Book #236 of 2019: The Man Who Tried to Get Away by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Man Who #3) In 1990, author Reed Stephens published this final book in an odd little mystery trilogy that seemed to care more about putting its detective characters through suffering and atonement than having them actually solve crimes. A …
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Book #235 of 2019: The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino This 1957 Italian novel presents the whimsical tale of an eighteenth-century nobleman who climbs a tree as an obstinate child avoiding his dinner and then proceeds to spend the rest of his life up there. Roaming the countryside from branch to branch, he …
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Book #234 of 2019: This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel This is a lovely family drama with some important transgender representation, but I can’t help feeling that it would be a more powerful and honest story if it actually centered the character in question. Instead, most of the narrative is rooted in …
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Book #233 of 2019: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant I really enjoyed this biblical retelling, which takes the minor figure of Jacob’s daughter Dinah from Genesis and presents a possible version of her life’s story. In the process, author Anita Diamant goes far beyond what scripture has to say about either the heroine or …
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Book #232 of 2019: Defy the Fates by Claudia Gray (Constellation #3) I still enjoy the debut of this sci-fi YA trilogy enough that it’s fun to spend more time with the characters, but the action of the next two volumes feels far more rote by comparison. In this final book especially, our protagonists don’t …
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Book #231 of 2019: Little Weirds by Jenny Slate I have a newfound appreciation for actress Jenny Slate’s command of figurative language, but I confess that this collection of her writing is too disjointed for me. I think I was expecting either essays or short stories from the book, when in fact most of its …
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Book #230 of 2019: Homerooms & Hall Passes by Tom O’Donnell (Homerooms & Hall Passes #1) This middle-grade adventure story is lightweight but pretty fun, tracking a band of thirteen-year-old heroes who get magically trapped in the setting of their favorite tabletop roleplaying game, which happens to resemble a middle school of our reality. I …
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Book #229 of 2019: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) I still sort of feel like I’m waiting for the Percy Jackson series to really hit its stride, but this third novel offers enough character growth and plot progression amid the latest romp through Greek mythology that I’m happy …
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Book #228 of 2019: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware I think this novel has my favorite protagonist and premise of any Ruth Ware thriller yet, but the major twists are telegraphed so early that I feel I’ve spent most of the book impatiently waiting for the characters to catch on. It doesn’t …
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TV #37 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 3 Aging a television setting up from high school to college is a tricky prospect, with inevitable cast turnover, different plot beats to work out, and more mature storytelling possibilities. And for the most part, Veronica Mars manages that transition well. The heroine herself is recognizable yet played …
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