robertrivasplata's reviews
615 reviews

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. 

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

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

4.0

First (or second) installment of Tolkien's mythologically-based invented languages song and poetry vehicle. The novel quickly transitions from the lighter tone of The Hobbit to the darker tone of the rest of the Lord of the Rings books. It takes almost half the book for Frodo & his friends to make it all the way out of the Shire. The various settings the fellowship pass through (familiar lanes, magical woods, lonely hills, desolate roads, jagged mountains, ancient ruins, mines, dales, duns, downs, vales, valleys, & so on) are often more characterized than the fellows themselves, especially during the journey between Rivendell & Moria. Merry, Pippen, Legolas, & Gimli hardly say anything during this time, & they aren't even mentioned that much either. At least Merry & Pippen got to have some personality during Frodo's flight from the Shire. Gimli had to wait until they were most of the way to Moria, & Legolas had to wait until they were all the way through it. Boromir got more characterization, but that's because he was constantly being kind of a prick. I forgot how much of a prick Boromir is! (However, the line “One does not simply walk into Mordor” does not seem to be in the book). The landscapes & settings really are a big reason to read this book. The desolate ruins of long vanished kingdoms combined with the elves always saying they should be leaving now creates the vibe of a workplace that is going out of business. Makes me remember my old neighbor Richard saying how the landscapes in Lord of the Rings are always friendly or hostile, but almost never neutral or indifferent. The death of Gandalf makes me think about what kind of book it would be if Gandalf stayed dead, which makes me wish we'd seen more of Radagast. I like Tolkein's speculation in the Forward about how the plot of Lord of the Rings would have been different if it had been an allegory for World War 2. 

The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell

funny informative reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.5

I can't believe I read the whole thing!
More than 5 years after starting on Pat Barker's great introduction from 1979, I finally finished Life of Johnson, & commenced to re-read the introduction, which made more sense having read the work. Life of Johnson really is a good book to read in little bits and pieces over the course of five years or so. Now that I am finished with this great work, the time has come for me to embark on the great work of writing the goodreads review of The Life of Johnson. Good book for picking up and reading random excerpts. Perfect read to look like you are engrossed in a cerebral read & not interested in conversation, similar to the Accidental Tourist's use of "Miss Macintosh, my Darling". If you want to return to your place, you just flip back to the beginning of whatever dinner party, conversation, you left off in the middle of. Perhaps the most true biography in that it highlights how much of even an extraordinary life is mostly a show about nothing. Scratches my itch for Georgian-era literary English & also has very many quotable quotes, such as: "Never impose tasks upon mortals. To require two things is the way to have them both undone", or, "Sir, your wife under pretense of keeping a bawdy-house, is a receiver of stolen goods." That second quote has the advantage of being both humorous & puzzling. There are actually very many hilarious moments in the Life of Johnson, with many other quotes too long & too numerous to reproduce & still have a readable goodreads review. Apart from the amusement factor, The Life of Johnson is also provides a great look at the publishing & literary world of 18th century London. Boswell also shows some of the work that went into historical & biographical research, showing us his & Johnson's letters to librarians, scholars, & acquaintances of their respective biographical subjects. Questions such as the distinction between a Physician & a Doctor of Medicine are also of interest, at the very least shedding light on the fact that those were the types of things people talked about in 1775. 

Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones by Hettie Judah

funny informative lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

4.25

Book about rocks. Who cares. Boring. 

Entries for 60 different stones & minerals, focusing on the historical & cultural uses of the various stones, while not neglecting the story told by the geology of each mineral. Includes the stories of various chemists, archaeologists, jewelers, prospectors, collectors, among others. One of the most interesting geological facts I learned from Lapidarium is that the process that formed coal only took place in the Carboniferous era 360-300 million years ago, so no more coal is being formed, not even millions of years from now. I also learned from this book that Coltan is valuable because it's an ore of Tantalum. Also points out that the provenances of most of the most famous jewels are fabricated (especially the ones claiming to go back centuries). There is no Discogs entry for “Ujaraaluk Unit”. A good book to read immediately before or after reading The Name of the Rose. 

