Movie #24 of 2017: Bad Santa 2 (2016) It’s hard to really justify this movie’s existence. The first Bad Santa movie (2003) wasn’t exactly a modern classic, but it was a funny spin on the darkness that can underlie the holidays with a surprising amount of heart to it. This one is mostly just mean …
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Movie Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Movie #23 of 2017: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) I really liked this movie, and am surprised that there’s apparently such a backlash against it. I know that a lot of it zigged where we might have expected a Star Wars sequel to zag – especially given all the trademark J.J. Abrams mysteries that …
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Movie Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Movie #22 of 2017: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) I rewatched this movie in anticipation of its new sequel, since I’m pretty sure I had only seen it one time in theaters two years ago. It holds up really well! Definitely the shot in the arm that Star Wars needed to explode back on …
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Book Review: The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” by Alan Light
Book #252 of 2017: The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” by Alan Light An interesting slice of music history, detailing how an obscure track from an obscure songwriter grew over time to become one of rock music’s most-covered songs. Author Alan Light recounts the sequence of …
Book Review: Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix
Book #251 of 2017: Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom #3) This third volume in Garth Nix’s seven-part Keys to the Kingdom series is the least formulaic so far, which is a welcome change from the one before. I’m still not super invested in the story or these characters – still …
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Book Review: Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Book #250 of 2017: Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #2) Even more so than the book before it, this second novel in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles is cute and fun and absolutely hilarious. Author Patricia C. Wrede’s wry comic tone has been honed to perfection here, and I especially like …
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Book Review: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
Book #249 of 2017: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore College dropout Jane is at a crossroads in her life when she accepts a wealthy friend’s invitation to come visit her family’s island manor. While there, the result of one small decision leads Jane off into different branching and genre-hopping adventures, which author Kristin Cashore presents …
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Book Review: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Book #248 of 2017: The Color Purple by Alice Walker This Pulitzer-winning novel speaks powerfully of all the ways that people can be boxed in and abused by society, particularly poor black women in the rural south. Its epistolary format is ideal for carrying the raw emotion of its heroine as she struggles to find …
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Book Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Book #247 of 2017: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas I have such mixed feelings about this book, which essentially aims to be Black Lives Matter: the novel. It’s important, and I’m so glad that it exists and has become a bestseller. I love that it’s going to introduce some readers to the widespread …
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Book Review: Shardik by Richard Adams
Book 246 of 2017: Shardik by Richard Adams (Beklan Empire #1) I loved this 1974 story of a Stone Age civilization treating a giant bear as the incarnation of their god, a sprawling feat of worldbuilding that feels wholly different from the author’s better-known classic Watership Down. It’s slow but engaging, and I appreciate the …
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