I’ve been posting monthly round-ups over on Instagram but Meta does not deserve sole custody and anyway I don’t trust any big platform not to eventually blow up.
So here we go.
January
Discipline and Punish
I was really meant to read one chapter, but after gobbling up Power/Knowledge and the 1977-1978 Security lectures in December, I treated myself to the whole book. People like to say there is no need to read Foucault, you can just read the secondary literature. Don’t listen. The lectures are the best, he is very charming and likeable to read.
Gamer Changers 1 and 2
I’m so Heated Rivalry pilled that I read the books as well. I believe that Foucault would approve of me taking breaks from him to read queer smut. I would love a WLW one next, though it’s possible a sapphic version would simply end me.
Porkopolis
I read this in one sitting on a long-haul flight and it felt a bit like being in a dystopian fever dream. Except it is, in fact, real life. Porkopolis is an incredible ethnography of huge, vertically-integrated pork operations in the US. One thing it argues very well is how everyone is implicated in giant agribusiness – it goes way beyond whether or not you eat pork or any other animals.
Animal Machines
Historical context of intensive farming. This book was very influential in early welfare legislation and some of the systems she describes are, mercifully, no longer in existence. Useful for contextualising current intensive systems.
Man and the Natural World
Just some excellent historical writing on humans relationship with nature and animals. Though, like Animal Machines, it’s very specific to UK / English context.
The Years
I was hoping for the vibe of Duras (with whom I’m in love and obsessed) but somehow, while this was full of zingers, it didn’t grab me.
February
More and More and More by Fressoz
This should be boring but IT IS NOT. Anyone who has ever argued for transitions should read this. Fressoz shows that there was never an energy transition — from wood to coal to oil etc — but each new addition only caused greater use of others.
Negative Life by Swarbrick & Tremblay
The beginning was so good, so funny. And what a relief to not have yet another person romanticise entanglement. The rest I could have left. Some parts truly disgusting, this was accidentally a month of sicko books.
A Foray Into the Worlds of Animals and Humans by Von Uexküll
Famous for his theory of Umwelt, how living beings perceive and experience the world. The tick is the most well-known example, lying in wait for warmth and the smell of butyric acid. Nothing else exists in his world. But the whole time, I am thinking of Agamben in The Open, where he’s like … is it tho?
Thirst by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
My heart is breaking for my Persian friends. What can one even say in the face of such horror? I picked this up in January because it felt timely. I wish that had become less true, not more. Brilliant, moving book.
Flesh by David Szalay
Very sparse writing that makes it seem like nothing happens, when in fact it’s full of terrible, sicko things. This book feels the same as waking up every morning this year to gray skies, a constant feeling of dread.
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Magical realism and overlapping worlds. Nothing memorable.
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Internet-soaked stories for sickos. Has you wanting to crawl out of your body.
I also read a forthcoming book that was SO GOOD, how annoying not to be able share it. The last chapter was on Friendship and inspired an Arena board. For books and my loved ones, I will gladly endure to the end.
March
Indifference: On the Praxis of Interspecies Being by Naisargi N. Davé
I loved this book! I am very partial to ethnography and I am so honestly done with the entanglement people. Anyway, she also has The Best story about becoming vegan. I aspire to be a Janine.
A Mouse in a Cage by Carrie Friese
Interesting but I’m not convinced by the humanitarian thing. I’ve been working on my research design / ethics application and I read this for the methodological stuff. It was useful. I wish more monographs gave a little more on methods.
Animal Stories by Kate Zambreno
I went into this with high expectations but is one of those books that’s not actually really about animals. I’d have enjoyed it more if it was called something different and I wasn’t expecting to find animals in it. I did learn some new stuff about our boy Kafka and he remains a neurologically-spicy fav.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
My lovely friend gifted me this on the night I left London ;(. I read it in 2 days… could not put it down. Really loved the descriptions of place, so thick and vivid. It feels like going downhill on a bike and the wind is whipping you and you’re hovering over the breaks but not tapping. Although, as my Sheona says, terrible ending.
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
Heartbreak fiction is the theme this month. Really moving and poignant book that makes you hella RAGING at waves hands this shitty world.
The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiesel
After the cats both died within a month of each other, I thought maybe a self-help book would ... help. Instead I’m just left irritated by reading something that’s like ‘it’s all in your mind’ while bombs drop in Iran and Lebanon.