WeBuzz
Reader discussion: Legacy
Public reader discussion about Legacy in the WeRead Catalog by James H. Schmitz.
For those of you that have annual book rereads, what are they and why?
By prologuesaxicole
Usually I reread something when a new book in the series drops, just so I can get back into it, or if it’s been a few years since I last read a favorite and my memory’s gotten fuzzy. It’s kind of funny because even though I know where things end up, I don’t remember all the little details, so it ends up feeling a bit like the first time.
I’ve never done an annual reread though—so I’m curious how you decide what actually makes the cut, and what the reason is for picking those books.
"Deeply concerning": reading for fun has declined by 40% in US, new study says
By jar967
This is totally just my own experience, but it feels like almost every woman I know reads for fun, while hardly any men do. I’d really be curious to see if it holds up if you looked at it by gender.
My top YA book series that I still enjoy as an adult
By brisk-paper2
City Spies is a spy series where a bunch of kids around 12-15 are basically the team, and it’s pretty fun and moves fast. It has all the usual spy stuff like going undercover, but there’s not tons of nonstop action—more of that planning and being clever, kind of heist vibes.
Protector of the Small is fantasy with a girl who ends up becoming a knight, and it’s Tamora Pierce. She’s really big on protecting people who can’t stand up for themselves and calling out bullies, and it basically keeps getting her into trouble. I’ve read a lot of her books and they’re all great, but this one is probably my favorite.
And The Tripods is sci-fi where aliens take over Earth and the adults are under mind control. So there’s this rebel group pulling together teenagers to fight back, which is a pretty interesting setup.
Please don't hurt me: Here are a few very influential political non-fiction books I think everyone should read
By nebula-horse6
A while ago there was that really popular post that got locked where the OP said Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts & Reds was the one political book everybody should read at some point.
I’m a big Parenti fan too, but I don’t think it’s the only book that could claim that spot, so I figured I’d throw out a few other possibilities. This isn’t supposed to be some complete list or anything. I mostly wanted to mix in a couple older classics with some newer books, partly just to show how the conversation has changed, and partly because I get that a lot of people are more likely to pick up something modern than an old dusty text.
Quick heads up: I’m pretty far left politically, which should be obvious from the books I picked. I’m not trying to start any weird comment-section nonsense though, so let’s keep it normal. Mods, sorry in advance if anything gets out of hand.
- The Wretched of the Earth (Frantz Fanon, originally published 1961) - This is a major book by psychiatrist Frantz Fanon that looks at the mental and social effects of colonization, plus the history of the states colonized and formerly colonized peoples end up stuck dealing with. It’s had a huge influence on civil rights, Black Power, and decolonial movements around the world, and a lot of it still fits struggles people know today, like Black Lives Matter, Palestine, Indigenous rights, and so on.
Fanon writes in a really readable, almost poetic way, and even though it’s not a short book, it doesn’t feel super intimidating if you’re not used to nonfiction or political/academic writing.
- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa - (Walter Rodney, originally published 1971) - Another classic, and pretty original for its time, in arguing that the poverty and chaos people associate with Africa isn’t because of some bad culture, bad leadership, or uneducated populations, but because of the conditions European colonization deliberately left behind. And not only that, colonization is still basically going on through neocolonialism, where the European powers don’t need to occupy countries directly anymore because they can just work through local leaders paid to open the door for Western theft of land and labor.
Walter Rodney was a really cool guy who had a lot of original ideas about colonization and uneven development, and like Fred Hampton, he was assassinated by the state for trying to build a transracial working-class political movement in Guyana.
- Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Nick Estes, 2019) - This one goes into the roots of US racial capitalism and settler colonialism, and how the government used those ideas to push westward under the genocidal logic of Manifest Destiny. It’s basically a history of Indigenous resistance to US imperialism, from the beginning all the way through Obama and Trump carrying that legacy forward with DAPL.
One thing that’s kind of interesting even if you never read it: a big reason for creating “America’s Best Idea,” the National Park system, was to give the government a way to kick Indigenous people off land they’d been using for centuries.
- Border & Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Harsha Walia, 2021) - I wanted to add this one because it’s brand new and it goes after immigration policy from both the “left” and the right in the US. It calls out conservatives and liberals alike for acting like immigration is some border crisis while ignoring that it comes straight out of US capitalist policies in Central America, plus climate change.
The book also pushes back on the usual idea of borders, arguing that the real US southern border is basically Mexico’s border with Guatemala, since the US is the one telling Mexico, a sovereign country, who they can and can’t let into their own country. It also gets into how the US has borders inside its own borders through reservations, used to confine an unwanted Indigenous population and control them through border towns.
