Movie #21 of 2016: Hamilton’s America (2016) This documentary is a fun look at the Broadway musical sensation as well the real-life history of US Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. It’s informative enough on that last count that I could see schoolteachers getting away with playing it to their classes, and it’s charmingly bipartisan in having …
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Book Review: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Book #110 of 2016: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #3) A tremendous end to the Imperial Radch trilogy, following several threads from the first two books to their natural conclusions in a way that still manages to surprise. Author Ann Leckie clearly has a lot of thoughts on the notions of consciousness, sentience, …
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Book Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Book #109 of 2016: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver The concept of a teenager reliving the same day over and over again (like in the movie Groundhog Day) is intriguing, and high school is a great setting to explore as a sprawling interconnected community that Samantha would ordinarily never get to see in its …
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Book Review: The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
Book #108 of 2016: The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (Colonel Race #1) A fun, droll adventure elevated by the wit of its plucky heroine. Agatha Christie’s thrillers aren’t as beloved as her mysteries, but the author’s intricate plots with their well-disguised twists are just as enjoyable in this format. (This particular …
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Book Review: A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
Book #107 of 2016: A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren Not what I was expecting, honestly. I’m a big fan of Senator Warren, and I imagined this book – her first since being elected – would be all about her economic views and the resulting political philosophy which together have made her so popular on …
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Book Review: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
Book #106 of 2016: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan #3) A fun conclusion to Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk retelling of World War I. (Now with Nikola Tesla! At this point, I’m half-convinced that Westerfeld kept adding characters of new nationalities to the story just to hear audiobook reader Alan Cumming do more accents.) The action is …
Movie Review: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Movie #20 of 2016: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) This movie is a little clunky at times, and definitely not in the same league as The Wrath of Khan or even The Voyage Home. But it mostly all works, and it’s still way better than Star Trek I, III, or V. It’s not …
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Book Review: My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair
Book #105 of 2016: My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair A powerful memoir, but one that I had to put down several times for something lighter. You might think the title would make the subject matter clear, but it actually doesn’t …
Book Review: The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket
Book #104 of 2016: The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events #9) These books are gradually becoming less episodic, but they still move at a glacier’s speed when it comes to moving the series plot along. The Baudelaire children learn no new information in this book, and they end up in …
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Book Review: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (How to Train Your Dragon #1)
Book #103 of 2016: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (How to Train Your Dragon #1) Very different and substantially worse than its movie adaptation. (And also far less diverse – no female characters have lines, and neither Hiccup nor Toothless have disabilities as they do in the film.) The audiobook was elevated …
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