What's on Hansen Shi's Bedside Table?
Hansen Shi is a young writer whose debut novel The Expat is generating a lot of buzz. The New York Times has called it “a taut thriller of espionage and alienation” and included it on their 2024 “Best Thrillers of the Year (So Far) List,” while Tony Tulathimutte has called it “a first-rate novel of modern spycraft . . . sleek, fast, and unexpectedly deadly.” Grab a copy of the book here and follow Shi on Instagram here. We expect you’ll be hearing a lot from him.
You can read our previous bedside table series entries here:
Without further ado, let’s turn it over to Shi as he documents what he’s been reading lately:
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling
A compendium of 17th century Chinese fantasy/horror stories where ghosts, homunculi, and fox spirits roam amongst the living. Fascinating and strangely stirring—read a few pages before dreaming.
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
There are many great novels but this one's on my bedside as a totem of ambition.
Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
A wealth of practical wisdom from a golden age of American capitalism before the invention of complex derivatives, high-frequency trading, and cryptocurrencies turned the healthy and natural act of making money into a mathematical fetish.
Mimesis & Theory by Rene Girard
A theory awe-inspiring in both the scope of its explanatory value as well as the depth of its disregard (almost disdain) for empirical evidence.
Status and Culture by W. David Marx
Girard applied to everything you buy, wear, eat. Avoid if you care about being happy.