Milan Kundera’s latest novel is a slim meditation on meaninglessness that is both random and entertaining.
Being Together Precedes Being
A lovely collection of essays and images from a 2016 exhibition called “The Kids Want Communism.” I’ll be speaking at an event in celebration of the book on November 5th together with Joshua Simon, Malcolm Harris, and Marissa Brostoff.
Spent a day with August Bebel
Since it was raining here in Philly, I decided to spend a day reading Jürgen Schmidt’s fascinating biography of August Bebel. Many German working class families hung portraits of Bebel in their homes, and he was/is widely regraded as the father of German social democracy. I was fascinated to learn, however, that Bebel himself would have preferred to call the party “Democratic Socialist” rather than “social democratic,” but he was outvoted.
The best way to read Engels...
…is to pair him with dark chocolate and red wine. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve read this book, it always boils my blood, and I need some some comfort when I get to the part about the overthrow of the mother right.
I tore through this in one sitting, from cover to cover
I just couldn’t put it down. I loved the original, and the sequel is a triumph. I don’t get to read novels very often, but I am so glad I made some time for this one. Atwood is a genius.
Autumn Reading
So now that summer has come and gone, I still have a pile of books that I meant to read but didn’t get around to. I fear I will not get to this pile until next summer, and by then it will have grown even bigger. But yesterday I decided to dive into this little book (very short) by Louis Menand from 2010. It’s a must read for anyone considering a Ph.D. in the humanities or social sciences, and I think it helps outsiders understand the weird culture of academia.
“It is the academic’s job in a free society to serve the public culture by asking questions the public doesn’t want to ask, investigating subjects it cannot or will not investigate, and accommodating voices it fails or refuses to accommodate.”