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Half-term mini-haul: Part 2

An excellent exploration by political analyst Naomi Klein into how being mistaken for Naomi Wolf, a writer who's moved to the political right, has prompted an analysis of how the left/right binary isn't as simple as it was. She looks at a “mirror world“ where the axis can sometimes be a diagonal one, revolving around issues like Covid and anti-vaxxing, big pharma, conspiracy theory, global and online media, and wellness.
#Nonfiction2024 #1984

A thoroughly engaging look into the dualities in modern life and society, prompted by online confusion between Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf. I was particularly struck by the empathy with which Klein investigates how someone like Wolf, feminist darling of the 1990s, would fall into the far right conspiracy crowd.

I recommend the audio, Klein does a great job at the narration!

Plugging away on the second time I‘ve had this book borrowed from the library. Determined to finish this weekend. Back to school was crazy and I didn‘t read a single book in September.

Audio party prepping!

Throwing kids birthday parties is not my favourite thing, but sometimes you just gotta suck it up, eh? Thankfully the tagged keeps me engaged through the drudgery of prep work.

What we need are systems that light up our better selves, the parts of ourselves that want to look out at a world in crisis and join in the work of repair. Where do we find the models for that? Perhaps we should look to the roads not taken.
#SheSaid

My book club picked this and in reading this book I realized I am not a fan of political commentary. It is not old enough to be history. It is not current enough to be current. This is like reading the newspaper from two years ago. That being said the first half of this book could‘ve been a 10 page essay. The second half of the book could‘ve been 3 10 page essays. I would have liked to have been able to DNF this.

Absolutely fascinating! This book was a deep dive into personal branding, politics, feminism, and the intersection of society and technology. It caused me to think a lot about my place in the world and how to be more compassionate, authentic, and impactful. Great on #audio , read by the author. #BookspinBingo #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

#ReadAway2024

Read for #SheSaid May, with all my travel & illness I couldn‘t keep up with my audiobook. I was intrigued & invested so I switched to a library print copy but didn‘t finish it before it had to go back. Back to audio, I finished yesterday & I‘m glad I made the time to finish. It‘s an interesting premise, author Naomi Klein has been confused for 90‘s feminist Naomi Wolf (of The Beauty Myth which I read in a women‘s studies class) ⬇️

#52bookclub24 #football #soccer #summerreadingchallenge
#pop24 #withthewordleapinthetitle

It's a bit late, but here's my #BookspinBingo list for June. It feels good to plan out this month's reads. The last 2 months have been a little more random without my monthly routine.
I'm absolutely obsessed with #SheSaid May's #buddyread (tagged), still catching up. 😅

@TheAromaofBooks @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

This was excellent. I love her writing. I hope she wins the NF Women's prize. I was a little concerned she may have gone down a rabbit hole to crazy town with the intro. But she really just explains how other people got there. Spotted her with a member of my tote bag collection.

#SheSaid @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Hello #SheSaid! How are you this weekend? Long weekend if you are in the US.

I‘m still behind with the sections on this one, but it‘s very good, and for me at least, taking my time with it is helping me absorb more I think.

I hope you are all getting things from it too. Please let me know how you are making out with this month‘s selection.

Me and today's book bestie are waiting for the 9:40 train because poor choices were made. I only have 25 pages left but my normal bed time is near. So the race against zombie mode is real.

In social media Naomi Klein is sometimes mistaken for Naomi Wolf, and at the start of the pandemic Klein decides to look into that. As the pandemic progresses, Wolf is more and more linked to Brennan and his mirror world. In this world Wolf is an upcoming star

Klein looks at Wolf shift from the left to the far right, what made it happen? What‘s in it for Wolf?

As Klein looks at mirror worlds, she‘s also looking into the anti vaccine camp,

Hello #SheSaid!

I‘m still behind 😬 in Part 2 yet. I did splurge for the audiobook, so I‘m hoping that helps me to make up some ground. How is it going for everyone else?

