Amber鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

9,618

pages read

books read

Amber Lea

Shortest Book

pages

Longest Book

592

pages

Average book length in 2024

267

pages

Most Shelved

1,709,932

people also shelved

Least Shelved

722

people also shelved

Amber鈥檚 average rating for 2024

3.3

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.52 average

Amber鈥檚 first review of the year

did not like it

I'm in this awkward situation where two different people told me to read this and one told me it was brilliant and another told me was stupid and I can't remember who said what because it was awhile ago. Sorry to disappoint whoever said it was brilliant.

I'm missing some historical context because I'm definitely not an expert on the industrial revolution and marxism, but I'm not really sure that matters because declaring that steam doesn't care ab I'm in this awkward situation where two different people told me to read this and one told me it was brilliant and another told me was stupid and I can't remember who said what because it was awhile ago. Sorry to disappoint whoever said it was brilliant.

I'm missing some historical context because I'm definitely not an expert on the industrial revolution and marxism, but I'm not really sure that matters because declaring that steam doesn't care about your autonomy just seems like an incredibly stupid argument when you're obviously talking about people exerting control over each other. Like of course there are going to be things that need to get done at certain times whether that works for you or not. Being like, "Oh, you're not really free because you have to pee sometimes. You're a slave to your bladder!" is obviously a dumb thing to say. Unless you're three and you're super mad about this living in a body business. This is 14 paragraphs and he wastes so much time saying stuff that doesn't seem to support his point which is that revolutions are authoritarian in nature. It seems like he's talking about two entirely different kinds of authority. If he thinks that's all the same, then good lord. I don't know the exact point he's arguing against, but to me it kind of reads like he's trying to say people couldn't cooperate to run a factory without a boss man because they'd just sleep until noon like a bunch of slackers. Uhh, you can be highly organized AND hate authority, come on. There's a difference between a leader you choose based on skill, ability, and willingness to do the job, and one who's forced on you and maybe isn't well suited for the job and he's just there because he wants a paycheck. Engels is like gotcha, those are the same thing! That's like arguing that snow and rain are the same thing. Like yeah, kind of, except not really. You're dumb.

Crossing out the first 12 paragraphs of this dramatically strengthens it's conclusion. I'll admit that "the anti-authoritarians demand that the political state be abolished at one stroke, even before the social conditions that gave birth to it have been destroyed" seems like a perfectly valid point, but I already don't trust this guy to have an honest take because of the whole steam angle and him being like, "oh no, what if you were on a boat and you had to count on a captain to make important choices to keep everyone safe? bam, got 'em" thing. Of course I don't doubt he's responding to some really idiotic bullshit. I've talked to anarchists. I get it. But perfectly valid points he must be aware of are being brushed aside too so it's not a particularly moving piece. Maybe this is a case of needing to appreciate it in it's historical context. But I doubt it? It definitely doesn't stand on it's own and I suspect more context wouldn't help.

As to the whole "revolutions are authoritarian" thing. I don't even know how to respond to that. I mean by Engels definition everything is authoritarian, so I guess. By my definition, they CAN be. I get the impression that Engel's take on authority is like Newton's Laws of Physics or something. Like if you push an object you're asserting authority over it and therefore if you act upon another person in any way you're exerting authority. And it's like...okay? That doesn't seem like a very helpful way to frame authority in terms of people relating to each other. It feels like he's saying you literally can't not exert authority and therefore being anti-authoritarian makes no sense and is stupid.

Great. Good talk Engels. ...more

础惭叠贰搁鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

really liked it

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV

it was amazing

Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 2 by James Tynion IV

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 3 by James Tynion IV

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4 by James Tynion IV

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 5 by James Tynion IV

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 6 by James Tynion IV

it was amazing

The Fright Before Christmas by Jeff Belanger

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

it was amazing

Amber鈥檚 last review of the year

liked it

This is almost really good. Grady Hendrix really nailed the feeling of being a teen girl in the 80s. (Not that I was a teen girl in the 80s, but my friends older siblings were.) It's very campy and 80s and sometimes it really works. I was all set to give it four stars, but the ending felt a little disappointing. It was a little too depressing, even for me. I'm like dang, give these girls a break. ...more

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