BC CULTURE
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

Ok. Here goes.

I track all my books at https://t.co/WLPKFEPoYK. I am going to go through the list and talk about the books I read in 2020 that struck me. Hopefully this won’t be 55 tweets long.

 The first book I read in 2020 was this book about punk rock I think recommended by @dansinker

I love books about music and especially music that I enjoy. I learned a lot reading this book and it introduced me to a number of bands. Was fun.

https://t.co/VGpVabzKEQ
I will read anything by Ken Liu. This collections is wonderful. The story “The Paper Menagerie” broke my heart. I loved it so so much.

https://t.co/bsXUieugXL
A friend recommended Infinite Detail and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I often think about the techno utopian world that we have build and what will happen in the future. This book details a very bizarre and weird future building on a lot of those ideals.

https://t.co/YC4yg4swAd
I loved reading this book. I didn’t really know anything about Jessica Simpson before - but really enjoyed her autobiography. Who knew!

https://t.co/ESyCTp7Q3s
I found this book to be unsettling. I recommended it to some friends. They also found it unsettling.

https://t.co/c79FCT3LCZ
I quite enjoyed this book. I typically don’t like it when people are named “harper.” This book was solid. I love sci-fi like this.

https://t.co/VwkfI3TpAm
A friend recommended this book and I had always wondered about Warhol. It is an incredible book. I read this book for what felt like 2 years. That may have just been 2020 tho. @BlakeGopnik did a wonderful thing with this book.

https://t.co/MkCp9JLguK
I will read every murderbot book that is released. @marthawells1 has done an amazing job of creating one of my favorite series of books

https://t.co/g4FbKxkVd9
I adored this play. A friend had recommended this and I am glad I read it. I always spend a lot of time learning about the authors of the books that I read and It is so sad that she had such a short life.

https://t.co/Zygv3AmqBY
This was one of my favorite books of 2020. The was a beautiful and haunting tale. Can’t wait to read more of @mieko_kawakami’s books.

https://t.co/pS6wTpT0em
This book blew my mind. Mostly because it was such a different idea. Such a scary book.

https://t.co/xvyJlnt0jy
I love the lady astronaut books. @MaryRobinette has done such an amazing job of building a world that Ilove. All of the Lady Astronaut books are amazing and fun. I highly recommend them.

https://t.co/jDpDLEFnO6
Reading Weather was such a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it. I found it haunting and magical.

https://t.co/xTdvVY9GXG
My friend @sewellchan recommended I read this book. I am so so glad I did. It simultaneously made me hopeful for the U.S. and scared for our future.

If you have any questions about why and how for the U.S. I recommend that you read this.

https://t.co/vDm32jeNmc
I really liked @intelwire’s book. It is another example of a world that could exist if we just keep things going how they are going now. It isn’t ideal.

Read the book tho. Especially if you are in ad buying ;)

https://t.co/waXlKpD498
This was a random book I read. I reallllllly liked it. It was like reading a spy movie. Almost unbelievable! But it is real! So so good.

https://t.co/PoMHxC4aNU
I am often looking for books that give me an atmospheric feeling. I find that Kazuo Ishiguro books always give me that atmospheric vibe.

A pale view of the hills is such a book. It is much different than his later books, and still so dark and strong.

https://t.co/8UNgx1lJA0
I loved reading this book by @xrw. It gave me inspiration, excitement and hope for our world.

It made me hungry for tasty food in far away locales.

I can’t wait to travel again.

https://t.co/H6lG0muN8L
I read this book to understand Goya. These artist biographies are long af. I now know way more about Goya that I ever wanted to. I just wanted to know why and how he painted his Saturn Devouring His Son painting. And the author is like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lol

https://t.co/nDgC1chPq6
I have had the paper version of this book on my coffee table for years. I reread the first essay often. I have never completely finished the second essay (no idea why)

I spent some time deliberately finishing the second essay and am very happy I did.

https://t.co/3SC2Hu6X6C
I don’t have any idea how I found this, but I loved it! I ended up staying up super late to finish it.

https://t.co/3DWw5ZQTvb
My brother suggested I would like this book. I devoured it and the second book as well. Such a nice universe and setting. Recommend!

https://t.co/9DS6Z9CSxd
All in all I read about 55 books this year. Mostly fiction. Some biographies. A few history.

It was all wonderful. You can see the full list at https://t.co/WLPKFEPoYK

Post your favs from 2020! I need recommendations!

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Pulp Librarian
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@PulpLibrarian
Pierre Boulle was born today in 1912, so what better time to look back at his sociological science-fiction classic that paved the way for Star Wars and the MCU.

This is the story of Planet Of The Apes!


Pierre Boulle is probably best known for his 1952 novel Bridge On The River Kwai, based on his wartime experiences in Indochina. So it was possibly a surprise when 11 years later he authored a science fiction novel.


