Book #273 of 2020: Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary Like that of many Americans, my formal education about world history has primarily focused on the threads that lead to modern ‘Western’ civilization, with minimal attention to the Muslim sphere of influence even in those eras when it …
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Book Review: Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
Book #272 of 2020: Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey A short but disturbing read, focused partly on author Natasha Trethewey’s experiences growing up mixed-race in the segregated Deep South and partly on her abusive stepfather threatening, beating, stalking, and ultimately murdering her mother. It’s obviously a deeply personal account, but it’s also …
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Book Review: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
Book #271 of 2020: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #4) Although perhaps not as enchanting as the original Narnia story, this first sequel (in writing / publication order) does much more to flesh out the worldbuilding, providing a sense of history, geography, and culture to the setting that had been …
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Book Review: Network Effect by Martha Wells
Book #270 of 2020: Network Effect by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #5) Everyone’s favorite antisocial cyborg bodyguard is back for its first full-length adventure, featuring the return of one of the more intriguing side characters from the original novellas. Murderbot’s acerbic interior monologue is always surprisingly relatable as the security unit forms grudging attachments …
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Book Review: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Book #269 of 2020: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell A well-written piece of historical fiction, albeit one that often feels more like a mosaic of interesting vignettes than a coherently plotted novel. The title character is Shakespeare’s son who died at a young age — and may have played a role in his inspiration for Hamlet, …
TV Review: The Office, season 6
TV #49 of 2020: The Office, season 6 Although not as impressively serialized as the previous season’s arc with the Michael Scott Paper Company, this year of The Office takes a few swings at tinkering with the status quo, first with the promotion of one of the characters to co-manager and then with the corporate …
Book Review: Don’t Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross
Book #268 of 2020: Don’t Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross The main problem with this standalone fantasy novel is that none of its characters seems to have a clear motivation driving their actions, resulting in a narrative with the shape of a quest but less weight than a typical tabletop roleplaying campaign. They’re just …
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Book Review: The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
Book #267 of 2020: The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby This is an interesting read on the history of racism within white American Protestantism, although I think it would benefit from deeper insight at times into why and how dominant church positions (both implicit and …
Book Review: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
Book #266 of 2020: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis (Not a Drop to Drink #1) I picked up this 2013 debut about a girl and her mother protecting their post-apocalyptic water source on the strength of author Mindy McGinnis’s wrenching survival tale Be Not Far from Me, but I’ve been pretty disappointed …
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Book Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Book #265 of 2020: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Author Susanna Clarke’s second novel is an odd beast, closer in tone to experimental mind-bending works like House of Leaves, Annihilation, or The Slow Regard of Silent Things than her Victorian fantasy classic Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The narrator is an amnesiac in an otherworldly flooded …
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