Book Review: Joyland by Stephen King

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 child, the regular walks along a beach, the grisly unsolved murders – feels lifted from his earlier hits. None of it is bad writing, but it definitely feels like something I’ve already read.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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 done with Gatsby, Daisy, and all the rest.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Devil You Know by K. J. Parker

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 better than the execution. Both the story and the main character feel like they think they’re a lot smarter than they actually are, and the major plot points aren’t given enough context ahead of time to really satisfy. It’s possible that some of these issues would be alleviated if I had read the previous book — I didn’t realize it was a sequel when I picked it up — but I don’t think I would have kept reading if this had been a full-length novel.

★★☆☆☆

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TV Review: Star Trek: The Animated Series, season 2

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 to their live-action adventures, and the different format allows for some creative storytelling that would be a lot harder to pull off on the parent series. I’m looking forward to watching the TOS films and then starting TNG, but it’s kind of a shame that there’s nothing like Big Finish (to my knowledge) still keeping these original series adventures going with the surviving cast members today.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman

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, and even taken in its own right, Piper Kerman’s book is an emotional and insightful first-hand look into the US prison system.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

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 masterfully. It would have been nice to hear more from Lennie’s perspective, but even with the narrative framed around George, it’s easy to see why this book is a classic.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

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 an evening spent with with some very boring company. Many of the characters are mean or rude, but they aren’t really very witty about it. If this story really needed to be told, it would have been better as a stage play at a fraction of the length.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury

Book #82 of 2016:

Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury

I can’t decide whether this was an exceptionally weak collection of Ray Bradbury stories, or whether the author just doesn’t speak to me like he did when I was younger. Either way, I really didn’t care for this collection. “A Piece of Wood” and “Punishment Without Crime” were somewhat interesting thought experiments, but everything else in the book was a real drag to get through.

★☆☆☆☆

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Book Review: Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce

Book #81 of 2016:

Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce (Beka Cooper #2)

The second Beka Cooper novel continues her character growth nicely, settling her into her new role as a full Guardswoman with the assignment of a major counterfeiting case that sends her off largely on her own into a brand-new city. It’s a good way of making sure this book isn’t simply a retread of the one before, and it allows Pierce to introduce several new characters, including one who is trans (which is astonishingly rare in the fantasy genre). All in all, a quite enjoyable read.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, season 1

TV #42 of 2016:

Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, season 1

My favorite part of this sitcom is definitely watching James Van Der Beek play a heightened parody of himself. Plus Krysten Ritter is always fun and it’s cool to see Dreama Walker in a more comedic role after her stint as Zach’s manipulative girlfriend on The Good Wife. This is not a show I would probably keep watching if it was still on the air, but it’s both fun and short enough to be worth bingeing.

★★★☆☆

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