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 …
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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 …
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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 #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. …
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Book #257 of 2017: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Southern Reach #1) This was an unsettling sci-fi tale of delirium and paranoia, but there was a bit too much unresolved ambiguity for me to truly love it. The narrator is exploring an environment that’s known to warp perception and impede clear thinking, and that’s even before …
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TV #48 of 2017: The Mindy Project, season 3 This show is getting incrementally better, with the addition of Danny’s mom this season a definite strength. On the other hand, it’s still wildly inconsistent in terms of character logic and the type of show it feels like it’s trying to be. Like I’ve said before, …
Book #256 of 2017: End of Watch by Stephen King (Bill Hodges Trilogy #3) This last book in Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy is unfortunately a bit of a mess. Partly that’s due to the tonal whiplash of following up two fairly straightforward crime thrillers with a story about hypnotic mind control, telekinesis, and bodyswaps, …
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Book #255 of 2017: Dangerous Women edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Far more misses than hits in this genre-spanning short story collection that purports to be about ‘dangerous women’ but mostly delivers stale femme fatales from a largely male gaze. (Why did it not occur to George R.R. Martin and Gardner …
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Book #254 of 2017: Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive by Scott Tipton, David Tipton, Rachael Stott, and Charlie Kirchoff This trade paperback collects the complete five issues of a comic book crossover between Star Trek and Planet of the Apes, and I have to admit that I didn’t have very high expectations …
Book #253 of 2017: My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins This collection of holiday love stories from twelve YA writers makes for some cute seasonal fun. “It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown” by editor Stephanie Perkins was the clear highlight for me, but Holly Black’s “Krampuslauf,” Laini Taylor’s …
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