Book #90 of 2016: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen I liked this book, but I had rather a difficult time keeping the various characters straight in my head. (I think this problem was exacerbated by listening to the novel as an audiobook, with a reader who didn’t do much to distinguish voices, but Austen’s …
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TV #44 of 2016: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 3 My wife was still catching up on this show, so I’ve been rewatching it while she does. And now we’re both ready for the new episodes – including that New Girl crossover – starting soon! My reaction to the season this time is that it continues to …
Book #89 of 2016: The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker A lovely coming-of-age story, set in a world where the earth’s rotation has suddenly slowed, leading to all sorts of natural and sociological problems. Although unsettling, I particularly liked the gradual way that the characters come to discriminate against anyone still trying to …
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Book #88 of 2016: Joyland by Stephen King Stephen King captures the particular aimlessness of a college student currently in between life dreams, but the plot of Joyland doesn’t have any real flashes of brilliance like the best of his work. It’s a perfectly adequate summer read, but so much of it – the psychic …
Book #87 of 2016: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald This book is justifiably a classic, and I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it — but wow, what a miserable bunch of characters. As much as I love a good take-down of the American Dream, I just couldn’t wait to be …
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Book #86 of 2016: The Devil You Know by K. J. Parker (Saloninus #2) I think I like the idea behind this novella — the ongoing dialogue between a philosopher and the demon he’s sold his soul to who’s suspicious the man is trying to trick his way out of their contract — a lot …
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TV #43 of 2016: Star Trek: The Animated Series, season 2 I really liked Star Trek: The Animated Series, even in this abbreviated second season. I think it’s for the same reason I’ve been enjoying finally getting into the Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas: the cast brings the same energy and joy they do …
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Book #85 of 2016: Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman This memoir is far less dramatic and action-packed than its fictionalized Netflix adaptation. (And the real Piper frankly comes off as a lot less awful than her TV counterpart.) But fans of the show will still recognize much of its source material here, …
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Book #84 of 2016: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck A short but powerful read. Lennie is so clearly doomed from the start – I have to imagine Stephen King had the big man in mind when he created the character of John Coffey for The Green Mile – but Steinbeck unfolds the story …
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Book #83 of 2016: The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones For a comedy of manners, The Uninvited Guests wasn’t really all that entertaining. It had some bright spots here and there – mostly to do with the younger daughter, who is absent for most of the text – but as a whole this was just …
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