A lot of the things Klein writes about in this book are things I find really interesting to read about (and ponder) so this was right up my street. It‘s a hard one to narrow down and review but I‘m glad it seems to be a book a lot of people are interested in as it would be great if more people were aware of what she writes about here. #womensprizeNF

This was so much more than I expected. She examines history and our need to look away from hard truth. It is also a call to action. Highly recommend. 4 🌟 The author narrates the audio book. ♥️

Library win when you‘re the first to get the book and it‘s still pristine!!!
Not sure what this says about the book though…

Hello #SheSaid, & hello to all the Mothers out there on today, the US‘s Mother‘s Day! You are all doing a great job in this crazy hectic world we live in, keep up the good work and make time for yourself too!

Ok…back to the book…. I am struggling with this one and way behind. How is everyone else doing? It‘s fascinating & yet with our fractured society a bit too much of real life at the same time. We all have relatives that have fallen ⤵️

repost for @Riveted_Reader_Melissa:

Hello #SheSaid!

My book was a bit late in arriving so I‘m just at the end of chapter 1. But the Intro really has me interested to read more. Please feel free to start discussing below… I‘ll join in soon. I‘m very curious at how deep we will get into our fractured body politic… see you in the comments.

original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2731637

#BuddyRead

Hello #SheSaid!

My book was a bit late in arriving so I‘m just at the end of chapter 1. But the Intro really has me interested to read more. Please feel free to start discussing below… I‘ll join in soon. I‘m very curious at how deep we will get into our fractured body politic… see you in the comments.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An artistic attempt to reconcile the shift in society during the pandemic through current day. During Covid, Naomi Klein was often confused with Naomi Wolf, who devolved into quite a conspiracy theorist. Klein, obvs was not thrilled by this. Interesting, but an odd choice to lean so hard on the “Naomi Mirroring” when it was but a small piece. Props to marketing genius, I guess.

Next up for #SheSaid!

Put in your library holds and interlibrary loans!

Tired of being confused w/ Naomi Wolf (90s era feminist, now a conspiracy loving schmoozer of the far right) Klein explores the almost-but-w/-a-dark-side doubling that‘s happening across society now, largely thanks to info overload, mistrust of authority and the rise of"personal branding" which is being exploited by the "far right and the far out" for ?,power,& political gain. Scary stuff but now I understand anti-vaxxers motivations. Kind of.

I‘m LOVING this book! #womensprizeNF

This is the only book I've read from the #WomensPrize non-fiction shortlist, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wins. Important book that attempts to explain the right shift/turn to conspiracy theory that has happened in the Western world. Slow going in parts, because there is a lot to take in. Difficult to summarise.

Up to 20 inches of snow projected to fall over the next few days. I have a multitude of books and magazines to entertain myself with when I‘m not shoveling. This is one book I‘ll be dipping in and out of.

Feminist writer Naomi Wolf took a hard right turn some years ago, and many people were confusing Klein with Wolf. Using this as a jumping off point, Klein explores our divided culture and how this is harmful to all of us. Overall, this is good, but while I agree with her that finding common ground is vitally important, I wonder how her use of the term “mirror world” to define another world view is helpful.

Wow, this was so good! Smart, relevant, thought-provoking.

#WomensPrizeNF

Very well researched and laid out. Thoughtful challenging arguments. Makes me want to demand more of systems - because their failure is failing some very badly, where people believe they have no alternative but to follow power hungry people into the “mirror world”.

I did wonder at the start how the author would extend a story about being mistaken for Naomi Wolf into a full-length book, but this is so much more than that. Sometimes rather impenetrable and often rather scary, Klein looks at many different cases of ‘mirroring‘ in society, with particular reference to Covid, as well as Israel, Trump and even the wellness industry.

A fascinating read, even if I had to read it in chunks to understand it fully.

That's supposed to be MY reading chair Daisy! That's yours on the floor.

• nonfiction • memoir • politics • technology • culture • 2.5 Stars (Meh) Not my favorite genre

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein is a good fit for people who are interested in reflecting on the current state of the world and their place in it, and who are looking for a thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating read that challenges their perspectives on politics, identity, and the impact of technology on society.