It also talks about the usual Western/US imperial stuff like the IMF and World Bank, deregulation and free markets forced on Global South countries against their will and to their detriment, and a pretty big look at what’s happening in India now.
- Washington Bullets (Vijay Prashad, 2020) - And finally this newer book by rad dude Vijay Prashad is on here because it’s short, like 162 pages, and an easy read that kind of moves through a global history of CIA and CIA-backed coups, assassinations, and corporate takeovers over the last 70+ years. The writing is straightforward, sharp, and doesn’t beat around the bush about how all of that has been great for the US ruling class but awful for working people and for poor people around the world. It’s a really good place to start if you want an overview of US intervention abroad and maybe get pulled into deeper reads on any of the examples, either from other authors or from Vijay himself.
So yeah, that’s my list. Just a few books I think pretty much anybody could read to get a handle on these topics. It’s also pretty easy to go down a rabbit hole from here, whether that’s other books by these authors or the stuff they reference elsewhere.
Non native English speakers, what's a book from your country that you think the world should know about?
By Bribe26
I’m Brazilian, and I honestly feel like a lot of people outside Brazil would really like Graciliano Ramos—especially *Barren Lives*. It’s pretty short, so it’s an easy intro to another country’s literature without committing too much. I also like how it’s got this strong social angle, but it also makes you think about what actually makes someone “human.” It’s not a cheerful read though, so if you want something upbeat, skip it. But if you’re okay with more rough/harsh stuff, it’s totally worth it. The writing is also pretty straightforward, so I didn’t feel worn out while reading.
Curious what you all think.
After His Death at 92, Man Leaves Behind 109-Page List of Thousands of Books He Read
By Cloud-Prose45
Over 5,000 books already. Seems like a life pretty well spent—though I’m not sure if I’ll ever catch up to that. I’d be thrilled to hit 1,000 myself.
Anyone else love TED-Ed's "Why Should You Read" series?
By Mouse_Footnote
Has anyone else checked out TED-Ed’s “Why Should You Read” videos? They’re these short animated clips about classic books, and I’m kind of obsessed with them.
They just dropped a new one today for “Fahrenheit 451”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZcp0EQO2s
I’ve also seen that the whole series has stuff on “War and Peace,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and other titles too: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJicmE8fK0EiUroVhuEyeOYkAGAAB58Xx
I’m a big fan of both animation and books, so it feels like the perfect combo. I’d really like to see them branch out and do more modern books next.
What has been Robert Browning's Legacy?
By orbit-eagle48
I’d probably say I lean more toward philosophy too. But I don’t really think poetry and philosophy have to be at odds, and actually my work on the late Victorian period has been pretty fascinating partly because some philosophers took poets so seriously.
I’m reading British Idealism: A History by W.J. Mander, and there’s this whole argument that, for the Idealists, poetry and philosophy were basically after the same thing. They’re both trying to get at truth and understanding, and Hegel especially seems to be a huge part of that view. Poetry gets treated as this really high form of art, almost right up there with philosophy in a way.
Jones seems to be the main example here, saying Idealism got a lot of its push from Wordsworth and Coleridge, and Green says something similar about moral ideas in England coming more from the poets than from philosophy. Oakeley even suggests it’s almost like Britain turned that same spirit into poetry instead of philosophy, with Wordsworth as Britain’s Spinoza.
The Browning part is interesting too. Apparently after he died people wrote about him as a philosopher and serious thinker all the time, but that reputation kind of flipped later and now he’s not really seen that way anymore.
I’d been reading Tennyson, but this made me want to try Browning, and I’m liking him more than Tennyson, honestly. That said, I did a post a week ago about Auden and other people in the first half of the 20th century basically going after Tennyson’s reputation. I don’t know much about how Browning was received after Victorian times, though.
So what did critics and academics end up making of him?
Bookclub Rec
By Fern_Basket
Hey everyone—looking for a book for my book club. We’ve got 8 members, all women, ages 29 to 60. Most of us are moms (three grandmas too), and I’m not sure what people will connect with since I’m a little different from the group—also, I’m the only one who isn’t a mom and there’s just one other woman like me.
I’d love something that helps everyone see things in a new way. I’ve been feeling kind of misunderstood lately (in life and within this group), so I’m hoping for a story that really clicks.
I usually like books like *Piranesi* (Susanna Clarke), *The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time* (Mark Haddon), and *House Rules* (Jodi Picoult). I’d rather it not go too hard into fantasy or magical realism. Any suggestions would be really appreciated—thanks!
Readers, if you had your own bookstore, what would you name it and what would you stock?
