Priestland is a great storyteller. I learned a lot from this book. It's a history of communist movements and communist rule, not a history of communist ideas as I originally expected. Since the scope of the book is extremely broad, some things are simplified, which is fine. The basic idea is that Marxism has three facets: Romantic, Radical, and Modernist (synthesized from Fourier, Babœuf and Saint Simon respectively) and the history of communism is depicted as a dance between these three. This model works very well I think.
User Profile
silly little guy
he/it
This link opens in a pop-up window
2023 Reading Goal
43% complete! possm has read 13 of 30 books.
User Activity
possm finished reading Weibliche Unsichtbarkeit by Marylène Patou-Mathis
Weibliche Unsichtbarkeit by Marylène Patou-Mathis
Wie Frauen die Geschichte prägten – und warum wir nichts davon wissen. Ein feministischer Blick auf die Urgeschichte
Über weite …
possm started reading Weibliche Unsichtbarkeit by Marylène Patou-Mathis
Weibliche Unsichtbarkeit by Marylène Patou-Mathis
Wie Frauen die Geschichte prägten – und warum wir nichts davon wissen. Ein feministischer Blick auf die Urgeschichte
Über weite …
Bird's eye history of the 20th century
5 stars
I was looking for a "history of communism" more as a history of ideas, tracing the evolution from Marx to Luxemburg to Adorno etc. This was not that at all, but I still loved it.
possm finished reading The Red Flag : A History of Communism by David Priestland
possm started reading The Red Flag : A History of Communism by David Priestland
possm reviewed Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
Set in the eighteenth century London underworld, this bawdy, genre-bending novel reimagines the life of …
Fun read
4 stars
Content warning Tone of the ending mentioned
So I've had a review draft open for a week and I just deleted it by mistake and I can't remember all of my points so I'll make this short. I liked that it's a story with a trans protagonist that isn't a trans story. First I've had of those. Of course the author is trans so that tracks. I liked the framing device in theory (the main text is a primary source from the 18th century, the framing device are the annotations and footnotes by a modern scholar). In practice I found the scholar character annoying and felt like he didn't go anywhere, also the suspension of disbelief required to buy that this guy uses annotations as his diary was too much. I liked the 18th century language, the heavy use of London slang with the footnotes to understand it, the capitalization of nouns. The world of the novel is really dark and ugly, so I liked that the ending was hopeful and beautiful. I liked the politics in the book, even though it felt heavy-handed at times. The author Jordy Rosenberg is very visible through his writing, he's an academic and you can tell. This guy oozes postcolonial theory, queer theory and marxist dialectics out of every pore and to me personally that's cool but it's probably not for everyone. He also really wears his mommy issues on his sleeve.
possm finished reading Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
Set in the eighteenth century London underworld, this bawdy, genre-bending novel reimagines the life of thief and jailbreaker Jack Sheppard …
possm started reading 妖怪客棧2: 龍女的假期 by 楊翠
姑獲鳥剛剛平息紛爭，李知宵和妖怪客棧的房客們忙於幫忙重建羽佑鄉，同時還忙於新學期的課業。不知不覺，三年級第二學期就這樣結束了，迎來暑假的他準備和柳真真、沈碧波以及妖怪房客們策畫一次大聚會！ 然而事與願違，有一個脾氣特別壞的大妖怪也迎來了假期，她非要住在妖怪客棧。這個妖怪竟然讓螭吻都害怕得瑟瑟發抖！如此人見人怕、妖見妖藏的妖怪到底是誰？李知宵生氣了，他要為自己討回一個無憂無慮的暑假……
Part 2 let's go!
