Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #17

Reading "The First Fossil Hunters" by Adrienne Mayor. An analysis of ancient monster myths and primary accounts and retellings of ancient societies and their unknowing discovery and study of fossils. Pretty good

!bookworms Any good history lit from dramneurodivergents?

I am reading Bitter Harvest by Ian Smith.

Smith was the last PM of Rhodesia before the collapse in what is now known today as Zimbabwe. In his book, you can kinda get a tortured vibe from him, just total bewilderment at being betrayed by the British government who not only abandoned the colony, but surrendered many colonists to the tender mercies of the communists who would later steal and massacre the people. It's pretty tragic from his point of view, not only does he lose his home and country, but he also has to watch these crass people pick over the rotting corpse of Rhodesia, and only then sees it replicated in South Africa.

Rhodesia ironically was the more benevolent of the two, but it doesn't matter because the West was just as bad for their allies as the Soviets were. Smith was probably the most benevolent African leader that had existed up until that point, but you cannot even say that without being accused of an Apartheid apologist (Which, was never legal in Rhodesia.)

I finished reading American psycho and darn that was not very enjoyable.

30% depictions of food, 30% depictions of gruesome death, 30% narrator being unreliable, 10% Hip to be square

also the version I read had an author interview and apparently the author sees himself in Patrick the most out of all his characters

I started Seven Pillars, pretty interesting so far, although I smile every time Lawrence writes “needful”

I read Hello America by J.G. Ballard. It was absolutely not meant for me, the whole book was just American pop culture (and culture) of the past . I know barely anything about US.

As for the rest. Most characters felt flat. Main character was borderline r-slurred with his delusions of becoming the president, in a world where US is a wasteland ruled by tribals. World building was mostly nonsensical and felt extremely artificial, with author having a "cool" idea and implementing it with no consideration.

The only thing I liked was the villain getting killed by a bunch of robots blasting him relentlessly, he was annoying and ugly, so he got what he deserved at least.

Edit: lol, the slur filter did a number on the books title.

Got too bored with nonfiction

Picked up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Murakami is just heroin in my bloodstream. Reading his stuff is just too comfy

Rereading “SIEGE” by James Mason.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

-K. J. Parker

https://bookdigits.com/book?id=1488498

I finished listening to the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol I-III by Edward Gibbon and the People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn. I kind of wonder what Zinn would've thought of Trump because even though he was a Repub he was the closest thing to an antiestablishment president there has been and that's what he kind of pleads for in the last 1/4th of the book

Trying to read The Conscience of Zeno

I say trying because I'm trying to do it without ritalin and it's fricking hard man, but it's a great book

based Ishiguro enjoyer, i read The Buried Giant recently and found it to be interesting and thought provoking. possibly as good as Never Let Me Go, which was a relief because i thought Klara and the Sun was a real stinker.

now i'm reading the first book of the Dagger and Coin series by Daniel Abraham, just picked it up off the shelf at the thrift store. i loved the Expanse series so i bet i'll like this too. about 150 pages in and pretty entertained so far. unfortunately there's currently 3-4 pov characters and one of them is just boring as heck but that's not uncommon for multi-pov genre fic ime.

I've been reading Borges' collected fictions and 1Q84. Borges is a delight, terse while immensely evocative. He also comes up with incredible metafictional ploys. Truly a masterful author, constantly playing with his medium in a way few others do. Highly recommended.

1Q84 is very strange. I haven't read any Murakami besides this, but I'm certainly having a good time. His characters and characterizations are detailed and engaging, though this has really carried me through the book so far, given that I'm 150 pages in, and don't yet see where the book's going.

Just finished _The Picture of Dorian Gray_

It's fiction about a rich guy in Victorian era England who gets a painting made of him. The painting is spooky and influences his perspective on life

It's a nice length and makes good use of literary devices that even a pleb like me can appreciate.

It has a lot of great quips; many of which are said by a character named Lord Henry who would certainly spend his time dunking on woman on this site if he was around today.

I'm progressing through Borges' Collected Fictions. The Aleph was my favorite collection but Fictions and The Maker were also very good. It's made me learn a lot about Argentine history too lol.

I finished Fragile Things, a Neil Gaiman short story collection. Despite recently loving Stardust and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I think I'm a bit Gaiman'd out after this one. Most of his short stories just seem to be an interesting idea or image sketched for the reader, but there's rarely a sense of an actual story or a point. I think this kind of thing works in small doses, but when you go through a couple dozen in a row it starts to tire you out. I prefer his longer fiction, where there's time to develop characters, worlds, and ideas.

Also, shout-out to The Problem of Susan for being the most butthurt piece of short fiction I've ever encountered. In theory I can appreciate using Narnia to explore feelings of anger at God, but the actual result comes across as whiny, and the s*x stuff feels like something a teenage /r/atheist would have written in 2010. But maybe the point was just to annoy Christoids, in which case it worked.

Currently reading Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar. Most the points seem to be , but it's very readable

Wizards are freaking cool man

Mr. Stevens father reminds me of Carson from Downton Abbey. That's what I imagine an aging Carson would act like if he had remained single and refused to retire.

reading Submission by Houllebecq. Pretty interesting take on the politics of today's France so far

Currently about halfway through Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe. I can't tell if I'm r-slurred but the message seems really obvious, unless I'm just misunderstanding it entirely. Book is still very good though, I love Abe's strange mind.

I also started A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman and I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Some john lecarre, I don't even know the name they all kind of blur together but they're always libro.

January 6th, 2021 That date will forever go down as the most despicable moment in American history. The events of that date proved to us that our democracy is no democracy at all with rioters being able to run amok as they please. The date 1/6 will be uttered in the same breath as 9/11, and it is, in many ways, much more significant than 9/11. The biggest threat to American sovereignty is not China. It is not North Korea. It is not Russia. It is not the Taliban. It is Trump-supporting Republicans. Anyone who attempts to sympathize with these monsters is no ally of ours. These monsters are directly responsible for thousands (possibly even millions) of visits to therapists and psychiatrists. And always remember, if you see an insurrectionist or domestic terrorist, it is your duty as a responsible citizen to report them to the FBI

I read Consider Phlebas by that one Scottish commie. It was p good but also got that Asimov way too dry style

I'm reading Shift, the second book of the Silo trilogy. This is what I would say if Bezos' minions didn't mess up my order.