The five books from the image that I got are:

In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States by Ana Raquel Minian

Third Worlds Within: Multiethnic Movements and Transnational Solidarity by Daniel Widener, Vijay Prashad (Foreword)

The States of the Earth: An Ecological and Racial History of Secularization by Mohamed Amer Meziane, Jonathan Adjemian (Translator)

Ron Carey and the Teamsters: How a UPS Driver Became the Greatest Union Reformer of the 20th Century by Putting Members First by Ken Reiman

Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism by Robert Chapman

These five books sit atop by vinyl record-player or gramophone or whatever you call it nowadays (I think people just say record-player). The very last one is the one I want to read the most, Empire of Normality. The third one, The States of the Earth, seems very interesting to me and I think everyone else should read it. The first two seemed like no-brainers to someone like me and the fourth one is just 'cause like labor unions and Monthly Review (I always read Monthly Review and Science & Society, the last two Marxist academic journals still standing).

Currently reading:

Das Kapital by Karl Marx

An Ideological History of the CPC by Huang Yibing (translated into English from Chinese)

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin

Das Kapital is what I'm reading for the second time. I plan to finish it this time. The second book is apart of a trilogy of books called An Ideological History of the CPC (Volumes 1 - 3), each written by a separate author, and translated from Chinese into English. It costs about $170 for the entire trilogy box-set, but you'll frequently see it on sale on Amazon.com. A Dance with Dragons is the fifth book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire, right after the fourth book A Feast of Crows (which the bad TV show Game of Thrones is very loosely based off of).

And that's about all I'm reading and all of which I will read. The rest I may get from my local library (everyone should patronize their local library; they're currently being attacked by evangelicals, TERFs, and MAGAts).

  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    4 months ago

    Currently working my way through The Hundred Year's War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. It's a depressingly, rough read but really fleshing out a lot of details I was unaware of.

    In the past few months, I've picked up

    • Michael Perelman's The Invention of Capitalism
    • Fraud , Famine, And Fascism by Douglas Tottle
    • Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Frieren
    • Black Skin, White Masks by Fanon
    • Guerilla Warfare by Che
    • Black Skin, White Masks by Fanon
    • I... Rigoberta Menchú
    • Ready for Revolution by Carmichael/Ture
  • MF_COOM [he/him]
    ·
    4 months ago

    I'm reading Sylvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch, which is really good. She's smart as hell and a great writer. I'm not sure I am on board with the central thesis but am loving reading about a people's history of feudalism.

    I'm also reading Domineco Losurdo's Liberalism: A Counter-History, which is really good but definitely much more of a slog through the tracts of 18th century liberal theorists than I was expecting. Honestly it's pretty dry and formal, I can't say I'm enjoying reading it but I'm going to stick it out to the end.

    (Also I don't like how that thread became a dogpile I think you're cool and I wish we were better at disagreeing on this site without ganging up like that. I'm glad you just started a new thread I was worried you'd just disappear)

    • Pluto [he/him, he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 months ago

      Oh, those are great books!

      (Don't worry, it's fine; yes, it became a pile-on, but I'm not going to just disappear like that)

  • YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    I recently ran across a newly printed copy of Inventing Reality, which had been on my "if you ever see it for less than $50 buy it" list, on a take-one leave-one style bookshelf at the coffee shop (I read the ebook already tho).

    Turns out you can buy a print on demand one from this site for $25 lol: https://www.lulu.com/shop/michael-parenti/inventing-reality/paperback/product-4zy2gp.html (not to say that you should, but its probably preferable to manufacturing consent if you want a basic book on the topic)

    my recent/in progress reads are all from the library but I found some Bookchin on the free shelf and have some oddball stuff from thrift stores and bookstores that I want to read eventually, like Dark Side Of Camelot by Hersh, The Second Long March by (some lib iirc), Arab Spring, Libyan Winter by Prashad, and Society of the Spectacle (okay that one wasnt from a thrift store but still)

    • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      4 months ago

      Lulu.com is also where I found Fraud, Famine, and Fascism which has been long out of print. They're a good place to check for those old hard to find for less than some obscene collector's price. eBay and bookfinder.com for used books which are plentiful.

  • radio_free_asgarthr [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    4 months ago

    Let me know what you think about Empire of Normality, that seems interesting. I am currently reading The Dreadful History and Judgement of God on Thomas Müntzer by Andrew Drummond

    • Pluto [he/him, he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 months ago

      Thomas Müntzer! Now he's an interesting historical figure. Not bad.

  • windowlicker [she/her]
    ·
    4 months ago

    i picked up a copy of judith butler's new book "who's afraid of gender?" at a local bookstore. its a really fascinating read if you want to learn about the origins of the far-right TERF/"gender critical" movement.

  • fart [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    im reading romance novels ALL summer thats what I want to read. Just finished Dont You Forget About Me by mhairi mcfarlane