What books/comics/mangas etc. Did you read in June?
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell. They both describe, in a very creative way, the totalitarian regimes of the '40s, especially the soviet one. They give you an insight of what freedom should be, and what are the systems used by dictators to control the popultation: poverty, ignorance, fear, etc.
Worth reading!
I’ve read both but Animal Farm was for school so naturally I didn’t like it. 1984 was great not just as an interesting read but to understand all of the cultural (and culture war) references to it.
I read The City & The City by China Mieville and some bits of Psychogeography by Will Self.
I would recommend the first one, especially if you like detective stories (and games like Disco Elysium).
I’m not sure about the second, it’s a collection of columns and the throughline isn’t as good as I’d hoped.
A few Animorphs and the Well of Ascension. I have a few active challenges on Storygraph.
I love Storygraph. Way better than Goodreads imo.
Tasha’s cauldron of everything… DnD rulebook.
I got sucked back into One Piece, the anime I sorta dropped, put on eternal hold
So I figured I’d start the manga and give it a go, it’s much more enjoyable ^^
Kept it pretty lowkey in June, read only two books: Loop by Koji Suzuki (3rd book in the Ring series) and Osamu Dazai’s recently translated The Flowers of Buffoonery.
I just finished No Longer Human last night. Haven’t breezed through a book like that in quite awhile!
That’s a good one. The prequel to it, The Flowers of Buffoonery, was just recently published. It’s short, but I recommend it.
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Always Coming Home - Ursula K. LeGuin - I absolutely loved this book. I’m still keep thinking about the Kesh people that this book explores. Very strange read, absolutely recommended.
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The Fifth Season - N K Jemisin - Really enjoyed this book. The way it uses perspective was really great. The ending felt okay. I’m definitely going to be picking up the next one sometime soon.
Currently reading Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer, which has been a fascinating read thus far, but I’m only halfway through.
After that I’m planning on reading Among Others by Jo Walton (I loved her Thessaly series)
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I read the Cradle series by Will Wight. Lots of fun! Interesting magic system, fun progression as the main characters get more and more powerful through the books.
I read Factfullness by hans rosling, would recommend if you want a different outlook in these seemingly dark times
I’m still reading it and I’m halfway through it. I agree in recommending it! Moreover gapminder (which is the source of most of the stats) now has data updated up to the year 2022.
It’s not like I don’t have a huge TBR list, but even so I keep getting seduced back into reading the Aubrey/Maturin series. They’re just too good and every re-read reveals a little nugget of something wonderful you missed before.
So I read Desolation Island, The Fortune Of War, The Surgeons Mate and The Ionian Mission.
Ooh some Aussie settings too. Very interesting.
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch - I really enjoyed this storytelling and plot about multiple dimensions and timelines and murder. Thrilling and exciting.
Hypatia: The Life and Legend of an Ancient Philosopher - Edward J. Watts
As the title says. The author tries to stress the fact that the book is primarily about her life and work, which always gets overshadowed by her death. It was pretty good as both a book about her, and general Alexandrian life in her age, but quite short (around 150 pages)
Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology - Ian Michael Plant
Contains fragments from ancient women writers about various topics. It was good, but sadly not much was preserved through time, the fragments were often very short.
Oooh this is right up my alley. Was it also an entertaining read, or was it a little dry/difficult to get through? Non-fiction can be really hit or miss for me
Depends on how interested you are, I guess. The Hypatia book wasn’t dry at all, and it’s a pretty good showcase on how people actually used philosophy as a lifestyle. I just wish it had more, but you can only get so much from a limited source. Hypatia was mostly written about to discuss her violent death than how she lived.
The other book I honestly wouldn’t recommend if you’re not actually interested in the topic, because the contents will not entertain anyone by themselves. There are a couple of mostly complete poems and letters, but for the vast majority, the only thing that was preserved was a handful of lines. But to supplement that, the authors provide an introduction to every writer beforehand, so you can get a sense of what was accomplishable for women in that period. It’s a good book in that sense, but not very entertaining by itself.
Tte Hypatia one I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone who’s interested.
I’ve re-read the first Harry Potter. It’s been so long since I last read it. I felt that it really wasn’t poorly written. Sure it’s a children’s book but i looked reading it. And I’ve started reading flatland
Are there people out there that say it’s poorly written? That’s just not the case at all. It’s a very well-writte book, and that really does help when you dive back in to re-read it after a while.
Working on three body problem. I dont know if anyone else have a hard time with translated works, but I always feel like some part of the book is missing when translated. Like iboixk up on a few context clues that something should be known.
Anyways I’m enjoying it, just lots of extra lookin things up, makes it a bit tedious.
Yeah, I’m about a third of the way into it and thinking that the translation presents a small barrier.
I’m reading on a ebook, so I get clickable footnotes sometimes, usually though it’s mostly for common facts a chinese reader would have. Dont know if there are different translations or not.
