#fatlands

[fieriframes]

[Powdered mustard, dried rosemary, granulated garlic, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, granulated onion, bay leaves. Shropshire, the fatlands of Gloucestershire, kosher salt, brown sugar, and our white sugar, molasses.]

[deadpresidents]

I've had these books sitting around for a couple of years now, but I finally picked up Erika Fatland's Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) yesterday and I am burning through it and didn't even want to put it down long enough to post this. It's a good bet that any book that starts with a chapter about endlessly fascinating Turkmenistan and its crazy post-Soviet dictators -- the late, utterly ridiculous "Turkmenbashi" and the horse-obsessed dentist now in power -- is going to immediately capture my attention. The bizarre personality cults built around the dictators of Turkmenistan might actually be the one thing to shame Donald Trump because he'd be so envious of their audacity.

While I don't want my journey with Sovietistan to end as quickly as it's going to, I'm glad I also have Erika Fatland's book The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage (BOOK | KINDLE) ready to immediately dive into afterwards. I'm also going to need to get her newest book High: A Journey Across the Himalaya Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China (BOOK | KINDLE) to follow The Border. The author, Erika Fatland, is from Norway and speaks eight languages, so she's not completely lost in these wildly different and remote former Soviet satellite republics and her writing is vivid and funny (all three books are translated into English by Kari Dickson, so cheers to her, as well). I don't read a ton of books that fall in the genre of travel writing, but I might have to if there are more like this!

[unhonestlymirror]

@tierneyx @kurhanchyk @ohsalome what are your thoughts about this?

It's a 2020 book, "The Border" by Erika Fatland

[theunbearablelightnessofbein]

E se sentissi di nuovo quelle sensazioni? Quel richiamo?

[accuratepicuresofanthropologists]

Erika Fatland studies anthropology at the University of Oslo and is now a travel writer who has produced very interesting looking books about Russian Central Asia. Via Kagge

[nipresa]

Ritagli

Una delle cose più pratiche che permette di fare un e-reader è sottolineare i testi e avere poi a portata di mano tutti i passaggi che si vogliono conservare.Di seguito, una piccola raccolta di sottolineature, senza un particolare filo conduttore, tra saggi e narrativa, dagli ultimi tre anni circa di letture. Alberto Grandi, Denominazione di origine inventataQuesto è il paese nel quale due tra…

[englishmagic]

Oh hell yeah

[m-andrade-87]

SOVIETISTAN (ÉRIKA FATLANT)

Las cinco repúblicas de Asia Central (Turkmenistán, Kazajistán, Kirguistán, Tayikistán y Uzbekistán), emancipadas de la antigua Unión Soviética en 1991, constituyen un territorio de vívidos contrastes, donde la pobreza de los pueblos nómadas convive con las excentricidades de unos regímenes dictatoriales, y los paisajes más alucinantes de la antigua ruta de la seda se solapan con las ruinas de la…

[miastaslow]

Czerwiec w warszawskim klubie - zapowiedź

Książka: Sowietstany. Podróż po Turkmenistanie, Kazachstanie, Tadżykistanie, Kirgistanie i Uzbekistanie

Autor: Erika Fatland

Data spotkania: 23 czerwca (piątek),

Godzina spotkania: 18:00

Miejsce spotkania: Kawiarnia Kafka, ul. Oboźna 3

Osoba kontaktowa: Kasia, tel. 507 124 991, leskatarzyna@gmail.com

Podobno ZSRR to nie było miejsce, a stan umysłu. Czy tego właśnie dowodzi książka Eriki Fatland, norweskiej antropolożki, która kilka lat temu poświęciła całe miesiące na podróż po byłych republikach tego rosyjskiego tworu? Na ile mieszkańcy Kirgistanu, Tadżykistanu czy Kazachstanu zachowali swą tożsamość, a na ile przesiąknęli systemem, który wprowadziła w ich życie Moskwa, czy im się to podobało, czy nie? Co jest fascynującego w tych egzotycznych dla ludzi zachodniej Europy krajach?

Zapraszam do dyskusji!

