Here's the video version of my discussion of the leaked emails that prove the Hugo Awards removed finalists (me, RF Kuang, Paul Weimer, Neil Gaiman & Ep 6 of Sandman) for political reasons, despite us having the required votes. Because too many of you are making assumptions without bothering to read the full expos茅.
There's a lot of nuance in this case that I hope people can acknowledge. No, it is not "sinophobic" to criticize the Chinese government's severe censorship policies when anyone who's spent more than ten minutes on the Chinese internet knows how bad it is, and there IS evidence of pressure in this case. There's nothing to accomplish by pretending like it's not a thing. You're not furthering the world proletarian revolution by speaking over the lived experiences of Chinese comrades and denying factually shitty aspects of your favorite AES.
Yes, the Western and presumably white members of the Hugo admin team DID circle back to racism by trying so hard to appease the Chinese government that they preemptively censored Chinese diaspora ~ to be safe ~ on extremely flimsy reasons without even reading our books. And of course, confusing Nepal for Tibet.
Phewww, I finally got the time to make that list. Can't Say I got the time to read all the Books I wanted last year, but I also deviated on other that interested me. But here's the general idea for this year:
1. Legends and lattes by Baldree Travis
2. Women who fly: godesses, witches, mystics and other airborne females by Serenity Young
3. The horse, the wheel and language - how bronze age riders from the eurasian steppes shapped the modern World by David W. Antony
4. The Mongol Empire by Timothy May
5. The Silk Roads, a New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
6. The T in LGBT by Jamie Raines
7. A wizard guide to defensive baking by T. Kingfisher
8. Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
9. The Dark Power of Tolkien by David Day
10. Altruism in human by C. D. Batson
11. Brave by Rose McGowan
12. Wabi Sabi Japanese wisdom for a perfectly imperfect life by Beth Kempton
13. Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
14. Blood rites origins and History of the passions of War by Barbara Ehrenreich
15. Spartan women by Sarah B. Pomeroy
16. Empires of Ancient Eurasia by Craig Benjamin
17. Nomads as agents of cultural change by by R. Amitai and M. Biran
18. The Kingdom of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce
19. The Ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman
20. Re-read one of John Connolly Novel
And there we are! Thanks @aperiodofhistory for the tag. I Hope I'll find myself the time to read all these this year!
20 books in 2024
Another year, another year of a TBR pile. I'm really satisfied with my reading in the year 2023. I read some books I wanted to read for a long time. But still, I left some for the year 2024. So I'm transferring the remaining ones into this year, and adding a few more. I'm happy about the upcoming year, as I want to read a lot of fantasy.
The library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges
Babel by Rebecca F. Kuang
Legends & Lattes by Baldree Travis
Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World by Victoria Finlay
The Island of missing trees by Elif Shafak
Ways of being by James Bridle
The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror by various authors
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
The return of the king by Tolkien
A game of thrones by Martin
Shakespearean: On Life & Language in Times of Disruption by Robert McCrum
A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J. Mass
Femina by Ram铆rez Janina
Anything by Ava Reid
The road by Cormac McCarthy
Red rising by Pierce Brown
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Spinning silver by Naomi Novik
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
I'm tagging @artmill-danaan for its book list for the year 2024.