The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

Book Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Book #98 of 2016:

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2)

This book was sadder than the first one in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, but it also had less in the way of ridiculous teenage hormones, so that was a nice change. Plus I really appreciated how it dealt with teen/parent fights in that all-too-rare way that made both sides seem reasonable. These books do seem to resemble Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle series, in that they get better the less there’s an overt villain on the scene.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

Book #97 of 2016:

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

I like Randall Munroe’s xkcd webcomic, but this book of outlandish inquiries was a big letdown. A few of the passages stand out, like which US state is flown over by the most airplanes each day, or what would be the last light to go out if humans stopped all power upkeep, but most of the others reduce to a very simple formula. “Question: What if something impossible happened? Answer: Massive explosions and/or global extinction.” Munroe also has a recurring section in between his ‘serious scientific answers’ where he basically just makes fun of questions that he thought weren’t worth his time, which is even more galling when you realize that he doesn’t seem to have changed any of the askers’ names. It feels mean-spirited and left a real sour taste in my mouth.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Book #96 of 2016:

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (The Neapolitan Novels #1)

The bildungsroman is a genre that generally doesn’t interest me, but My Brilliant Friend is a very well-executed instance of it. Elena Ferrante’s tale of two girls growing up in 1950s Naples is undeniably charming, even in translation and viewed from a different culture. I only wish the plot wasn’t so aimless, or that the novel didn’t end so abruptly. (Apparently the author considers this book and its three sequels to really be one long narrative. But there is still very little in the text to mark the spot where this part ends as particularly significant.) It’s a good book, but really not my cup of tea.

★★★☆☆

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Movie Review: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Movie #16 of 2016:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Hands-down the best Star Trek adventure I’ve seen yet (which means it was better than the first movie, the three Chris Pine ones, and all of TOS and TAS). Part of me wonders why they even bothered to make more Trek after this, since the franchise seems to have pretty clearly reached a pinnacle with this film. On the other hand, how could they possibly stop after producing something so great? This movie was everything Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn’t. The story, the characterization, the pacing, the effects! Definitely a worthy capstone to the live-action show, no matter what came after it.

★★★★★

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Movie Review: Terminator Genisys (2015)

Movie #15 of 2016:

Terminator Genisys (2015)

I definitely understand where all the criticism of this movie is coming from. It is bleeding plot holes left and right, to the point where the whole thing makes no sense even by the very loose standards of the Terminator franchise. But that being said, there’s a whole lot to love here. Emilia Clarke is great as the latest rendition of Sarah Connor, and J. K. Simmons steals the show every time he’s on-screen as an old cop who’s convinced that time-traveling killer robots are real. I also really dig the initial conceit of the movie, which retells the events of the first Terminator movie with an altered timeline. The director captures the 80s feel of the original, and it all feels very Back to the Future 2 – definitely a good fit for the Terminator series. It’s too bad the plot holes are the main thing people are going to remember from this movie, because another round or two of rewrites could have absolutely made it a classic.

★★★☆☆

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TV Review: Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, season 2

TV #45 of 2016:

Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, season 2

It’s really hard to review this season, given how screwed over it was by the network / production company. (I don’t know who’s ultimately most responsible for the episodes airing out of their intended order, but even on Netflix it’s a hot mess.) I am all about character growth and plot progression even on my sitcoms, and this season just about gave me whiplash. It’s still about as funny as it was in season 1, but I just couldn’t get into it. I binged the last few hours just so that I could finally put the show behind me, which is pretty unfortunate for something that had so much potential.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Book #95 of 2016:

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz #1)

Brandon Sanderson’s Alcatraz series starts out with a bang, combining one of his trademark creative magic systems with a narrator as snarky as Peter David’s Sir Apropos of Nothing in this fun novel for junior readers. We only get the first glimpse of Alcatraz’s wider world here – a world secretly ruled by librarians and one in which always arriving late is a magical power that can fight them off – but like Harry Potter, this is a series that will keep getting darker and more intricate as the novels progress. It’s not Sanderson’s best work, but it’s well worth reading and certainly a good quick introduction to his style.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

Book #94 of 2016:

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #3)

It’s really frustrating how often the solution to one of Agatha Christie’s mysteries hinges on a clue that the detective noticed but the author never actually shared with her readers. A big thrill of this genre of fiction comes from trying to solve the case before the hero can, which becomes impossible when we aren’t given all the facts. That flaw isn’t limited to the Poirot Investigates collection, but it is on full display here, resulting in a set of formulaic stories that simply state her detective’s genius without giving us a fair chance to match it.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Book #93 of 2016:

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan #2)

This second novel in Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk retelling of World War I is an improvement over the first, which didn’t develop its two main characters into likable people until the very end. Here it’s easier to root for them right from the start, give or take a needless love triangle along the way. The worldbuilding continues to impress, and I look forward to seeing how the story concludes.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale

Book #92 of 2016:

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale

A fascinating look at the real-life murder mystery that gripped Victorian England twenty years before Jack the Ripper and helped usher in the modern age of police detectives. Jack Whicher’s deductions were dismissed by many of his contemporaries, but his process of investigation would prove to be a blueprint for his successors and an inspiration for writers like Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. Kate Summerscale has collected the original facts of the case, including courtroom transcripts, and she presents a powerful argument that Mr. Whicher may have been correct all along.

★★★★☆

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