possm reviewed 妖怪客棧1: 姑獲鳥的紛爭 by 楊翠
《妖怪客棧》是上海火雀文化傳媒有限公司旗下少年小說品牌，由作家楊翠創作，被譽為中國第一部“東方文化幻想”少年小說。
作品秉承“承擔責任才是真勇敢，包容他人才是真強大”的正能量，得到300位專家學者的口碑認證，為中國少年帶來東方文化幻想閱讀體驗。
Fun fantasy novel
4 stars
I read this novel mostly to improve my Chinese proficiency. It was great for this purpose. The target audience is tweens I think. Children aged about 9-13. So the language is simple, the narration has a good flow, it's all quite easy to follow. Occasionally I didn't understand a detail or two, but that's fine. The book (first of a series) is set in a harry potter-like setting where the normal, human world is secretly inhabited by supernatural creatures that also have their own spaces and realms. The supernatural elements are all borrowed from Chinese literary tradition, especially the Shan Hai Jing. The book really invites the Harry Potter comparison, the little boy protagonist's female friend even has Hermione's exact personality. I did wonder about one thing: the protagonist, Zhixiao, inherits the "monster inn" from his father who died, that's what sets the plot in motion. But there is no …
I read this novel mostly to improve my Chinese proficiency. It was great for this purpose. The target audience is tweens I think. Children aged about 9-13. So the language is simple, the narration has a good flow, it's all quite easy to follow. Occasionally I didn't understand a detail or two, but that's fine. The book (first of a series) is set in a harry potter-like setting where the normal, human world is secretly inhabited by supernatural creatures that also have their own spaces and realms. The supernatural elements are all borrowed from Chinese literary tradition, especially the Shan Hai Jing. The book really invites the Harry Potter comparison, the little boy protagonist's female friend even has Hermione's exact personality. I did wonder about one thing: the protagonist, Zhixiao, inherits the "monster inn" from his father who died, that's what sets the plot in motion. But there is no mention of grief or loss. Zhixiao's emotional arc is about gaining confidence, getting respected, finding his strength. His relationship with his mum is an important conflict point, can he spend enough time with her while also being active in the spirit world? Will she accept his new role or try to keep him at home? But missing their dead dad/husband doesn't seem to be a factor in their conflict. I don't know, it's a bit strange. Maybe I missed something though, due to the language barrier.
All in all this is a great read for advanced Chinese learners, and probably also for tweens if they are native speakers. Looking forward to part 2.
possm finished reading 妖怪客棧1: 姑獲鳥的紛爭 by 楊翠
《妖怪客棧》是上海火雀文化傳媒有限公司旗下少年小說品牌，由作家楊翠創作，被譽為中國第一部“東方文化幻想”少年小說。
作品秉承“承擔責任才是真勇敢，包容他人才是真強大”的正能量，得到300位專家學者的口碑認證，為中國少年帶來東方文化幻想閱讀體驗。
Finished just 2 days before the end of the reading challenge!
possm commented on 妖怪客棧1: 姑獲鳥的紛爭 by 楊翠
《妖怪客棧》是上海火雀文化傳媒有限公司旗下少年小說品牌，由作家楊翠創作，被譽為中國第一部“東方文化幻想”少年小說。
作品秉承“承擔責任才是真勇敢，包容他人才是真強大”的正能量，得到300位專家學者的口碑認證，為中國少年帶來東方文化幻想閱讀體驗。
This challenge is going well, I've been reading a chapter every day, today even two chapters! I enjoy the harry potter-esque setting and I feel like my reading comprehension is improving quite a lot.
possm started reading Normalisierung von rechts by Udo Sierck
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (Russian: Империализм как высшая стадия капитализма, romanized: Imperializm kak …
Classic
4 stars
I felt like a bad Leftist not knowing Lenin's imperialism theory. Now I can cross this off. Main points are: - capitalism is in its latest stage, characterized by monopolies and the dominance of finance capital - capital gets exported to colonized countries - the working class in the imperialist countries benefits from the exploitation of the colonized countries - Kautsky is wrong and we don't like him - monopoly capitalism intensifies the contradictions of capitalism - capitalism is decaying
I find it interesting that we've been supposedly living in "late stage capitalism" for over a century now. Maybe it's time to stop being this optimistic.