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Heyyyyy
I heard Tumblr is exodus-ing again? I hope it means new friends to play with over here! :D
March was, as usual, a pretty rough month for me. I live in a cold, dreary place that has the most soul-crushing "spring" known to humankind and my seasonal depression always starts to kick into overdrive in March. And this year it's been a cold, rainy April too so it's been pretty unrelenting honestly. The "feels like" temperature right now, according to my weather app, is 23F. Weather is morally neutral, but I do feel personally victimized by it at times like these. :P
I haven't felt motivated to write much in the past 2 months. My attention has been focused on the terrible and terrifying state of the world and trying to learn more so I can take more effective action. It's hard to know what to even focus on when there are 1000 fires all raging at once. That, of course, is the aim of the despots. For now my goal is to learn, to disengage from the economy in every way I possibly can, to support my local community, and to focus on one political issue that I think will move the needle. For me, that issue is Ranked Choice Voting.
With that being said, let's do a Reading Wednesday I guess!
King's Rising by C.S. Pacat
This was a re-read for me, but I have to admit I enjoyed it MUCH more this time around than I did the first time. I attribute this to my skill as a reader actually having developed a lot in the 8 or so years since I first read the trilogy. I picked up on a lot more nuance this time around and I think this series is especially lovely in its use of nuance and subtlety.
Silver Blood by T.L. Morgan
This is a vampire fantasy homage to Castlevania (but make it gay!) - I really like the concept but I'm 20% into the book and desperately hoping that the protagonist gets a little less whine-y or I'm going to probably DNF.
If We Burn by Vincent Bevins
This is a history of the mass-protests movements of the 2010s decade (Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Movimento Passe Livre in Brazil. etc). I'm only halfway through but from what I've read and heard from the author, I think the conclusion will be about why these protests failed to obtain much if any of their aims and what lessons can be learned for future activists.
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
Really, really good primer on the concept of Mutual Aid and a super-interesting couter-weight to what I *think* is going to be the advice of Bevins, which is that movements without leaders will inevitable be co-opted by those outside the aims and goals of the activist organization. Two opposing viewpoints and I'm excited to hear the arguments for each!
I'm honestly not sure. I'm feeling very drawn to the ridiculously long two-volume biography of Joseph Stalin by Stephen Kotkin (the total page count is like 2000 pages and there's actually a forthcoming 3rd volume apparently). However, I kind of think I should read about the revolution before I get to Stalin so that I have more context. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good Lenin biography or just a history of the Bolshevik revolution?
March was, as usual, a pretty rough month for me. I live in a cold, dreary place that has the most soul-crushing "spring" known to humankind and my seasonal depression always starts to kick into overdrive in March. And this year it's been a cold, rainy April too so it's been pretty unrelenting honestly. The "feels like" temperature right now, according to my weather app, is 23F. Weather is morally neutral, but I do feel personally victimized by it at times like these. :P
I haven't felt motivated to write much in the past 2 months. My attention has been focused on the terrible and terrifying state of the world and trying to learn more so I can take more effective action. It's hard to know what to even focus on when there are 1000 fires all raging at once. That, of course, is the aim of the despots. For now my goal is to learn, to disengage from the economy in every way I possibly can, to support my local community, and to focus on one political issue that I think will move the needle. For me, that issue is Ranked Choice Voting.
With that being said, let's do a Reading Wednesday I guess!
Just Finished
King's Rising by C.S. Pacat
This was a re-read for me, but I have to admit I enjoyed it MUCH more this time around than I did the first time. I attribute this to my skill as a reader actually having developed a lot in the 8 or so years since I first read the trilogy. I picked up on a lot more nuance this time around and I think this series is especially lovely in its use of nuance and subtlety.
Currently Reading
Silver Blood by T.L. Morgan
This is a vampire fantasy homage to Castlevania (but make it gay!) - I really like the concept but I'm 20% into the book and desperately hoping that the protagonist gets a little less whine-y or I'm going to probably DNF.
If We Burn by Vincent Bevins
This is a history of the mass-protests movements of the 2010s decade (Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Movimento Passe Livre in Brazil. etc). I'm only halfway through but from what I've read and heard from the author, I think the conclusion will be about why these protests failed to obtain much if any of their aims and what lessons can be learned for future activists.
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
Really, really good primer on the concept of Mutual Aid and a super-interesting couter-weight to what I *think* is going to be the advice of Bevins, which is that movements without leaders will inevitable be co-opted by those outside the aims and goals of the activist organization. Two opposing viewpoints and I'm excited to hear the arguments for each!
Up Next
I'm honestly not sure. I'm feeling very drawn to the ridiculously long two-volume biography of Joseph Stalin by Stephen Kotkin (the total page count is like 2000 pages and there's actually a forthcoming 3rd volume apparently). However, I kind of think I should read about the revolution before I get to Stalin so that I have more context. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good Lenin biography or just a history of the Bolshevik revolution?