The book Japanese Breakfast recommends over and over again
Japanese Breakfast is one of the most well-loved names in contemporary indie pop. Helmed by Michelle Zauner, the side project-turned-sensation carves out glittering soundscapes with the help of a couple of guitars, some sugary vocals, and periodic strikes of a gong. Zauner’s lyrics are vulnerable, detailing everything from grief to her experience as a Korean-American.
The frontwoman may have risen to acclaim for forging soft sounds seemingly from another planet, but her talent extends beyond music. When she’s not penning songs, she’s working on books that are just as open and vulnerable as her songwriting.
In 2021, Zauner released her debut book titled Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, an exploration of the author’s experience of loss and grief surrounding and following the death of her mother in 2014. The novel also considers the healing nature of music and food, finding Zauner reconnecting with her loved ones through Korean cuisine.
Following the release of the book, Zauner found herself on the New York Times bestseller list and at the helm of a film. Such was its success, Crying in H Mart will receive a cinematic adaptation, to be directed by Will Sharpe with a screenplay penned by Zauner.
It’s certainly safe to say, then, that Zauner is more than qualified to make literary recommendations. Speaking with Elle, the Japanese Breakfast frontwoman revealed a number of books she adores for different contexts. She names Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping as the book that should be on every college syllabus, gushing, “It absolutely changed me”. She picks out Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking as the book that helped her through a loss. But there’s one piece of writing Zauner recommends above everything else.
When asked for the book she recommends over and over again, Zauner names M.F.K. Fisher’s The Gastronomical Me. It’s a fitting choice – The Gastronomical Me, like Crying in H Mart, is a deeply personal memoir with a focus on food and loss. She cites the book as an influence on her own writing, gushing, “M.F.K. Fisher’s food writing is spectacular and was deeply inspiring to me while I was working on Crying in H Mart. She is so delightful, sensual, funny. Ahead of her time.”
It’s a description you could easily mistake as describing Zauner herself. Throughout her creative output, Zauner has inspired audiences with her open and honest discussion of loss through the lenses of food and music. Her songwriting, and her memoir writing, are at once delightful and witty, sad and sentimental. Zauner is a multi-talented artist who, like her own inspirations, is way ahead of her time.