By BrightHare
Black Books. I feel like I’d just be yelling at everyone while smoking and drinking.
Rags-to-Riches Stories Are Actually Kind of Disturbing: From Horatio Alger and E.L. James to T. Boone Pickens and Charles Koch, books by and about the ultrawealthy reveal some of our darkest American fantasies.
By Soft_Panda6255
I came in hoping to find something solid like Jane Mayer’s *Dark Money*, and I wasn’t let down. I’d really recommend it. Also, since I’m from north Texas, it feels good to see more light on what’s really going on with T. Boone Pickens, beyond the whole folksy act.
It seems like the same books get recommended here in nearly every thread, unless the poster requests something very specific (and sometimes even then). Recommend me a book you like, that you don't think most other people would like.
By fish-wandering1980
Honestly it could be a totally weird pick, or a book you only kind of liked, or something you read years ago that still stuck with you—as long as it’s not one of those titles that show up in literally every discussion.
Like, I’m thinking of the usual suspects: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, A Little Life, A Man Called Ove, Anxious People, Normal People, Circe, The Secret History, Song of Achilles, The Mistborn books (and Brandon Sanderson in general), Dune, Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman stuff, The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Midnight Library, etc.
I’m not even saying these are bad or anything—I genuinely like some of them. It’s just… it gets old seeing the same ones over and over.
Nobel laureate Toni Morrison passes away at 88
By bottle
She really is one of the greats. I first ran into her through this book, and it’s just stayed with me ever since.
We are Ilona Andrews. WILDFIRE, Book 3 in the “Hidden Legacy” Series, releases next week. Ask us anything!
By winterRiver3867
I think “Ilona Andrews” is actually two writers—Ilona and Gordon—working together. They do urban fantasy, which feels like a weird mix of mystery, fantasy, and horror. Most of the stuff is set in a pretty modern world, but with a paranormal vibe. And they’re about to release WILDFIRE, the third book in the Hidden Legacy series, next Tuesday (7/25), so I guess they’re taking questions about Nevada, Rogan, or basically any of the books in the series.
*Becoming* by Michelle Obama
By AcarusBrisk
A couple years back, I got Becoming from two different people around Christmas and I finally sat down and read it. It was genuinely such a great book. I was also listening to the audiobook through Libby at the same time, so I basically soaked it up both ways. I learned a lot about Michelle—her background, how much she did through her community work (even before she was FLOTUS, and during it), and just a lot about the Obama family overall too. Her whole story felt really encouraging and like it leaves you with something hopeful for the future.
I will say though, I’m kind of in a weird spot with my own school stuff. College in the US feels way more locked down and out of reach than ever. It’s hard to stay excited when you know you’re going to be working nonstop for a degree (psychology for me) and then still end up with a wage that’s barely livable, plus student debt. But this book honestly kicked my motivation back on. It made me want to keep pushing, make a difference locally, and not just give up.
The quote that hit me the most was, “failure is a feeling long before it’s an actual result” (pg 66). It’s like… a reminder to try your best and not let your doubts run the show.
Also, I realized I’ve been wrong about some things for my whole life. Like, I didn’t even know Barack was from Hawaii—I honestly thought he was from somewhere Midwestern. When I was little I definitely didn’t care about politics lol, but I do remember being 7 and watching Michelle’s “Let’s Move!” stuff on Nickelodeon. I remember my lunch changing pretty suddenly, and people talking about a “vegetable garden” in D.C., but I didn’t realize how big of an impact her efforts were, or that it helped with child obesity on a national level. Wild how much I didn’t know.
Have any of you read Becoming? What did you take away from it? Did it change how you think about politics at all?
How do you decide you've finished a book?
By sunHardcover1973
I’ve mostly taken in stories through video games, anime, movies, and TV, so I’m pretty new to actually reading for fun instead of for school.
One thing I’ve been stuck on lately is figuring out when a book is “done” for me. Not like I missed pages or anything—more like, when am I satisfied that I actually got everything from it. I always end up second-guessing myself, like I was just reading passively and might’ve overlooked something.
So I’m curious—when do you personally feel comfortable saying you’ve finished a book?
Have you ever thought about what you'll do with your book collection when you grow older and eventually pass away? I counted my bookshelf today and found I have about 1700 books. I’m still fairly young but I wonder what will happen to these treasured books after I’m gone.
By smallotter
I was just staring at my bookshelf today and I counted something like 1,700 books. It honestly feels like each one is part of my life. I’m still pretty young, but then I started thinking… what’s going to happen to them when I’m older? Will someone actually want them and treat them like they matter, or will they get donated to a library, shoved in a box, or forgotten? That thought really freaks me out. How am I supposed to know whoever ends up with them will actually keep them and care about them the way I do? Do they even care about reading like I do? I know nobody lives forever, but I can’t stand the idea that my collection might just lose its place—dust somewhere, sold off with no big deal. Do you have a plan for your books when you’re gone?