SO EXCITED the #womensprize is doing a nonfiction book beginning this year! The longlist was announced today and I‘ve read 2, already had 1 checked out, 2 were on my tbr and the rest seem pretty interesting too!
Anyone else going to read these? I haven‘t seen any posts so far, but also haven‘t scrolled through. How about a tag? #WPNF24

This is an exceptional read. I liked how Klein challenges liberals and leftists to really look at the world, to see the many layers of an issue. She spends a lot of time on Naomi Wolf (her own doppelganger) but also on mirror and shadow worlds. The unraveling of the known with Trump and COVID but also how the other side might not push back enough against big government because they are trying to balance the crazy on the right.
Really enjoyed

#weeklyforecast
My goal this year was to read more books that were not British or US, and read more nonfiction (NF). This next week looks like a success I will be finishing and starting books from:
Canada (NF) (granted a lot about the US)
US (NF)
Portugal
New Zealand
Argentina

An interesting and thought-provoking intersection between memoir and social philosophy. I think the first half — where Klein‘s observations about her “doppelgänger” Naomi Wolf intertwines with discussions about right-wing conspiracies — is more interesting than the second half, where we take a few detours. But overall I loved this a lot.

Klein and Wolf, have you ever gotten the two confused? As Wolf fell deeper into right-wing conspiracy theories and Steve Bannon TV, the confusion became more problematic for Klein. In this excellent book, she looks at Wolf‘s descent but also how society can easily descend into fascism and conspiracy and the mirror selves we all have. Her insights into vaccination and the Israel/Palestine issue are particularly important and timely.

Fascinating! This book went down many rabbit holes. “It all would be so ridiculous- if it weren‘t so serious.” I wasn‘t sure if I should laugh or cry over so much of this book. It nailed the world we are living in, where so many of us have no commonsense. I have admiration for Klein who has been mercifully mistaken, mocked and hounded for another‘s ideals, yet she can still show empathy to her doppelgänger. She deals with it all with such grace.

The information in this is interesting but her devotion to the concept/structure hinders the analyses and messages.

I feel like there were two books fighting with each other in this. Klein is a nonfiction writer, but the doppelganger stuff would have made an intriguing autofiction novella, or as a monograph on psychoanalysis. The part that was interesting, which is the capture of the public imagination by the right-wing around the time of the pandemic & ensuing lockdowns, is where the book failed me. The Klein of Shock Doctrine & No Logo would have dug deep 🔽

By facing her own doppelgänger, leftist activist Naomi Klein explores the absurdity, inversion, & surreality of our cultural and political moment, offering piercing perspectives on self-branding, conspiracy theories, climate change, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, & more. Sprawling, funny, intellectually invigorating, & disturbing in equal measure—if you get lost following Klein in the mirror world, you‘ll end with your feet on more solid ground.

Idk… I liked it! Maybe because of how much it was hyped up, I was hoping it would be paradigm-altering. It wasn‘t- not to me, at least. But it was still very interesting & enjoyable. A bit frenetic, maybe a bit narcissistic in a pandemic era-way… but also completely self-aware about that fact, which makes it work on some level. Probably didn‘t help that I find it almost completely possible to focus on anything right now that is not Gaza 🙃

31 Oct-3 Nov 23 (audiobook)
Interesting non-fiction. I was drawn to this being one who had been guilty of confusing the two Naomis. I still find it difficult to believe that the woman who wrote The Beauty Myth has gone on to become a prominent anti-vaxxer who makes regular appearances on Steve Bannon‘s channels.
Klein does jump about to address a myriad of issues though. Interesting in light of the current Gaza/Israel conflict but bit disjointed.

Naomi Klein has been repeatedly confused with Naomi Wolf, who wrote the feminist book “The Myth of Beauty”. Wolf then “switched sides” and began appearing on Fox News against the COVID vaccine. Klein uses this mistaken identity to explore so many contemporary issues we face today: climate change, politics, the pandemic, racial justice, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, social media, autism, and so much more. Long, and all over but a good audio.

The consequences of modern society‘s ability to obscure important truths, profit off of that obscurity, and ignore large segments of the population are folks like Naomi Wolf, Steve Bannon, and Donald Trump.

Have you been feeling that in the last few years things are slightly off with the world? I know that I sometimes look around & wonder what the hell is going on. There's a feeling that we have truly stepped through the looking glass. Naomi Klein calls this the Shadow or Mirror world, which leads her onto Doppelganger culture: the world of the Shadow selves. (cont'd)