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Sexed Up by Julia Serano Cannot recommend it enough, alongside Whipping Girl by the same author

Leigh on Leigh.

Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb. Really enjoying it so far.

El Protoolio wrote: Thu Dec 19, 2024 5:29 pm

Dovira wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2024 9:22 am ^ And also, Asimov's Foundation. Seems good.

My only problem with Asimov, as it is with Clark and, this is a controversial opinion and will trigger some folks mainly fm Mike Upchurch, Frank Herbert, is that they are all terrible writers. Cool stories, other than Herbert, but absolutely terrible writing.

I wouldn't say terrible. It's not unreadable because of annoyance or boredom. But there is a lot of blablabla. I'm halfway into the first book now and most of it has just been dialogues about something that is happening somewhere else.

I’m almost done reading all of Daniel Woodrell’s output. Just finished Winter’s Bone and started Give Us A Kiss. I had a lot of fun burning through his and William Gay’s bodies of work this year.

I was really looking forward to the new James Wade book, but I found it to be disappointingly dull. It bummed me out, because his first three were fantastic, even if the Cormac McCarthy influence was laid on thick at times. This new one was a chore to get through, and not in a good way. I’ll excuse it if he follows it up with a good one. We’re all entitled to our duds.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2024 7:42 pm The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Marx on Bonaparte/French Revolution sounds really interesting. Is it a dense read?

Frankenstein.

Read it many years ago, don't remember much about it. My wife teaches it in a high school English class.

I've been reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It was recommended by coworkers and contextualized as an antidote to the phony Hillbilly Elegy. The David Copperfield parallels were interesting. Three fourths through it's feeling good not great. Oddly, the stuff I'm really on board with is less satisfying in fiction form. Like the opioid epidemic. She's sharing a true phenomenon but at some points I feel like I see through the fourth wall and can see her thinking "and here I'll help people understand this about Appalachia!". It makes me just want to read more nonfiction about the labor struggles of coal miners.

losthighway wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2024 7:31 am

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2024 7:42 pm The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Marx on Bonaparte/French Revolution sounds really interesting. Is it a dense read?

Not necessarily - it’s beautifully written and though of a certain era it’s not terribly heady, like Kapital definitely was. Though it’s like anything, I think if I were more intimately familiar with the French Revolution I would get more out of it.

What’s funny is the writing style and structure reminded me very much of China Mievelle’s October, a history of the Russian Revolution. I guess things start to add up as you get back to the source material.