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An unsparing investigation into Spotify’s origins and influence on music, weaving unprecedented reporting with incisive …
I liked the podcast interview I heard with the author. I kind of knew it was gonna be the kind of book where you could mostly listen to an interview and get all the highlights. This book is moderately interesting and very very depressing. techwontsave.us/episode/262_how_spotify_remade_the_music_industry_w_liz_pelly
Eliot’s epic of 19th century provincial social life, set in a fictitious Midlands town in …
#Middlemarch March is off to a strong start. Yesterday I read the first few chapters on my kobo, realized the file I had was kind of busted (no paragraph breaks) so I got another one. And then I decided that I actually wanted to read it on paper so I popped out to Encore and easily found a used copy for $8. The copy I got is not the nicest edition but it'll do. The first 13 pages have kind of absurd amounts of underlining and notes and then nothing... did the previous owner give up? It took me a few pages to get used to the antiquated writing style but honestly its really engrossing so far.
#Middlemarch March is off to a strong start. Yesterday I read the first few chapters on my kobo, realized the file I had was kind of busted (no paragraph breaks) so I got another one. And then I decided that I actually wanted to read it on paper so I popped out to Encore and easily found a used copy for $8. The copy I got is not the nicest edition but it'll do. The first 13 pages have kind of absurd amounts of underlining and notes and then nothing... did the previous owner give up? It took me a few pages to get used to the antiquated writing style but honestly its really engrossing so far.
Eliot’s epic of 19th century provincial social life, set in a fictitious Midlands town in …
Middlemarch March LFG
How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand …
Really enjoyed the first few chapters devoted to debunking stuff like alien abductions and ESP, promoting an approach to the world that is both filled with curiosity and wonder but also critical. I was paralyzingly afraid of a lot of this stuff as a kid and still get creeped out when I'm alone or in a bad mental state, so it was a nice comfort read in that regard. The latter chapters were kind of over the place and a bit self-indulgent, from responses to his work on this topic to [mostly valid] whining about not enough science funding, the state of education, and how democracy is definitely gonna collapse if we don't do something ASAP about the widespread culture of superstition and gullibility (RIP)
Really enjoyed the first few chapters devoted to debunking stuff like alien abductions and ESP, promoting an approach to the world that is both filled with curiosity and wonder but also critical. I was paralyzingly afraid of a lot of this stuff as a kid and still get creeped out when I'm alone or in a bad mental state, so it was a nice comfort read in that regard. The latter chapters were kind of over the place and a bit self-indulgent, from responses to his work on this topic to [mostly valid] whining about not enough science funding, the state of education, and how democracy is definitely gonna collapse if we don't do something ASAP about the widespread culture of superstition and gullibility (RIP)
A cornerstone of world literature and a monument to the power of storytelling, the Arabian …
Didn't finish this cover to cover, but read the main bulk of stories (there are many many notes, sources, alt versions of texts etc). I might try to track down a hard copy of this, if not to have at least to look at because its chock full of illustrations and they're incredible. I read a lot of new fiction and I decided I wanted to challenge that habit a bit this year, so for my first big book I went reeeeeal old. Excellent, if too effective bedtime reading (the whole book is literally bedtime stories) means I usually fell asleep after a few pages and it took me over a month to finish. This is the first collection of 1001 nights stories translated by a woman (british-syrian translator Yasmine Seale), and her input in the selections highlighted stories with strong and prominent women characters, as well as pushing back …
Didn't finish this cover to cover, but read the main bulk of stories (there are many many notes, sources, alt versions of texts etc). I might try to track down a hard copy of this, if not to have at least to look at because its chock full of illustrations and they're incredible. I read a lot of new fiction and I decided I wanted to challenge that habit a bit this year, so for my first big book I went reeeeeal old. Excellent, if too effective bedtime reading (the whole book is literally bedtime stories) means I usually fell asleep after a few pages and it took me over a month to finish. This is the first collection of 1001 nights stories translated by a woman (british-syrian translator Yasmine Seale), and her input in the selections highlighted stories with strong and prominent women characters, as well as pushing back against the orientalist vibe of previous editions. All that said, the stories are also genuinely delightful and fun and wacky, wrapped up into a compelling meta-narrative. All in all really happy I read this.
"the following chapters were started in mexico city and finished in new york city in …
Beautiful and thoughtful zine about colonialism and the american project, wrapping together struggles of the past and present with a sprinkle of David Wojnarowicz, duh I loved it
interviews au format long sur les pratiques de la scène punk do it yourself des …
I'm normally really unmotivated to read in French (and I'm sure I missed a lot of nuance cause I kinda suck at it) but this was pretty up my alley and I chomped it up. If you love being punished by gen x dudes about the hardcore punk scene in the 90s and why corporate social media is problématique, this book is for you!! But actually, cool initiative and beautiful book, its cool to learn about how people are wrestling with and talking about the same things that my friends and I are (how punks relate to politics, capitalism, technological alienation, etc) in different places and contexts in the last few years.
I'm normally really unmotivated to read in French (and I'm sure I missed a lot of nuance cause I kinda suck at it) but this was pretty up my alley and I chomped it up. If you love being punished by gen x dudes about the hardcore punk scene in the 90s and why corporate social media is problématique, this book is for you!! But actually, cool initiative and beautiful book, its cool to learn about how people are wrestling with and talking about the same things that my friends and I are (how punks relate to politics, capitalism, technological alienation, etc) in different places and contexts in the last few years.
Heralded as the most important Brazilian novel of the century so far, this bestseller's unique …
This was incredibly good. I was totally transported into a time and place that I know very little about, and feel changed by the experience, which is pretty much the crux of why I like reading.
Learning more about the author, his perspective on writing the book and how it intervenes in contemporary Brazilian politics has also been cool (one of many interesting interviews/articles: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2023-09/reading-to-coexist-a-conversation-with-itamar-vieira-junior-ana-laura-malmaceda/)
Heralded as the most important Brazilian novel of the century so far, this bestseller's unique …
The End, the sixth and final book, reflects back on the personal fallout from the …
This book is so much harder than the other ones. And soo much longer. Also the first half is translated by a different person? I am struggling a bit.
The Crying of Lot 49 is a 1966 novel by American author Thomas Pynchon. The …
Last time I read this was at least 15 years ago, its weirder and even more fun than I remembered.
The End, the sixth and final book, reflects back on the personal fallout from the …
LFG
A new novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective …
That's right, finished the book at the gig
That's right, finished the book at the gig
A new novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective …
Content warning Plot details but no big spoilers
Was prepared to hate-read this but halfway through I'm surprised at how little I'm cringeing at the plot, which is basically every undercover-cop-infiltrates-anarchists shitshow of the last 25 years mushed together in thinly-veiled-Tarnac... I could imagine many different directions for this book that would fucking enrage me and very few that I would find satisfying, but Kushner is a good and understated writer so I'm curious to see where it goes.
A singular new novel from Betty Trask Prize–winner Samantha Harvey, Orbital is an eloquent meditation …
Didn't love this but at least it was short. Beautifully written but probably more interesting for someone who isn't totally obsessed with space/the ISS. Kind of expected more, I picked it cause it was shortlisted for Booker. That said it was a pretty relaxing read as someone who like, rewatches Cosmos to stave off panic attacks.
Didn't love this but at least it was short. Beautifully written but probably more interesting for someone who isn't totally obsessed with space/the ISS. Kind of expected more, I picked it cause it was shortlisted for Booker. That said it was a pretty relaxing read as someone who like, rewatches Cosmos to stave off panic attacks.