Book #259 of 2020: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #2) I’m approaching this reread of the Narnia series in publication order rather than internal chronology, which I don’t believe I’ve actually ever done before. So that means starting here, with young Lucy Pevensie stumbling into …
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TV #46 of 2020: The Office, season 5 Sitcoms have a tendency to grow stale and repetitive the longer they air, but the better ones find ways to gradually tweak their storytelling dynamics over time. This era of The Office is an excellent example of that, regularly spooling out developments that shake up the status …
Book #258 of 2020: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab I was a little hesitant to pick up this book, both because I’ve had mixed feelings about the previous titles I’ve read from author V. E. Schwab and because the general concept of a heroine who can’t be remembered once she’s …
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Movie #14 of 2020: Hocus Pocus (1993) I think this may be a film that you have to have seen as a child to fully love, and my shameful millennial confession is that I never did. Absent any nostalgia factor, it’s pretty solidly okay for an evening’s entertainment, but perhaps not the defining Halloween feature …
Book #257 of 2020: Iron Heart by Nina Varela (Crier’s War #2) I still have mixed feelings about the first volume in this YA duology about intrigue and rebellion amongst cyborg overlords, but I am happy to report that the sequel is a big improvement, with a faster-paced plot and a less problematic love story. …
Movie #13 of 2020: The Princess Bride (1987) This beloved film lives up to my memories and its own reputation, offering thrills, laughs, and emotional stirrings in equal measure. (I legitimately teared up at the last scene tonight, perhaps because my wife and I have each lost a grandfather this year.) It’s a feel-good movie …
Book #256 of 2020: They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers A difficult read, full of brutal details drawn from the first-hand testimony of enslaved persons and their enslavers alike. Each new specific abuse — each beating, each rape, each division of families — is …
Book #255 of 2020: Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl For the first 10% of this YA novel, it seems like it’s just going to be the tale of a college freshman reuniting with her high school friends to get closure on why they fell out and see if anyone knows the truth behind her boyfriend’s …
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Movie #12 of 2020: A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote (2020) One part cast reunion, one part stageplay, and one part voting drive, this West Wing special is a bit of an oddity. It’s fun to see the actors reprising their roles 14 years after the show originally ended — with …
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Book #254 of 2020: The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton The pacing to this historical mystery is far too slow to be properly effective, and although the narrative spends a lot of time entertaining the idea of a demonic force plaguing the ship, it’s telegraphed very early on that this is more …
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