Book #76 of 2026: All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker This novel carries a strong feeling of True Detective seasons 1 and 3 for me, and not only for the core plot involving a string of unsolved child abductions. It also spends a long time on people processing trauma and obsessing about …
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Book #75 of 2026: Radiant Star by Ann Leckie This latest entry is probably the weakest of the six novels in author Ann Leckie’s extended Imperial Radch saga so far, but it’s still an enjoyable enough time that I’m comfortable giving it three-and-a-half stars (radiant or otherwise), rounded up. It takes place during / after …
Movie #24 of 2026: Clerks (1994) Even on a rewatch decades on, Clerks feels like a marvel. Filmed in black-and-white on a shoestring budget in the adjoining convenience and video rental stores where writer-director Kevin Smith worked at the time, it captures the aimless Gen X burnout spirit of works like Office Space (1999), but …
Book #74 of 2026: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke A neat premise, a compellingly unlikeable narrator reminiscent of June in Yellowface, and a scathing critique of the tradwife / manosphere / social media influencer ecosystem. What’s not to love? Natalie is one of those women peddling a faux traditional lifestyle to her millions of followers …
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Book #73 of 2026: Fully Loaded by Blake Crouch [Note: I’ve seen some listings of this book under the title Fully Loaded Thrillers, but that seems to be a misreading of the cover. The inside material at the front of the ebook gives the two-word name for it.] This story collection reads like vintage Stephen …
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Movie #23 of 2026: The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026) Somehow actor Jon Bernthal convinced Disney to greenlight two different passion projects for him to cowrite and star in this month, taking established characters he’d played for years in an ensemble and delivering an hour-length special about each of them in turn. Neither the Gary …
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Book #72 of 2026: Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe #5) [Obligatory.] I have mixed opinions about this fifth Nero Wolfe story. On the one hand, I feel like the series is at least incrementally improving, and author Rex Stout has really settled into the sardonic tone of his narrator Archie Goodwin, who …
Book #71 of 2026: Return to Mars by Ben Bova A largely pointless rehash of a sequel. I really enjoyed Ben Bova’s novel Mars in his loose Grand Tour saga of early space exploration, but there’s little that this second visit to the red planet accomplishes that wasn’t done better in the first. You also …
TV #23 of 2026: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, season 2 Definitely a more scattered year than the one before, which benefited from the dual throughlines of the heroine grappling with her new superpower and her father’s declining health to give it structure. This one by contrast is all over the place with mini-arcs and guest spots …
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TV #22 of 2026: Classic Doctor Who, season 25 Few TV shows make it to 25 seasons, and Classic Who didn’t get much further than this, since ratings were falling and the very next year would prove to be its last, subsequent revivals and expanded media notwithstanding. It also doesn’t do a whole lot to …
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