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#amreading

34 posts30 participants0 posts today
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Reading Recluse

📘 "Poetics of Work" by Noémi Lefebvre, translated from French into English by Sophie Lewis

I tried to look up a book title in my library's catalogue. The search result was one book, this one, one that did not share even one word with my original query. But look at that cover. Yeah, I'm taking that.

The book starts out by pondering Klemperer and eating bananas. I've already lost. You've got me. If you haven't read LTI by Victor Klemperer yet, do so. It's about how language is used by fascists to normalize their ideas and actions, focusing on Nazi Germany (which he miraculously survived as a Jewish scholar without fleeing).

Anyway back to this book, which takes place in France right after the 2015 terror attacks. A poet contemplates poetry, police presence, fascism, unemployment, the idea of having to be useful, hierarchy. It's hard to summarize, kind of absurdist, very short also, and unfortunately relatable. It honestly fits 2025 as well (if not better) than 2015.

This was 80% hilarious and 20% probably went over my head. I snorted a lot. It's not funny as in 'haha you silly goose' as much as it is a dark humor about feeling hopeless and empty but also still alive and you're shrugging your shoulders desperately while watching the horrors happen because what else is there to do but also while feeling horrible that that's all you're able to do so you lie down on the ground to recover and aim to watch the skies but all you can see are commercial planes, fighter jets and satellites so you roll over *startles* sorry officer I know loitering is illegal I'll remove myself asap sorry for violating your holy rules on this sunny day in the surveillance state in which you would've killed me by now if I weren't white, goodbye!

Anyway let's unite and resist, because there's still art to made. Maybe?

tl;dr Thank you random bug for handing me this book. I feel slightly confused but also strangely connected.

Book cover of 'poetics of work'. It's an illustration. The cover is bright red-orange. There's a portrait of a humanoid creature, all black, with two cat-like ears pointing up, and one blue eye looking sideways. They're smoking a joint and wearing a blue/green top.
#AmReading#WomenInTranslation
Continued thread
Public
Hawksquill

Book 12 of 2025

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

4.5 stars

I was excited to read an alternative retelling of Cortés's first meeting with Moctezuma, and it ended up being completely different from what I expected in the best way. Well-researched and immersive like traditional historical fiction, but modern in prose and postmodern in construction. What surprised me most was how funny it was. In some ways it felt more like a 21st century dark satirical comedy film than a book set in the 16th century. (I couldn't get The Death of Stalin out of my head as I was reading).

It wasn't what I expected, but it was a psychedelic delight from start to finish. The prose is so unique and the jokes are so subtle that I'd love to test out my Spanish skills by reading Enrigue's original text. Maybe a goal to work up to.

@bookstodon #Bookstodon #Books #BookReview #Reading #AmReading

The cover of You Dreamed of Empires. Neon green and blue swirls in a psychedelic circular pattern. At the middle of the central circle is the front half of a brown horse in motion.
Public
Like, Y'know, Gneech

Finished "You Can't Spell Treason Without Tea" last night and honestly? Kinda disappointed. The story doesn't end, it just stops, with a "To be continued..." at the end.

I have a LOT less patience for that than I used to. If you can't give me a satisfying story in the space of a novel (whether or not it leaves room for continuation), why should I give you more of my time for another?

That, and the "Argh! I'm so mad at you for going out and doing hero stuff and getting hurt!" schtick is seriously overplayed. #AmReading #fantasy

Public
John A. Mulhall

Uncover a shadow world of espionage, covert operations, and political intrigue in From Terror to Valor.

🔗 | books2read.com/fromterror2valo

Jack Debaut is thrust into a dangerous game where allies and enemies are hard to distinguish, facing betrayal and a labyrinth of secrets that could alter everything. Can Jack expose the truth before time runs out?

books2read.comAvailable now at your favorite digital store!From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows by John A. Mulhall
#readingcommunity#amreading#booklovers
Public
Ergative Absolutive

Hi, friends! (And especially friends who like Robin Hobb):

I'm continuing my Realm of the Elderlings project over at Nerds of a Feather this month with a discussion of Mad Ship, the second in her unparalleled Liveship Traders trilogy.

