The wrap-up of the fourth edition of my public reading list.
Find the last editions here: the 2022, 2021, and 2020 diverse reading list summaries and the recommendations for those years.
The 2024 reading list is already being filled as well.
55 books read — 12 of them written by white, cis, hetero men.
That’s not bad, but I have a feeling that this group is with 22% still overrepresented.
It’s hard to pick my three favourite books this year, so I start with three quotes – in German – as I read the books in German and a loosely translated version of each
// Was bringen uns unsere Schutzräume eigentlich, wenn wir in ihnen eher in unseren hässlicheren Seiten schwelgen? Wir sollten viel öfter mit Iris und Robin Nudeln essen.
Shida Bazyar – Drei Kameradinnen
\\ What good are our safe spaces if we tend to indulge our uglier sides in them? We should eat pasta with Iris and Robin much more often.
// Als ich schließlich eine Beziehung aufbaute die heilsam und fair war bekam ich Angst. Ich ängstigte mich, weil sie nicht zerstörerisch und schmerzhaft war, wie ich es in Filmen und Liedern gelernt hatte. Konnte sie dann überhaupt richtig sein?
Şeyda Kurt – Radikale Zärtlichkeit
\\ When I finally built a relationship that was wholesome and fair, I got scared. I was scared because it wasn’t destructive and painful like I had learned in films and songs. Could it even be right then?
// Die Unordnung macht mir manchmal Angst und damit bin ich nicht alleine doch wir können die Angst überwinden, gemeinsam, als Partnerinnen, als Freundinnen, als Verbündete. Ich halte sie aus. Wir halten sie aus. Wenn wir Angst haben brauchen wir keine tradierten Ordnungen an die wir uns klammern, wir brauchen uns.
Şeyda Kurt – Radikale Zärtlichkeit
\\ The mess sometimes scares me, and I’m not alone in that, but we can overcome the fear, together, as partners, as friends, as allies. I can endure it. We can endure it. When we are afraid, we don’t need traditional orders to cling to, we need each other.”
My Top 3 Recommendations from 2023
Annie Ernaux – der Platz
As you can see from the four books I read, Annie Ernaux touched something in me that I explored further by reading more. Reading her book gave me a deeper understanding of classism, classes, and power dynamics within society which made me understand my parents and grandparents and ultimately myself way better.
Eva von Redecker – Revolution für das Leben: Philosophie der neuen Protestformen
Yeah, I am a fan. Not only in written form. I was lucky enough to see her live several times in 2023, and I usually seek out interviews as well. The perspective she adds to perceiving and attempting to understand the world helps me to be clearer about my values and most importantly to live my values.
Katharina Nocun, Pia Lamberty – True Facts
The third book I read by them and an essential read to not only live and interact with people in a world where “alternative facts” and fakes become the norm and boost conspiracy theories. Their books not only arm us with a deeper understanding, and aspects to consider, but they also provide early warning signs and fallacies to keep an eye on — not only in others but also within oneself!
Books read in 2023
- Shida Bazyar – Drei Kameradinnen
- James Baldwin – Giovanni’s room
- Katie Kitamura – Intimitäten
- Hadija Haruna-Oelker – Die Schönheit der Differenz
- Daniel Schreiber – Alleine
- Theresia Enzensberger – Auf See
- Wade and Cheryl Hudson – We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices
- Katharina Nocun, Pia Lamberty – Fake Facts
- Şeyda Kurt – Radikale Zärtlichkeit
- Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels – Das kommunistische Manifest
- Mike Burrows – Kanban
- Jaqueline Woodson – Red at the Bone
- Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Asha Bandele – when they call you a terrorist – a black lives matter memoir
- Katrin Eigendorf – Putins Krieg
- Audre Lorde – The Cancer Journals
- Pia Lamberty, Katharina Nocun – Gefährlicher Glaube
- Malcolm Gladwell – Talking to strangers
- Hannah Arendt – Die Freiheit, frei zu sein
- Stanislaw Lem – Der getreue Roboter
- Ta-Nehisi Coates – Between the World and Me
- 刘慈欣 (Liu Cixin) – Kugelblitz
- Ursula K. Le Guin – Ein Magier von Erdsee
- Grace M. Cho – Tastes Like War
- Ursula K. Le Guin – Die Gräber von Atuan
- Rafia Zakaria – Against White Feminism
- Alem Grabovac – Das achte Kind
- Max Czollek – Versöhnungstheater
- Robert Habeck – Wer wir sein könnten
- Cho Nam-Joo – Miss Kim weiß Bescheid
- Ursula K. Le Guin – Das fernste Ufer
- Constantin Schreiber – Inside Islam
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
- Laura Hofmann, Felicia Ewert, Fabienne Sand – Feminism is for everyone
- George Orwell – Über Nationalismus
- Ann-Kristin Tlusky – Süß – eine feministische Kritik
- Lydia Meyer – Die Zukunft ist nicht binär
- Eva von Redecker – Revolution für das Leben: Philosophie der neuen Protestformen
- Ken Krimstein – Die drei Leben der Hannah Arendt
- Hannah Arendt und Mary McCarthy – Im Vertrauen
- Tristan Horx – Unsere fucking Zukunft
- Kari Herbert – Rebel artists
- Tsitsi Dangarembga – Schwarz und Frau
- Annie Ernaux – Der Platz
- Ursula K. Le Guin – Tehanu
- 刘慈欣 (Liu Cixin) – Weltenzerstörer
- Annie Ernaux – Erinnerungen eines Mädchens
- Annie Ernaux – Eine Frau
- Annie Ernaux – Die Scham
- Sequoia Nagamatsu – How high we go in the dark
- Emily St. John Mandel – Sea of Tranquiliy
- Katharina Nocun, Pia Lamberty – True Facts
- Linus Giese – Lieber Jonas oder Der Wunsch nach Selbstbestimmung
- George Orwell – 1984
- Julia Korbik, Julia Bernhard – Simone de Beauvoir – Ich möchte vom Leben alles
- Janosch – Wondrak für alle Lebenslagen
The stats for 2023
- Everybody else/white, hetero cis-Men 43/12
- Marginalized group/dominant group*/ not the main topic, but an influence on the writing (I think…) 30/7/18
- Art or Graphic Novel/Non-Fiction/Fiction or Poetry 3/36/17
- Paper/e-reader/Audiobook 4/0/51
- The language I read/ heard the book in German/English 44/11
*usually white, cis-gender, heterosexual, and somewhat Christian.
Courses I took/ Groups participated in
I finished the Green Campus Zertifikat Politik Management with 93 learning units
Diskussionsgruppe LEA Left Ecological Association