September 2020 Reading Log

Everything (of substance) that I read in September, with some annotations.

A ⌛︎ before a title indicates that I have not finished reading it.

Total: 4 novels, 1 light novel, 1 zine, 14 essays and articles, and ~1000 pages of manga

Notes

Stay Crazy

I have no idea where I got this book — I found it in one of my nested folders when I was transferring unread ebooks to my phone. I probably saw it offered for free by the publisher or author, downloaded it, and completely forgot about it.

In any case, this was one of those can't-stop-reading-it books for me. The plot follows a college dropout fresh out of a stay in a mental institution as she tries to get her life together. Unfortunately, as soon as she starts her job at I-Can't-Believe-it's-Not-Walmart an entity from another dimension starts speaking to her through the tracking chips in the merchandise, warning her that an evil presence is harvesting her coworkers' energy in its plot for multi-dimensional domination. Continually unsure whether she's hallucinating or not, she joins the fight against evil, while struggling with a string of suicides at her workplace, an absent father, a born-again sister, a depressed mother, a malevolent therapist, and a boyfriend who doesn't live up to expectations. The protagonist is allowed to be completely messy without judgement, and the book was equal parts fun and sad.

Foreigner, Invader, and Inheritor

!!! Please read this series !!! I have so many thoughts about it that I don't even know where to begin. If you love sci-fi in spacey settings but with an emphasis on social sciences, intense diplomatic quandries, inter-species communication barriers, and continual first-person fretting, you will love C.J. Cherryh.

Nonfiction

This month's nonfiction reading included: revelations about sustainable farming icon Joel Salatin's racist and reactionary politics; memories of working at a “local” food stand; musings on forced femme and an alternative, forced effem; an obituary for David Graeber, with a short history of the reception of Kropotkin's Mutual Aid and its relevance today; a gripping tale about what happened when the author accidentally doxxed former Australian PM Tony Abbott; a write-up of current attempts to unionize the tech industry; a critical examination of Mozilla's recent business practices; accounts of countries handling COVID correctly; a personal essay about the author's crumbling childhood, focused on his love of FFVI; an article about the online community people are turning to for assistance navigating the various US unemployment systems; and twins' reflections on their upbringing in a service-focused intentional community.

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