Kasia Leśniak

[jontycrane]

Best of 2022 - Books

Best of 2022 – Books

I was well down on the past couple of years (308 in 2020 and 210 in 2021), but more than 90 was still a decent tally of books read this year. More than half were travel, 15% fiction, 15% history, and the remainder a mix of essays, politics, mountaineering, and music books. These are the ones that stayed with me the most… To The Ends of the Earth by John V. H. DippelA fascinating and…

[hungwy]

Been a real "history of the Soviet Union" year so far. Amur River by Colin Thubron, Sovietistan by Erika Fatland, Central Asia by Adeeb Khalid, about to start Ronald Grigor Suny's biography of Stalin, read a few pages into Collapse by Vladislav Zubok the other day, the whole Estonia thing I had a few weeks back, arguably my current Counter Strike thing,

[fatfables]

Big Sir and Allen Gainsburg

I saw the best bellies of my generation destroyed by fatness, bulging hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the fast food streets at dawn looking for a hungry fix,

Jack felt like the gutter that he was dragging his fat ass through. He’d been wandering through the streets for six hours wondering when he’d find an open cafe. Wild with hunger and passionately hungover he thirsted for cake like a cock for ass. His bloated belly hung out from between his open plaid shirt, tightly constrained by his plain white tee, it was big, round and ballooned shaped. It bounced with every heavy step. He lit the last smoke of the pack as he plodded onto the Haight.

He’d already traipsed through the Mission, searched Union Square and the Wharf. Nowhere was fucking open. This city was a fucking killer to walk around. He preferred to travel the road by car. He dreamed of a day, far from 1955, when the city would be full of twenty four hour dinners and electrically powered personal mobility devices that would save a man from having to walk a single block up these hills. Maybe one day they would even deliver food to your door on such devices. His belly howled with hunger. Until he heard the jazz.

The sweet music of man trumpets was coming from a third floor window, “Bbrrraaaarrrpppp!” He looked up to the apartment window and heard a familiar voice.

“That was the sweetest one yet, man! Fruitier than a tangerine dream!”

It was Lawrence Spaghetti. 

“Hey Lawrence! Let me in, man! I’m dying out here!”

“Is that Flapajack I hear?”

“Yeah man, It’s me! I’m starving! I’ve been out here all night!”

“”Ok man, we’ll let you in.”

The apartment was littered with food wrappers, beer cans, and cigarette butts that had been discarded on the carpet. Two heavily obese young men and one older one were splayed out half-comatose across two filthy sofas. Lawrence had laid himself down, legs akimbo, on one sofa. The other sofa was full of Will and Allen. The former was dressed smart in an ill-fitting suit that busted at the seams. The latter was humongous, a real beached whale, with long greasy black hair, geeky glasses, an unkempt beard, and manner.

Jack spoke to Will.

“I’m so fucking hungry, man. Please tell me you guys have the good stuff?”

“Giant cocks spunking puke jizz over the poor naked wild boys I didn’t alien rape in Tangiers kill my wife”

“You can’t talk to him, man. Too much cake, too far gone, tooo much cake.” It was Lawrence who spoke. “You wanna hit, man?”

“Naked twitching anuses flabby mexican boys”

“Ya see? Lost in cake.”

“I’ll take a hit, thanks man.”

Lawrence poured two pounds of cake mix into the bong Jack inhaled it in one go.

“Woo, I needed that!”

Lawrence reloaded Jack sucked down crazy clown circus entangled in intestines. Belly belonging bloat balloon

Queesy queers quack as they quaff quazy amounts of quirkus animals shut up will. Will’s buttons pop like whizzing bullet towards wife head belly burst open all to see cake will too much

“America make better us liberal food portions us” said Lawrence.

“You guys are way ahead of me,” said Jack as his stomach rumbled.

He went to the kitchen and found quazy amounts of cookies, chips and cake. He snorted a line of chip dust dick twitch and donut dope 

nose hair wibble wobble ass fat jiggle joggle

Will Lawrence comfy sleep anus mouth jizz tasty fat fat fat leaky ass fat millions of american youth love cock pound hard shirt lift torn belly Norman Rockwell bloat ass strain wide gap thunder fart face breath cum taste wild boy inflate guts rectal explosion yes 

Jack was now satisfied, horny and full, He sunk into the sofa next to Allen

“It always makes me hungry to love the bloat somehow- hate's so easy compared.”

“Big Sir,” said Allen, “I’m with you in Fatland where you’re fatter than I am”

Allen had eaten enough to transfer to another gastral plain. He was only aware of Jack due to the closeness of his circumference to his circumcision. Moluch! He shouted. No, they're all gone. I ate the last of them said Jack stomach pounding bursting full.

Bear beard bloated madness. Wild boys no Will asleep. 

Moloch! Moloch!  Fat party apartments! invisible sloburbs! swollen treasuries! blind capital gains! Demonic fast food industries! anal nations! Intestine gaseous madhouses! granite cocks! monstrous ass bombs!

