LitQueuelitqueue

After

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here

Jonathan Blitzer2024

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • A Black Women's History of the United States

    Daina Ramey Berry2020

    Two historians document the lives of Black women from the 1600s to the present. It uses specific biographies to trace systemic change and struggle.

    Same earnest register, still history

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Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    earnest → meditative

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  • The Annals of Imperial Rome

    Tacitus1956

    A Roman historian chronicles the reigns of emperors from Tiberius to Nero. He focuses on the corruption of power and the decline of political liberty.

    earnest → sardonic, still history

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  • Orientalism

    Edward W. Said1978

    A scholarly critique of how Western academics and artists represent the Middle East to justify imperial power.

    earnest → clinical, still history

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To recover

earnest → playful

3 more ↓

  • Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

    Julia Quinn2022

    A graphic novel adaptation of a fictional melodrama where an orphan flees a cruel aunt and encounters a man in a remote castle.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Comfort Book

    Matt Haig2021

    A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.

    earnest → warm

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  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    earnest → wry

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Faster

3 more ↓

  • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

    Neil deGrasse Tyson2017

    A summary of the origin of the universe, the laws of physics, and the nature of space and time.

    earnest → playful

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Steal Like an Artist

    Austin Kleon2012

    A series of short, illustrated principles for creative work. It focuses on remixing existing ideas and establishing productive daily habits.

    earnest → playful

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  • Bad Blood

    John Carreyrou2018

    A journalist tracks the rise of Elizabeth Holmes and the eventual exposure of her multibillion-dollar blood-testing startup as a fraud.

    earnest → propulsive, still journalism

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

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  • The Lessons of History

    Will Durant1968

    A concise survey of recurring patterns in human history across biology, religion, and economics. It summarizes themes from a ten-volume series.

    earnest → tense, still history

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Oxford Companion to Food

    Alan Davidson2014

    earnest → wry, still history

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

    Dee Alexander Brown

    A chronological history of the displacement and systematic destruction of Native American tribes in the late 19th century.

    earnest → elegiac, still history

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

    Dee Brown

    A chronological account of the displacement and slaughter of Native Americans by the U.S. government in the late 19th century.

    earnest → elegiac, still history

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Auschwitz

    Laurence Rees2005

    A chronological history of the camp's evolution from a Polish barracks to a site of mass industrial murder, based on archival research.

    earnest → clinical, still history

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