Discussion questions:
What new books are you reading?
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
Question of the week:
What books are you eager to read that you haven’t read yet?
Enjoy!
@whoami@barazaafrica16@baraza.africa
Tagging those that were here before. Enjoy.
Not books, but mostly been reading other people’s worldbuilding posts lately. Been really on a kick developing my fictional worlds and have been really interested in what others have created as well!
My web novel is historical fantasy so there’s that.
But you still need to develop the “world.”
Where do you suggest I look for world-building ideas online?
I’m on the worldbuilding subreddit, it’s actually the only thing keeping me on Reddit still but it’s definitely in a slow decline along with Reddit in general. Been transferring my lore posts to Lemmy in the past few days though as I do want to leave Reddit at some point, and even started a worldbuilding community on Lemmygrad! Hopefully I can help grow the writing and worldbuilding scene on Lemmy!
Same here. I want to world-build here but don’t want anyone stealing my ideas (I know, I know, it’s a baseless fear, but still).
I would be interested in join such a community. I have a dream of having DND campaigns in a home built world.
I think this is the one: https://lemmygrad.ml/c/worldbuilding
Thanks!
I’m about 20% through Inventing Reality and still struggling to stay engaged. I might put it down for a bit and start Killing Hope or Fraud, Famine, and Fascism.
I bought the entire Paper Girls series and that arrives today.
I also just bought the Peter Kropotkin collection with some freebie kindle credits I had. I had a digital copy of Conquest of Bread but it was pirated. I don’t know when I will get to reading any of them.
Killing Hope should be classified as a must-read for anyone serious about anti-imperialism. Rogue State is an invaluable sister piece.
Just do not let the anger you will feel consume you. William Blum’s work is instrumental in understanding the evils of empire, and once you delve into the nitty-gritty of shit like the psychological terror operations unleashed on the Philippines and Guatemala, there is no turning back. There is no return to the comfort of ignorance. The U.S. is the primary contradiction.
I feel that Killing Hope is standard, but then again, I grew up knowing about this shit.
I think this sells me on Killing Hope. I’m jaded as it is and am aware quite a bit of what the US has done. I mean People’s History, Untold History of the US, Blackshirts and Reds, and even my fairly based college history professors have helped in that regard. I’m eager to be more angry lol. I might start it tonight if I can get to a stopping point on Inventing Reality. I can come back to that later. It ain’t going anywhere.
Also thanks for reminding me and about Rogue State. I need to add it to my library.
deleted by creator
Probably because some of Michael Parenti’s works pale in comparison to his speeches and talks.
He does set extremely high expectations with his talks.
Yeah. His books are secondary in quality.
Oof, I’m not sure I’d put it like that.
I think it’s mostly just with life stuff happening right now it’s hard for me to focus on reading as much as I’d like, let alone just find the time to read. It’s also not quite as easy of a read as Blackshirts was. I don’t think it’s a bad book at all.
I have a book about Freud and what a fraud he was and how he had ramifications for today because people still look to him and Jung and psycho-analysis… but I haven’t gotten around to it… yet.
Im like 80% in Confessions of an economic hitman by John Perkins. Book is good and is easy to consume, tho his views are way too idealistic. His testimony is great but i can’t stop thinking that he is one of those guys that believes that this is not real capitalism but corporatism, as if it was a completely divorced economic system.
Well To Be Fair he was in the system. He only got ‘out’ as it were because of a girlfriend he met in central America who had a conscience. One of those things you know. You are so in the system that even though you’re shown the reality of how awful it is, you still want to believe it was somewhat ok because of whatever. Like libs that get a taste of radical thought, they’re so preprogrammed…
But still. Straight line from the tactics of economic hit men to Jeffery Epstein. Shit never ended and is still happening today
Yeah, this book was written during the early 2010s, I think, and has the time-period stamped on it, essentially.
Started reading Fanon’s ‘Wretched of the Earth’. So far just reading the preface by Jean Paul Sartre which is already very good, I imagine this was ground breaking and very exciting when it was released, during the time of great optimism in the “third world”, the Bandung conference etc. For fiction I’m reading The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I really struggle with fiction generally. I usually find it very hard to pursue fiction for some reason.
I know I’m a broken record at this point but:
Read A Song of Ice and Fire.
Currently reading The Last Wish, which is a bunch of short stories following Geralt from the Witcher. Really enjoying it so far and if anyone here is a fan of the games or watched the show you’ll like it. The short stories will also be recognizable if you watched the show as well.
deleted by creator
What about A Song of Ice and Fire?
deleted by creator
I hate Fire and Blood.
deleted by creator
Because of the smut.
I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
The excerpts I’ve read make GRRM look like the characature that people say he is.
deleted by creator
Yeah I heard people with similar opinions, that’s why I think I’ll finish this book and then read the other short story book (Swords of Destiny I think it’s called) and then just stop there.
deleted by creator
NOICE
I’m still on my re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Just finished Chapterhouse Dune. I’ll try to find Brian’s sequels at a library if I can, or maybe Foundation.
