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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   2230 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 16, 2026

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So, what are you reading?

I've finished Al-Ghazali's Prophetic Ethics, the rather slim 20th volume of his Revival of the Religious Sciences. Most of it is a recounting of Hadith, and somewhat threadbare, since the previous 9 books had apparently dealt with the issues presented in detail. The best parts are all when Al-Ghazali speaks in his own voice, which happens rarely near the end. I suspect I'll be pouring over this one occasionally neverthless, looking for lessons to be drawn from its structure and focus.

Perdido Street Station and I'm about to drop it 120 pages in unless someone convinces me not to

I kind of wish I'd dropped it. It tries to come together into something to make the last few hundred pages worth it, but that something is just more misery.

that something is just more misery

Well, that's Miéville for you. If we're talking about pure prose style, he's a very good writer, but he's unrelentingly grim (deeply imbued with socialist politics hence everything is oppression and only class consciousness can save us now). Good writing can only save so much of a world view that is unrelentingly ugly.

It’s funny. I’d heard that his other books, especially Iron Council, were absurdly socialist, but I didn’t get that from PSS at all. Class consciousness didn’t seem like it would have helped anybody. The best-laid plans of birds and men never survive contact with cryptids.

PSS is somewhat socialist, mostly in the descriptions of the New Crobuzon government, though in current political environment it comes off as more "Epstein class" left/right conspiracy tinged populism than "actual" socialism. The Scar is only fleetingly and barely socialist. Iron Council is very socialist. Out of the other books I've read, Kraken and City & The City are at most barely socialist (and also considerably less grim than the Bas-Lag books), and October (which is great) is obviously extremely socialist.

I haven't been able to read much of his work since the unrelenting grim ugliness just turns me off, but it's funny that often the worldbuilding gets away from him and the story demonstrates that The People's Communist Socialist Collective Of True Comrades Democratically And Representatively Deciding Shit isn't really much use to anyone and would be pretty ineffectual if it ever took power.

And meanwhile the cryptids, as you say 😁

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