Media Consumption of Late

I'll get around to my Black Canyons 100K/60K Double race report eventually. Instead, here are some reviews. I'm going to go running and check out the flow on the Truckee River. Anybody want to packraft it with me?

Books:
Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard: A-
Millard writes popular history books about lesser-known aspects of popular figures--Teddy Roosevelt's post-presidency trip down the second-longest river in the Amazon, Winston Churchill's early life in the Boer War, or this: the brief presidency and assassination of James Garfield. Either Garfield was a badass anti-racism anti-corruption math-whiz devoted scholar surprise battle-winning Union general philosopher-king who had the Republican nomination forced upon him, or the book is a bit hagiographic. Either way, the book is an inspiring read/listen. A bit of post-listen googling seems to indicate he mostly was an awesome guy. The downside to the book is vivid description of the two months of Garfield's suffering from his gunshot wounds, which became infected and puss-filled thanks to idiot doctors constantly poking around with their bare fingers and unsanitized instruments.

Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel, B+
I liked Mandel's post-apocalyptic Station Eleven (the book more than the TV series), I didn't like The Glass Hotel (what was the point?), and Sea of Tranquility was a nice little sci-fi time travel novel. A Glass Hotel character makes a cameo, but it doesn't matter if you've read that or not. There's a pandemic angle, but not so much that you should be turned off by that having just come out of one in real life--it's just one of the time periods covered, and all of them have emotionally engaging characters.

The Last White Man, Mohsin Hamid, A
Overnight a white man's skin turns dark, then it starts happening to more and more people. I thought of it as Naomi Alderman's The Power but for race instead of gender. A review I just saw called it Kafka's "Metamorphosis for our racially charged era" and that's apt. It's really good. This is the third book I've read by Hamid and they're all great.

Movies:

Cocaine Bear: B+
I got what I expected. If you can't enjoy 90 minutes of Elizabeth Banks or Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale or don't appreciate a Martindale-Matthew Rhys-Keri Russell reunion, you are probably taking yourself too seriously.

I Love My Dad: B
A nice little comedy with Patton Oswalt and Rachel Dratch in which a deadbeat dad tries to reconnect with his son by catfishing him. Yep! And it's based on a true story. I think the son is the weakest link (he also wrote and directed it), but Oswalt and Dratch have some really well done lines. It was a nice reminder that Oswalt can do a good job carrying movies like this (I recommend Big Fan if you haven't seen it).

The Post: A-
I'm such a cynic that I roll my eyes whenever I see a movie trailer with Tom Hanks. I mean, isn't he cheesy and aren't we sick of him yet? But then eventually I'm on an airplane and The Post/Bridge of Spies/whatever is there and it's that or a superhero movie and so I obviously choose the former and oh, duh, this guy's a great actor and the Pentagon Papers is a great story and Merryl Streep, David Cross, and Bob Odenkirk are in it too and it's a great movie and I'm just a jerk and should be less cynical.

TV:

Katla (Netflix): B-
Slow, but with nice dark and brooding Icelandic atmosphere. Dopplegangers start appearing out of the ash of a volcano in a nearly-deserted city. I saw this recommended as a followup to Netflix's Dark, but it's definitely not that good, nor that logical (if people asked the obviously logical questions, the plot wouldn't survive.) We'd often stop halfway through an episode and finish it the next day. I guess it was worth finishing--it was at least an original-ish idea.

The Last of Us: B+
Zombies, with the obviously excellent Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. It brings me real joy to watch something at the same time as other people, and Sunday nights on HBO is basically all that's left of that (aside from major sporting events). But am I the only one who thinks half of these episodes are too long and a tad boring? I will still be watching the finale tonight, because you know, we're living in a society!