robertrivasplata's reviews
613 reviews

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

4.0

After a whole book of being pursued by (mostly) mysterious faceless terrors through deserted landscapes and ancient ruins, suddenly there's great battles with hordes of barbarians and barbaric orcs, and then just as suddenly, we're again trudging through ruins and wastelands in fear of the watchful eye of Sauron. The narrative in the first half isn't always strictly chronological, with mysterious happenings (e.g. the Ents saving the day at Helm's Deep) not being explained until later when perspective switches back to the other characters' perspective. The second half of The Two Towers really does feel like a continuation of Fellowship of the Ring, with the landscape descriptions, the cowering on the ground from watchful eyes, the secret safe resting place to take a break from all the trudging and cowering. There is somewhat more characterization of all of the characters; Gimli's and Legolas's odd couple relationship is fully established, we get to know Gollum as also Smeagol, we see that Sam and Frodo really have something special going on, and we probably learn something about Aragorn too. The Ents are as cool as I remembered from previous readings and from the movies. Gandalf's resurrection and reappearance to suddenly save the day wherever he goes is a little jarring, though I may be biased against plot-driven resurrections in SF/fantasy. 

The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution by Julius S. Scott

funny informative medium-paced

4.25

A history of the Caribbean's grapevine in the 18th century. As with so many scholarly history books, the choices of primary source quotes are really what make the book. Shows that even though the rise of the Caribbean's plantation economy displaced the buccaneers and freebooters of the 17th century, there were still many opportunities for ordinary people (importantly including people of color) to escape authorities and live a masterless existence at sea, or with the Maroons in the highlands and jungles, or even just in town the next island over from one's last known whereabouts. Scott highlighted the ways in which colonial authorities and planter elites were constantly worried about but also dependent upon the flow of information that the Caribbean's sailors carried between the islands and the continents. The Common Wind also illustrates how class (or caste) identities transcended national or colonial identities across the region. And why not? While the various colonial powers jealously guarded their possessions and their trade with them, they would also from time to time swap territories along with their populations to one another. And at the time aristocratic officers and bourgeois thought nothing of pursuing careers in the service of foreign kings. An interesting factoid from this book is how few people were in all of these places during the time period. Kingston Jamaica was the largest British held city America in 1790 with a population of 23,500; all of Haiti had fewer than 600k people before the revolution. The common wind isn't exactly a history of the Haitian Revolution, but it gives a lot context to any other history of this era of the Caribbean. 

The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Starts off with kind of a “NPR people in the Wilderness”, or maybe “New York novel in the Wilderness” vibe. Imagine all the novels where people are just so bored to be with one another at another glittering party, except here they're deep in the backcountry & someone's just died in a flash flood, or from eating a bad mushroom, or in a rockslide (well, they assumed he died, eventually). There's also a healthy dose of Lord of the Flies style tribal politics. The New Wilderness is a book where I'm always wondering if the characters' interactions are supposed to be odd because they're all mentally ill or a little brain-damaged, or if it's supposed to be a relatable representation of what anyone would be like given the circumstances, or maybe something else I'm not picking up on. Anyhow, The New Wilderness is in large part about the American idea of “Wilderness” as a place & a natural environment untouched & unaffected by humans. Implicit in The New Wilderness is the idea that wilderness without human impact has never been a reality. The wild landscapes of the Americas were greatly shaped by the Indigenous people who lived in them, & the empty wildernesses the 19th & 20th century conservationists were trying to preserve or re-create had been only recently depopulated. A thing I felt could have used more explanation was winter difficulties: how they stayed warm enough at night, how they moved through or over snow, etc. I like how we get to know the various characters better through Agnes's eyes in the middle part of the book, & but I wish that continued into that last part of the book as well. I'm glad Cook never really spells out anything about the “Study” & also left the Rangers to be menacingly mysterious. In that way it reminds me a little bit of The Employees, or even TV's Severance. Not sure why Cook decided to bring back the 70s-style overcrowded & generally unlivable city trope, with its related overpopulation hobbyhorse. 

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Very horrifying stream-of-consciousness horror novel. Establishes early on that everyone's getting killed, usually in a stupid way. Plenty of gore for everyone, but the dog always dies. Like all good horror, it is sad as well as horrifying (which is why I didn't like horror as a kid). High wtf factor. Never quite know where this book is going. Even the sentences don't always go where I expect them to. I kept having to re-read lines because they kept making me ask “did he just say that?” Towards the end it gets like a horror movie with death fake-outs, an unstoppable killer, & a final girl. 

Creepy by Keiler Roberts, Lee Sensenbrenner

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A good picture book to scare the children with. Features a very basic monster, inhabiting a basic world. I like the cartoon style, especially the cat and dogs. 

Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia by Nora Krug

dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0

Dualling illustrated diaries from the first year of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, by a Ukrainian reporter & a (anti-war, anti-Putin) Russian artist. Each week has an entry from each of the diarists on facing pages, accompanied by Krug's art. The art is an evocative modernist-(almost) medievalist style, that reminds me a little bit of the cover art from my parents' edition of the Foundation Trilogy. This is not a history book, but a chronicle of the emotional states of two individuals intimately affected by the war. My main takeaway from the Russian narrative is the complete despair of the outlook of anti-Putin Russia. I will want to look for Krug's other works, Belonging & Kamikaze. I worry about both of the diarists, but I think I'm more worried about “K”. 

The Labyrinth by Simon Stålenhag

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Dystopian dark vibes piece dealing with the morality of building a refuge for the few in the face of environmental catastrophe. Seems relevant for a Scandinavian author. Feels similar to The Buried Giant in the way it is about a society built upon a crime. That & the pubic execution hinted at in the beginning make me think of Graeber & Wengrow's comment in Dawn of Everything that mass executions in the archaeological record are signs of state-building. Artificial habitats, a deadly & depopulated surface world, ruins old & new, unspoken memories of before-times, etc all echo 12 Monkeys. Creepy, almost photo-realistic visuals, with the human figures being the creepiest of all, perhaps because it takes more than half of the book to get to where we even see anyone's face. Before then, the faces of all of the characters we see are hidden or masked. The interiors & objects have a kind of retro-80s-90s-institutional-futurist aesthetic. I think I'll look for more by Stalenhag. 

A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

4.5

A down-to earth progress report for the state of human space colonization. A fascinating & humorous round-up of the technologies & sciences (including social sciences) that would be required to create colonies on the Moon, Mars, Lagrange Points, etc. The Weinersmiths make it clear throughout that they believe no aspect of the required science, technology, & even philosophy is anywhere near mature enough to establish or maintain actual sustained (let alone self-sustaining) outer space habitation, pointing out that many of the questions (e.g. human reproduction outside earth gravity) that remain haven't been & aren't being seriously researched. Explodes many myths about space madness, space mutiny, & Antarctic brawls. The book spends a lot of time on the hypothetical effects of international law on space settlement, & on space settlement's potential implications for international law. I am a little skeptical of the durability of the international legal regimes in this era of climate change & right-wing/fascist ascendancy, but I enjoyed their treatment of the topic & they make some important points, especially the importance of remembering that events on Earth can't be ignored when thinking of going to space. This is especially important to keep in mind because so much of the enthusiasm for building the proverbial city on Mars is in its escapism. I have indulged in fantasies about the minimum space & amenities I would require for my Martian or Enceledean habitat. Of course, the lessons from designing that habitat for on the dry wastes of Mars or the freezing ocean Enceladus will serve me well designing habitats for the ruins & boiling seas of future Earth. The little comics & illustrations by Zach are wonderful. Makes me want to re-read Tom Gauld's Mooncop, & read the Forever War comic by Marvano. I really appreciate the Weinersmith's skeptical & critical viewpoint. Definitely the strongest work I've read by them. I could read more of this; I'd be down to read the “gigantic dossier on literally everything about space settlement” version of this book hinted at in the acknowledgments. 

Bad Lawyer: A Memoir of Law and Disorder by Anna Dorn

adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

Portrait of the kind of people who are able to stumble into law school & then skate on into a career in law. Dorn paints herself as a bitchy stoner contrarian approval & drama junkie. The tone keeps it light even with all the messed up things going on, so that it almost reads like some character's adventures in law-land, except it's all stuff that really happened! I once read a quote from the great Walter Mosley where he said something like “the most important thing a writer can add to a character is a bit of himself”. If I hadn't read Exalted, I'd be like “who's this weirdo”? But having read her other book, I recognize this person from all the characters in Exalted. The main difference between Anna (as she portrays herself) & the exalted characters is that she actually is as talented & accomplished as Emily & Dawn pretend to be. For me, the biggest revelation in here are Dorn's insights into attorney brain, which I believe her odd chapter defending Tao is but one manifestation. (I'm with her that life is not black & white, & prison isn't the solution to rape culture, but you can still give some some side-eye for a guy who's a little creepy.) That said, I do appreciate her anti-carceral stance. Goes well with watching Better Call Saul. 

When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey

challenging dark emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

4.0

The story of the crack epidemic told through the eyes of an addict, a white small-time dealer, a less small-time black dealer, & former Mayor Schmoke of Baltimore. I really liked reading Lennie's, Elgin's, Shawn's, & Kurt's stories. I wish this book could have included more people's stories from more places. The biggest revelation to me was that Gary Webb's 1996 San Jose Mercury News report's claims about the CIA's ties to the crack trade had already been reported in 1989 by a Senate committee led by John Kerry (who went on to vote for Clinton's 1994 crime bill). The news media's role as uncritical stenographers for police & government authorities is a pattern we still see today. Implies that the same forces that brought us Reagan's America brought us crack. I kind of wish there had been some comparisons to the spread of meth. Overall this is a solid history of the era which cuts through the sensationalism that pervaded media coverage at the time.