Book #146 of 2018: Song of Susannah by Stephen King (The Dark Tower #6) The Dark Tower series really requires readers to get on its wavelength of mystical intuition and fated coincidence, which is usually not a problem for me when there’s enough weird science magic and post-apocalyptic western worldbuilding on display. This sixth book, …
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Book #145 of 2018: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant #2) Tighter and funnier than the first book, which was already a solid piece of children’s urban fantasy. Having introduced this world and its characters in the previous volume, author Derek Landy is here free to simply set them loose on their next …
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TV #34 of 2018: Westworld, season 2 The first season of this show was at least moderately more enjoyable than frustrating, especially since the rich premise of a cyborg theme park gone haywire still had a sheen of novelty to it. It could at times be something of a mystery-for-the-sake-of-mystery J. J. Abrams puzzlebox, but …
TV #33 of 2018: American Gods, season 1 It took me a little while to get on board with this adaptation and stop feeling disappointed by everything that’s different from the book, which at one point was my absolute favorite novel. But honestly, this season is a gorgeous and soulful examination of the same themes …
Book 144 of 2018: Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark MIT professor Max Tegmark has a habit of seeming either alarmist or pie-in-the-sky when discussing the future of artificial intelligence, but he’s much better at relaying the current state of the field and contextualizing important historical breakthroughs. The …
Book #143 of 2018: Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup This harrowing true story of a black man kidnapped and sold into slavery is fairly well-known thanks to the 2013 Oscar-winning film adaptation, but hearing it in the author’s own words is still incredibly powerful. As fiction, it would be a sensational adventure of …
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Book #142 of 2018: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy The dry British humor in this book is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, but the characters can be a tad frustrating and the story is pretty slow. There are individual moments that I adore even beyond author Thomas Hardy’s classic Tess of the D’Urbervilles, but …
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TV #32 of 2018: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, season 2 This season has all of the same strengths of the first one, and I continue to be impressed with how the series is adapting some of the weaker aspects of the source novels. Clues and flat-out reveals about VFD are delivered so …
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Book #141 of 2018: The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae This essay collection is funny, but pretty short and a little disjointed. I’m not familiar with author Issa Rae’s other creative projects, but the book feels kind of like she’s thrown in everything that crossed her mind. While I would have appreciated …
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Book #140 of 2018: The Power by Naomi Alderman This globe-spanning novel about young women developing deadly electrical powers that ultimately rattle the established world order asks some sharp questions about gender, culture, and violence. It’s one part apocalyptic thriller a la Stephen King’s The Stand, and one part semi-satirical critique of our own patriarchal …
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