Reed doing a US revolution is really cool, but gosh it’s so underdeveloped

knee socks

If you want to give up a habit you have to replace it with something else. Reading or arts have low barriers to entry

guy in your English class who loves David Foster Wallace

I know precisely who you are talking about. And I agree with your assessment, though I would say that sci-fi and fantasy still have a (mostly white) male appeal, even if considerably less than in the past. To me there are two sides to this: the grindset mentality devaluing fiction, as well as fiction becoming for video game-y / marvel-esque in order to compete for attention. I will need to think more about it, media politics is a dear topic of mine.

Your analysis is completely vibes based exceptionalist doomerism that presents Putin as this great magical glue that keeps Russia from collapsing any second. Do you hear yourself? It is no better than the Western propaganda that you refer to, which claim that Putin is personally responsible for every piece of the Russian social and economic fabric, writing every day that surely this time Russia will collapse if only Ukraine gets a billion more $ and drone strike Putin's house. Consider that maybe Russia is more complicated than a constantly collapsing country held together purely by the will of a single autocrat. This is all I'm asking.

I feel like books are still incredibly male-centric. Like the front section of the Barnes and Nobles is usually "10 steps to DOMINATE everyone in your life", "Manly WARRIORS of Saturn" and "Napoleon's (ALPHA MALE) biography" or something like that. And I actually see people reading it on public transport or whatever. Of course it's part of the grindset culture that you mentioned, I just don't think it's fair to say that men are completely absent from book culture. The grindset/video game culture spills over into the literature world.

thats some good bread

dating apps tend to attract a special type of men

Sometimes. I think each has its own culture/vibe but yeah, I think it's hard to acclimate if you are not a club/bar person from the start.

Can you please chill with the dramatic doomerism about Russia.

getting affection post transition is a super cool feeling

real. not a big fan of a lot of cishet relationship posts on this forum lately

Made me think of how train tracks in cities are incredibly annoying, since they divide neighborhoods and cause a lot of noise to anyone living nearby.

macklemore collab

As Cowbee commented, depends what you/the group likes. Leftist is a broad topic. If the group is interested in geopolitics, works on imperialism would be more suited, for climate change - ecosocialism etc. There are a lot of ways to approach socialist thought. Also I would recommend picking works from post-2000 since the language and context is usually easier to understand.

For recommendations (apart from the basics that Cowbee has mentioned) I had success with "Talking to my daughter about the economy" by Yanis Varoufakis. As you can guess from the title, it is geared towards youth and goes through the really basic tenets of exploitation under capitalism in clear and modern language.

Angela Davis also has a collection of essays called "Freedom is a constant struggle". It goes over a lot of topics, so I've found it very good as a discussion starter because people relate to it easily. She talks about abolition and connecting it to other struggled (Palestinian liberation for instance).

I would only suggest reading in a group if people don't have time to read on their own. In a group you would only have time to read and discuss one chapter, so it kind of limits how much you can cover, but it does make it a bit more accessible. If you do read in a group and want to read out loud, make sure that every one is comfortable with it. Usually there would be one or two people who are not, so I we just all read silently. It goes faster that way too.

I've been running a book club for a while so feel free to ping me if you have any further questions.

apparently hexbear is blocked in my library wifi. no more state sponsored posting for me

noooo i was convinced it was a trek thing

The yellow jackets was a specific movement in 2018-2019 that was mainly about cost of living/gas prices (ergo the vests, which are you are required to have in a car). That was 5 years ago. Right now, the NFP parties, unions and other leftist orgs are protesting against Macron.

I really enjoyed July Rain (romance), Courier (coming of age), and I am Cuba (the story of the revolution)

Russia will collapse any day now, trust me