It's SO GOOD, y'all. RObin Hobb's oeuvre is decades old at this point, and STILL SO GOOD.

nerds-feather.com/2025/05/real

#amReading @bookstodon #fantasy #bookReview #sff

www.nerds-feather.comRealm of the Elderlings Project, The Liveship Traders Book 2: Mad ShipIn which themes are thematic, brilliantly so Cover art by Stephen Youll One thing that Mad Ship does NOT do, in any possible way, is suff...
Public
Reading Recluse

📗 "The Magical Language of Others" by E.J. Koh

Here's an interesting mix of memoir, letters and biography!

The author is born in the US to Korean parents, who abandon her at age 15 to go back to Korea for years. She moves in with her older brother and has to manage most of life alone. Her mother sends her letters in Korean, a language she can barely read. In this book she reflects back on that time, and also publishes the letters from her mother that she has translated herself after studying to become a translator. They are uncomfortable to read. Tone-deaf and victim-y at best, they come across as her mother trying to rid herself of feelings of guilt without any actual effort to care for her daughter's well-being.

The book's scope expands further than expected: generational trauma, the murder of Korean residents in Japan in the 1920s, the Jeju massacre, studying Japanese with these mixed feelings, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, becoming a poet... After almost a decade her parents return to the US and we get to see some of that time too. It isn't easy.

The writing was gripping, I easily kept reading. The book as a whole might come across as a little disjointed for some readers, but I thought the parts of her life she decided to share were sewn together beautifully.

The publisher, Tin House, didn't immediately ring a bell for me. I browsed their catalogue and saw that I've already read two other great, unique memoirs from them (The Other Side by Lacy M. Johnson and Dying by Cory Taylor). I can't wait to look into more of the memoirs that they've published.

Book cover of 'the magical language of others'. It's an illustration. The cover is blue with a woman on it from the chest up. She has neck-length brown hair and is wearing white/grey clothing. Her face is covered by a twig with big white flowers.
#AmReading#memoir#books
Public
Graham Downs

“Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer's work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader's recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book's truth.”

-- Marcel Proust, Time Regained #quotes #amreading @bookstodon

Public
NaraMoore ⛩️👻八尺様👻⛩️ at Fedi

#Review: Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! v.1

#LightNovel #Kaya
English Pub: #JNovelClub
Rating (1-9): 7 (Worth following)

#Isekai #Fantasy

A surprisingly good, though shallow book. Let’s start with the first thing that pops into my head. It’s an isekai, bad start. But that trope mainly serves for characterization and background. We will have to see where her powers take her, but so far, coming from Japan hasn’t helped her much. Next, I said it was shallow. True, but many entertaining books are shallow; the characters are charming, the world-building is interesting, and background information is doled out slowly and naturally. As an author, I noted how the author has avoided an info dump and slowly dished out information. You’re never left scratching your head, but like the MC, you say, “Hum, I wonder why that is.”

The MC, Sara, has strong powers and could become overpowered as the series continues. Currently, that isn’t a problem. Seven volumes are available in English, and another is in translation. It will be interesting to see if the author can keep superpowers from overwhelming the story’s charm. Given how they handled the gradual introduction of information, I am hopeful.

There is no romance so far, A+ in my book, but possibly some yuri subtext, most likely of the onee-sama type. The story mixes slice-of-life and light adventure, leaning toward the former. Sara doesn’t aspire to be a Hunter (adventurer); instead, she has an eye on alchemy. Will the universe force her into her expected niche, dungeon crawling?

Summary: A pleasant light read for escapism. If the author maintains its light tone, it will stay on my read-as-available list.

Volumes 1-7 are free to read for members of J-Novel Club until 5/31/25. Volume 8 is currently in pre-pub and is free to read until 8/15/25.

j-novel.club/series/culinary-c

#AmReading @bookstodon #NMReview

Cover of reviewed boo: Girl in red runing. Wolves, wyvern and other monsters in background.
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