However Boulle had been a Free French secret agent during the war. He was captured in 1943 by Vichy forces in Vietnam and sentenced to hard labour. This experience of capture would shape his novel La Planète Des Singes.


Published in 1963 La Planète Des Singes recieved good reviews. An English translation - entitled Monkey Planet - was issued the following year. It was a story that seemed to strike a chord with readers.


In the novel two rich travellers find a manuscript written by journalist Ulysse Mérou. It tells a fantastical tale: how he travelled with two wealthy explorers to Betelgeuse. They land on the planet Soror, a world of primitive humans ruled by advanced civilised apes.
CULTURE
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Pulp Librarian
Pulp Librarian
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Time once again for my occasional series "Women with great hair fleeing gothic houses!"

And today all the covers are by Walter Popp...


Crucible of Evil, by Lyda Belknap Long. Avon Gothic Original, 1974. Cover art by Walter Popp.


Hornet's Nest, by Evelyn Bond. Avon Gothic Original, 1972 Cover by Walter Popp.


The House In Munich, by Dorothy Dowdell. Avon, 1974. Art by Walter Popp.


The Secret Of Chateau Laval, by Susan Marvin. Avon Gothic, 1973. Art by Walter Popp.
CULTURE
David Roberts
David Roberts
@drvolts
The more I think about the Bruce Springsteen Jeep ad, the more disgusted I get. It's allegedly a call for unity, but it is drenched in a very particular culture's iconography: a Christian church (that superimposes the cross on the US flag), farms, rural living, "the middle" ...

... it's all so white. This is the "America" of nationalist fairy tales: rural land, settled by self-reliant white farmers & good Christians. It's all trucks & dust & manual labor & squinting at the horizon while wiping sweat from your brow. This is the kind of "unity" ...

... designed to comfort (or at least not threaten) white people. It says, "let's unify by joining together to reaffirm America's mythical self-conception, despite the real-world violence & repression it has always entailed."

If I'm, I dunno, a latino housekeeper in Vegas or black Uber driver in Sacramento, what's in the commercial for me? What does this kind of "unity" promise me? What can I find in "the (mythical) middle"? Nothing. It's not for me.

If America ever does come together in some kind of social solidarity again (which looks pretty doubtful), it's not going to be around the myths & iconography of 20th century hegemonic white culture in the US. It's going to be around something NEW -- new stories, new icons.
CULTURE
\U0001f499 \u2139\ufe0f Not The Torygraph \U0001f499 #SaveOurNHS
💙 ℹ️ Not The Torygraph...
@TweetForTheMany
. THREAD 1/x

David Baddiel is getting lots of coverage and feedback on his book which again focuses on so called 'left wing' antisemitism.

I will start by saying that I have seen antisemitic comments made by Labour members and some genuine cases.

However, I have huge concerns.


2/x

Let's look in detail at this article written in April 2019 in the @Guardian - and I will explain the concerns.

The areas highlighted guide you to believe this was all Labour - IT WASN'T.

It also occurred before 2015! Detail follows...

https://t.co/cK59FP83aG


3/x

So as you see the writer of this rather deceitful piece starts with

"THAT CHANGED IN SEPTEMBER 2015" 🙄

This was done to point the timeframe as Corbyn's leadership. Yet the article goes on to describe things that are not even related to Labour, which occurred in 2014.


4/x

So... What in fact the @Guardian writer is discussing here is this case - where a group of Neo-Nazi's spent months inflicting abuse on Jewish MP Luciana Berger

All the detail is in the Court Notes when Bonehill-Paine was sentenced by the judge.

https://t.co/wAyo6Yro5Q


5/x

The Justice sentencing remarks to Neo-Nazi explain the previous cases too. See the date 2014.

Yet the Guardian writer refers to this NON LABOUR case to effectively make her article a lie.

"Star of David" - this was Garron Helm another neo-Nazi..
CULTURE

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DODDA GANAPATHI, BENGALURU
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The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


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SK
SK
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#sculpture #story -

Chandesha-Anugraha Murti - One of the Sculpture in Brihadeshwara Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram - built by Raja Rajendra Chola I

This Sculpture depicts Bhagwan Shiva along with Devi Paravathi blessing Chandeshwara - one of the 63 Nayanmars.

#Thread


Chandeshwara/Chandikeshwara is regarded as custodian of Shiva Temple's wealth&most of Shiva temples in South India has separate sannathi for him.

His bhakti for Bhagwan Shiva elevated him as one of foremost among Nayanmars.
He gave importance to Shiva Pooja&protection of cows.


There are series of paintings, illustrating the #story of Chandikeshwar in the premises of
Sri Sathiyagireeswarar #Temple at Seinganur,near Kumbakonam,TN

Chandikeshwara's birth name
is Vichara sarman.He was born in the village of Senganur on the banks of River Manni.


His Parent names were Yajnathatan and Pavithrai.
Vichara Sarman was a gifted child and he learnt Vedas and Agamas at a very young age.
He was very devout and would always think about Bhagwan Shiva.

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