this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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Fiction or Non-Fiction, academic or casual, theory or non-theory, feel free to mention books of any genre and on any topic.

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[โ€“] ProudCascadian@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I've been reading Blackshirts and Reds over and over, and actually printing copies to hand out.

Not many people in my area have read it, so I'm glad to do this work.

[โ€“] flanzu@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago

I'm reading Caliban and the Witch. It's a really amazing overview of various processes that occurred during primitive accumulation.

[โ€“] vema@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago

Started skimming through these:

I had a print copy of Building The Commune a few years back but I passed it along to someone else before getting very far in it. Right now I am just flipping through these to get some historical details but I'll probably just settle on one of them to fully read.

Also came across this recently, though I have no idea if/when I'll get around to reading it, but it seemed interesting: The red earth: a Vietnamese memoir of life on a colonial rubber plantation.

[โ€“] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Still reading Elementary principles of philosophy Georges Politzer

[โ€“] midas@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I've heard many people say good things about the book, but I've never opened it. Do you like it ?

[โ€“] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

It's part of the prole wiki marxism 101 guide and also one of the first philosophy books I've ever read so it's difficult for me to read it. But overall it's really good at explaining.

[โ€“] Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The analogies and examples are often times fallacious and misleading. If anyone wants a good introduction to the philosophy of Dialectical materialism, I recommend Adoratsky's Dialectical Materialism The Theoretical Foundation of Marxism-Leninism.

[โ€“] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

I agree yeah, I find myself re-reading several paragraphs because I just sort of get lost in the examples.

[โ€“] Cowbee@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 week ago
[โ€“] chinawatcherwatcher@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

for fiction before bed i've been reading "metal from heaven" by august clarke, recommended by someone on here, don't remember who.

for non-fiction i just recently finished "make it stick," a book about more effective study habits. there's a lot of things i want to study and learn in the future, and i was never really forced or able to learn good study habits in school. the basic ideas seem very useful and widely applicable!

[โ€“] knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Probably me, how are you liking Metal From Heaven?

it's alright so far! i'm about halfway through atm, glad to be reading it. some pros and cons as always

i like the material nature of ichorite and how it affects the story, characters, and worldbuilding. i'm intrigued by the author's conception of the contradiction between the aristocracy and the burgeoning bourgeoisie, although it seems like each is portrayed as a class and not a set of people to varying degrees at different times. when it does the former i get sucked in

i do wish there was more of an explanation for why crawlies are somewhat normalized vis a vis the patriarchy. that stuff is always interesting to me in queer fantasy/sci-fi because it gives you an idea of what the author's conceptualization of patriarchy is. like it totally makes sense to be normalized in the aristocracy, but why and to what extent in the lower classes? it's also way hornier than i was expecting lol. i don't really appreciate the neutral/positive view towards the sex industry, especially in a book featuring some form of queer liberation

in terms of writing style i think it's interesting that there's so many long paragraphs of descriptions with a kind of weird or disjointed character to them. it really helps you get into the MC's head. i feel like it's sort of at the expense of dialogue and consequently the development of her relationship to some of the other characters, but that also makes you feel as shy and uncomfortable as she seems to be in social situations sometimes

First I'm hearing about this book, really interesting. It doesn't really fit my style but I've got a friend in mind to gift it to, excited to eventually hear their opinion about it

[โ€“] uncanny@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

I'm reading Capitalism in Crisis by Fidel Castro. It's all speeches he gave in the late 90s. Interesting stuff.

[โ€“] beerwizard@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

read The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling the other week and really enjoyed it! I have primarily been blowing through my library network's graphic novel collections otherwise, read one called Old Head that I LOVED about vampires and basketball, and Prokaryote Season by Leo Fox (one of my favorite cartoonists atm)! Really trying to boost my reading stamina so that I can dive into lengthier works of theory, but have been slowly digging at Luna Oi's first textbook on dialectical materialism and ML for the last few weeks. My goal this year is to read, read, read!!

[โ€“] yunqihao@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

Always studying ็บขๅฎไนฆ alongside whatever catches my interest day to day week to week

[โ€“] Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

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I just started to read Women and Socialism by August Bebel.

[โ€“] howler@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago

I'm reading the Heartstrikers series by Rachel Aaron, because I loved her other series, The Spirit Thief. I'm on the third book and so far, it isn't bad at all!

[โ€“] Raverfield@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

It's sickeningly beautiful, confusing and linguistically dense. So far (30 pages in) it shows an astonishing lot of situations and behaviours one can analyse. For example the portrayal of the US police state, surveilling everyone and arresting people on arbitrary things, like owning vaseline, which encapsulates the essence of a police so well.

Highly recommended for anyone whose stomach doesn't cramp from the graphic language (my copy has a card that reads "I hereby confirm that i am at least 18 years of age..."). It's a classic for a reason.

[โ€“] Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago

Thanks. Added to the reading list.

[โ€“] PumpkinMug@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

Just started Aberration in the Heartland of the Real. Im so hype

November 1918 by Alfred Doblin,1:citizens and soldiers 1/2๏ผša people betrayed 2/2:return of the frontline troops 3:Karl and Rossa