Reading Wednesday

[yuuago]

Currently Reading:
My Life in Propaganda: Language and Totalitarian Regimes by Magda Storińska. About (as the title suggests) propagandist language, with reflection on the author's experiences growing up in communist Poland. Part personal account, part linguistic analysis; it doesn't really fit neatly into either box, though I think it'd appeal to people who are interested in either/both. She also discusses modern Poland a small amount - mainly ways that restrictions and ambiguities of language either persisted post-1989 or did not, and ways that similar tactics are being used in more modern times by PiS etc.

I'm only halfway through it, but I'm finding it difficult to put down. ...It has also reminded me of various topics I've been meaning to read about but haven't found time to get around to. Namely the Solidarity movement (which she touches on). Most likely my library has something on that, though suggestions for books about it are also welcome. :V

Also Currently Reading:
Barefoot Britain by Anna McNuff. This one is an account of her adventure running a length of 100 marathons from Shetland to London in bare feet. I get a lot of enjoyment out of reading sport/adventure memoirs of things that I would never attempt myself, and this fits the bill. Anyway - it's a very fun and light read; the author has a lot of good humour, and that really comes out. Also, there's this one bit where she was injured and had to put a pause on the run for a few weeks, and all of her discussion about how she felt about it, how awful it felt to stop even for a while, made me recall when I got hurt at judo and was out of commission for a while - obviously the situations are not all that comparable, but it was nice to read that and think, ah, she gets it. ...Anyway, yeah, I'm enjoying this.

Reading Next:
+ From the library:
- Red Dirt Road by S. R. White. Next in the Detective Dana Russo series, which I've been really enjoying.
- Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon vol 03 by Naoko Takeuchi. Still snailing my way through this.

+ On the tsundoku shelf:
- Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher
- The King is Dead by Naomi Libicki
- Crossing the Carpathians by Carmen Bugan
- The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
- Pilgrimage by Zanne Handley
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Athabasca by Alistair MacLean
- The Lake of the Dead by Andre Bjerke
- And All Between by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
- Sixty-Seven Ontological Studies by Jan Zwicky and Robert V. Moody

I'll probably nibble at the tsundoku pile after I get through the library borrows; there's too much stuff on there for my liking, and I really want to read some of these (the first three especially).

Comments

[octahedrite]

Ooh, a T. Kingfisher book I haven't checked out 👀 Barefoot Britain also sounds interesting.

[yuuago]

I'm super looking forward to getting to the Kingfisher book - her stuff usually hits a really good note for me. We'll see!

[minutia_r]

XD

[yuuago]

;)

[ireneultramarine]

I'd love to hear more about what you think of My Life in Propaganda so far. Out of personal experience or scholarly interest, I'm definitely putting it on reading queue.

[yuuago]

I finished it today! Some parts were very linguistics, while others more memoir-y. Sometimes I got the feeling that there were things going over my head - like, I felt that if I knew more about the Polish language, I'd be able to have a better understanding of what she was talking about. Though I do also think that she did a pretty good job of getting across the point when talking about things specific to how Polish is used in these contexts (negation in ways that don't exist in English, levels of formality that aren't much of a thing in modern English, etc).
Lots and lots of discussion of Orwell, though all things considered, that's not out of place.
IDK, I'm still chewing on it. Would be interested in your thoughts if/when you get around to it, since you're the linguistics-focused one between the two of us. :V

[ireneultramarine]

It would take a good while for people to discuss authoritarianism without bringing up Orwell, pffft.

Since I know even less about Polish, I'm reassured to hear that she's good with explaining the technical stuff to an English speaking audience. I'm really excited to get to this book one day, and maybe compare with my experience and views.