Reviews and Comments

Brendan

thneed@books.theunseen.city

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

I used to be a librarian, now I'm a software developer. My reading interests tend to be in nonfiction. I'm really interested in anthropology, indigenous studies (particularly American), anarchism, and social justice. Some of my favorites are James Baldwin, David Graeber, and Cometbus. thneed@mstdn.social

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Reconsidering Reparations (2021, Oxford University Press, Incorporated) 5 stars

essential

5 stars

I learn so much from this book and the constructivist approach to addressing reparations. This book does the amazing job of taking the moral necessity of reparations and showing concrete steps that we can take to further them in the material world while also benefitting humanity (with a focus on benefits to there global South) in facing the climate crisis.

This was such an excellent biography. It's the biography of Kendrick Perkins, a basketball player and media personality. It's about his life growing up poor and black in Texas and his growth as a person in the NBA. It offers a really great critique of racial relations in America, white supremacy, and athletics. Kendrick talks from experience as a black man engaging in the tremendously profitable sports arena. He has a ton of color and nuance to the topic and greatly elucidates the life of a black athlete in America at the present time. I love basketball and that was a huge reason. I read this book but I was super impressed with the focus on racial relations and athletics and black men in American society and the 20th and 21st century.

The Dog of the South (Paperback, 2007, Overlook TP) 3 stars

Ray Midge is befuddled when his wife takes off with his car, his money, and …

The funniest book I have ever read, indubitably. I laughed out loud while reading CONTINUOUSLY. Absolutely genius and Bob Odenkirk is the ideal person for a blurb on the cover. I could see Bob and David doing a movie adaptation. Can't recommend highly enough. I'm going to gift this often.

Liberation Day (2022, Random House Publishing Group) 5 stars

This is as good as anything Saunders has ever written. The titular story is absolutely amazing and has shades of Severance the TV show. Love letter, a story from my grandfather to his grandson in an eerily similar world to our own, is better and more powerful on a second read. I loved every minute of this book and can't recommend it enough. Saunders truly is a voice for our times.

Liberation Day (2022, Random House Publishing Group) 5 stars

The opening titular story is absolutely mind blowing. Reminds me a lot of the great TV show Severance in that there is an aspect of memory severance. I’m going to write a more full examination of it but I’m already thrilled that Saunders has returned to his more speculative fiction like short story writing. Lincoln on the Bardo just didn’t work for me, but this work is more in the vein 10th of December.