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Verglas Locked account

verglas@books.theunseen.city

Joined 3 years, 5 months ago

Checking this out! I don't read fast but I am consistent :D

For work I read a lot of scientific papers so sadly I don't have too much energy to come home and read much of the political stuff that is still on my wish list. So there will probably be quite a lot of (science) fiction ...

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finished reading Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson

Ishi Robinson: Sweetness in the Skin (2025, Penguin Books, Limited) No rating

Great book, really enjoyed it. Would love to hear from someone who actually knows Jamaica how they perceive it though. Of course since I have not been there I don't know the neighbourhoods described in the book or the culture it describes.

Definitely recommend this!

finished reading The Vegetarian by Kang Han

Kang Han: The Vegetarian (Paperback, 2018, Granta Publications)

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions …

Finished it. Not really my cup of tea. It reads like exploitation (as in the movie genre). I think I understand where the author is going in terms of the central point of the book, I just tend to think that using certain forms of shock and gore to get there is too easy, especially when much of it centres around sexual violence toward women (irrespective of the gender of the author).

reviewed Butter by Polly Barton

Polly Barton, Asako Yuzuki: Butter (Hardcover, 2024, HarperCollins Publishers)

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet …

Extremely pleasurable read

Enjoyed every minute of this.

The author describes the world more sensually than most authors write eroticism.

If the translation is this good, I am very curious what got lost in it.

finished reading Safety Through Solidarity by Shane Burley

Shane Burley, Ben Lorber: Safety Through Solidarity (2024, Melville House Publishing)

Two activist journalists present a progressive, intersectional approach to the vital question: What can we …

The last three chapters took a while. I have been busy through December and January.

I highly recommend this book. I think it offers some crucial information regarding the current state of the Jewish left and antisemitism as part of the greater leftwing anticolonial antifascist, anti-racist, and anti-white-supremacist struggle, and how we can all work together the form a greater and more solidaritous left that respects our diversity while also respecting one another.

finished reading The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Shannon Chakraborty: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi (2023, HarperCollins Publishers)

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the …

This was fascinating. Not sure whether it was my mood or something else but I didn't like the first chapter but stuck with it and absolutely loved the rest of the book.

Interesting adventure, great storytelling, characters have depth. Recommend.

wants to read The Star's My Destination, Volume 1 by Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester: The Star's My Destination, Volume 1 (Paperback, 1979, Baronet Pub.) No rating

This is the book that inspired Micheal Moorcock to write SF which made me curious. In his own words: "It was Alfred Bester who first attracted me to science fiction. I'd read some fantasy and Edgar Rice Burroughs before that, but I thought that if The Stars My Destination (also called Tiger! Tiger!) was sf, then this was the fiction for me. It took me some years to realise that Bester was one of the few exceptions. " - Michael Moorcock in 'Starship Stormtroopers' (libcom.org/article/starship-stormtroopers-michael-moorcock)