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Featured
Blog Launch
Hello! My name is Joe Kessler, and I’ve been blogging in one form or another since 2004. This is the launch of my new home for that, where I’ll be posting book reviews and other short pieces of writing. I’m also debuting a Patreon site for anyone who would like to support my efforts through… Read more
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Movie Review: Men in Black (1997)
Movie #54 of 2026: Men in Black (1997) I had forgotten just how funny and fun this sci-fi action-comedy is, but it’s really a delight. The humor is sardonic without ever tipping over into Whedonesque quipping, and the plot zips along by combining an audience-identification protagonist’s entrance into this world with a larger threat storyline… Read more
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Book Review: The Hollow by Michael Connelly
Book #178 of 2026: The Hollow by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #21) The wide universe of stories around detective Harry Bosch (by now long retired from the LAPD, but still working cases as a PI and concerned private citizen) is a bit of an amorphous series, but I believe this is the 21st novel focusing… Read more
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Book Review: Building 903 by Lois Lowry
Book #177 of 2026: Building 903 by Lois Lowry Beloved children’s author Lois Lowry is apparently still writing despite pushing 90, but this new title is pretty underbaked, to the point where I frankly don’t think it would have been published without her name attached. Even going into it skeptically, assuming that the middle-grade dystopia… Read more
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Book Review: Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
Book #176 of 2026: Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel Largely fine on a scene-by-scene basis and as an exploration of the setting(s), but pretty weird, elliptical, and frustratingly non-urgent as an overall story. I think part of the problem here is that author Emily St. John Mandel is trying to do too much:… Read more
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TV Review: Barry, season 4
TV #47 of 2026: Barry, season 4 I’ve never quite loved the writing on this action-comedy program, but Bill Hader’s offbeat direction has helped it manage to maintain my interest throughout, and I’d ultimately say that at least this final run is better than the one before. Its major flaw is that it hinges around… Read more
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Book Review: What Is the Name of This Book?: The Riddle of Dracula and Other Logical Puzzles by Raymond Smullyan
Book #175 of 2026: What Is the Name of This Book?: The Riddle of Dracula and Other Logical Puzzles by Raymond Smullyan Author Raymond Smullyan (1919-2017) was a renowned philosophy professor who published this collection of logic puzzles and set theory 101 back in 1978. Among other scenarios, it coined the notion of an island… Read more
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Book Review: Blacktail by Scott Hawkins
Book #174 of 2026: Blacktail by Scott Hawkins This horror-tinged magical realist novel starts out well, with a clear declaration of bloody purpose. It’s a story with a mostly animal cast, and it begins with our young wolf protagonist falling in love and mating with a pet dog chained outside near his woods. When the… Read more
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Movie Review: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Movie #53 of 2026: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) Look, I’m as surprised about this as anyone, but in my opinion this latest Ghostbusters film is honestly the best of the lot. It inherits a lot of strengths from its immediate predecessor on the character front, retaining a tight focus on our young heroine and her… Read more
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Book Review: Star Wars: Tarkin by James Luceno
Book #173 of 2026: Star Wars: Tarkin by James Luceno Better than I expected for a 2014 Star Wars novel — still in that era when Disney had declared a new canon for the franchise but hadn’t yet released any movies in it — that focuses on the eponymous minor villain from the original film.… Read more
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Book Review: The Traveler by Joseph Eckert
Book #172 of 2026: The Traveler by Joseph Eckert I’m of mixed minds about this high-concept science-fiction novel, which I suppose is what the new Goodreads three-and-a-half star rating option is intended to convey. Although I didn’t care for the direction it eventually takes, I really enjoyed the first half of the story, which I… Read more
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