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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   3412 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 14, 2025

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 picking up Kirilenko and Korshunova's What is Personality, from the USSR's Progress Publishers. It's a somewhat dizzying but fascinating application of dialectical materialism to individuals.

Very little, truth be told.

Les Trois Mousquetaires, in public-domain audiobook format (librivox). Mostly just to keep my French from escaping me altogether, but also because I genuinely enjoy the genre. I think I get about half of what's being read. It'd probably be a better idea to actually read the text.

Mistress of Mistresses, by E.R. Eddison. It's slow going so far, very much unlike The Worm Ouroboros. I trust Eddison to know what he's doing, so I'll keep at it.

Just finished Philip Roth’s The Human Stain. Published 25 years ago, but plot – about a university professor who finds himself cancelled after using a word where the literal/dictionary meaning is perfectly correct but an alternative/colloquial meaning is disparaging/racist – feels totally current.

I am awestruck by Roth’s sentences. Almost every page has a great one. (If you enjoy technically brilliant long – sometimes page-long – sentences.)

There are some blind spots – a couple of characters’ stories just seem to stop without resolution – but overall a great read. Extremely perceptive, sort of culture wars years before the culture wars. I haven’t read much Roth. Will be checking out more.

Where did you find that book?

Here. Lots of Progress Publishers books are on the Internet Archive. As far as I know, they're not in print anymore.

Thank you. Is it any good? More insightful than the usual western psychology fare?

Too early to tell, but it's written well and looks effortful.

The main reason I'm reading it is because I want a sense of the ethos of a lost culture. Not really expecting to learn truths about the human condition.

Yes, that makes sense.

About to start Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, having previously enjoyed adored his novel Never Let Me Go.

In between reading full-length books I've been reading some of the Father Brown stories. So far I've read "The Blue Cross", "The Secret Garden" and "The Queer Feet". They're okay.

I think Remains of the Day is even better. One of my top 3 or 4 novels.

Dinner At Deviant's Palace, by Tim Powers. Haven't read this one since I was a kid, and it's interesting to revisit it with adult eyes and understanding.

A Greater Britain:

  • Historically: In 1924, Oswald Mosley was a member of the Labour Party, and stood for reelection to the House of Commons, but lost by a hair's breadth (0.28 percent). In 1926, he returned to Parliament. In 1929, he was made a minister without portfolio, but was not able to get any of his radical policies implemented because the prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer disagreed with them. In 1930, he resigned his cabinet post in disgust, and submitted to the Labour Party Conference a policy memorandum that was defeated by a relatively narrow margin (8.9 percent). In 1931, he left Labour and founded the fascist New Party.

  • In this alternate-history book: He wins the 1924 election, and is able to build up more support within the Labour Party. In 1931 his policy memorandum is defeated by an even narrower margin (3.2 percent), and he sticks with Labour rather than turning fascist.

Shadow of Montreux: Historically, Mussolini declared that fascism was "no export article", and the various fascist movements of Europe developed largely independent of one another. In this alternate-history book, in 1929 he changes his mind and organizes a Fascist International, akin to the USSR's Communist International (Comintern).

I had no idea Mosley used to be a member of Labour, that's wild.

Mussolini was also an ex-socialist. Horseshoe theory makes accurate predictions.

I’m am just about 85% finished with A True History of the Conquest of New Spain. A fantastic first hand account by one of Cortez’ men, a book I was shocked I’d never heard of. I can give a bit of a review in a day or two when finished if anyone is interested, but for now I’ll just say I recommend it highly. Even in translation from 1850 it is extremely easy to read, fast paced and exciting.

I've started reading it, simply due to your post.

I like it. And I like the premise; honest direct reporting from an actual participant.

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