Book #32 of 2019: The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer As the title suggests, this is a book that’s very much in conversation with Dee Brown’s classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which I regret to say I haven’t yet read. Like that earlier volume, …
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Book Review: Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao
Book #30 of 2019: Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao (Rise of the Empress #2) The first book in this East Asian-inspired fantasy duology remains a fascinating look at a complex antiheroine, but author Julie C. Dao makes the disappointing choice for its sequel to reduce that character to a more conventional …
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Book Review: The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas
Book #29 of 2019: The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas (Lady Sherlock #3) With this third novel playing out along similar lines to its shaky predecessors, I think I’ve reached the end of my patience with the Lady Sherlock series. There are some strong character elements that I like in its genderbent version of …
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TV Review: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 4
TV #7 of 2019: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 4 This series has always been an interesting blend of over-the-top 30 Rock absurdism and heightened-yet-thoughtful portrayal of abuse and recovery, but this final season struggles with that balance and regularly comes across as glibber than I remember the show being in the past. It’s a bit …
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Book Review: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Book #28 of 2019: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik This pastoral winter fantasy novel initially seems like it will be a straightforward retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin myth, and I was already drawn in by the idea of setting that story in a medieval Slavic kingdom with a Jewish heroine. As it develops, however, author Naomi …
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Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte
Book #26 of 2019: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte This 2018 book is an interesting review of the current scientific understanding of dinosaurs, much of which is different from what was taught in schools decades ago (and from the representation in popular culture …
Book Review: Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent
Book #27 of 2019: Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent In principle, horror about air travel is a fine concept for a short story collection. There’s so much that can go wrong on a plane, at least in the domain of fiction: from supernatural cloud-dwellers (“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” by Richard …
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Book Review: Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
Book #25 of 2019: Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne (The Tales of Pell #1) This novel aspires to be a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale sendup a la Discworld or Shrek, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the heart or cleverness to pull that off. Instead it reads more like just …
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Book Review: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale
Book #24 of 2019: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (Princess Academy #2) Much like the first book, this Princess Academy sequel seems like a great title for readers transitioning between the middle-grade and young adult publishing categories. It’s a tough act to balance the atmosphere of class consciousness and fermenting revolution against a lighter …
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Book Review: Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart
Book #23 of 2019: Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters #1) The heroine in this historical fiction novel has a plucky Willa Cather vibe to her, and it’s neat that her story is based on real events (which have also been recently portrayed in an episode of the show Drunk History). The …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 