Book #122 of 2018: Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman A very short book — the unabridged audiobook lasts less than two hours at normal speed — that showcases Neil Gaiman’s great storytelling skills and love for Norse mythology. His original tale of a young disabled boy’s chance encounter with Thor, Loki, and …
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Book #121 of 2018: Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (Skullduggery Pleasant #1) Fantasy novels about a child discovering a hidden world of magic alongside our own are a dime a dozen at this point, and this book is a fine exemplar that doesn’t really distinguish itself in such a crowded field. I especially wish that …
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Book #120 of 2018: Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy This Victorian novel about a poor rape victim is surprisingly modern in the sympathy it extends to its heroine, and author Thomas Hardy does not shy away from depicting the unjust hostility and blame that she faces after the attack — or how it …
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Book #119 of 2018: Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans by Eric A. Johnson First published in the year 2000, this book feels a bit dated today, and the author perhaps over-extrapolates certain statistics from the sample of Gestapo records that he has examined. Nevertheless, it’s a good overview of the role of …
Movie #12 of 2018: Thor: Ragnarok (2017) By far the best Thor movie, and one of the better Marvel Cinematic Universe movies overall. Lots of humor, neat worldbuilding, and actual character growth for Thor and Loki! It could have done better by its female characters, but all in all it was a fun ride and …
Book #118 of 2018: Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti #2) I continue to love the Afrofuturism implicit in this setting, and Binti herself is a compelling character caught between worlds. But these novellas keep not quite working for me. Everything in the plot feels very abrupt, with many moments either not set up well …
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Book #117 of 2018: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #2) This spinoff sequel to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet shares its predecessor’s compassionate depiction of a sci-fi universe teeming with intelligent and emotional life. Among other qualities, it’s a radically trans-positive future, featuring aliens who regularly change their …
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Book #116 of 2018: The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos (The Planet Thieves #1) This is a solid middle-grade space opera, capably balancing the terrors of war with the inherently goofy concept of moving an entire planet to a different solar system. I like that the whole book is basically one long adrenaline rush of …
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Book #115 of 2018: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway On the one hand: it’s oddly refreshing to see characters written in 1926 acting so much like modern-day hipsters, resorting to alcohol, travel, and ironic mockery to hide their anxieties that life is passing them by. On the other hand: the people in this …
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Book #114 of 2018: Renegades by Marissa Meyer (Renegades #1) The beginning of this YA superhero novel creaks under the weight of so much exposition, and when author Marissa Meyer does manage to show and not tell, the results generally feel more like standard comic book cliches than anything particularly original. Remembering how I hadn’t …
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