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Despite being a fairly average and boring person, here’s a few things about me:

• I’m an Year 11 student as of now, and have been at All Saints since Year 7. Over the years, my studies have definitely picked up in both difficulty and intensity, especially now that I’m studying ATAR subjects. It’s certainly tough sometimes, but I’ve found ways to manage my time and cope with stress, namely not leaving things to the last minute and finding study methods that minimize time wastage
• Among others, my hobbies include creative writing, reading, and research. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about the Austrian School, a category of economic thought that originated from Viennese intellectuals in the late 19th century. It’s really interesting how many of the ideas developed from this line of thought centered around the individual, while many modern schools of economics generally place a greater emphasis on the collective. Personally, I’m more inclined towards the latter.
• As you may have guessed from my other hobbies, I’m quite fond of a good book or two, and like to write my own short stories from time to time. I’ve been privileged over the past few years to have some of my work published in Epilogue, the college’s magazine for creative work by students. I could go for a long time about literature and all the things I enjoy about it, but I won’t arbitrarily dump all that information on you now. Instead, if you’re interested, I’ll include a short explanation as well as a reading list below.
• Unfortunately, I’m not exactly brilliant at socialising, though I try my best when I do have to talk to someone. I hope I come off as relatively understanding and considerate, since I would hate to make anyone feel uncomfortable with my rather awkward manner of communication.
• While it’s a little intimidating to already to be talking about ‘after graduation’ (which seems to be looming quite fast, now that I’m in Year 11), my current goal is to attend university and eventually obtain a medical degree. Much easier said than done, of course, but as of now I’m focused on my academics and other commitments such as debating that I have at the College, which will hopefully guide me towards what I want in the future.

I would call myself a reader, whatever that means. Personally, I don’t believe being a ‘reader’, so to speak, is any deeper than simply enjoying stories. While, of course, there’s some nuance to what a ‘story’ actually entails, I’m not going to promote gatekeeping people from following a passion. Whatever genre you enjoy reading, fiction or non-fiction, or even if you’re more of an audiobook person, I don’t see anything that prevents you from calling yourself a reader.

For me, books and literature have been a comforting constant in my life. As a child, I remember attempting – and often failing – to sneak into my primary school’s library during lunch (they decided to refurbish that library and buy around 100 new books the year after I left the school, and needless to say I’m still a little aggrieved about it). When I was still learning to speak English, I was given a set of children’s books and told to look at the pictures until I could read the words. Many events in my childhood were punctuated by specific books – I remember reading the Chronicles of Narnia at a cousin’s wedding reception when I was nine, and walking into my Year 6 classroom with the Australian Constitution under my arm (a little weird, but quite an interesting read. Would recommend).

Nowadays, my reading material is a little more diverse. After discovering the wonders of the internet, I’ve definitely been guilty of abandoning the traditional paperback book in favour of PDF versions. That’s not to say PDFs are inherently inferior to physical versions, of course – recall my thoughts on what it means to be a reader. But, for the sake of my bad and quickly declining eyesight, I have been trying to take more time away from my screens, and what better way to do that than picking up a good old fashioned book? Alright, I’ve waffled enough. As promised, a reading list:

FICTION

• Home Fire, by Kamila Shamsie – first introduced to me by my Year 10 English teacher (shoutout to you if you’re reading this, Ms McGiveron) in extract form as a practice close reading piece, I found the full version at a bookshop, and, out of mild curiosity, decided to pick it up. After ignoring several pleas from my parents to ‘please study for that test you have tomorrow’, I obsessively finished the whole thing in an afternoon. The author has a simultaneously casual yet exquisite way of writing that really made the characters stand out to me. The book is split into several sections, each from the perspective of a different character, and each time I was somehow drawn into the mind of these fictional people, peering closely at their grief and conflict and regrets.
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde – I remember reading this at a friend’s birthday party while trying to watch a movie at the same times. As good as live action Ben 10 was, Wilde’s characteristic prose, I would describe it as highly rhythmic and fluid, held my attention much more effectively than the movie. Themes of greed, hedonism, and the cost of vanity stuck out to me about this book. Despite the main character being intensely unlikeable to the point that I almost threw the book away in frustration several times, it was nonetheless a highly provocative and enjoyable read in retrospect.
• Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck – again, something I discovered through Year 10 English (seems to be a bit of a pattern, doesn’t it?). Doing a novel study on this book almost felt like learning about a whole new world, that new world being the way American society was organised during the 1930s. Of course, the actual narrative of the novella was interesting in itself – two transient ranch labourers moving around looking for work, with a distant dream of one day owning their own farm – but to me this book was most valuable as social commentary on systematic injustices of race and class, two topics still highly contentious today.

NON-FICTION

• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, by Gabor Maté – Probably one of the most interesting, albeit also one of the longest non-fiction texts I’ve read. The book offers an alternative perspective on addiction, delving into the psychology behind what makes one an ‘addict’, with a focus on how traumatic experiences such as separation from parents, lack of care, and abuse in childhood can shape the way the adult brain functions, and thus how susceptible it is to substance abuse. The author, a Canadian-Hungarian physician, has several other books on topics such as ADHD, which are somewhere on my extremely long to-read list.
• The Unwomanly Face of War, by Svetlana Alexievich – Written in the style of oral history, an interpretation and documentation of the voices of individuals, Alexievich’s book details the lives of Soviet women who served in World War II. Many took on traditionally male roles in the military, operating as machine gunners, pilots, sappers, and infantry soldiers. Many, like their male comrades, died anonymously. The book does not try to answer any particular question, instead emphasising the differences in the lived experiences of the women who fought, and were often ignored by the ‘official’ historians of the war.
• Unequal Exchange, by Arghiri Emmanuel – while a fairly technical and, rather boring to read, this book is an excellent dissection of the Emmanuel’s proposed concept of ‘unequal exchange’, the idea that trade between two countries is not inherently ‘equal’ in value. Most of the earlier chapters are centered around refuting Ricardo’s theory of comparative costs, as well as the then-conventionally accepted Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theory. Overall, the book is a comprehensive dissection of post-World War II trade and imperialism.

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