The latest free reviews on Bogi Reads the World: a fantasy graphic novel that was a pleasant surprise, a small volume of queer prose poetry, and a vintage YA science fiction book!
After seeing it mentioned quite a bit around here, I started the #Murderbot series today, and the first installment is amazing. I almost finished it in one sitting this morning, but then real life got in the way, and I had to put it down.
Is it good or bad when the library has all the books you just looked up? My list for summer reading is made, I should not even been thinking about other books.
Been slacking on my #reading updates. But last week I did finish the #LightNovel series A Sister's All You Need. Overall it was a great series, but I felt like the final volume was a bit disappointing overall.
I also started the #manga series Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and got through volume 3 so far. Really loving it so far. It's got some great characters and some good humor, but also hitting those emotional notes. Looking forward to continuing it.
Today in Labor History June 4, 1943: The Zoot Suit riots began in Los Angeles, with white soldiers attacking and stripping mostly Latino, but also some black, Italian and Filipino youth who wearing zoot suits. They did it in response to wartime propaganda vilifying the wearers of zoot suits as unpatriotic hoodlums. There was a government ban on zoot suits and other long, woolen articles of clothing because of war rationing. Additionally, the LA Times had been whipping up racial tensions by publishing propaganda associating Mexican and Hispanic youth with delinquency, particularly in the wake of the Sleepy Lagoon murder. Race riots also occurred that summer in Mobile, Beaumont, Detroit, Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Philadelphia and New York City.
During the Great Depression, the U.S. had deported between 500,000 and 2 million Mexicans. Of the 3 million who remained, the largest concentration lived in Los Angeles. Because of discrimination, many were forced into jobs with below-poverty wages. And then, the U.S. military built a naval academy in the Latino community of Chavez Ravine, further exacerbating tensions.
Zoot suits (baggy pegged pants with a long, flamboyant jacket that reached the knees) became popular in the early 1940s, particularly among young African American men. It was associated with a sense of pride, individuality and rebellion against mainstream culture. The trend quickly made its way into the Hispanic and Filipino subcultures in southern California. During this time, there was also a rise of pachuco culture among Latin youth. Chicano or pachuco jazz had become incredibly popular. Some of the great Pachuco band leaders included Lalo Guerrero, Don Tosti and Don Ramon Martinez.
Margarita Engle depicted The Zoot Suit riots in her young adult novel, Jazz Owls (2018), which she wrote in verse.
Today in Labor History June 4, 1939: The U.S. blocked the MS St. Louis from landing in Florida. The ship carried 963 Jewish refugees who were fleeing the Nazis. Canada also refused. As a result, the ship was forced back to Europe. Over 200 of its passengers ultimately died in Nazi concentration camps. The ordeal is also known as the Voyage of the Damned. It has been depicted in numerous books, including Julian Barnes’s novel, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters (1989); Bodie and Brock Thoene's novel Munich Signature (1991); and Leonardo Padura's novel Herejes (2013). Cordell Hull, who was Secretary of State at the time, and who led the fight to turn the refugees away, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1944. It was one of the worst Nobel prizes ever awarded (along with Henry Kissinger (1973), who facilitated bloody dictatorships in Chile and Argentina, genocides in Bangladesh and East Timor, and carpet bombing of Cambodia. Or Elihu Root (1912), the U.S. Secretary of War who oversaw the brutal repression of the Filipino independence movement. And let’s not forget Shimon Peres, Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat (1994), who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize despite their histories of human rights abuses. Or Aung San Suu Kyi (1991). Or Mikhail Gorbachev (1990), who sent tanks into the Baltic republics less than a year after winning his “peace” prize, killing numerous civilians. Or Barack Obama (2009), who began assassinating civilians with his drones and arresting more immigrants than his predecessor, George W. Bush, not long after winning his Nobel. Or Woodrow Wilson (1919), an outright racist and apologist for slavery, who sent troops to occupy Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and to “intervene” in Cuba, Honduras and Panama, and who oversaw the Palmer raids that led to over 10,000 arrests and over 500 deportations of union leaders, peace activists, socialists and anarchists. Or Menachem Begin (1978), who four years after receiving his “peace” prize launched the bloody invasion of Lebanon, and who refused to fire Ariel Sharon, even after the Kahan Commission found Sharon culpable for the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
My blogging—no longer in preparation for preliminary exams because I PASSED BABY!—continues this summer.
First off, #GodHumanAnimalMachine, Megan O'Gieblyn's compelling examination of #AI, #metaphor, and #transhumanism, which reveals the shared history and oppressive purpose of hard-line Calvinist doctrines of predestination and the apocalyptic transhumanism of our #tech overlords
I can't remember who it was here that I saw posting a recommendation for Space Opera by @catvalente but whoever you were, thank you so much.
I bought it pretty much on a whim based on that post and it's terrific. It's kind of as if Douglas Adams was still around and was writing about an intergalactic version of Eurovision.
Perfect fodder for a Sunday afternoon lazing in the garden - especially as one of my neighbours seems to have decided to soundtrack themselves doing the same by playing George Michael's entire musical output.
QSFer Edward Kendrick has a new MM fantasy book out: Lochlan.
Mage Roland sends Lochlan, his adopted son and apprentice, to a distant city to steal a valuable item — a relatively simple task for a thief with Lochlan’s skills. On his journey, Lochlan meets...
Just finished reading East of Ealing, the third book in Robert Rankin's Brentford a trilogy that currently stands at 11 #books .
As usual a throughly delightful read, 4/5 stars. 👍
I would recommend it to anyone who loves humourous specualtive fiction that mixes and matches genres and ideas.
"Critical philosophy implies above all historical criticism. It dissolves the rigid, unhistorical, natural appearance of social institutions; it reveals their historical origins."
György Lukács died #OTD in 1971. As a critic, Lukács was especially influential due to his theoretical developments of literary realism and of the novel as a literary genre. via @wikipedia
He was specialized in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. He wrote as Nictzin Dyalhis. During his lifetime he attained a measure of celebrity as a writer for the pulp fiction magazine Weird Tales. via @wikipedia
The tyranny of nostalgia: demolishing the myth of Tory economic competence | One of the enduring myths of British politics is the notion of Conservative economic competence, a new book by Russell Jones shatters the illusion | John Cole
We're back baby! 2023 Seattle Anarchist Bookfair is returning to Vera Project on 8/26-27, 11a-5p both days. All sorts of cool shit. Free food and childcare. Wheelchair accessible. Wear a mask!