Welcome to a new series on Voice of the Proletariat: Monthly Reads. At the start of each month, a post like this one will go up, documenting some of my current reads, top reads from the past month, and a shortlist of newly acquired books.
Currently Reading
The Pomegranate is a Grenade (2026) by Maha Hashwi
As I have expanded my reading genres over time to now include poetry, I acquired an ARC of this book, described as “a powerful debut from an Arab Muslim poet and activist, offering intimate, accessible poems about identity, family, and belonging.”
Unfortunately, I cannot include any quotes from within the book, as they may change before publication, but so far, I have especially liked Body Bags, Jannah, The Intention, Mango Pit, Welcome to Dearborn.
Thank you to Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. This book is set to release August 31, 2026.
Mao Tse-tung: An Anthology of His Writings (1962) by Chairman Mao Zedong, transl. Anne Jackson Freemantle
Perhaps this will come as a surprise—I often quote Chairman Mao, after all—but I have been reading this specific compilation on-and-off since the end of December, despite the short length of 300 pages.
The first half of the book, Political and Strategic Writings, contains a total of nine works from the Periods of the First Revolutionary War, Second Revolutionary War, and War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This half was finally completed this past month.
The second half contains five Philosophical Writings, namely “Combat Liberalism” (1937), “On Practice” (1937), “On Contradiction” (1937), and “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” (1957), which I have read in some other form prior.
Between the small print and the dense writing, this has admittedly taken longer than I had hoped, but the first half has provided me with a great amount of helpful historical context.
Completed This Month
The Art of War (500 B.C.) by Sun Tzu, transl. Lionel Giles
This is likely one of the most-read Chinese classics, and I quite enjoyed it. It was interesting to read it alongside Chairman Mao’s historical writings, given the common themes of warfare and wartime strategy; obviously, The Art of War is not a Marxist text, yet it still felt like a combination of theory and praxis.
Voices in the Sea Foam (2024) by Kotaro
While I occasionally read American comics and graphic novels, I do not typically read manga, but the cover of this BL caught my eye.
A reimagining of The Little Mermaid (which I have, admittedly, never read or watched), the plot was fairly confusing at first but became clearer the further I read. The artwork was incredible, and while the story seemed to drag at times, it remained fairly well-paced.
Thank you to Kodansha USA and NetGalley for the ARC. While the original Japanese edition was first released in 2024, the English edition I read was released on May 4, 2026.
To keep up with all my reads rather than just some selected highlights, you can find me on The StoryGraph here. For graphic novels and comics, I can also be found on League of Comic Geeks here.
New Acquisitions
The Analects of Confucius (429 B.C.) by Confucius, transl. Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont, Jr.
This is featured on Chairman (also President and General Secretary) Xi Jinping’s World Book Day Booklist.
At the River (2026) by Esteban Rodríguez
Thank you to Fonograf Editions and NetGalley for the ARC. This book is set to release September 22, 2026.
Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching; 400 B.C.) by Lao Tzu, transl. Roger Ames and David Hall
The German Ideology (1932) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, transl. W. Lough, C. Dutt, and C.P. Magill
Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics (1820) by Georg W.F. Hegel, transl. Bernard Bosanquet
Hegel is one of the most confusing writers in my view; I figured it would be beneficial to focus on his more accessible works, such as this one. I have only briefly and indirectly touched on his work in my article “The ‘Opium of the Masses’ in Context: Religion and Communism,” which includes an analysis of Marx’s Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.
Poetics (335 B.C.) by Aristotle, transl. Malcolm Heath
The Prince (1513) by Niccolò Machiavelli, transl. C.E. Detmold
The Republic (380 B.C.) by Plato, transl. Benjamin Jowett
This is featured on Chairman (also President, General Secretary) Xi Jinping’s World Book Day Booklist.
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens
This is featured on Chairman (also President, General Secretary) Xi Jinping’s World Book Day Booklist.
Understanding Hamas: And Why That Matters (2024) by Rami G. Khouri and Helena Cobban
All reviews are written independently and without compensation. I accept complimentary books and ARCs for review consideration, and the source will be noted and credited in the review itself. Publishers and authors are welcome to email me regarding submissions.
Sun Tzu, Aristotle and Plato? Nice picks!
Mao Zedong was a big history buff. He might be remembered in the West as communist party leader, but he was also a brilliant military strategist who led the army to 2 victories against Japanese and the Nationalist. No wonder you found commonality of his writings and Sun Tzu's.