TV #41 of 2016: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 2 The main accomplishment of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s second season is definitely delivering on the Jake-and-Amy romantic tension that developed over the course of season 1. But watching this season for the second time, I was also struck by how much the character of Madeline Wunch adds to the …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Book #72 of 2016: The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #2) This is not Agatha Christie at her best. Too much of the plot here relies on weirdly biased assumptions on the part of her detective Hercule Poirot: a certain open grave must have been dug by a man because no …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie”
Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Book #71 of 2016: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows #1) I still don’t quite understand the title, but Six of Crows was a really fun fantasy heist novel, featuring a gang of criminals breaking into (and back out of) a high-security prison to rescue a captured scientist with the chemical formula …
Continue reading “Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo”
Book Review: Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley
Book #70 of 2016: Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley (The Checquy Files #2) Stiletto, the second book in Daniel O’Malley’s Checquy Files series, is that choicest of sequels that improves upon its predecessor in every way. That first novel, The Rook, had a lot to accomplish between the introduction of its unique setting and magical system …
Book Review: The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís
Book #69 of 2016: The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís I rather liked this novel for junior readers about the boy who would grow up to be Pablo Neruda. It’s below the level that I usually read, but the magical realism of the boy’s daydreams mixing with reality certainly made it memorable. …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís”
TV Review: The West Wing, season 3
TV #40 of 2016: The West Wing, season 3 My wife and I are still making our way through this show for her first time and my nth. The third season holds up pretty well, even though this was the one that began airing shortly after 9/11. There are definitely some plot decisions that I’m …
Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Book #68 of 2016: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Time Quintet) This is a book I’ve always felt weird for not liking more, since so many people seem to love it. But I do believe in second chances, so I read it again today for the first time in probably 20 years… and …
Continue reading “Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle”
Book Review: The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
Book #67 of 2016: The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (Tommy and Tuppence #1) The Secret Adversary was my first time reading about Tommy and Tuppence, Agatha Christie’s “young adventurers,” but I’m already looking forward to the next book in their series. It’s refreshing to get two investigators in a Christie book, especially when they’re …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie”
Book Review: The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk
Book #66 of 2016: The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk This Estonian bestseller is a weird and frequently sexist book, but it does a good job at conveying what it’s like to witness one’s native language and traditions dying out. In the end I’m not really sure I liked this novel — and …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk”
Book Review: Dodger by Terry Pratchett
Book #65 of 2016: Dodger by Terry Pratchett Dodger has its share of Terry Pratchett’s classic humor, but it’s missing the comic sensibility that his best books display throughout. Part of this is likely due to the setting, which replaces the author’s usual Discworld for the rather less fantastic Victorian London. (And we are supposed …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 