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I had intended to join but got laid up by a trumpian headache. That is more or less my assessment as well, it was entertaining enough but very eurocentric and could've been shorter
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Apr 8, 2018 09:42
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Any particular date we're gonna pick the next book?
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Apr 12, 2018 22:07
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Crakkerjakk posted:Any particular date we're gonna pick the next book? I'm pretty busy for the next couple weeks with school stuff and was planning on doing it again after that If someone else would like to run one in the meantime, I'm happy to grant mod for the channel for the purposes of it
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Apr 12, 2018 22:38
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i just finished reading the age of revolution/capital/empire trilogy by hobsbawm and i feel simultaneously all galaxybrained and exhausted on 19th century history now. it's amazingly comprehensive, and my only qualm with it was that it didn't contain nearly enough information about africa. the amount that he weaves in art movements, science, and classical music with political developments is kind of loving incredible
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Apr 13, 2018 02:15
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reading wages of destruction rn, up to mid 30s. interesting thing is how it fits with the marxist analysis of fascism as the last defense of capitalism: the book seems to argue that the causation is backwards- fascism rose separately and then the capitalists threw in with it because hey, better them than the commies
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Apr 13, 2018 16:31
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StashAugustine posted:reading wages of destruction rn, up to mid 30s. interesting thing is how it fits with the marxist analysis of fascism as the last defense of capitalism: the book seems to argue that the causation is backwards- fascism rose separately and then the capitalists threw in with it because hey, better them than the commies I always interpreted the "fascism as the last defense of capitalism" notion as being slightly more nuanced than just "capital feels threatened and develops comprehensive top-down plan to create fascist street movement". I think it's more that in the 1930s capitalism was under threat and fascist street gangs seemed like the only mass movement that had a chance of being co-opted by right wing industrialists. The alliance developed organically out of shared mutual interests (with many fascist groups having originated as goon squads for local landlords or business owners).
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Apr 13, 2018 16:50
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yeah plus there's the whole impersonal forces of historical materialism thing, but it's one of those things where the simplified view is taken by some of its adherents. e: also it seems more like the nazis weren't co-opted by business but that business were collaborators if you see the difference favorite bit of that chapter is how ig farben of zyklon b fame came to ally with the nazis: they'd blown a bunch of money on a syntheic oil scheme right before the texas oil rush, and decided the best way to recoup their losses was to buddy up to hitler on the grounds that he'd raise tariffs on imported oil
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Apr 13, 2018 16:53
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The Vagrants by Yiyun Li is a bleak, depressing novel but with fully realized characters and a unique voice + rhythm. I am pleased that I read it.
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Apr 23, 2018 17:47
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Also I'm devouring The First Wife by Paulina Chiziane right now, love it so far.
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Apr 23, 2018 18:02
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StashAugustine posted:yeah plus there's the whole impersonal forces of historical materialism thing, but it's one of those things where the simplified view is taken by some of its adherents. e: also it seems more like the nazis weren't co-opted by business but that business were collaborators if you see the difference I've had this one on my shelf for years, might have to finally get around to reading it based on this recommendation.
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Apr 23, 2018 21:08
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So due to recent events, all my reading time is going to be replaced by house-renovating time for the next few months. Is there a good audiobook version of Capital, by any chance? Or other lefty audiobooks generally, I suppose.
