Hello, folks! This is my first post here (and in the great, wide, still-confusing world of Lemmy). So stoked to find a new book community!
To answer the question, mine is “The Future of Nostalgia” by Svetlana Boym. I stumbled upon this book when I read a quote from it in a different book and I immediately went to track down a copy. A truly happy accident.
The most fascinating thing about this book was how universal it felt. Here was someone writing about post-Soviet Russia in the nineties, yet it felt strangely familiar. The commercialization of nostalgia, the unchecked rewriting of history, and the rose-tinted delusion of “The Golden Age”; it felt like she was talking about my own country. I’m a Lebanese expat, so nostalgia is a big part of my life and my relationship with my country (which is very much a love/hate relationshit), and this book completely redefined my understanding of nostalgia, nationality and collective identity, heritage, and even food. It helped me understand the survivor’s guilt, the PTSD, the resentment, and the stubborn fondness. It’s been so long since a book scooped out my soul and shook off the dust like this.
So, yeah. What’s the last book that made you go, “Holy shit, I think that just rewired my brain”?
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. I’m a huge Murakami fan, but this is my first time reading this one. I’m at around page 1000, and I wish it was even longer! I still have 200 pages to go but still, I was instantly immersed, it’s the kind of world where you just dive deeper and deeper, the characters are mysterious yet endearing, and there is a lot of dialogue to puzzle over. The phrases the characters used are cryptic, and lend themselves to a lot of analysis and commentary. I also enjoy the journey through Tokyo, the nods to classical music, to different books, it is such a well created, incredibly detailed universe, truly fascinating.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
The book felt like a constant epiphany. I wanted to rekindle my relationship with nature and it helped me understand land stewardship in a way that I wasn’t able to grasp. The author connects nature and science so well that nature’s magic doesnt get lost in the scientific rigour. It also doesn’t shame the reader for their past or background, and was thoughtful and optimistic. The audio book is also read by the author which is great.
Great book!
For me, it was Expedition to the Baobab Tree, by Wilma Stockenström.
The plot is anachronistic, spanning decades or centuries and across many nondescript but very real locations. The narrator is meant to exemplify the experiences of countless people who have endured the same legacy of slavery and abuse across time and space in human history.
The last section of the story deconstruct one’s desperation for meaning and self-identity in the face of absolute solitude. I’ve never read another book like it.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E Taylor. I’d never before thought that an immortal digital consciousness who can’t stop quoting/referencing 20th century nerd culture and spends decades out in space could be such an entertaining character, or have real, human, compelling stories and worries. The rest of the Bobiverse series isn’t half bad either. The audiobook is particularly well performed.
(An older one for sure…)
“Salt: A World History” because by page 33 I’d learned more about history than I’d learned in high school. Not to mention salt!
The book is amazingly well-written in a very engaging style. The pages just flew by! I highly recommend it to anyone that’s curious about humanity’s relation to this essential-for-life mineral.
The Dark Tower, kept hearing it was good but I also knew Stephen King endings can be lack luster. Best ending to a series that I’ll ever read.