Is America Becoming Illiterate?
By CloverKey58536
I saw a paywalled Atlantic piece saying American reading skills/habits might be sliding hard, like we don’t read as much as we used to. The numbers they cite are pretty grim—something like under half of Americans read a book in the last year, and another study claims daily reading keeps dropping year over year since the early 2000s. And it’s not even just adults: only a small share of 13-year-olds read for fun, and that’s way down from earlier.
The author talks about trying to get people to tackle tougher books and take a more “growth” approach, but it honestly sounds like stuff that probably won’t convince most people. Then they toss out this idea that reading should be treated more like a “vice” and made to feel kind of counter-culture/cool again. The thought is interesting, even if it’s not fully worked out, and it makes me wonder what would actually stop the decline.
I taught ESL abroad for a few years, and getting kids to read was brutal. No motivation. Even when I split everything into small chunks that matched their attention spans, I could only get so far. I tried a bunch of research-y activities too, but it still didn’t really click. I know that’s partly because I was asking them to read in a second language, which is its own hurdle.
I didn’t get into reading until later in life either. As a kid I had zero interest. My sister, though, was the total opposite—she loved reading when she was younger, but now she hardly reads at all.
So yeah… what even makes reading “cool” again?
Standalone Fantasy book recs for a bookclub
By ink_rusty
TLDR - need a solid standalone fantasy pick for book club
So a few years back I (22F) started a book club with some of my aunts, who are like 55-70ish. July is my turn and I totally spaced on picking something, and now our meeting is in a couple days. I really want fantasy, but I’m stuck on what to choose. I like choosing stuff I know they probably wouldn’t grab on their own, and even if they don’t all love it, it usually gives us a lot to talk about. The issue is basically all my favorite fantasy books are series, and I really don’t think any of them would keep going unless I picked the next one for my next turn. There are 8 of us and each month a different person picks/hosts in age order, so it’d be 8 months before my next pick. I was super tempted to make them read ACOTAR, but I’d be so annoyed if they didn’t keep reading the series, or at least the second book.
Edit for more context - when we meet each month, the next person whose turn it is picks the book and tells everyone at the end of book club. So my month is July, we’re meeting for June in a few days, and then everyone has until the end of July to read what I pick. ALSO THANK YOU for all the recs, I really do love finding new books, and I just started working at a local indie bookstore so it’s actually really useful to know more standalone fantasy. I know the big popular ones already but I’m loving all these suggestions!!
My options right now are Babel (I already own it, so that helps, but it does seem kinda dense)
Gifted and Talented, or maybe another standalone by Olivie Blake because I like her and I own one, but it’s also pretty long
Or I just make them read the first ACOTAR / some other series book and hope for the best if they don’t continue
From ‘today not widely read’ to ‘signs of renewed interest’ to ubiquity: examples of literary resurrections in the past decade or so (inspired by Shirley Jackson)
By aqua_sparrow4801
I rewatched *The Haunting* (1963) last night and then started thinking about the book, which I read a few years back. What I keep noticing is how suddenly Shirley Jackson seemed to blow up out of nowhere—like her books were just everywhere. I’d see those Penguin Modern Classics editions piling up in shops and libraries, and it didn’t feel like that kind of slow, steady thing.
It might line up with the timing of all the adaptations—*We Have Always Lived in the Castle* getting made into a film, *The Haunting of Hill House* turning into that Netflix miniseries, and then that movie *Shirley* that came out later. But still… was all that interest mostly a good thing, or just something more neutral? Or does it feel kind of bad if it’s more “industry momentum” than people actually discovering her naturally?
I went back to an October 2016 essay about her, and at that point it was more like “renewed interest,” not full-on resurrection status. Then five-ish years later she’s treated like a modern classic, and that timeline feels way too fast to me. Like, I can’t help thinking it’s consumer-driven because of how popular Mike Flanagan’s series was, but it also feels like publishing just got the ball rolling and didn’t look back.
Anyway, I’m curious what other people think about the last decade of Shirley Jackson getting pushed back into everyone’s faces. And does anyone else remember other authors who had that same kind of surge in visibility? I’m not trying to compare them exactly, but it feels like Natalia Ginsburg and Clarice Lispector got bigger too. Even Thomas Bernhard seems like he’s had a crazy rise, and Robert Musil maybe is starting to move that direction again. Right now it feels like he’s still somewhere around the “signs of renewed interest” stage.