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Apr 23, 2018 22:06
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Goon Danton posted:So due to recent events, all my reading time is going to be replaced by house-renovating time for the next few months. Is there a good audiobook version of Capital, by any chance? Or other lefty audiobooks generally, I suppose. Librevox seems to have volume one! https://librivox.org/capital-volume-1-by-karl-marx/
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Apr 24, 2018 05:47
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Helsing posted:I've had this one on my shelf for years, might have to finally get around to reading it based on this recommendation. its surprisingly readable, though it does require a little bit of economic theory
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Apr 24, 2018 06:21
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Coincidentally, I've now read several detective/true crime books from the past century in a row, and it's interesting but really offputting how just being homosexual was enough to get police attention and being automatically suspected to be involved in crime. Oh and the incredible classism, of course One of the books is a shockingly badly written novelization of "l'affaire Steinheil" that I'm surprised didn't land the author in trouble for libel (e: not this book specifically, but he did do time for libel, and ten years of self-exile). I should translate some passages because, hoo boy. At the moment, I can only remember the protagonist (a private detective who's a huge unrepentant moralist shithead) praising la Cayenne for keeping prostitutes out of France, pointing out how those interned there engaged in lesbian relationships, which proved what a danger to the moral fibre of the country they were. Another character notes how just a few days of jail made a young, fresh-faced suspect look older and a criminal, but then a few pages later supports phrenology. I have no idea what the author meant to convey because he doesn't appear to be aware of the contradictions. This is the same author who wrote a series of books on the "criminal" (prostitution) underground of Milan in the early 1900s, and an interview with a group of lowlives taking a riverboat to the countryside to find temporary employment, where the noble leader of the group tragically dies in a knife fight before he can find redemption, but not before confessing/bragging about gang-raping young boys in prison ("it's a natural urge"). Basically just uncritical ingestion and regurgitation of facts (questionable facts, at that). He's a singularly bad writer, the kind of writer you read as a historical document rather than literature hackbunny has issued a correction as of 14:28 on Apr 24, 2018 |
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Apr 24, 2018 13:56
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https://www.amazon.com/Left-Wing-Melancholia-Marxism-Directions-Critical/dp/0231179421 Pro-read.
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Apr 24, 2018 20:36
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hackbunny posted:He's a singularly bad writer, the kind of writer you read as a historical document rather than literature I finally read his article on homosexual prostitution (originally part of one of his books on the "criminal underground" - i.e. prostitution - of Milan but curiously absent from recent editions) and it's all I could ask for and more. A highlight is when he off-handedly brags that he's part of a group of "friends" who pretend to pick up male prostitutes to beat them up. Journalistic ethos, early 20th century style  I really should translate the guy, I have to share this with someone
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Apr 26, 2018 13:45
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has anyone read the Legend of The Galactic Heroes English translations? the show is very CSPAM and I'm assuming the book is even more so
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Apr 26, 2018 17:11
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Frog Act posted:has anyone read the Legend of The Galactic Heroes English translations? the show is very CSPAM and I'm assuming the book is even more so The books are super super dry compared to the show, and the translator they hired for the first two books doesn't help, with some really clunky, weird, or just wrong translations of names/phrases/etc. They brought on a much better translator for the third and on books, though. If you liked the show you'll probably like the books anyways; the anime adaptation was completely true to the books. Some of the random moments from battles are scary and humanizing in a way you don't expect with how dry and historical other parts of the books read. From a section where a nobleman fires on his own allies to ensure his safe retreat: quote:The enemy?” It was only natural that the officers should have reacted this way. Situated as they were in the rear, they expected to be spared from the cross fire, which could only mean that enemies had been lurking nearby. “No, our allies are—” A flash eradicated them all before the man could finish his last utterance. The vessel which had now been sacrificed to friendly fire was the Passau 3, attacked by neutron warheads deployed from rail cannons. In a single moment, a raging storm of neutrons filled the ship, felling the entirecrew. It meant an almost instant death. Only one man, a Sergeant Kurlich, who had been inspecting provisions in the ship’s cargo hold, managed to survive a few seconds longer, surrounded as he was by a thick inner wall and shipping containers. The sergeant fell to the floor, unable to comprehend what had happened to him. Had the main fleet not been shielding them? Who could possibly have attacked them? Or had there been some sort of accident? In any case, he had to get up. To go outside and ascertain what had happened. To live and return home, where his wife and newborn twins were waiting for him. He couldn’t get up, however. A fleck of purple appeared on the back of the sergeant’s hand as he clung to the wall. The fleck grew larger, covering his skin and bubbling until it penetrated his biological tissues down to the very last cell.
