Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #45

I'm reading "Kyoto: A cultural history" and it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's chronological starting with the establishment of Kyoto and each chapter details the cultural milestones throughout the city's history. It's not super in depth but it's in depth enough and well researched. Though it's dry, it has not been boring.

i don't even know how to read

:(

The Condor Years about that traitor Pinochet and the org his b-word boy set up across latin America.

I like it so far. I do think the author has a bit of an agenda but it's good, and interesting.

Someone here recommended it to me

I've started reading Odyssey.

I haven't read anything in 2 years I think

My kids book assigned from school because hes an r-slur and couldn't find the answer to a question he read over like three times

I'm still trudging through The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy. It's interesting, but really dense, and he often uses somewhat obtuse language to describe things.

Chronologically, I just finished reading about the fall of Napoleon's "Continental System" and how the Brits are basically fricking dominating the global economy since their naval power is unmatched. The chapter I'm in the middle of started off talking about the industrial revolution and some of the stats are quite striking, particularly the increase in productivity in the textiles sector (something like a 200-300x increase) which allowed various European countries undergoing the transformation to simply dominate markets.

Just started Don Quixote. The historical context is interesting but I have no idea how the next 900 pages are going to go down. It could be a long read if I can't get into it.

Started and finished “Say Nothing”. Someone here recommended it and I knew next to nothing about the IRA besides that they bombed and killed people in the 70s. So it was interesting to read about them and learn about The Troubles. I really enjoyed it. But I just can't sympathize with the IRA at all. Idk, the socialist group that bombs civilians is probably gonna be the group of people I sympathize the least with. Also kind of cucked for the British to release the London bombers from prison tbh.

Just started “The Rules of Attraction” by Bret Easton Ellis.

I'm reading dune - arrakis - desert planet

The Idiot. It's about an idiot.

Just started 'something wicked this way comes'. The preface was the gayest thing I've ever read, basically jerking off to the fact that it was a bildungsroman. Being taught in the highschool curricula is the worst fate to befall an author

Picked back up Norm Finkelstein's "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!"

Fink is fun to read, especially when he's mad about something, but this book is a largely unexceptional critique of wokeness. There's a limit to the value of anything that just leaves you nodding along most of the time. I might skip to the Obama chapter because I don't think I've heard a non-chud really go ham on him before.

I used to recommend Finkelstein to normal people, but lately he's gotten a little too based about Israel, which limits his crossover appeal outside of rabid lefty circles.

Democracy for realists.

Basically about how we think democracy works and how it completely doesn't follow that logic.

I'm reading Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series.

I had actually read the first two books when they came out, but it has been long enough that I forgot the details.

In a way, it's like the ultimate reddit story

The premise: it's year 2445. After the church war , discussion about religion has been made illegal except between individuals and a sort of specially trained therapist . The bonds of nation and state have been dismantled by the existence of an impossibly quick and efficient public transit system that uses flying cars, enabling a true form of global citizenship which is entirely voluntary. Gender also no longer exists, having also been blamed for the church war .

Despite how ridiculous it all is, the book presents it all so earnestly that it doesn't really bother me. Having reread the first two books, I find they hold up well and are plenty entertaining. Hopefully the quality is maintained into the next two.

I finished reading the gulag archipelago. Honestly before reading it I didn't realize how evil Stalin and the USSR was. I mean I knew that the Holodomor happened and that in general communism sucks but I don't think I truly comprehended how badly they treated political prisoners and how paranoid the attitude that the government took towards anything that could have been seen as anti communism back then. Then just reading about how shit the gulags themselves were was a whole other thing. I feel like I learnt about something that I was pretty ignorant of before so overall it was a valuable read for me. Also read Catch-22. I tried to read it a few years ago when I was not that into reading but now revisiting it after getting back into reading I think it might be one of my favourite novels ever. I feel like I can relate to Yossarian more then any other character I can remember. I have not read a comedy book in a long time (I've read stuff like diary of a wimpy kid and similar books when I was a kid) and I was surprised by how much I was laughing while reading it. I am honestly glad to have read two amazing pieces of literature back to back. I am currently reading Heart of Darkness and since it's less the a hundred pages long I'll probably finish it soon, not sure what I will read afterwards, enjoying it so far though.

Finishing A Dance With Dragons tonight, then I'm going to start the Sun Eater series or Piranesi. I have to say, I had completely forgot how cool the last Jon chapter of ADWD was.

Finished The Black Togue Thief, it didn't really draw me in at first, but I ended up really enjoying it about a quarter of the way in. The world building was my favorite aspect of the story and it's got me interested in any future stuff set there, but the story itself wasn't super compelling to me.

Started The City of Stairs, but I'm only 3 chapters in and it hasn't grabbed me yet, but we'll see, hopefully I get drawn in soon.