Book #154 of 2020: The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings #3) This conclusion to the classic fantasy trilogy probably has too much falling action after the main stakes are resolved, and its treatment of the anonymous hordes of dark-skinned humans who rally to the banner of …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien”
Movie #9 of 2020: 13th (2016) A decent overview of how America has continued to marginalize its black population after the abolition of slavery, first through discriminatory Jim Crow laws and now via mass incarceration that disproportionately targets African-American men. I particularly appreciate the insights into the corporate interests keeping the growing prison system full, …
Book #153 of 2020: Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega I simply adore the Dominican-American family at the heart of this fantasy novel, most of whom are spirits of the dead that only twelve-year-old Lucely can see. To everyone else they appear as fireflies, as per the #ownvoices folklore that author Claribel A. Ortega is …
Continue reading “Book Review: Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega”
Movie #8 of 2020: Hamilton (2020) A Broadway recording like this — taped back in 2016, but only released now for Disney’s streaming service — could be a tricky property to rate / review. After all, are we judging the dialogue and songs for the show itself? The performers in this particular staging of it? …
Book #152 of 2020: Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad This short antiracism tract provides some handy definitions and examples, splitting the broad problem of white supremacy into more specific interconnected issues of privilege, fragility, complicit silence, and so forth that (white) readers …
TV #24 of 2020: The Good Wife, season 3 The third year of this law drama is its best one yet, and not only because it finally acts upon the romantic will-they-won’t-they dimension that’s mostly lingered in the background subtext for the first two seasons. There’s also the smart writing decision to bring Eli’s crisis …
Book #151 of 2020: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë This 1848 novel is a neat early tale of women’s liberation, and one I was not expecting to have such sparklingly funny dialogue throughout. The comedy of manners doesn’t occlude the impact of the heroine leaving her abusive husband — although it makes …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë”
Book #150 of 2020: Coming of Age in Jim Crow DC: Navigating the Politics of Everyday Life by Paula C. Austin Interesting but far too brief, with the whole first third of the text a dry academic overview of author Paula C. Austin’s archival source material. In the rest of the book, she brings the …
Book #149 of 2020: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow This 2020 YA novel has so much to say about contemporary racism and sexism (and their intersection, sometimes called misogynoir), and I could see it both validating the experiences of some readers and providing others a valuable window into their lives. From school …
Continue reading “Book Review: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow”
Book #148 of 2020: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan (Powder Mage #1) The plot to this 2013 fantasy debut reminds me of the second Mistborn novel, from the challenges facing a force of rebels after they successfully overthrow their tyrant ruler and must figure out how to govern amid the dying warning of a …
Continue reading “Book Review: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more