Touched by Walter Mosley

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A very Walter Mosley sci-fi novel. Hits many themes that feature in Mosley's sci-fi: a Black everyman protagonist who is suddenly imbued by aliens or higher powers with incredible abilities (most commonly perception), a quest (usually to save life on earth), breaking away from everyday life (to go on the quest), a team assembled by the protagonist (often composed of people he wronged, or who wronged him), & some weird sex stuff. You can kind of say that most of Mosley's sci-fi writing is about the power and necessity of seeing through the everyday routine to know what must be done. Touched also features the criminal justice system, SoCal's white supremacists, & some transhumanist speculation. In many ways Touched & other Mosley sci-fi are similar to some 70s weird sci-fi I've read, or maybe Stranger in a Strange Land if it was written by a Black socialist instead of a rabid right-libertarian. 

Deacon King Kong by James McBride

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

The Brooklyn version of The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Takes place in an old housing project home to a wacky & diverse cast of characters. Takes place in 1969: in the middle of the postwar urban neglect, & at the end of the great migration. As such, it's kind of a story of the old generation that came up from the old country being replaced by the younger City-born generation. It's also a gangster story, and much else. Fast paced, despite the many digressions going into the life stories of the many characters, or of the neighborhood itself. Makes me want to visit New York, read some history of New York City, & also find out more about Robert Moses. I feel like someone with more familiarity with New York & Brooklyn than me would probably get more out of Deacon King Kong, & someone with familiarity with 1960s New York would probably get more out of it still. The circular quality of many of the conversations reminds me of The Buried Giant, except the only truly brain-damaged participant is the titular Deacon. The depictions of public life in the Cause Houses remind me of Jane Jacobs' discussions of civic life & the use of the public spaces in cities. I really want to hear Los Soñadores. They sound like my kind of music. 

The Little Book of Aliens by Adam Frank

funny hopeful informative lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

4.0

Conversational book about the science of the search for extraterrestrial life & extraterrestrial intelligence. Covers the state of scientific speculation about how terrestrial life may have first appeared, how that could apply to the appearance of extraterrestrial life, & what that extraterrestrial life could look like. Also discusses UFOs from a historical & scientific perspective, expressing skepticism, but also refusing to rule them out entirely. For me, the best parts of the book were the ones discussing the search for biosignatures & technosignatures using sophisticated telescopes. Discusses the philosophical & scientific implications of finding extraterrestrial life. An easy & amusing read. 

Is This Guy for Real?: The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman by Box Brown

challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.25

Graphic biography in Box Brown's trademark style. Before reading this, I knew next to nothing about Andy Kaufman. I don't think I've even seen a video of Kaufman, not that any of his performances are particularly telling, going off what Brown writes. In a way, even his biography reveals little. The title question would remain no matter how much any biographer could write about this oddball. I guess the answer that Brown seems to go with is that Kaufman was always presenting/performing some combination of sincerity & put-on. Similarly, Kaufman seemed to always be both attempting to please & to alienate his audiences. Brown builds the case that wrestling was a major formative influence on Kaufman, informing the ways that he performed & stayed in character outside of what was recognized as performances. Wild that even the people who worked with him on Taxi thought his illness & death were stunts, & so missed his funeral. 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

4.25

Re-read to see how well I remembered it, & to see if my gripes with the movies (the trilogy & the Rankin-Bass) are off base, & also because I wanted to read something fun. The Hobbit really is a lot of fun. I'd forgotten how much character the voice of the narrator has. It's as if it's written to be read aloud by a good-humored storyteller. I forgot how quickly the story moves along, while also packing a lot in. The Hobbit is full of goofy little throw-away lines that hint at the wider world of middle-earth, but makes it clear that such things are not our concern (such as Gandalf's aside that he should see about having a helpful giant block up the new entrance to the Goblin city). I love how the narrator even ends various asides with something like “but that's not part of this story”. I see now that it was the Hobbit that primed my young mind to appreciate food descriptions in fantasy settings. There is no way that I would have been prepared for George R.R. Martin's elaborate food descriptions if I hadn't been prepared by those of Tolkien. Of course my favorite part of the whole book is Bilbo's conversation with Smaug, which the Rankin & Bass cartoon got pretty close to right, but the bloated Trilogy completely fumbled with it's attempts to shoehorn dark LOTR foreshadowing into what is supposed to be kind of a humorous scene. Of course, the 21st century movie wanders even further from the spirit of the book when it has the Dwarves all but defeat Smaug all on their own, but that is a gripe for another review. Now to excavate my Lord of the Rings Trilogy, to see how well they hold up (literarily, & physically).