HUNGER’s Holiday GIF Guide: The Book Edition
Nowadays, most of us are too busy to fit reading into our everyday schedules, with a year’s worth of releases sitting untouched on our bookshelves. The festive season, however, provides ample time to crack through a title or two, making books the perfect gift (for our loved ones…or ourselves) for the festive season.
To provide some gifting inspiration, we round up the releases that have been on the top of our “To Read” list this year. From Christopher Wylie’s Cambridge Analytica exposé to Andrea Long Chu’s ode to the woman who shot Andy Warhol, there’s plenty of arresting and engaging writing to go around.
andrea long chu – ‘females’
Provocateur and public intellectual Andrea Long Chu is known for her searing essays for the likes of n+1, Artforum and the New York Times. Turning her writerly attentions to Valerie Solanas’s misunderstood misandry, Females sees Chu recuperate one of the central conceits of the SCUM Manifesto; that men are just “incomplete females” lacking a second X chromosome. As Chu sees it “everyone is female and everyone hates it”…thought-provoking and controversial reading from one of our most astute contemporary minds.
nathalie olah – ‘steal as much as you can’
As a journalist, Nathalie Olah is known for her vigorous dissections of culture and politics. With Steal As Much As You Can, her first book, she hones in on the growing inequalities of UK society, coming at a time when younger generations are better educated than ever before. Rather than encouraging this generation to pursue the route of prosperity, she proposes an altogether more subversive solution to Britain’s entrenched classism: steal as much as you can.
ursula k. le guin – The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
A pioneer of speculative fiction, Ursula K Le Guin is one of the few figures who are truly ahead of their time. The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction is a case-in-point; reframing technology as a tool for self-improvement and cultivation rather than a weapon of imperial domination. This special edition from Ignota Books illuminates the cult essay anew with an introduction from Donna Haraway of Cyborg Manifesto fame and illustrations from iconic South Korean artist Lee Bul. Three iconic feminist figures for the price of one…
Christopher Wylie – mindf*ck
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie pens an explosive exposé about his time working for the political consulting company. His tales from the frontline of the Trump presidential campaign are a harrowing insight into the ways that data can be weaponised for political gain. If anything’s going to force you off the grid, it’s this.
carl CATTERMOLE – ‘prison: a survival guide’
After serving a two and a half year prison sentence, Carl Cattermole wanted to help other inmates adjust to the realities of existing within the under-funded and punitive criminal justice system. The result was Prison: A Survival Guide which, starting with a DIY run of 100 copies, would go on to become a cult classic. Now, the guide has been fully updated with contributions from female and LGBTI+ perspectives and family on the outside. Revelatory reading.
