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library summer reading challenge help! (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 months ago by clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works to c/books@lemmy.ml

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Hiya,

My local library summer reading challenge has a few items with which I could use y'all's help.

Read a book with a musical theme.

Read a book outside your comfort zone (I read mostly novels, and mostly sci-fi).

Read a book by an author from a different cultural background. (I'm a white American and I've already read Three Body Problem)

Read a book suggested to you.

I would appreciate any suggestions!

-Pidgin

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[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Musical theme: Kahlil Gibran wrote an eloquent essay on music, though good luck finding it.
Outside your comfort zone: Capitalism as Civilisation by Ntina Tzouvala, a theoretical work which examines how western legal scholars categorized non-western polities based on a racist standard of civilisation and justified colonising them.
Book from a different cultural background: the Cairo Trilogy by the Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, a chronicle of a wealthy family witnessing the instability of the 1930s in British-occupied Egypt.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

Those all sound interesting, thank you!

[–] OmegaMouse@pawb.social 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As for a book from a different cultural background, I remember reading The White Tiger by Indian author Aravind Adiga about 10 years ago and really enjoying it.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

I've never heard of it or the author! Appreciate it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Tiger_(Adiga_novel)

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Outside your comfort zone / different culture: The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. It examines the events of The Lord of The Rings, from the perspective of Mordor and the orcs. Written by a Russian author. Super good, almost better than LotR.

As a suggestion form me (a random on the internet) ultraprocessed people, the science of food that isn't food.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

Ooh, I would totally be down for the first one! The service sounds really interesting, too! Thanks.

[–] Beardedleftist@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You could read Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste by Carl Wilson. It's an essay(ish) book about taste in music, funny to read and not too long (~200pg I'd say).

About the comfort zone, you could try and read something about contemporary problems and predicaments. A poison like no other talks about plastics in our everyday life (not fun), or something really old like Seneca's On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long if You Know How to Use It (~100pg)

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

Thank you for these, friend.

[–] Daryl76679@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Maybe Storm In a Tea Cup by Helen Czerski for a book outside your comfort zone. It's quite the interesting exploration of the principles of physics that underpin the world around us.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

That looks neat, thank you for the suggestion!

[–] ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Ministry for the Future is my favorite sci fi novel, and it looks like we read similar books so you might enjoy it!

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

I'll check it out, thank you!

[–] KammicRelief@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The Gold Bug Variations is one of my favorite music-themed books.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Danke.