Book #263 of 2017: New Boy by Tracy Chevalier Othello is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I love the idea of retelling its story in a 1970s schoolyard. The new setting leaps off the page, as the son of a Ghanaian diplomat newly posted to Washington, D.C. joins an otherwise all-white sixth grade class and …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Book #262 of 2017: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti #1) There are not enough black heroines in science fiction, and Binti is a welcome addition to their ranks. I especially liked how her people’s cultural traditions played an integral role in this character’s journey, and how she ended up as something of an alien ambassador …
Book Review: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
Book #261 of 2017: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff Jim Crow was a time of horror for black Americans, which makes it a natural fit for this novel about an extended black family coming up against the sorts of cosmic nightmares written about by H.P. Lovecraft. (Lovecraft himself was also an infamous racist, so there’s …
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Book Review: The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Book #260 of 2017: The Waste Lands by Stephen King (The Dark Tower #3) This third book in my reread of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series is just as great as I had remembered. If Book 1 mostly serves to introduce the weird world of this story, and Book 2 serves to recruit the supporting …
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Book Review: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Book #259 of 2017: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan Saga #1) This space opera skewed a little close to a romance novel, which is not really my genre of choice. (Two enemy soldiers essentially fall in love at first sight, with the protagonist feeling overcome by her counterpart’s rugged manliness.) If you …
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Movie Review: Attack the Block (2011)
Movie #25 of 2017: Attack the Block (2011) I’ve seen this movie a couple of times before, but this was my first time watching it since John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker’s careers have really taken off (him as Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy and her starting as the Thirteenth Doctor in tomorrow’s Christmas …
Book Review: How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
Book #258 of 2017: How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball The troubled teenage anarchist (and budding arsonist) at the heart of this story got under my skin in the best way. She’s so well-drawn in her roughness and her vulnerabilities, with her darkly biting perspective on life immediately distinctive and unforgettable. …
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Book Review: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Book #257 of 2017: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Southern Reach #1) This was an unsettling sci-fi tale of delirium and paranoia, but there was a bit too much unresolved ambiguity for me to truly love it. The narrator is exploring an environment that’s known to warp perception and impede clear thinking, and that’s even before …
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TV Review: The Mindy Project, season 3
TV #48 of 2017: The Mindy Project, season 3 This show is getting incrementally better, with the addition of Danny’s mom this season a definite strength. On the other hand, it’s still wildly inconsistent in terms of character logic and the type of show it feels like it’s trying to be. Like I’ve said before, …
Book Review: End of Watch by Stephen King
Book #256 of 2017: End of Watch by Stephen King (Bill Hodges Trilogy #3) This last book in Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy is unfortunately a bit of a mess. Partly that’s due to the tonal whiplash of following up two fairly straightforward crime thrillers with a story about hypnotic mind control, telekinesis, and bodyswaps, …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 