Book #236 of 2018: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter #6) I love plenty of individual moments in this penultimate Harry Potter book, but if I’m being truly objective, its flashback-heavy narrative arc is a bit of a step down for the series. As usual author J. K. Rowling …
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Book #235 of 2018: Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman In the burgeoning genre of inside accounts of the 45th presidential administration, this one from President Trump’s longtime associate Omarosa Manigault Newman covers relatively little new ground. It also feels aimed at a very particular sort of contemporary …
Book #234 of 2018: From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars by Virginia Hanlon Grohl Author Virginia Hanlon Grohl is the mother of Dave Grohl from the bands Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and although she seems to have enjoyed getting to know and interview other musician moms for …
Movie #20 of 2018: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) This musical biopic of Queen singer Freddie Mercury is much better than I expected it to be. I’m not super well-informed about the actual history of the band, but it seems like the movie sticks pretty close to the facts. I’m especially surprised – quite pleasantly so! – …
Book #233 of 2018: Strange Weather by Joe Hill These four novellas from author Joe Hill are of mixed quality, but the collection as a whole is well worth the price of admittance. SNAPSHOT: A thirteen-year-old boy learns that his neighbor’s dementia has been caused by a sinister man whose magic camera is stealing her …
Book #232 of 2018: How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn I think this self-help book would probably be most beneficial for parents who have already found their relationship growing more toxic, but it was certainly eye-opening to read five months before the due date of my first child. I feel …
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Book #231 of 2018: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White After a little bit of a bumpy start, this Frankenstein retelling quickly settles into itself and by the end proves nearly as remarkable as the Mary Shelley classic. Author Kiersten White’s primary inspiration is to present the familiar horror narrative from the …
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TV #49 of 2018: Friday Night Lights, season 1 It’s a real testament to the quality of the storytelling on this show that I’ve become so invested in the fates of its characters despite not caring at all about sports – let alone the high school football that this narrative is built around. But this …
Book #230 of 2018: The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain #3) This third novel in author Lloyd Alexander’s fantasy version of mythical Wales is a bit of a step down from the first two volumes, reducing the sole female hero from a fellow adventurer to a passive macguffin for the …
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Book #229 of 2018: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Another classic that I’m only now reading, this novel has a great use of language (in 1930s black vernacular) and well-drawn characters, but a rather aimless plot. I would have liked a little bit more narrative structure to this tale of a …
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