An attempt to write up what I've been up to

Books I've read this past year and would recommend, though some are a bit brutal:

• The Young Die Old, by Nguyễn Bình Phương, translated by Khải Q. Nguyễn
• The Longing of the Dervish, by Hammour Ziada, translated by Jonathan Wright
• Hamajang Luck, by Makana Yamamoto (thank you for the word 'hamajang')
• Goodbye, things: on minimalist living, by Fumio Sasaki, translated by Eriko Sugita
• A memory called empire, by Arkady Martine
• A Very Cold Winter, by Fausta Cialente, translated by Julia Nelsen
• The picture bride, by Lee Geum-yi, translated by An Seon Jae 
• Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop, by Alba Donati, translated by Elena Pala (my mom would've loved this)
• The Disappearing Act, by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale (a delight to read)
• Season of the Swamp, by Yuri Herrera translated by Lisa Dillman (superb)
• The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mothar, illustrations by Kathleen Neely
• Mouthful of Dust, by Nghi Vo (another reason to love the Singing Hills stories)
• Samahani, by Abdelazziz Baraka Sakin translated by Mayada Ibrahim and Adil Babikir
• Ludluda, by Steve Beard & Jeff Noon (not really about the Clean Air Act)
• Letter from Japan, by Marie Kondo with Marie Iida (gentle)

Also want to remember Marcos Kueh's Smooth Sailing at the esea, Valerie June at Band on the Wall, BTS's Arirang, and a walk led by Morag Rose.

I've not done well on de-hoarding my craft stuff this year, but I have just finished making a display box, using some stuff. It isn't fancy, and doesn't look great, but I'm happy with it. My main concern is that it was a distraction from clearing stuff out. Looking for a balance where making doesn't lead to hoarding.

I'm also trying to write as a hobby, which I've tried to do many times. It's great advantage is not taking up physical space. I'm trying to think of writing a story as being a sort of game. Don't think I want blogging to be a game, but writing book reviews sounds like good exercise: read, think, present. But I'm fairly relaxed about this. It's fine if I never write anything more than this!