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Apr 26, 2018 22:12
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I bought a Noam Chomsky book on a whim because I was gonna spend the night at the hospital (sleep apnea tests). Ended up not having the time to read it but I'm looking forward to it. It's the french translation of Power and Prospects.
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Apr 27, 2018 20:18
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reading The Book Thief because it was on the list because it was an Audible Daily Deal and it's good folks, love the whole premise and setup
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Apr 29, 2018 04:00
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Forgot to post that I finished and loved The First Wife by Paulina Chiziane. Cool & refreshing prose, inventive structure, and a perfectly arranged denouement that refracts all the preceding action through a new thematic lens. Also, the book design from Archipelago Books is a delight - I borrowed it from Queens Library but might buy a copy just to have on a shelf. I also can't stop looking at the rest of their offerings on their website. Started A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki now. Some parts are written as a teenager's diary and that's not really my speed (I'm easily irked by the clumsy slang that adult writers tend to attribute to young characters' writing). Some paragraphs and sections have exciting observations and draw intriguing connections though, so I'll def plop down and finish it this weekend.
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May 10, 2018 18:28
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Based on the endorsement of John Dolan and Mark Ames (cohosts of the War Nerd podcast) I picked up Seline's "Journey to the end of the Night". It is one of the great war novels of the 20th century, largely forgotten now because Seline went fascist later in life, and perhaps also because it is an extremely misanthropic, petty and resentful description of war, the home front, and life in the colonies. This isn't one of those books you give to a teenage boy to get them hyped up to die for their country. I tend to have thoroughly middle brow tastes when it comes to fiction. I like some plot in my narrative, I often end up reading genre fiction, and this is very much one of those books that functions almost like a string of connected anecdotes. Typically I would read this over a month or two inbetween reading non fiction or short stories, but because I need to get it back to the library I've been on a sort of forced march to the end. Overall it is really good. Very well written, with an extremely distinctive authorial voice, and a lot of almost aphoristic observations on life and human nature. Worth picking up if you're in the mood for reading something literary.
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May 11, 2018 17:35
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More of an LF book than a CSPAM book, but I'm finally reading Cadillac Desert, a non-fiction book on the inevitable re-desertification of the American West. I just started it, but I have already learned a lot, like: did you know that in the 80s California planned their water utilization to completely deplete their groundwater by the 2020s, and considered it a viable "long term" plan? Only flaw is that it's a really old book, and I often wonder how the situations it describes actually turned out (did they actually build that artificial nuclear-powered uphill river? or the Yukon pipeline?)
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May 12, 2018 03:01
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Picked up "Things That Make White People Uncomfortable" by Michael Bennett and decided to dig in for the first chapter maybe, just to see what it's like, and I'm already a third of the way through the book and engrossed lol. It's very good, especially if you're even notionally aware of the NFL and NCAA and follow them. Covers BLM, the importance of collective action, the anthem kneeling, all kinds of stuff.
