is Nicole Chung. She writes about identity, home, and family in ways that are deeply personal yet situated, with much thought and care, within larger structures. When I read her work, I feel like I gain the language and frameworks to make better sense of my own life.
What is your favorite reading genre? Literary fiction and creative nonfiction—two sides of the same coin. I like to read about other people’s lives in their full complexity. Bonus if it’s historical, and it feels like I’m actually living through the past.
What book do you recommend most often? For someone who has spent their life in between the United States and China, River East, River West is the coming-of-age novel that I’ve always wanted to read. Aube Rey Lescure captures what it’s like to be caught in the pull between China’s meteoric rise and the prevailing allure and privileges of the West. I find myself pushing this book to many of my peers who have had similar transnational upbringings.
What's the best movie adaptation of a book you've read? The Hunger Games series. It’s faithful to the pitiless dystopia, the spectacle of violence, and the saga of rebellion and revolution as conceived by Suzanne Collins. I like to say: read the books to get an in-depth view of Katniss’s thoughts, and watch the movies to see the world in all its grandeur come to life.
Is there a question you wish we had asked? Let us know, and then what your answer would be: What's a book hot take of yours? As someone keyed into Asian American studies, I was privy to the discourse surrounding R.F. Kuang despite not having read her books. Once I got around to Yellowface and Babel, I could see where some of the controversy was coming from. I am of the opinion that Kuang tackles important topics with verve, but she bites off more than she can chew, thematically and stylistically. My semi-qualified, unsolicited advice is: read Kuang, and read other Asian and Asian American authors!
