User Profile

strangerloop

strangerloop@books.theunseen.city

Joined 1 year, 1 month ago

I read SF/F almost exclusively (branching out is not going well for me). I'm currently trying to discover more books with queer rep, and books that are not (heavily) based on a western understanding of the world.

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strangerloop's books

Currently Reading (View all 6)

Suzette Mayr: The Sleeping Car Porter (Paperback, 2022, Coach House Books) No rating

When a mudslide strands a train, Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, must contend …

Absolutely phenomenal book, I have listened to nearly half of it in a single day. The story is entirely character driven, and the author does an incredible job at describing and embodying the main character. Makes me feel like I know the guy. Besides the lovely characterization and dialog, there is also a wealth of historical information to absorb from this story. And it is a very educational and sobering experience about the everyday reality of black people in America (I'm pretty sure the attitudes described in the story still very much exist, but maybe in a slightly different form).

Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine (AudiobookFormat, 2012, Macmillan Audio) 4 stars

An introduction to "disaster capitalism" argues that the global free market has exploited crises, violence, …

Enlightening read

5 stars

This is an absolutely phenomenal book. Having grown up in a country that has been on the receiving end of the titular shock doctrine, this book gave me the tools to better understand my experience. While I have always been aware of different aspects of the issue, I can now put all of it together and understand the bigger picture.

Naomi Klein has an excellent writing style, explaining her thoughts in very clear and understandable terms. I listened to the audio version, but when I checked out a written copy of the book, I was really impressed by the sheer amount of sources/references she names. That's why I believe that this work is not just a think piece, but a product of actual, serious research.

Overall I would 100% recommend reading The Shock Doctrine, just with a warning that it might make you very, very angry at the world.

Naseem Jamnia: The Bruising of Qilwa (2022, Tachyon Publications) 4 stars

In this intricate debut fantasy introducing a queernormative Persian-inspired world, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of …

The Bruising of Qilwa

4 stars

Absolutely lovely book, 100% recommended.

It creates a beautiful, highly interesting Iran-inspired setting. The fantasy medical mystery is not quite the hardest to solve, but the book remains a very fun read. Learning more about its queer-normative society and the land's history kept me turning the pages. Not to mention that some very interesting thoughts about imperialism are expressed through the world building.

The audiobook version is also recommended, the reader does a very good job portraying the different characters, and it is really nice hearing all the non-English words pronounced properly (as far as I can tell, at least).

I urge anyone who feels like venturing outside western fantasy settings to give this a chance.