Oh dune… Such amazing literature
Reading Ordinary Monsters right now, it’s a fun dark fantasy novel. I generally enjoy both fiction and non-fiction for different reasons. I like to pick a fiction and non-fiction book to read. Next non-fiction book I’m planning to read is I Am a Strange Loop.
Is that last one a web novel?
Let me click that link…
there is a pdf of it floating around :) https://digitalphysics.ru/pdf/Kaminskii_A_V/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop--Douglas_Hofstadter.pdf
Nice!
Sutree by Cormac McCarthy and Ulysses by James Joyce at the moment. Just finished some Marxist theory with Engles.
Reading rules
Thanks.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Oh, Nathaniel Hawthorne, famed American novelist. He’s kinda a big deal lol
deleted by creator
Oh.
That is odd.
He is at least somewhat knowable outside the States.
deleted by creator
Yeah I get that.
Thinking about re-reading The Hunt for Red October, I know it’s trash, but it’s entertaining trash
By Tom Clancy?
But it’s anti-communist trash at that! There’s better garbage out there. And you might even find a hidden gem in the meanwhile. Don’t do this to yourself… You have so much to live for! Plus, here, have this coupon!
Yeah I know, but it’s entertaining anti-communist trash
besides, my copy is a hand-me-down from my mother, it’s not like I’m giving Clancy any of my money
I’m reading the Bible right now, not because I’m religious but because I was curious. I’m at Leviticus right now. Genesis and Exodus were entertaining but currently I’m only reading about laws which is a bit boring, to be honest.
Leviticus is the part where Christians fail their challenge to read the Bible through
I got half-way through the Old Testament and plan to pick up where I left off soon enough.
I read The Qur’an in the meantime.
How was the Qur’an? I have a translation I should probably read but haven’t got past the translator’s preface
Depends very much on the translation and exegesis. I read the International Sahid version or whatever it was called. I didn’t read the hadiths, though.
I finished ‘Custer died for your sins’ yesterday, which was good, though a bit dated. I’m just about finished with ‘I am Malala’ which is better than I thought. I’m almost halfway in ‘settlers’ which is good. I’m halfway in ‘The Fall’ by Albert Camus, which is ok, and the first fiction I’ve read in a bit. I’m also reading ‘The Dialectical Biologist,’ though I’ve taken a break, and I don’t think I’ll finish ‘Karl Marx’s eco socialism’ right now. I probably prefer fiction though I mostly read non-fiction because it seems more important. I’m eager to read ‘Four thousand weeks: time management for mortals,’ ‘socialism or extinction,’ ‘half earth socialism,’ and ‘parable of the sower.’
Settlers by J. Sakai is the one with the bad citations and is dated nowadays.
I would suggest Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly for the other side of the story when it comes to the labor movement in the United States.
I know Settlers is dated now, I just wanted to see what all the hype was about. It’s got some good information but I definitely want to look into the more reasonable and well sourced works of Gerald Horne among others.
Yeah, Gerald Horne’s works are better and more reasonable.
By the way, I had just noticed your absence for almost a month just a few days ago, so it’s funny you happened to come back now.
I never intended to leave. I love this place. But I am a mod now of Hexbear. So that also takes priority. But I’ve also been pushingn for Lemmygrad a long time now. And I will continue pushing for it. So there’s that.
I’m trying to start the Spanish translation of Conn Iggulden’s series on Rome at the moment. I read the English version a long time ago and enjoyed it. I’ve been struggling to get into anything recently, fiction or nonfiction. So I’m hoping that a book I know that I’ll like will get me going again.
Still, I’ve been slowly working through Roland Boer’s excellent, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners. But I can only manage a section of a chapter at a time. I’m just busy really, and my attention span is currently in pieces.
The book I’m eager to read is Dig Where you Stand. Translated into English not too long ago. I think it’s about workers’ inquiry.
Read A Song of Ice and Fire.
I can get you started.
That’s a good book! You might be right about giving it another look. It’s been a long time since I read it and I never watched the series, so I can’t remember the detail, which means all the plot twists will be fresh enough.
It’s a series of novels, but yes, they’re all good books, especially Book 5 (which is my favorite).
Just began A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. It is about the end of the Trojan war and possibly the aftermath (? Not sure yet) from the point of view of the women of Troy and Greece. Currently at Chapter 10/43, enjoying it so far. Interesting getting the female perspective of the ancient (mythological?) war.
This is the first non-fantasy/sci-if book I’ve read in a while. Will be getting back to that after this probably, I never seem to deviate too far from those genres.
Oh, I heard of that one. I do like historical fantasy so I may check it out. I’m also writing historical fantasy.
