reading, gayly
I’ve been having a hard time reading and this is technically not a book, but I’ve been reading a speculative evolution project called Serina: A Natural History of the World of Birds
It’s fascinating and has great illustrations, I recommend it
I decided that the best way to motivate myself to read again is to read something short, so I just read Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills. It’s very good and I wasn’t expecting the history aspect of it, which I also loved!
Ahhh, I get it. I read fanfiction for the exact same reason. Sometimes I feel lazy and I want to read but turn my brain off, so I’ll open up AO3
Also (back in my sad cringe era) I did read a couple “gamer” fics which are like the fanfiction version of LitRPGs but worse. The problem with those was (other than the terrible writing and the sexism) the lack of a clear ending, so they go on forever and eventually fizzle out
Do you read a lot of LitRPGs? Earlier this year I tried to read “Oh Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer” but I couldn’t really get into it and I had to DNF it. Maybe I just read the wrong one for me though
Definitely true!
After I finish this book I’m going to pick up some novellas, that’ll at least give me the satisfaction of finishing something
I’ve been struggling to motivate myself to read lately, so I’m still reading The Bright Ages
I only got back into reading last year when I joined a book club and the first book I read as part of that club was Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty, which completely opened my eyes to the death industry (at least in the United States)
The worst part was when families would want to see the body before it gets cremated, so they do a lot of weird shit to the corpse to make it look presentable and human. It’s called embalming and the part where they “set the features” or make the face look normal really creeps me out. I really hope that when I die, my family cremates my body immediately instead of getting to look at my decomposing body one last time…
I finally finished The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins, a very depressing book about the US and its role in the 1965 coup in Indonesia, as well as the massacres that followed it. I was expecting it to be pretty specific to Indonesia but I came out of this book with a broad sense of what was going on in the Cold War (from the American perspective) in the third world.
For example, we hear about how domino theory was used to justify the Vietnam War, but the main country that they were afraid would fall to communism after Vietnam was Indonesia. When Sukarno was overthrown in Indonesia, it was like the Americans didn’t need to win Vietnam anymore, because they had won a bigger prize in the region. Also, the events in Indonesia were used to justify other massacres across the third world, with US backing. It’s depressing because, as the book notes, there is no way that Indonesia will acknowledge those massacres anytime soon, and most people still believe propaganda.
I’ve started reading The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry. It’s a revisionist history of the “Dark Ages” that tries to address misconceptions that people have about that era of history. So far it’s really interesting! I’ve just started my master’s degree so it’s very likely that the next book I read will be a textbook, so I’m going to enjoy this while I still can 😅
I’m (still) reading The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins and Barack Obama just showed up
I had to read that paragraph again, it surprised me that much! Apparently his stepfather was Indonesian so he lived in Jakarta for a bit in the early Suharto years
Thanks for the recommendation! 😊
I guess this is a small reason to not like him, but in 2021 he wrote an article where he compared the Extinction Rebellion to the English Peasants’ Revolt in a way that suggested both of them were apocalyptic and wanting the end of the world, like mobs riled up by apocalyptic preachers.
This guy is a historian but that article was so sus to me, like the only people who think that way about the Peasants’ Revolt are the ones who look back at history and think they would be the nobles enslaving end indebting people.
So yeah I was planning on reading his book on the Peasants’ Revolt but I guess I’ll pass on it and find one by a better historian
Nevermind, I found out Dan Jones is kinda cringe
I don’t usually buy physical books anymore, since I realised that I’d get better value for my money if I only get books that don’t really work on a Kindle, like illustrated books. So recently, I bought The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Dr. Eleanor Janega and it’s pretty good! It’s basically an introduction to the Middle Ages and it does a pretty good job at providing a overview of about 1000 years of history. This book got me interested in the Middle Ages enough that I feel like reading all of the Dan Jones books I’ve had in my TBR for ages now.
I use Storygraph but one of my friends is setting a Bookwyrm instance pretty soon, so I’ll be migrating
I’m reading Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb for a book club, also reading The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
I think I’m going to read a couple more books about neocolonialism and US intervention in the Global South this year, since I already read The Darker Nations by Vijay Prashad and How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
Yeah, the subject matter was so infuriating… Looking back, I think the parts that still stuck with me were the relationship that these businesses would have with the government and how regulatory capture would end up happening, as well as how large corporations’ tactics have changed over time, like with the charitable donations to universities.
Also, I haven’t watched Succession, but I imagine the drama between different branches of the Sackler family is kinda like what happens in the show, and that was a pretty entertaining part of the book! Have you watched it?
It was published 26 years ago but I think it’s still relevant today. Also, Parenti has a very accessible way of writing that makes complex arguments easily digestable so I don’t think it’s a challenging book, if you’re worried about that
I have a couple good ones
Sorry, my descriptions are bad, but I think all of these are worth reading
yeah i’m sure everything will mellow out eventually
also becky chambers is great! i actually read her monk & robot books first, they’re basically an exploration of what a solarpunk society would look like and they’re super wholesome! wayfarers is wholesome too but more focused on found family
i think if you like cozy fantasy then becky chambers work will feel very familiar to you, so i recommend it! :)
I’m reading Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappé (an Israeli academic), it’s pretty interesting so far. I think it’s supposed to be an introduction to Israel and Palestine and aimed at people who don’t know anything about it, so if anyone’s curious, I might recommend it (I haven’t finished it yet so I can’t say if it’s good or not).