Recs if you like We...
“The government wouldn’t do that”
“Oh yes they would.”
Reading is ALWAYS political!
Feel free to recommend your own in the comments (fiction and nonfiction) and let’s create a list of books about people + systems + power !! Would love any recs to diversify this list too, knowledge is power people !
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1001 Books to Read Before You Die
Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.
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the allegory is political
a collection of novels that use allegory, dystopia, and satire to examine power, control, propaganda, surveillance, and the fragility of truth. blurring the lines between fiction and reality, these stories reflect the political anxieties of both their own eras and ours.
as always welcome to suggestions !
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you think you just fell out of the coconut tree?
"you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you" sci-fi edition canon sci-fi authors (before the year 2000) that have shaped the science fiction we have today. suggestions are enthusiastically welcome ✨ (1 book per author)
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that’s not my name!
they call me hell, they call me Stacy, they call me her, they call me Jane…that’s not my name!!!
this is a list of books featuring characters without a name
as always, taking any and all suggestions!!
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Niche Classics
Overlooked, lesser known classics from all over the world and of many genres.
This list also exists as a book club on Fable under the same name.
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books for purple readers
book recs for purple readers according to read your color on substack | updated periodically
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HRCYED 3.0 x Pagebound Quests (Covers Edition)
If we are going to do Qwordy's the Hardest Reading Challenge You'll Ever Do 3.0 - we should probably get some Pagebound badges along the way! I'm specifically going to be adding books from Quests and readalongs that I think matches at least one of these cover prompts: craft, food, motion, biomes/landscapes, animals, weather.
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The magnus archives
if you like tma, some are just vibes, some actual entities
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The Big Bad Luddite Novel*
ANTI: fascism, ai, nfts, Big Tech, billionaires, surveillance states, optimization, algorithms, bot farms, technofeudalism, enshittification, exploitation, extractionism, planned obsolescence PRO: organized labor, punk, analog, solidarity, free speech, friction, degrowth, experimentation, right to privacy, right to repair, diy, material process, mutual aid, ecological living, the human hand, the human mind
*Short stories welcome. Looking for nonfiction? Check out The Big Bad Luddite List.
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Read Banned Books!✊🏼🖤
This list highlights the influential books that have been banned, censored, or widely discouraged at various times and places due to their provocative ideas, controversial content, or challenges to authority. These stories preserve critical thinking, protect intellectual freedom, and remind us why questioning dominant narratives is essential now more than ever.
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Censorship, Propaganda, and Misinformation
I'm working on curating a list of fiction and nonfiction that deals with topics of censorship, propaganda, and the spread of misinformation as part of a personal curriculum, and I invite you all to join me on this journey. Feel free to leave more recommendations!
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Standard Ebooks Offerings!
I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I talk about Standard Ebooks a TON. I wanted to make a list of some of the most popular offerings they have available to read. Their full library of over 1300 books is 100% FREE and from the US Public Domain. From Kobo to Kindle, they have a format that'll work for however you want to read, even PDFs! Save a few bucks (or library holds) here: https://standardebooks.org/
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Dystopian fiction for these dystopian times
The books that have always been there, warning that these things might be coming if we don't change. So pick one up, grab a fridge cigarette, and let it sharpen your rage into something constructive.
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Earning Sci-Fi Chops
This is for the classics, the old and new, the lesser known books, the short stories and the translated speculative fiction. Sci-fi could be argued to be one of the best and most expansive genres out there - it’s just a matter of finding the right book for you.
If there is a series, I will only be putting the first book unless they are unrelated.
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Books that defined & influenced their genres
A collection of books that impacted the future of their own genre. ✨️please make recommendations✨️ (Picking emojis for this was hard)
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dystopian book recs
dystopian: relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice.
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Soviet Literature
A collection of Soviet literature, poetry and essays.
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Exploring Obsession
Fixations and obsessions
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dystopian works
dystopian novels or short stories (if you have suggestions or think there are mistakes please let me know!)
edit: a dystopian book describes an undesirable society, and contains themes of oppression perpetrated by a tyrannical government. It is different from post-apocalyptic books (like The Road), which can contain similar themes, but lack the social commentary about living in fear of the government, lack of individualisation, propaganda, etc.
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