Movie #26 of 2017: The Judge (2014) The cast is good (especially if you’ve been dying to see Marvel’s Iron Man and Kingpin as brothers), and they act their hearts out, but the writing completely fails to live up to their performances. My dad has seen this movie a few times and was really excited …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Review: Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
Book #265 of 2017: Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft (The Books of Babel #1) There are some definite rough spots in this steampunk Tower of Babel story, but I like how its protagonist steadily grows from a fussy schoolteacher into someone braver and more capable over the course of the novel. The Tower itself is …
Continue reading “Book Review: Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft”
Book Review: Doctor Who: The Legends of Ashildr by James Goss, David Llewellyn, Jenny T. Colgan, and Justin Richards
Book #264 of 2017: Doctor Who: The Legends of Ashildr by James Goss, David Llewellyn, Jenny T. Colgan, and Justin Richards Four generally unrelated short stories about the immortal Doctor Who character memorably played by Maisie Williams in 2015, all set between her first two appearances there (The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who …
Book Review: New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
Book #263 of 2017: New Boy by Tracy Chevalier Othello is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I love the idea of retelling its story in a 1970s schoolyard. The new setting leaps off the page, as the son of a Ghanaian diplomat newly posted to Washington, D.C. joins an otherwise all-white sixth grade class and …
Book Review: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Book #262 of 2017: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti #1) There are not enough black heroines in science fiction, and Binti is a welcome addition to their ranks. I especially liked how her people’s cultural traditions played an integral role in this character’s journey, and how she ended up as something of an alien ambassador …
Book Review: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
Book #261 of 2017: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff Jim Crow was a time of horror for black Americans, which makes it a natural fit for this novel about an extended black family coming up against the sorts of cosmic nightmares written about by H.P. Lovecraft. (Lovecraft himself was also an infamous racist, so there’s …
Continue reading “Book Review: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff”
Book Review: The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Book #260 of 2017: The Waste Lands by Stephen King (The Dark Tower #3) This third book in my reread of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series is just as great as I had remembered. If Book 1 mostly serves to introduce the weird world of this story, and Book 2 serves to recruit the supporting …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Waste Lands by Stephen King”
Book Review: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Book #259 of 2017: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan Saga #1) This space opera skewed a little close to a romance novel, which is not really my genre of choice. (Two enemy soldiers essentially fall in love at first sight, with the protagonist feeling overcome by her counterpart’s rugged manliness.) If you …
Continue reading “Book Review: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold”
Movie Review: Attack the Block (2011)
Movie #25 of 2017: Attack the Block (2011) I’ve seen this movie a couple of times before, but this was my first time watching it since John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker’s careers have really taken off (him as Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy and her starting as the Thirteenth Doctor in tomorrow’s Christmas …
Book Review: How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
Book #258 of 2017: How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball The troubled teenage anarchist (and budding arsonist) at the heart of this story got under my skin in the best way. She’s so well-drawn in her roughness and her vulnerabilities, with her darkly biting perspective on life immediately distinctive and unforgettable. …
Continue reading “Book Review: How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 