Victoria Levchenko > Recent Status Updates

An interesting semi-fictionalized childhood memoir of the Iraqi translator for Saddam Hussein during his 2006 trial, set during Bush Sr’s Operation Desert Storm (1991).

Writing honestly about war is hard, made even harder when children are the audience. This book is solid (though perhaps some of the darker moments deserved more on page discussion), and I’d encourage 5th graders+ to read it.

Depressing, but rooted in how authoritarian governments fixate on activists and try to undercut their lives. Truly admire Ebadi’s work and dedication.

Also wow, it’s written so well. A rarity in memoirs. Would recommend if you’re not familiar with 21st century Iran.

I needed this book like one needs water in a desert.

Von Arnim’s observances of class and gender, and the pain we impose on ourselves when entrenched in manufactured society and duties, are unparalleled. (Edith Wharton has nothing on her.)

Her love of nature, especially gardens, has amped up my own. I want to run, not walk, to my closest garden. Cheers to being so altered by a book this beautiful.

Isn’t my series favorite, though the twists towards the end were highly imaginative.

Loved the legal and economic issues. And it was a great book to start making guesses about the dozens of Chekovs guns and other plot points.

Wish I could write like this 😅

It read like an academic self-help book, which is perhaps the only flavor of self-help I’ll stomach.

Ignoring the occasional “woo woo” perspectives in the later chapters, Alsadir provides an excellent and far-reaching analysis of humor. Genuinely moved the needle for me on the topic in dozens of directions (incl. war, abuse). There are brutal topics covered here, so heads up as it’s not a funny read.

Surreal, with horror and abuse revolving around patriarchal issues mixed in. Parsipur based many characters on real women in her life, in the most uncomplimentary way possible, which added a (rather painful) depth.

Interesting as an artifact of late 80s Iran. Absolutely has merit, but a contemporary reader may be even more critical of it than readers during its initial scandal.

Beautiful, but not ideal for a child’s reading development. Still, charming (and quite sad) as a fairy tale. Glad I picked it up.

Quite regretful I didn’t finish this at uni—it’s such a strong thesis. Would recommend this to anyone—and pressingly if you are wary of the current administration and want to understand their military actions.

Appreciated the last chapter on Israel. Provided some context on the migration of Eastern European Jews post USSR’s collapse I’ve been missing.

Was aware of most of this history and context (I think anyone who has been learning about the US military from Vietnam to today will)… but to read a case study focused solely on drugs and related criminal activity is a lot to process all at once.

Rough. But worth reading if anyone has ever convinced you the military is all “good ole boys.” Also useful for understanding drivers for war (incl. with Iran).

Interesting twists, though I’m not into circus aesthetics, so some bits were… whatever. But even those parts were made up for with novel approaches and great character development. I’m never truly dissatisfied with these books.

Did love learning more about the corporate and race tensions. Lots of munch-able ideas.

A modern Gothic play with a beautiful study on algorithms. Picked up my copy at a used book store on a whim years ago, and was delighted to see it recently come up on a Gothic lit syllabus.

If you enjoy savoring plays (i.e. taking your time, investing in visualizing scenery, reading the lines with an “acting” voice), then this might be fun. Otherwise it’s a bit dense, so breezing by misses a lot.

(Ridiculously) Brilliant, with a complex politics. Makes every other space opera seem underdeveloped.

Like snacking out of a Doritos bag and discovering caviar and steak nicely packaged at the bottom.

It’s not my usual reading taste, but I loved the contemporary jokes, moral questions, and overall structure. Sometimes the fighting descriptions bored me, but who cares when it’s generally high octane.

Apparently the early 20th century translation was by a man later revealed to be a Communist spy… and he butchered the text into an eco-conscious morale tale. Then Disney denatured it entirely.

This more faithful translation is… interesting if you interrogate the (false) divide between humans and nature. And are willing to viscerally empathize with forest animals for a few pages. Not for the faint of heart.

