Excerpt from a book I'm reading, Slow Poison, by Mahmood Mamdani, father of Zorhan Mamdani.

"FBI agents knocked on
my door...they asked what I thought of Marx. I said I had
never met him. Not surprisingly, this Ugandan Muyindi had never heard of Karl
Marx. “He’s dead.”

I said, “I'm sorry, what happened?”

“No, he died long ago.”

I wondered why, then, the question. “Why, then, are you asking me?”
Later, I would remind myself: the FBI introduced me to Karl Marx! "
#books #bookstodon #book

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Roughly a month after returning from Alabama, two FBI agents knocked on my door, wearing beige raincoats, badges in hand. The FBI—I was thrilled. Just like on television, I thought. After a few preliminaries, they asked what I thought of Marx. I said I had never met him. Not surprisingly, this Ugandan Muyindi had never heard of Karl Marx. “He’s dead.” I said, “I'm sorry, what happened?” “No, he died long ago.” I wondered why, then, the question. “Why, then, are you asking me?” They said that Marx believed that the money of rich people should be taken away and distributed to poor people. I said it sounded like a fine idea! At that point, they seemed to decide there was little point in continuing the conversation, and they left. That, however, was not the end of the story. I went to the library to look up Marx. Later, I would remind myself: the FBI intro- duced me to Karl Marx! This was 1965. It would mark my entry point into the civil rights movement. There was a student organization at the university called

RE: https://social.edu.nl/@MishaVelthuis/115741743617628873

Not only does @bookwyrm provide a much more ethical alternative to the Amazon-owned #Goodreads, but the developer, @tripofmice, works on making it better exclusively through user donations. Devoid of corporate and anti-consumer profit incentives, free and ethical #software can only succeed with collective support!

BW’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bookwyrm
BW’s OpenCollective: https://opencollective.com/bookwyrm

#reading #books #bookstodon #opensource #freesoftware #foss #fediverse #libre

Book 19 was Inner Demons by Stephen B. Platt (narrated by Zoë Harlen).

This one’s got gender-bendy dwarves, a retired sorcerer (not sorceress, thank you ), married elves, an orc private eye, oppressed halflings, a gay shepherd, and demonic gluten intolerance.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c3e75e9a-17d4-46b5-8ddb-d7d31b104716

#bookstodon

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Inner Demons by Stephen B. Platt (narrated by Zoë Harlen).

Local bookstores on the fediverse, some active, some inactive. 📚 Who am I missing? Reply below!

🇬🇧 @blackwellrare
🇬🇧 @booksandink
🇬🇧 @fredsbookshop
🇬🇧 @fiveleavesbookshop
🇬🇧 @bertsbooks
🇬🇧 @wonderland
🇮🇪 @Sheelaghnagig
🇮🇪 @bookshopIE
🇮🇪 @gutterbookshop
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @TheEdinburghBookshop
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @WedaleBooks
🇳🇴 @prismaticpages
🇫🇷 @hon_bookstore
🇩🇪 @Buchhandlung_am_Bruehl
🇪🇸 @libreriapraga
🇺🇸 @iffybooks
🇺🇸 @firestorm

#Books #BookStores #BookShops #ShopLocal #AskFedi #bookstodon

#reading #bookstodon #books
"After decades of silence, the last surviving World War II British spy reveals the real, untold story of her time as a secret agent in the deadly world of Nazi France."
An interesting footnote to Pippa's story is that in 1959 she left her husband in Fiji to take her four children to Australia but mid flight discovered that she was on the wrong plane. So they settled happily in New Zealand instead where she lived till her death in 2023 at the age of 102.

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The cover of The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour

Book 18 was Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World by Parmy Olson (narrated by Lisa Flanagan).

This book looks at Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis of DeepMind. What struck me was how both started out wanting to do good in the world.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7dbd9f21-6d10-4895-9487-cddabd991fc8?redirect=true

#bookstodon

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Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World by Parmy Olson (narrated by Lisa Flanagan).

Book 17 was The Last Will And Testament of Wilhelmina Bruttenholm by Vivian Moira Valentine.

Victoria receives a letter instructing her to attend the will reading for a relative she’s never heard of. And things are beyond weird.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e0cb41f9-4473-42dc-974b-859529c5da72?redirect=true

#bookstodon #lgbtbooks

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The Last Will And Testament of Wilhelmina Bruttenholm by Vivian Moira Valentine.

8114

Just bought 8114 by Joshua Hull on the Kobo app for £3.99 ( cheaper than the current kindle price)

#horror #bookstodon #kobo
https://www.kobo.com/GB/en/ebook/SBLdsqi5iD6d03IRPEjeIw

This author is a friend of mine. Check out her book on life as a first generation college grad. Downloadable for free through the end of the year. #bookstodon https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1801646

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Snapshot of a LinkedIn post by La'Tonya "LT" Rease Miles: "Do you still have a few gifts to give this holiday season? Don't forget that SMART GIRL is available for free through the end of the month as part of the Smashwords end of year sale. Here are a few communities you can bless: first-gen students, Black students, transfer students, graduate students, libraries, book clubs, Gen X, faculty and staff. Go here until Jan 1st: https://lnkd.in/gsTS4wRXLm Smashwords™ End of Year SALE. Drawing of a young black woman reading a book. Three photos of groups of college students.

The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage

A British-Bengali girl looking for Mr Right. A motley crew of men, some hoping it’s them. A mum on a mission to match make. And an age-old tradition with a twist.

Welcome to the world of the arranged marriage.

The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage by Halima Khatun currently free on the Kobo app.
#bookstodon #FreeBook
https://www.kobo.com/GB/en/ebook/the-secret-diary-of-an-arranged-marriage

Book 16 was The Last Bookstore On Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold (narrated by Bailey Carr).

