Book #177 of 2018: Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz (Alex & Eliza #1) This historical fiction novel presents in the form of a Young Adult love story the real-life romance of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler during the American Revolution. In the process author Melissa de la Cruz has taken a few …
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TV #40 of 2018: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, season 1 This musical comedy starts off strong and only gets better from there. The original numbers – generally two per episode, spanning a wide range of different musical styles – are all hilarious, but it’s the focus on character work that really makes this program soar as it …
TV #42 of 2018: Breaking Bad, season 1 This is my first time rewatching this show since it ended, but it remains an electrifying experience. The character arcs are not quite on the level of what these writers are achieving nowadays on Better Call Saul – and I cannot understand those viewers who don’t get …
TV #41 of 2018: Orphan Black, season 5 I’ve always felt an odd dichotomy with Orphan Black, in that the main appeal for me as a viewer is Tatiana Maslany’s amazing acting range at embodying all these different characters, but the main focus of the writers often seems to be on their labyrinthine plots of …
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 …
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 #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 #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 #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 #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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