TV #67 of 2021: Scandal, season 1 Initially this drama about a Washington lawyer/fixer seems like it might be clunkier and soapier than I would prefer, but it improves on the former measure as this first year goes along — an achievement, given that that’s just seven episodes in total — and the latter isn’t …
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Book Review: The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
Book #238 of 2021: The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders This sci-fi novel plays with a few interesting concepts, especially in its setting of two opposing cities, the only human settlements in the narrow hospitable zone of a tidally-locked planet that will either burn or freeze anyone who wanders …
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TV Review: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, season 1
TV #66 of 2021: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, season 1 A fun sketch comedy series that’s also quite short, with only six episodes of under 20 minutes each. Not every skit is a winner for me, and overall they lean on awkward cringe humor and shouting more than I’d probably prefer, …
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Book Review: The Body in Question by Jill Ciment
Book #237 of 2021: The Body in Question by Jill Ciment Two middle-aged jurors in a major murder trial — who go unnamed until a verdict is reached two-thirds of the way through the text — embark on an affair while sequestered, after which one must return home to her dying husband and deal with …
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Book Review: The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson
Book #236 of 2021: The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Gap Cycle #2) This sequel is a major improvement over its predecessor, deepening the worldbuilding of the space opera setting and populating it beyond a simple archetypal trio. We also switch our focal protagonist from the rapist lowlife Angus Thermopyle …
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Book Review: The Unknown by K. A. Applegate
Book #235 of 2021: The Unknown by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #14) It’s hard to pick the single goofiest element of this story. Is it the Yeerks infesting wild horses — the first earth animal hosts we’ve seen — to sneak into the setting’s equivalent of Area 51 and discover what the government is hiding …
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Book Review: Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova
Book #234 of 2021: Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova (Brooklyn Brujas #3) Although I appreciate that this third heroine in author Zoraida Córdova’s Brooklyn Brujas trilogy is less foolhardy than her older sisters — as shown by how she’s the only one whose adventure doesn’t begin with her own selfish spell gone wrong — the …
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Book Review: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Book #233 of 2021: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #20) Should a mystery story be solvable by its audience? That’s a philosophical question, and I suspect perhaps a matter of personal taste. Do we prefer tales where we are expected to simply observe as a detective protagonist investigates and unravels the puzzle, …
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Book Review: Void Moon by Michael Connelly
Book #232 of 2021: Void Moon by Michael Connelly This title is a neat divergence from author Michael Connelly’s usual work. Although set in the same continuity and Los Angeles / Las Vegas locale as his Harry Bosch stories, it follows two new characters, with no appearance from the detective or his regular supporting cast. …
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TV Review: Kim’s Convenience, season 5
TV #65 of 2021: Kim’s Convenience, season 5 Given the Korean-Canadian representation on-screen, I’ve always felt like this sitcom had the potential to turn into something special, but even in this final season, the writing just never delivers. I count a grand total of three plot elements that span multiple episodes / would identify a …
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