What Are You Reading?

[jshaving]

@EmilyQ

All the Light We Cannot See

I actually started that a month ago and stopped after finding something else. Sounds like I should finish it.

[Bagsy]

I just finished reading Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism” and listening to Edward Snowden’s “Permanent Record.” Both awesome reads. I’m also in the middle of “Austerlitz” by W.G. Sebald. Like many, I love 20th century history (especially German and Russian) and generally read these types of books.

[polo77j]

b/c I’m a sucker for punishment I started reading “Paradise Lost” - I’m only about 2 or 3% in and tbh … kind of liking it

Still not done with Thucydides but getting there … at the end of the Peace of Nicias so … like another 20 years to go haha

[anna_5588]

@polo77j

b/c I’m a sucker for punishment I started reading “Paradise Lost”

Try the gulag archipelago

[polo77j]

@anna_5588

Try the gulag archipelago

I’ve listened to about 10% of it while commuting about a year or so ago - I realized I was missing a lot of the meat and potatoes of it and I’d have to buckle down and read it. Let’s just say it’s high on the list…not sure when I’ll be getting to it, but it’s a definite read for sure.

[anna_5588]

There’s a 150ish section in the middle of pure case files of arrested individuals
Spoiler alert: they basically say the same thing
Tbh, Solzhenitsyn is a pretty shit writer, but I still really enjoy his work for the historical value

[polo77j]

@anna_5588

There’s a 150ish section in the middle of pure case files of arrested individuals

I may have gotten to that part - I remember him going through a bunch of cases and why they were arrested. The reason he was arrested was a doozy … he asked a question (from what I remember - again, something dense like that isn’t great to listen to while driving 80 in traffic).

shitty writing but historical value is right up my alley hahaha

[anna_5588]

@polo77j

he asked a question

One guy got 10years for stopping clapping too early when Stalins name was mentioned at a party meeting the nkvd were honestly just looking for excuses to meet quotas (to avoid being one of the quota)

[Polar-Bear]

@EmilyQ

Ah. I more read into it her complete dependence on the awesome dad, and her loss of everything safe in the loss of him, which came fairly early in the book.

But I suppose yes, it was touching. I think we all know that I’m into everything human, though, so no surprise we’d experience it differently.

Have you read his other book, “About Grace?” I read it after loving “All the light we cannot see”. It’s a different take on the being an awesome dad theme - be warned, it’s pretty heavy going emotionally!

[polo77j]

@anna_5588

the nkvd were honestly just looking for excuses to meet quotas (to avoid being one of the quota)

yea, this is one of the issues I have with some of the incentives from places like the DoE … they tie funding to statistics (like discipline stats, standardized testing stats, etc.) - it doesn’t necessarily motivate administrators to improve things, but it does motivate them to improve the numbers…but anyway, that’s for another topic I suppose, this is about what are you reading

[anna_5588]

I may have pivoted from Russian studies to decision science, but I still instinctually get excited when someone brings up the USSR or WWII

[polo77j]

I know what you mean … Russian/USSR history is very interesting - and I really do enjoy a good Russian novel a la Pushkin or Doestoyevsky, et al. It’s very - Russian haha

[Polar-Bear]

If you like novels set in Russia, try Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko books. Highly recommended!

[polo77j]

just googled it - I’ll have to put it in my fiction to-read rotation - I like a good mystery novel man thanks for the suggestion

[EmilyQ]

No, it’s on my list, but I try to take a break between books by a single author.

[Bagsy]

I’ve never even been able to read The Gulag Archipelago because of high demand for so few copies at my public library. But I did read The First Circle by Solzhenitsyn and liked it.

Interestingly, right now I’m read Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov. Apparently there was plenty of debate between him and Solzhenitsyn. I actually prefer Shalamov’s writing style. His writing is so… calm that it’s horrifying in a different way.

I also think Vasily Grossman and Anatoli Rybakov are underrated.

[anna_5588]

@Bagsy

His writing is so… calm

Hmm, I should check him out. Solzhenitsyns writing is calm too, just in a more matter of fact way- like a report. Either way, I love how these guys don’t inject flowery language or excessive emotion. That’s the knock I had about Night by eli Wiesel

[Bagsy]

This is a nice article contrasting the two. I need to read more Solzhenitsyn to have an opinion on him, but so far I think Shalamov’s writing is more memorable to me.

[marine77]

Penthouse Letters

[Bagsy]

I just finished Sacred Cow by Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf. Though I’m confirming my own biases a bit, this book is much needed today.