TV #38 of 2017: Cop Rock, season 1 This is such a… unique show. It’s not exactly the trainwreck that its reputation would suggest, but it certainly comes near to that at times. Picture a musical show like Glee (particularly the times when the singing is just supposed to represent characters emoting and not rehearsing/performing …
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Book Review: The Infinities by John Banville
Book #189 of 2017: The Infinities by John Banville This story of the Greek god Hermes narrating the events surrounding a modern patriarch’s deathbed is unbearably pretentious and unforgivably cruel to its characters. Add to that an utterly inconsequential plot and I just couldn’t wait to be through with it. ★☆☆☆☆
TV Review: Game of Thrones, season 3
TV #37 of 2017: Game of Thrones, season 3 Another solid season of Game of Thrones, although this is definitely where the seams of adapting A Song of Ice and Fire into a network television show really start to appear. In the books, characters can sit out entire novels when nothing interesting is happening to …
Book Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Book #188 of 2017: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison There’s a little Game of Thrones in this standalone fantasy story of an honorable figure coming to court and facing palace intrigue, but it more closely resembles Assassin’s Apprentice in centering its narrative around an abused and friendless child whose station prevents others from getting …
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Book Review: Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer
Book #187 of 2017: Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey #1) The aging barrister Horace Rumpole was originally created as a television character, but his writer John Mortimer soon adapted those stories for the literary medium, resulting first in this collection of short stories that presents some of Rumpole’s most …
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Book Review: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez
Book #186 of 2017: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez (Constance Verity #1) Constance Verity is fated to live a life of pulpy adventure, always saving the world from robots and ninjas and alien overlords, and it’s a lot of fun to see author A. Lee Martinez throw out all sorts …
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Book Review: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Book #185 of 2017: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett This was a fun hardboiled detective story, and one that I ultimately liked better than the author’s more famous work, The Maltese Falcon. That’s largely due to Nick and Nora Charles, a retired Pinkerton and his wife who are reluctantly dragged into the unfolding investigation …
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Book Review: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Book #184 of 2017: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #1) This was a fun fairy tale of a princess who runs away to live in a cave with a dragon to avoid an arranged marriage. As expected, it’s full of girl power for younger readers, although it’s a bit jarring …
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Book Review: Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare
Book #183 of 2017: Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare The plot of this Shakespearean history is a trifle thin, detailing only a sliver of England’s War of the Roses, but we’re mostly here for the humor, which offers more laughs than some of the bard’s actual comedies. The most famous bits involve Prince …
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Book Review: The Science of Game of Thrones: From the Genetics of Royal Incest to the Chemistry of Death by Molten Gold – Sifting Fact from Fantasy in the Seven Kingdoms by Helen Keen
Book #182 of 2017: The Science of Game of Thrones: From the Genetics of Royal Incest to the Chemistry of Death by Molten Gold – Sifting Fact from Fantasy in the Seven Kingdoms by Helen Keen A fun little pop science book with a ridiculously long title, offering nuggets of learning all vaguely related to …
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