Book #244 of 2021: The Comfort Book by Matt Haig I’m not entirely sure how to rate this title, which is basically a loose collection of the pep talks, life lessons, and gentle reminders that author Matt Haig has found helpful in dealing with his anxiety and depression. It’s a self-help book, sort of, and …
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Book #243 of 2021: Zero K by Don DeLillo Theoretically, this is the story of a man saying goodbye to his ailing stepmother before she undergoes assisted suicide and cryogenic freezing (in the hope of being reawakened and cured at some unknown future date), and then later to his father when he follows in her …
TV #68 of 2021: The Good Fight, season 5 This series bounces back to a degree after its all-time low of the previous year, but I’m still not altogether vibing with its distinctive brand of wacky and surreal satire. The big idea this season is that people are taking civil suits before an unofficial neighborhood …
Book #242 of 2021: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz A has-been writer, now teaching at a third-rate MFA program, rolls his eyes as a student brags that he has come up with a plan for a novel so utterly original that it’s guaranteed to become a bestselling sensation. But upon prying the plot out …
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Book #241 of 2021: The Escape by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #15) This is one of the more straightforward Animorphs missions — they basically just sneak onto an enemy base, sabotage it, and then do as the title says and escape — but it does offer minor developments for the larger series and some creative …
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Book #240 of 2021: The Wanderers by Meg Howrey This novel has a plot — three astronauts train in a seventeen-month simulated flight to Mars and back while their families adjust to life without them and the concept of having to go through the same thing again if the crew is tapped for the eventual …
Book #239 of 2021: Billy Summers by Stephen King I really enjoy the first section of this crime thriller about a hitman with a conscience, detailing the slow build-up to his intended last kill. Enmeshed for weeks in a community while waiting for his target to arrive, he’s able to construct two alternate identities for …
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TV #67 of 2021: Scandal, season 1 Initially this drama about a Washington lawyer/fixer seems like it might be clunkier and soapier than I would prefer, but it improves on the former measure as this first year goes along — an achievement, given that that’s just seven episodes in total — and the latter isn’t …
Book #238 of 2021: The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders This sci-fi novel plays with a few interesting concepts, especially in its setting of two opposing cities, the only human settlements in the narrow hospitable zone of a tidally-locked planet that will either burn or freeze anyone who wanders …
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TV #66 of 2021: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, season 1 A fun sketch comedy series that’s also quite short, with only six episodes of under 20 minutes each. Not every skit is a winner for me, and overall they lean on awkward cringe humor and shouting more than I’d probably prefer, …
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