Book #99 of 2019: Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (Nightrunner #1) There are some fun moments of swashbuckling fantasy spycraft in this 1996 series debut, but the worldbuilding is fairly minimal and the plot often feels like a generic tabletop campaign that anyone could have wandered into rather than anything arising from these …
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TV #18 of 2019: Bosch, season 5 The weird thing about Bosch — which can strike me as either brilliant or lazy storytelling depending on my mood — is that it regularly eschews all the rhythms of a typical TV show. There’s seldom any particular plot difficulty or thematic throughline tying a single hour together, …
Book #98 of 2019: Giant’s Bread by Mary Westmacott This 1930 novel is the first of six that Agatha Christie published under a pseudonym due to their divergence from her typical whodunnit fare and her desire to have this other work ‘judged on its own merits and not in the light of previous success,’ per …
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TV #17 of 2019: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 6 This show isn’t really surprising me anymore, but it’s still nice as a hangout sitcom with funny writing and great, only-somewhat flanderized characters. This first season on NBC is also a bit of a retooling for the program, with some occasional infodumps for the new audience members …
Book #97 of 2019: The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Lifetime Plan to Finish Rich in Real Estate by David Bach My wife and I went to a home-buying seminar put on by our credit union, and one of the speakers recommended this book. It’s a quick read, and although it’s a little dated — author …
Book #96 of 2019: Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon Overall a decent look at the shockingly wide latitude given to prosecutors in the American justice system. Journalist Emily Bazelon walks readers through how these figures are given great leeway in bringing and dropping criminal charges, …
Book #95 of 2019: Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner I don’t quite love this 1936 novel, but I can understand why so many people do. It’s a layered and complex narrative that demands a close reading, and author William Faulkner’s run-on prose is perfectly pitched to capture the slow crumbling of its central family, their …
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TV #16 of 2019: Game of Thrones, season 8 The final season of this powerhouse HBO fantasy drama is both entertaining and frustrating for long-time fans. Well past the most recently published novel of the source material, the TV writers have been forced to use their own judgment (along with input from original author George …
TV #15 of 2019: Saturday Night Live, season 44 The current iteration of this sketch comedy show can be kinda hit-or-miss, and I don’t know if I’d have the patience to binge a whole season after the fact. It’s pretty fun to watch on a weekly basis, though, especially for the topical political humor in …
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TV #14 of 2019: Friday Night Lights, season 5 It’s hard to separate my feelings about that excellent finale from the rest of its season, but on reflection I think this last run of Friday Night Lights is maybe just a minor step down from the one before. I appreciate its focus on winning the …
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