Book #123 of 2019: Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier For the most part, this is a really lovely look at a young chimney sweep in Victorian London and her friendship with a magical soot creature who comes to life and becomes her protector. It captures the feeling of …
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Book #122 of 2019: Elantris by Brandon Sanderson Brandon Sanderson’s debut novel is full of the rich worldbuilding, intricate magical systems, and ballroom intrigue that have now made him a household name within the fantasy genre. Although there are some cracks that show on a reread and mark this as a first book — like …
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Book #121 of 2019: Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (Wildwood #1) The middle of this story picks up somewhat, but I feel like the beginning and end are both pretty typical fairy tale exercises, and the one major twist is easy to spot from a mile away. I also just think I want way more …
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TV #26 of 2019: Catch-22 This Hulu miniseries adaptation takes a while to settle into itself — a luxury it can’t really afford at just six episodes — and it never quite reaches the absurdist heights of the classic novel. Changing the original jumbled timeline to a standard chronological order of events was probably a …
Book #120 of 2019: Seventh Decimate by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Great God’s War #1) Stephen R. Donaldson has long been one of my favorite authors, so I’m disappointed to confirm that this 22nd published novel is possibly his weakest yet. The early worldbuilding is sparse to the point of feeling allegorical, and the tone …
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Book #119 of 2019: Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Foundation #1) There are some interesting ideas and political intrigues in this book, but it’s one of those pieces of mid-century science-fiction that consist largely of genius men declaiming at one another. (A total of two female characters show up, each for about a single page.) The …
Book #118 of 2019: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi A fun story of a thirteen-year-old girl’s (mis)adventures at sea in 1832. Acclaimed children’s author Avi nails the nineteenth-century setting and the nautical feel of this piece, and his plucky heroine comes across as a female version of Treasure Island’s Jim Hawkins, holding …
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Book #117 of 2019: The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray I think I was expecting this novel to be more like An American Marriage or the show Orange Is the New Black, focusing on the adjustment of new inmates and their family members and the overly-punitive nature of the justice …
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Book #116 of 2019: Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds Although everything moves just a bit too slowly at the start and then too quickly by the end, the wicked time-travel plotting of this novella ultimately wins me over. It’s the first thing I’ve read from author Alastair Reynolds, so I can’t compare it to his usual …
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Book #115 of 2019: Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid This novel delivers a somewhat standard Sliding Doors premise, following in alternating chapters as two parallel timelines diverge after the heroine makes a seemingly inconsequential decision near the start. Both versions of the ensuing narrative have fun romantic comedy elements, and author Taylor …
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