Sshhh! Jack, calm Allen, mouth cock belly face. Fatter tomorrow cake mix hit more consume inhale groan stretch belch cake mix hit girth wound hard soft flab cake mix hit inhale digest pain cake mix hit inhale growth bloat boat belly sail wind champagne cake hit mix inhale large tank fire power face hit take inhale drown stream burst banks cake mix hit inhale monstrous digest intestines full cake mix hit inhale scream breath bong swell burst balls take hit inhale

Jack sleep Allen ass fat face Allen: who balled after breakfast in the dinner times in restaurants and the grass of public parks and bakeries scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may,

Sleep wild boys feast all night America boys fat future lazy safe scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may. 

home is where your ass is

[deadpresidents]

Latest books you have been reading?

Apparently I haven't shared the books I've been recently reading since the beginning of November. Usually someone reminds me to share my reading list every few weeks, so I think someone should be fired for dereliction of duty.

•Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jared Cohen -- Just released on February 13th, this is the follow-up to Cohen's excellent 2019 book, Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO).

•Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia (BOOK | KINDLE) by Louis Ferrante.

•Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant (BOOK | KINDLE) by John Reeves.

•The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage (BOOK | KINDLE) by Erika Fatland -- A couple of months ago, I mentioned how much I enjoyed reading Erika Fatland's Sovietistan, and I was equally pleased with The Border, which has a subtitle nearly as long as the Russian border that she wrote about traveling around.

•Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by David Mitchell.

•The Fall of Eagles: The Death of the Great European Dynasties by C.L. Sulzberger.

•George V: Never a Dull Moment (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jane Ridley.

•Adams and Calhoun: From Shared Vision to Irreconcilable Conflict (BOOK | KINDLE) by William F. Hartford.

•God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America's Most Hated Man (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jack Kelly.

•Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Peter Sarris.

•Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Roland Lazenby.

•Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War (BOOK | KINDLE) by Matthew Christopher Hulbert.

•Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by David Reynolds.

•Mansfield and Dirksen: Bipartisan Giants of the Senate (BOOK | KINDLE) by Marc C. Johnson.

•The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Benn Steil.

•Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War (BOOK | KINDLE) by Jon Grinspan -- Available for pre-order now and will be published on May 14th.

[unhonestlymirror]

Another bonus for ya @tierneyx

[muskmelon-enjoyer-199x]

20, 42, 52 :)

20. what is your favorite song at the moment?

oooo, tough. probably

or

or

or

or

I've really been feeling Pat's later stuff recently. I never really got it when it first came out. I was a dumb teen and still vibing hard with the Johnny Hobo and Wingnut stuff. Now I'm behind my peers in my late 20s and trying to get my shit together for once in my life, so it's like, "huh."

42. favorite books

Where do I start?

"Nevada" by Imogen Binnie. The protagonist Maria is literally me in every single possible way, in the worst way possible lmao. She goes on a road trip after her life falls apart and meets a depressed young man in northwestern Nevada who is blatantly a repressed transsexual. CW for drug abuse, autogynephilia discussion, and one mention of BDSM.

"Little Fish" by Casey Plett. Amazing book. It's about a Mennonite-raised trans woman in Winnipeg who has to get back into prostitution to make ends meet. CW for sexual violence, alcoholism, suicide, etc.

"Sovietistan" by Erika Fatland. The author travelled through every country in Central Asia around 2010 and wrote about her experiences in each of them. Some of the anecdotes are insane, and she treats her subject matter in a very human way (which is unfortunately not common in writing about the region). Definitely worth reading.

"Orlando" by Virginia Woolf. I must've read this 10 times my freshman year of college. A teenage Elizabethan nobleman gets transformed into a woman (happily enough) by spirits and lives that way for 400 years.

"The Man Who Spoke Snakish" by Andrus Kirivähk. This is a fantasy story about a dying pagan community during the Christianization of Estonia. They talk to snakes and live in the woods, but the youth keep running off to live in Germanicized Christian farming communities. This book has all kinds of stuff. There's magic, snake-human cultural exchange, culturally-pagan irreligious people who hate the high priest, vicious polemics against bread and porridge, and remnants from another human species who live in the trees and tame lice. There's some weird stuff about women marrying bears instead of men (i swear it came out before the tiktok thing lmao) and some really brutal war scenes, but it's definitely my favorite fantasy book of all time. Better than The Hobbit, and I love the Hobbit. It's so good. It's so so so so so good.

52. something i'm talented at

Im a decent cook! here are some photos:

(clockwise: general tso's tofu, surinamese moki alesi, a japanese version of mapo tofu, and my favorite swedish pizzasallad)

[fatscorpion]

Fatland

Imagine there was a country for fat admirers, feeders, feedees or general lovers of fat. a country where there is no exclusion based on weight. the whole everyday life is fat positive. fat people will no longer have problems anywhere. Wouldn't that be fantastic. but what else would there be in this country? likes to add things. together we will create the perfect fat-friendly country.