Rated Oedipus the King 10/10
<strong>slaps</strong><br/><br/>wow this slaps. so much drama get it Sophocles! a short read but really packs it in. poor Oedipus :/ 10/10
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Rated Gods of Jade and Shadow 8/10
a clever fairy-tale quest built out of themes and characters from Mayan mythology. It’s a fun take on the fantasy genre set in 1920s Mexico. Structurally, it’s a little unevenly paced - it feels like it rushes to an end then drags out that end for a long time. But it’s vivid and engaging and a cool twist on a familiar story.
Rated Wheel of the Infinite 10/10
There must be a lot stirring in Martha Wells' brain. Here's yet another world she's created that is so original and so detailed that it feels completely real but there is very little IRL has been dragged through it. Except the people are complicated and interesting and very real. In other words, it's a Martha Wells story and very good. You should read it.
Wants to read On Immunity: An Inoculation
Rated Unbowed 8/10
People: go read this book. Maathai, who is a Nobel Prize winner who passed away a few weeks ago, was a civil society activist in Kenya who eventually rose to parliament. The book is slow going and kind of a straightforward autobiography for the first half, but starts to get really, really real in the late 70s, 80s and 90s when the Daniel arap Moi dictatorship in Kenya targeted and persecuted her for her work as an organizer and environmental advocate. It's an inspiring mix of wisdom and stories of nuts-and-bolts organizing under real danger. Maathai's work is well worth the study.
Rated The Power 10/10
Really compelling, absorbing and thought-provoking. I'd heard a lot about this book and knew the basic gist but wasn't quite prepared for this to have the ominous, almost Biblical force it has. It really leans into the dark, unpleasant aspects of its argument, so it's *a lot*, but of course the point is to be confrontational; this isn't so much dystopian sci-fi as a mirrored reflection of a dystopic state of affairs that already exists. Grimly engaging as you watch the stories unfold and root for a better outcome even as you know from the beginning that you're not going to get it. Cleverly executed and well worth reading. I tore through this in three days but one might prefer to get it in smaller doses -it's heavy.<br/><br/>Weirdly enough, the book this reminds me of the most is [b:World War Z|8908|World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War|Max Brooks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1528312647s/8908.jpg|817], which is a lot lighter but similarly takes a global view of an emergent phenomenon. It also made me think about the movie "Sorry to Bother You," which similarly uses a speculative and uncanny story to talk about power and social relations.
Rated Washington Black 8/10
A wonderfully-written adventure. Washington, the titular protagonist, is a boy born into slavery on a plantation in Barbados whose life takes a sudden turn when he becomes the assistant to an eccentric explorer. It loses some structure in the late going but it's engagingly readable the whole way through.
Edited 44d ago
Wants to read The Parking Lot Attendant
Wants to read Asunder: A Vatan Chronicle
Edited 30d ago