Book #73 of 2017: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (Inkworld #3) This was an okay adventure story, but it dragged a lot in the middle, and the returning characters felt nothing like the people they were in the first two books. This trilogy has really offered diminishing returns as it went along, so as much as …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: The End by Lemony Snicket
Book #72 of 2017: The End by Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events #13) The A Series of Unfortunate Events books have always made clear that the Baudelaires are only a small part of a much larger story that is playing out mostly beyond our view. That expansiveness isn’t a problem per se, but …
Book Review: The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx with Ian Gittins
Book #71 of 2017: The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx with Ian Gittins A series of diary entries from Mötley Crüe musician Nikki Sixx, annotated 20 years later by Sixx, his bandmates, and other colleagues. The diary was written during a time of intense drug …
TV Review: New Girl, season 6
TV #13 of 2017: New Girl, season 6 I might be mistaken about this, but my understanding is that Fox has not yet made a decision as to whether to renew New Girl or not, so season 6 may be the last season that we get. And honestly, I’d be perfectly happy if that turns …
TV Review: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, season 2
TV #12 of 2017: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, season 2 This show is still goofy as hell, but this season is a big improvement over the first one. Mostly that’s because it finally leans into the wacky fun of the premise, offering up loads of the ridiculous comic book stuff that its more serious sister …
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Book Review: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson
Book #70 of 2017: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson A rather haunting Sliding Doors-type story about a woman who starts having realistic dreams about an alternate life she could be living if some small moment from her past had gone differently. In one life she’s married with children and in the other she runs a …
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Book Review: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
Book #69 of 2017: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer A tough read about five women in Missoula, Montana who were raped by members of the local college football team and faced incredible difficulty in bringing their rapists to justice when the athletes were protected by police, university …
Book Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Book #68 of 2017: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #1) A pretty generic urban fantasy with an irritating sexist as its hero and narrator. I love a good hardboiled detective story, and adding magic into the mix usually produces some interesting wrinkles, but I still found myself wincing through much of this …
TV Review: Marvel’s Iron Fist, season 1
TV #11 of 2017: Marvel’s Iron Fist, season 1 Iron Fist improved a little bit in the back half of its first season, but it was still pretty bad. The plot meandered all over the place, the writing was awful, and the lead actor was horribly miscast. Even setting aside the fact that an Asian-American …
Book Review: A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter
Book #67 of 2017: A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter is not exactly the most impartial narrator of his own career, but this memoir manages to stay fairly apolitical while still recounting his term as our 39th president. Carter also devotes a good portion of this book to his occupations …
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