A 600+ page tour de force of historical fiction. A real education on the lives of immigrants from all over Asia and beyond during the tumultuous period of 1968-1977. Each year features a new cast, but they all revolve around the I Hotel in SF’s Chinatown. Wisened old timers mix with idealistic and determined twenty somethings, on a quest to protect what’s theirs in a land where the cards are stacked against them. Really engaging. An important read.
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I’m interested in a multitude of things, including social justice, socialism, history, poetry, magical realism (fiction), capitalism, race and class struggle, plus stuff like wine, baseball and music.
So mostly non-fiction, though I read maybe two novels per year and maybe one poetry collection.
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Steven Ray's books
2026 Reading Goal
11% complete! Steven Ray has read 2 of 18 books.
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Steven Ray started reading Feminist Theory by bell hooks
Feminist Theory by bell hooks
A sweeping examination of the core issues of sexual politics, bell hooks' new book Feminist Theory: from margin to center …
Steven Ray reviewed I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
Tenth Anniversary Edition, with an introduction by Jessica Hagedorn
Really entertaining and informative
5 stars
Steven Ray rated I Hotel: 5 stars
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
Tenth Anniversary Edition, with an introduction by Jessica Hagedorn
Steven Ray finished reading I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
Tenth Anniversary Edition, with an introduction by Jessica Hagedorn
Steven Ray wants to read What Is to Be Done? by Lenin
Steven Ray finished reading Things that Can and Cannot Be Said by Arundhati Roy
A quick, short read. Mostly transcripts of conversations, plus a few short essays. The conversation with Dan Ellsberg and Ed Snowdon was pretty riveting. Thumbs up.
Steven Ray started reading Things that Can and Cannot Be Said by Arundhati Roy
Essays and conversations in which Roy and Cusack reflect on their meeting with Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden in 2014.
Steven Ray wants to read The Book by Alan Watts
The Book by Alan Watts
At the root of human conflict is our fundamental misunderstanding of who we are. The illusion that we are isolated …
Steven Ray wants to read E. P. Thompson and the Making of the New Left by E. P. Thompson
Steven Ray wants to read The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (Serpent's Tail classics)
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (Serpent's Tail classics)
Sitting at his desk, Bernardo Soares imagined himself free forever of Rua dos Douradores, of his boss Vasques, of Moreira …
Steven Ray wants to read Feminist Theory by bell hooks
A sweeping examination of the core issues of sexual politics, bell hooks' new book Feminist …
Very much looking forward to this one.
Words Without Borders: The World Through the Eyes of Writers by Samantha Schnee
"In these pages, some of the most accomplished writers in world literature have stepped forward to introduce us to dazzling …
Steven Ray wants to read Disobey! by Frederic Gros
Disobey! by Frederic Gros, David Fernbach
The world is out of joint, so much so that disobeying should be an urgent act for everyone. In this …
Steven Ray wants to read One-Way Street by Walter Benjamin
