Book #247 of 2018: The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal This short fitness memoir — titled after Jim Fixx’s 1977 classic The Complete Book of Running — is a lot of fun, especially for readers who run themselves. I don’t always agree with author Peter Sagal’s advice, like that runners should do without …
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Book #246 of 2018: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay Roxane Gay is a talented writer, but I must confess that I don’t find this 2014 essay collection as engaging as her later work Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body. There’s little thematic cohesion across the pieces in this volume, most of which were independently published …
Book #245 of 2018: Elevation by Stephen King A lackluster novella from a writer who should know (and can obviously do) much better. Part of the problem is the warmed-over premise of a man gradually losing his body weight, which can’t help but recall the author’s earlier novel Thinner — which if not quite a …
Book #244 of 2018: How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin A few of these short stories miss the mark for me, and the ones I like best seem front-loaded in the first half of the collection, giving the book at large an uneven feel. Still, author N. K. Jemisin’s imagination is …
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Book #243 of 2018: 41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush My political views are very different from both the author and the subject of this presidential retrospective, but thankfully the former steers largely clear of politics to talk about the latter’s character. (The author’s brother Jeb, for example, barely features in …
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Book #242 of 2018: Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy An informative overview of the country’s current opioid crisis, which has deeper roots — dating to the turn of the century in its present form or even further for historical analogues — and a more singular origin — …
Book #241 of 2018: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Montague Siblings #1) Overall, I adore this historical fiction novel about queer teens on their grand tour of eighteenth-century continental Europe. It’s phenomenal representation in a genre that often starves for any diversity at all, and the action of the story …
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TV #52 of 2018: Doctor Who, season 11 I love the new Thirteenth Doctor, along with plenty of other tweaks in this first chapter of Doctor Who under showrunner Chris Chibnall. I adore the dynamic between companions Ryan and Graham, and I like that the season is immediately approachable for brand-new and lapsed viewers, which …
TV #51 of 2018: Breaking Bad, season 2 A bit of a transitional season, taking us from the tough-but-stupid (and honestly a bit stereotypical) drug dealer Tuco to Heisenberg and Jesse’s initial attempt to be solo kingpins, and finally to the beginning of their partnership with the enigmatic Gustavo Fring. It’s still Breaking Bad, so …
Book #240 of 2018: And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready by Meaghan O’Connell A short, powerful memoir about unplanned pregnancy, birth, early parenting, and postpartum depression. I really admire author Meaghan O’Connell’s sharp, matter-of-fact tone, which basically comes across as a more human version of Amy Dunne from Gone Girl. …
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