After the world ends, Liz carries on at a bookshop. The odd person comes in for new books, trading goods or news, occasionally sharing their own stories.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/42b4a4db-9de2-435a-b4a7-b58c92d02063

#bookstodon #lgbtbooks

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The Last Bookstore On Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold (narrated by Bailey Carr)

Book 15 was No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara (narrated by Jessica Regan).

A tourist in London juggling three small children. Two kids get on the Tube, but the doors slide shut before the mum manages to get on. When the train pulls into the next station, one of the kids is gone.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e36a6bb2-2e71-4870-be15-a963017ede9c?redirect=true

#bookstodon

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No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara (narrated by Jessica Regan)

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë currently free on the #Kobo app.

#bookstodon #FreeBook

https://www.kobo.com/GB/en/ebook/wuthering-heights-362

The Complete Sherlock Holmes

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle currently free on the #Kobo app.

#bookstodon #FreeBook
https://www.kobo.com/GB/en/ebook/the-complete-sherlock-holmes-31

The Deadly Detective Agency

The Deadly Detective Agency by Ann Parker currently free on the #Kobo app.

#bookstodon #FreeBook

https://www.kobo.com/GB/en/ebook/the-deadly-detective-agency

Circle of Bones

Circle of Bones by Malcolm Richards currently free on the #Kobo app.

#bookstodon #FreeBook

https://www.kobo.com/GB/en/ebook/circle-of-bones-1

“Leaving the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in place erodes the most elemental principles of free speech and allows state and local governments to exert ideological control over the people with impunity,” said Elly Brinkley, staff attorney for the group’s U.S. Free Expression Programs. “The government has no place telling people what they can and cannot read.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/08/texas-llano-county-library-book-ban-lawsuit-scotus/

#books #BookBans #libraries #FreeSpeech #texas #courts #SCOTUS #Bookstodon

Book 14 was Little Red Death by A. K. Benedict (narrated by Jane Collingwood).

A twisty, mind-bending page-turner.

Every time I thought I knew where this was going, another layer was revealed. Talk about meta. Story within a story within a story … all the way down.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/70abfa75-317c-43f1-b7f8-52e902bd0921?redirect=true

#bookstodon

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Little Red Death by A. K. Benedict (narrated by Jane Collingwood)

In case you missed it, I shared a list of books on heists, thefts, and scams! https://xoxo.zone/@Ashedryden/115708939003686107 #bookstodon

Trust me when i tell you this book is EXCELLENT

Somewhere To Be by Laurie Mather - Jargonaut Press's Ko-fi Shop

#books #bookstodon #WhatImReadingNow

https://ko-fi.com/s/853b43e093?brid=uj41E3fsA6MDeDY72hlx4A

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The fairy tales are written by the winning side. A charming local legend hides a darker story; an ancient wrong that can never be made right, and a vengeful Faerie queen with a refreshingly hands-off management style. When archaeologists arrive in Alfriscombe, Mainder already knows that their goals go far beyond simply cataloguing the past. What's their interest in the caverns under Fairy Hill? Is their wealthy patron genuinely trying to make amends for his ancestor's crime, ending the curse that has plagued his family for generations? More to the point, can Mainder prevent that deadly legacy from destroying any more innocent livest When it starts to look like he doesn't have all the information, and his nemesis is a more powerful ally than all of his friends combined, he has to re-evaluate what he's here for - and what he's really up against.

@kristiedegaris it's a series of memoirs and reflections on childhood and growing up in the gaming and tech era. mostly just really embarrassing shit I did that i lived to regret and never told anyone about 😅

#books #bookstodon

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The rear and front covers of a book titled "Mages & Modems: A Childhood Well-Wasted in the Golden Age of Personal Computers, Games & Internet Piracy". The top of the book is a collage of various 1980s and 1990s computer parts and games, like a telephone handset, tandy trs-80 game, floppy disks and macintosh mouse. Underneath it all is a pile of video game maps and diagrams from Ultima and Wing Commander. The front cover reads "Endure more than 80 cringeworthy tales of the 1980s and 1990s." The rear cover of the book shows a typewritten letter: Dear Detective #0294, As discussed, I have enclosed a hardcopy of VGA256's journals discussed at the departmental briefing. The journal entries are chronological, and document the suspect's computing and gaming activities from the early 1980s to late 1990s - his childhood and adolescent years. Each vignette is an introspection into the suspect's self-described obsessions, including but not limited to: * IBM PC, Amiga, Apple ][, Macintosh, Tandy * MS-DOS, MacOS, Windows 3.1 & 95, UNIX * NES, GameBoy, Sega Genesis, TI-85 * Modems, BBSes, CompuServe, Prodigy, ISPs * Warez, FTP, Usenet, IRC, Shell Accounts * Origin Systems, LucasArts, Sierra On-Line ... and so on. The stories are a treasure trove of immoral and illicit activities that made him the dysfunctional adult he is now. I hope these will be of value in building your dossier on this delinquent. I expect a report on my desk by Friday. Deputy Chief Conover Brat & Punk Division

Book 13 was Sleep While I Sing by L. R. Wright (narrated by Peter Outerbridge, Kristin Kreuk, and others).

Karl and Cassandra are back with another murder to solve in their tiny town on sleepy Vancouver Island.

Fans of Ann Cleeve will love this series.

Review: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/729168ec-09d4-4c79-8d1f-deef2f4a4116

#bookstodon

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Sleep While I Sing by L. R. Wright (narrated by Peter Outerbridge, Kristin Kreuk, and others).

With everything going on in the world it’s nice to escape into a (vaguely) possible future where the universe might be a more positive and accepting place.

I’m sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but for me it’s comforting exactly like a perfect cup of tea…

#bookstodon