TV #33 of 2021: Julie and the Phantoms, season 1 Okay, the concept here is a little convoluted and ludicrous — three members of a boy band die in the 90s, then get brought back as ghosts by a girl in the present who can see them at all times, whereas they only appear to …
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Book #97 of 2021: A Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland (A Conspiracy of Truths #2) In the final analysis I think I don’t love this spinoff sequel to A Conspiracy of Truths quite as much as the original novel, but it’s a welcome return to a land where diversity in race, gender, sexuality, disability, …
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Book #96 of 2021: The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams This story starts off on the wrong foot — taking the first 4% to wax rhapsodic about the soul of dictionaries before we even meet a single character — and somehow grows worse from there. It’s a split timeline, with one lexicographer protagonist in Victorian …
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Book #95 of 2021: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett This novel offers a beautiful assortment of character studies, although it feels less like a single coherent plot and instead an intricate mosaic of interrelated lives. Central to the web of connections are two light-skinned black girls, identical twins who seem inseparable until the day …
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Book #94 of 2021: The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother) by David Levithan I love a nice postmodern portal fantasy, and this middle-grade novel spins a premise I don’t think I’ve seen before, where the focus is not on a child who vanishes into another world, but on a sibling …
TV #32 of 2021: Star Wars Rebels, season 1 This cartoon is definitely kid-friendly, but it offers a lot to older Star Wars fans as well, and largely avoids the sort of slapstick humor and wacky episode premises that could be so grating in The Clone Wars. As the first TV show in the franchise …
Book #93 of 2021: Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman Author Fredrik Backman’s collection of parental / life wisdom, ostensibly addressed to his one-year-old, is certainly funny, but it lacks the heart and insight that I’m used to from his novels. It also relies on a few tired gender …
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Book #92 of 2021: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick A fascinating personal glimpse into life under the repressive regime of North Korea, drawing on deep interviews with escaped citizens as well as journalist Barbara Demick’s general experience in the region. This 2009 book — focusing mainly on the two …
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Book #91 of 2021: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (The Hazel Wood #1) Quite a lot in this YA portal fantasy doesn’t work for me, but I think it mostly comes down to the characters. Alice, our protagonist — yes, this is largely a riff on Alice in Wonderland — is just so angry …
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Taking a quick pause from my usual posting schedule — I’ve hit an average of one new book review per day for the first 90 days of this year! — to remind folks that I have a Patreon set up for anyone who’d like to support my reviews on a recurring monthly basis. There are …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more