Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #15

books

"The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula Le Guin. I found the first half really slow and dull, though it really picks up in the second when some more adventure-y bits kick in. The stifling social density of the beginning may be necessary to really sell the later developments, though. I'll hold off on a final judgment until I've finished.

This book is known as one of the first "dude gender lmao" sci-fi stories. It features a humanoid species that spends most of its time in a sexless state, and becomes male or female once a month when they go into heat (the same person may become either s*x). From this setup you might imagine the book takes a recognizably lib/train perspective that gender is fluid or that traditional categories are undesirable, but I actually find the story extremely biologically essentialist. Separate from the various cultures in the story, all the people of this species objectively differ from humans because of their general lack of s*x. And they handle sexuality differently (not better or worse) because biology makes it less influential most of the time and more influential once a month. The same person may be both a mother and a father at different times, which also seriously alters one's life experience. It's not possible to imagine that a biologically human society could adopt this species' perspective on s*x, or vice versa, because the cultures are built around objective biological realities.

I doubt that Le Guin's own cultural surroundings would let her be a TERF, but the story does a pretty good job of separating s*x from "gender." To the extent that this book raises a mirror towards our own culture, I think it's to examine the ways that simple animal biology may be responsible for things that seem to us as higher, more thoughtful, etc. It asks a question like "what would humanity be like if s*x worked differently?" and lets us ponder it. That can give us additional perspective, but it can't and shouldn't mean "s*x isn't real" or "gender is just an identity" when the whole point of the story is that these things matter.

Hill 488, a war biography novel about burgers in Vietnam. Lots of disgusting parasites in that jungle

Struggling to read this summer, been busy exercise-maxxing. Neglecting our book club

Reading Stoner , about a third of the way through. Stoner is 100% an neurodivergent, and every scene with Edith makes me uncomfortable. Like 8/10. Next is Malcolm X's autobiography, very excited

I'm currently listening to The Manual of Detection by Jebediah Berry.

Pretty good so far. A little confusing at first but it's a good read and the writing style is fun

I just picked up Humble Pi by Matt Parker and The Theory of Everything Else by Dan Schreiber. They're both light reading, but fun. I especially like the warning at the beginning of the second book that all the theories within are bullshit that no one should believe.

For no apparent reason the short story 'Steamship Soldier on the Information Front' by Nancy Kress came to mind the other day, possibly due to something I read about ChatGPT becoming r-slurred over the past month or so.

I encourage everyone to read it.

I'm taking a second attempt at House of Leaves, previously I've got distracted by life and lost the plot.

Reading The Wager. Think I bought it because someone here mentioned it, or a book like it.

It's good. Just got to the part where they got shipwrecked on an island. I imagine they'll be eating each other soon.

Pretty enjoyable read so far. People say it’s harder to get into than Book of the New Sun but I didn’t find that to be the case.

I finished Thus Spoke Zarathustra this week and am onto Crime and Punishment. TSZ was a slog for me despite being the 6th book of his I've read this year. Nietzsche is really bad as a fiction writer. Glad I read it but, man, that was painful. In comparison, C&P is moving way faster and I'll probably have it finished in the next week or two and am genuinely enjoying the experience

the varieties of religious experience by william james, ngl this book is hard af to get through, its a slog

Felt like a break from fiction, so I ordered Pekka Hämäläinen's The Comanche Empire.

As an aside, what prompted this was the absolutely dreadful prose in A Farewell to Arms. Is The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway's only good book?

Just starting The Decay of the Angel

"Alexa, schedule an extra dose of soy tomorrow. I'm feeling toxic." 🤒🤒🤒