margaret45678's reviews
45 reviews

funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A bit like Twin Peaks - lots of tape recordings, quirky local characters, New Age beliefs and of course an industrial quantity of coffee and pastries.

Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America by Will Sommer

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dark informative sad medium-paced

Pretty well-written and a good overview of QAnon, from 2017 to about mid-2021. The most recent QAnon-related events are touched on only briefly, if at all, but obviously writing a book takes time and (in my not at all expert opinion) I think Sommer's analysis and summation of the movement(s) still apply to events he doesn't explicitly discuss.
I think the book is a bit weak in a few areas, though. It refers in passing to a few of the most visible representatives of QAnon (like Michael Flynn, Jacob Chansley and Isaac Kappy) but doesn't go into much depth about them, presumably because other sources like the QAnon Anonymous podcast and Jon Ronson's "Things Fall Apart" radio program have already covered them. I also found the coverage of Jim and Ron Watkins to be a bit brief, again presumably because the HBO documentary focused so heavily on them. In other words, I think you would have to be somewhat familiar with reporting on QAnon already to get the most out of this book.
On the other hand, these weaknesses are sort of compensated by Sommer's accounts of lesser-known (by normal people, at least) Q-influencers like Austin Steinbart. Moreover, Sommer's overall analysis and arguments are convincing and coherent, although I wish he had incorporated his social and political critique more explicitly into the book as a whole, instead of leaving it for the last few pages.

What Is History? by Edward Hallett Carr

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

Carr is the Anti-Fukuyama

Journey to Karabakh by Aka Morchiladze

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adventurous dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beneath the crude language and violence, Journey to Karabakh is surprisingly sentimental and tender. It felt a bit like a Bolaño novel to me, but less explicit and less highbrow - like Bolaño if the characters weren't poets and only made references to American films.

Maurice by E.M. Forster

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4.0

Brazil-Maru by Karen Tei Yamashita

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dark informative reflective sad medium-paced