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May 21, 2018 20:48
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lol apparently there’s a CBS series coming out about John Whiteside Parsons, per this tweet: https://twitter.com/willmenaker/status/999374197783752704?s=20 I briefly posted earlier itt about Strange Angel, a biography of Parsons. Read it now before the series comes out so you can be cool / ahead of the game. (Also because it’s a really fun and informative book)
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May 23, 2018 20:51
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catching up on a bunch of scifi over summer break. read altered carbon which was kinda cool and very eat the rich. now reading book of the new sun and i have no clue whats happening
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May 24, 2018 00:16
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StashAugustine posted:catching up on a bunch of scifi over summer break. read altered carbon which was kinda cool and very eat the rich. if you want 'eat the rich' progress through the trilogy onto the third book, "woken furies" which imo is my favorite, though it's much more character-centric than the other two books
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May 24, 2018 04:35
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SKULL.GIF posted:if you want 'eat the rich' progress through the trilogy onto the third book, "woken furies" which imo is my favorite, though it's much more character-centric than the other two books probably gonna check it out after botns, either that or china mieville's the city & the city
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May 24, 2018 04:45
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also as a catholic it kinda bugged me that i dont see the problem spinning up murder victims in a synth, but i get that's not the point
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May 24, 2018 04:46
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StashAugustine posted:also as a catholic it kinda bugged me that i dont see the problem spinning up murder victims in a synth, but i get that's not the point was raised lutheran and currently very atheist but surely a soul going to join god being forcibly brought back to speak for the dead would be viewed as ripping it away from its destiny, no? and even if you don't view it as such and believe that you can't forcibly hold the soul onto a material form, holding a facsimile of the soul and claiming that it can speak for the person's bodily form and experience would be itself kinda idolatric/blasphemous right?
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May 24, 2018 04:48
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SKULL.GIF posted:was raised lutheran and currently very atheist but surely a soul going to join god being forcibly brought back to speak for the dead would be viewed as ripping it away from its destiny, no? and even if you don't view it as such and believe that you can't forcibly hold the soul onto a material form, holding a facsimile of the soul and claiming that it can speak for the person's bodily form and experience would be itself kinda idolatric/blasphemous right? well the idea is that the soul is already dead and you're just making a robot think it's a person (a consciousnesses that thinks it's dead would be a cool scene, like the bit in blindsight where bates' brain gets fried and she starts thinking she doesn't exist); kinda ghoulish but acceptable in extraordinary circumstances- also they mention that they can just pluck memories out of a stack so why do you even need to spin them up? still he was trying to make a point about religion as a force of reaction and even as a religious person i cant entirely disagree.
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May 24, 2018 04:52
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I got a history book about dead kingdoms Seems ok so far
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Jun 3, 2018 18:17
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Kotkin's biography of Stalin is extremely good and kind of makes me think of Nixonland insofar as it is an ostensible biography that also works as a history of the era. Highly recommended.
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Jun 3, 2018 18:38
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Helsing posted:Kotkin's biography of Stalin is extremely good  it's a must-read
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Jun 6, 2018 15:14
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Finished with a long tear of historical fiction for now, diving back into nonfiction with Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed
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Jun 6, 2018 15:17
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Still slowly making my way through Cadillac Desert, I got to the point where the Army Corps of Engineers screws the Fort Berthold tribes out of their lands with virtually no compensation for one of their retarded dams and I'm livid. It's crazy that the Wikipedia page for the dam does away with the ridiculous, petty vendetta of the Corps against the tribes with a few sentences and it doesn't mention some of the craziest parts (a condition for the - low, low - monetary compensation was that the tribes couldn't use the money for attorneys). Hell, it doesn't even mention a really obvious thing: That is, that the dam's basin (that the Corps, in a final "gently caress you", christened Lake Sakakawea) cuts the reservation in half, with no bridge except right at the very northern edge of the reservation
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Jun 6, 2018 18:03
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Just finished Gateway by Pohl Excellent book if you like character-driven sci-fi with a very interesting concept that dabbles in modest exploration of philosophy and introspection, and also the main character/narrator is a tremendous piece of poo poo
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Jun 10, 2018 02:07
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Epic High Five posted:Just finished Gateway by Pohl I really enjoyed his defense of beating up women. Enlightening
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Jun 10, 2018 04:24
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hackbunny posted:I really enjoyed his defense of beating up women. Enlightening Yeah, up until that point it was a sort of slow buildup to how tremendously hosed up this guy is, then all of a sudden the accelerator is through the bottom of the car and carving a furrow in the asphalt
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Jun 10, 2018 15:25
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gave up on trying to figure out what gene wolfe is writing about (ill come back to it later) and read china mieville's the city and the city, which was pretty good
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Jun 10, 2018 19:03
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