Reading in 2021 and 2022

Over this year I've read a variety of books. I've absorbed some, dredged through others, and read the first few pages of a couple. Now that the year is over, I'd like to share some thoughts about the books I've read, along with some ideas for books to read in 2022.

2021

Books I read this year included:

1984 by George Orwell

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card

How to write science fiction by Orson Scott Card

The First Formic War series (3 books) by Aaron Johnson (and OSC)

The Zero Signal by Rick Wayne

Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing)

The Communist Manifesto

Anarchist Cookbook by Keith McHenry

Hungry for Peace by Keith McHenry

The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Books I've started and plan to finish soon:

Thinking Shakespeare

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

My reading for this year started rather dark. 1984 and Permanent Record, one fiction and one seemingly representing reality, are far too similar for me to be comfortable. No, we are not living under the "socialist" party of Oceania, nor of the neighboring countries, but we are being increasingly watched as technology aids corporations and governments to surveil for profit and "national security".

More lightheartedly, I read the Shadow series by Orson Scott Card, which tells the story of Ender's Game from another angle, and then spirals out into a story of life on Earth after the final Formic war. I also read the prequel series (which is about as good as the word "prequel" suggests), and the latest book in the Ender Saga, The Last Shadow, which concludes the whole saga, including the main tensions in the original series.

I also read a couple of books on writing fiction from the series The Elements of Fiction Writing, published by Writer's Digest. Orson Scott Card wrote a book published in this set, called Characters and Viewpoint. It outlines the process of creating and developing characters, as well as some broader tips related to storytelling.

The Zero Signal by Rick Wayne is a sci-fi cyberpunk-style novel that was released in May. I followed the author on Mastodon, which was where I heard about the book. In it, policymakers in the United States are trying to pass the "Science and Technology Control Act" which requires scientists and inventors to be licensed. It explores ideas that sometimes stretch into pure fantasy.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (a Hunger Games prequel) is intriguing. The concept of the "state of nature" popular among enlightenment writers permeates the story. Are humans naturally brutal and self-destructive when left without a higher power to tame them?

The Manifesto of the Communist Party gave me a glimpse into the mind of the communist (or at least Marx). The commentary on the varieties of socialism Marx rejects is entertaining. It's easy to see people nowadays who advocate those same ideas. When Marx dismisses "Conservative or Bourgeois Socialism", I see it as an attack against modern Bernie Sanders. It's even more amusing that Marx refers to those who advocate moderation of alcohol consumption as "temperance fanatics". Yes Marx, we know you like your liquor.

Anarchy is a common theme among the books I read. The Anarchist Cookbook (not associated with the older book about about drugs and terrorism by the same name) and Hungry for Peace. In the former, the authors explain various anarchist and labor tactics, a bit of theory, along with some vegan recipes. In Hungry for Peace, Keith McHenry explains the history Food Not Bombs as a founder of the first chapter. The movement seeks to end hunger by means of mutual aid and redirecting military spending to social programs. It really got me thinking about how we can make "universal needs universally fulfilled" and how I can participate in mutual aid in the world around me.

As the last full book I read in 2021, The Time Machine was quite enjoyable. I found the commentary on communism and evolution fascinating. Did people during that time really see communism as the inevitable state of human evolution? I know it's not a popular idea now, considering the failure of communist states in the 20th century. The Time Traveler (the only name we're given for the main character) interprets the future world in terms of class struggle.

I'm currently reading two books: Thinking Shakespeare and The Conquest of Bread. I'm reading the former to prepare myself for Hamlet rehearsals starting at the end of this month. I found it at the library when looking for books on Shakespeare, then I found that it was recommended reading by the director anyway. I'm excited to play King Claudius.

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin outlines a social revolution in which both capitalism and the State are abolished, and people are free to organize production in the best interests of all. Even though it superficially seems utopian, it inspires me to participate in mutual aid to make a free society a reality.

2022

As I finish Thinking Shakespeare and The Conquest of Bread, I'm starting to compile a list of books I'd like to read in 2022. This year I'm focusing on studying economics, particularly from perspectives other than the existing order of society.

My incomplete to-read list currently includes:

Economies of Abandonment by Elisabeth A. Povinelli

Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher

The Solutions are Already Here by Peter Gelderloos

Debt: The First 5,000 Years

The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Fields, Factories, and Workshops by Peter Kropotkin

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

Economics, political philosophy, feminism, more Kropotkin, and some fiction to round it all out.

I found Economies of Abandonment, Capitalist Realism, and The Solutions are Already Here by emsenn, an indigenous anarchist advocating for decolonization and mutual aid. E either explicitly recommended them to others, or expressed interest in reading them emself. They are all related to economics and social change in one way or another, one of them explaining that indigenous people already have the answers to many of the problems facing society today.

I've wanted to read the Mars trilogy for a while. If people get the chance to restructure civilization in a new place, what would they do? From what I've read so far, the books explore culture clashes, political theory, and ecology as humans terraform and colonize the Red Planet.

Existential Comics first introduced me to Simone de Beauvoir, along with other philosophers. Beauvoir wrote extensively about feminism in her tome, The Second Sex. I borrowed it from the library and started to read it, but was only able to keep it for a couple of weeks before having to pass it along to the next reader. Now that I have my own copy, I can delve into it more deeply.

Predictably, I have other classic works on political philosophy on the list as well. John Stuart Mill was an incredibly influential 19th century philosopher of liberalism, I want to understand his views of society in his classic On Liberty. I'm also going to read more Kropotkin, since I just got an anthology of his major works.

This year I want to read more and participate in my community. I have some ideas, and surely these books will spur on more.

If you have any book suggestions, feel free to share them! I'm especially interested in sci-fi, older literature, political theory, and some technology.

Ĝis baldaŭ!