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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3767 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 27, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm still on Dorian Gray. The prose seems more to my liking this time around. Must be the influence of other books.

Still following Pale and not much else of note. It's a fairly interesting exploration of the struggle for justice and peace (along with the contradictions between the two) in a world where Right does make Might, but not quite all the way, if you don't mind the noticeably Blue Tribe author and themes. It's also a novel about magical girls.

Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East - David Stahel

1/2 through. Makes the case that Barbarossa started shitting the bed in the opening weeks, not just at the gates of Moscow. Casts a very harsh light on the Minsk and Smolensk pockets in the immediate opening stages of the war. Very critical of Halder & Guderian.

Money- Emile Zola

1/4th through. Realist fiction of the moneyed classes in mid 19th century Paris. Absolutely hilarious. The main character Saccard is a delight of failure & ambition. The audiobook for Zola's 'Germinal' was very good and made checking out Zola's other works seem worthwhile.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33513.The_White_Man_s_Burden - about how West's effort to "improve" "developing world" fail and why they do. About midway through it, sounds interesting, though there are some topics that get a bit repetitive (I do not necessarily disagree, just wish the same point would not be repeated too much).

The Reformation by Diarmaid MacCulloch — it's a little too comprehensive for my taste, and thus a bit of a slog, but interesting enough that I'm going to finish it. Broad theme: Once the universal hold of European Catholicism is broken, various polities discover through successive rounds of bloodshed that it's no longer practical to have One True State Religion.

The Bridge over the Drina

By far the best book I have ever come across for depicting the human side of Balkan/Ottoman history and just an incredible series of observations about the human nature, societies, change, continuity and modernization. Serves as a great account of an already complex and developed civilization's contact with the Western culture, which is a phenomenon often overlooked in modern narratives in spite confrontations in Africa/America/Australia where the civilization levels were much more mismatched and there is a clear dynamic of conquerer/conquered.

Also written wonderfully and doesn't bore one at all. Won its author a Nobel prize in literature and a seat in the (communist) Yugoslav parliament even though he wasn't really a communist at all. Throughly recommended.

Usagi Yojimbo, Homecoming. A long-anticipated compilation in the long-running manga, A samurai whose lord died in battle has been a wandering ronin doing good acts around Japan. He finally returns to his home province and home village wearing his dead master's sigil. He does not intend to spark an insurrection against the current lord, but when one happens... well, you'll have to read it to find out. Somewhat topical.

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