Book #91 of 2022: Shelter by Jung Yun Just like author Jung Yun’s second novel O Beautiful, her 2016 debut is an absolutely brutal read, this time beginning with the protagonist’s elderly immigrant parents suffering assault and rape during a terrifying home invasion. In the aftermath, the story explores everyone’s deep layers of trauma, both …
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Book Review: Wool by Hugh Howey
Book #90 of 2022: Wool by Hugh Howey (Silo #1) This book, the first in the Silo trilogy, is itself made up of five sections, each originally published as a standalone novella: Wool (later renamed Holston), Proper Gauge, Casting Off, The Unraveling, and The Stranded. Of those, the debut is a wicked slice of science-fiction …
TV Review: Russian Doll, season 2
TV #24 of 2022: Russian Doll, season 2 The story of a couple New Yorkers repeatedly dying in a loop of the same birthday party was always going to be a difficult act to follow, and this second season makes the smart choice to keep those characters but totally reinvent the premise. This time, there …
Book Review: The Crossing by Michael Connelly
Book #89 of 2022: The Crossing by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #18) This is one of the better Harry Bosch titles I’ve read, which makes me particularly excited that it’s reportedly going to be the broad basis for the upcoming second season of Bosch: Legacy, despite how the TV canon has diverged from the novels. …
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TV Review: Bob’s Burgers, season 4
TV #23 of 2022: Bob’s Burgers, season 4 After three seasons right on the cusp of greatness, I am willing to say that this fourth year of Bob’s Burgers has finally crossed that quality threshold for me. We have a few all-time classic installments like Fort Night and Christmas in the Car — a Halloween …
Book Review: The Revelation by K. A. Applegate
Book #88 of 2022: The Revelation by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #45) [Note: Spoiler warning! It was too hard to write a review for this book without going into significant detail about its various surprises.] This series has been spinning its wheels for a while now, putting out volumes that are sometimes better and sometimes …
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Book Review: The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by A.J. Jacobs
Book #87 of 2022: The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by A.J. Jacobs A fun but lightweight survey of different puzzle types from around the world and across history, sporadically broken up by brief musings on the human preoccupation with …
Book Review: Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao
Book #86 of 2022: Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao (Zachary Ying #1) This is a solid and charming #ownvoices middle-grade fantasy debut. I’m rounding up my rating slightly since I’m so outside the target audience, and because I appreciate the effort author Xiran Jay Zhao has gone to in conveying …
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Book Review: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Book #85 of 2022: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston Author Casey McQuiston’s third novel is the first that doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. The basic premise here is that prom queen and principal’s daughter Shara Wheeler has vanished in the last month before graduation, after spontaneously kissing three people: her boyfriend, …
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TV Review: Scandal, season 7
TV #22 of 2022: Scandal, season 7 Credit where credit’s due: the first five episodes on this last year of Scandal are genuinely riveting. The scripts are tighter, and it really feels like the show has finally locked into who these characters are and how to tell trenchant and complex storylines involving them. Taking that …
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