Wish this was mandatory reading in high school. Genuinely think you should start with this memoir before reading history books to understand American slavery.

Well written, and poignant.

Solid science on the historical and biological development of reading, but this text is from the 2000s, so it may be missing a lot (not sure how many new developments or theory changes there’s been in this field).

Definitely a few tidbits I need to follow up on. The dyslexia conversation was interesting.

85% baked… interesting ideas playing with Hobbes and the errors of people who stop at “humanity is violent at its core.”

Still, I would read more about Snow’s early life. The lives of dictators are so deranged, it’s endlessly fascinating fiction.

Or perhaps the story of Plutarch, who was missing (not born yet, maybe).

A compelling fantasy exploration of authoritarianism and rebellion, but definitely imperfect.

The fiction itch is not scratched yet, but it is quickly adding to my book count. RIP having too extensive of a nonfiction reading list to fully enable this.

Extremely short manga whose anime show matches the text beat for beat.

Cozy, occasionally irresistibly beautiful… but the English dubbed anime is genuinely where it’s at rather than the manga. (Still will read it though haha)

Scratched my fiction itch, but may have made it worse.

A little underdeveloped as compared to the original hunger games books, but experiments well with the “authoritarian governments are often a mess of incompetence” argument. Enjoyed the fast read.

Much is lost in the translation, I think. But it as an interesting critique of AI from a Japanese perspective. Not for everyone, though.

And for all the people complaining about the author’s AI use… she generated the AI chatbot’s text using a real AI, which I think makes it more damning of a criticism by properly alienating AI’s use of language and ideas as not human.

Skippable. Not as fully developed as Maguire’s other novels, on both narrative and language.

Read this to let off some “reading too much depressing nonfiction” steam, and it did not hit the spot. :/

Skippable. For someone in high positions in media, this was an underdeveloped narrative and argument for becoming Independent after years of service in the Dem party.

But if you’d like to hear from a Black woman what it’s like to be in democratic politics, there are a few solid chapters painting a clear picture.

A bummer given her valuable experiences. Felt like her agent and editor let her down.

A book on niche literary topics and bios, whose first 2-3 parts were fun to read.

The details—aside from the how Little Review was run—sticking with me are 1) Ezra Pound *is* the jerk people claim, 2) Joyce was rather sweet, and 3) Nazi book burnings and characters from “Fahrenheit 451” have nothing on Anthony Comstock.

A very fast read. Not sold on “Trout Fishing in America” except for its rare use of interesting imagery, but the poetry collection and the postmodern apocalypse novella (“In Watermelon Sugar,” which may intrigue you if you liked Harpman’s “I Who Have Never Known Men”) were fun. Reading Beatniks often makes me feel like a raggedy, snobbish conservative, but Brautigan’s ideas have my respect.

Loved this. Also a random library loan that paid off. It’s written accessibly, and offers much to closely consider.

Loved it. As a studier of fairy tales and their political implications (particularly in the 19th century, especially related to opera), this was gold. A completely random library loan that was completely worth it. However, not sure you’ll enjoy it unless you care about the subject from a research angle.

Excited to dive further into the works of Laboulaye, Vaillant-Couturier, Salten, and Rodari.

Part of my “books behind my favorite movies” reading category this year, and what a whopping disappointment.

Practically nothing is shared between the book and the Disney movie… and the movie is infinitely more compelling. The book’s only redeeming quality is how it serves as a 1990s time capsule of youth culture and NYC (originally published in 2000).

A rough debut novel, but a testament to how one improves with practice.

Completely skippable in the series.

I appreciate people who are not writers or “intellectuals” writing books when their voices become historically valuable. And so while this book is basic and fluffy, the perspective is compelling and the minutiae is significantly valuable as historical record.

If you’re reading books on Jan 6, this is useful but absolutely not necessary to read closely (again, it’s fluffy).

Twas curious about Levy’s writing… and this was solid essay collection if you enjoy a bit of snobbish literary discussion, but not a must read.