Book #176 of 2018: The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure: Classic Tales of Dashing Heroes, Dastardly Villains, and Daring Escapes edited by Lawrence Ellsworth This book collects some older adventure stories about pirates, musketeers, and so on, many of which had been out of print for decades before the collection was published in 2014. The …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy
Book #175 of 2018: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant #3) I’ve been waiting for this Irish children’s urban fantasy series to really grab my attention, but at this point I think I’m ready to call it quits. (It doesn’t help that this third novel is the last one that my library has …
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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
Book #174 of 2018: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter #2) The first Harry Potter book was a tremendous debut, but this sequel surpasses it on just about every level. The plot, the characters, and the setting are all delivered far more confidently this time around, and author …
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Book Review: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Book #173 of 2018: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain #1) Somehow I missed out on this series when I was growing up, which is a shame, since this first novel has turned out to be an excellent classic of children’s fantasy literature. The tone is somewhere between J. R. …
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Book Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Book #172 of 2018: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next #1) This story is fairly bursting with ideas — from time-travel to dodo clones to secret agents and criminals jumping in and out of novels like Jane Eyre — but it’s all a bit chaotic, and a lot of the apparent comedy doesn’t …
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Book Review: Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
Book #171 of 2018: Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce (Daughter of the Lioness #1) At this point in her wider Tortall series, author Tamora Pierce can easily spin a great story… when she can manage to get out of the way of her own worst impulses. And for the most part here, she does. This …
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Book Review: Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston
Book #170 of 2018: Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston This book is interesting from a historical point of view: although unpublished until 2018, it was written in the early 20th century and based on author Zora Neale Hurston’s interviews with the last known survivor of the last known …
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TV Review: Sharp Objects
TV #39 of 2018: Sharp Objects This miniseries adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s debut novel is subtle and understated, to the point where I wonder if I would have been lost without having read the book first. But I do think the show tells its story more effectively than the source material, with beautiful cinematography and …
TV Review: Marvel’s Luke Cage, season 2
TV #38 of 2018: Marvel’s Luke Cage, season 2 I think this season is about on par with the last one, which I similarly liked but didn’t love. The plot is at least more cohesive this time around, but the message is a little muddled and there are still some elements that kind of go …
Book Review: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
Book #169 of 2018: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay This memoir from Roxane Gay is a powerful and emotional read about what it’s like for the author to go through the world and take up space as a medically-obese black woman. She is uncompromising and unflinching about her own trauma: from …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 