Book #123 of 2023: MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards A lengthy and informative behind-the-scenes account of the movie and TV juggernaut known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with plenty of in-depth production details that I didn’t previously know, despite my being a pretty big fan of …
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Book Review: At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
Book #122 of 2023: At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #11) This… is not a mystery. It’s not even a spy thriller or an in-depth character study, two other genres where author Agatha Christie dabbles on occasion. Instead it’s the story of a police inspector immediately suspecting an outlandish criminal conspiracy involving the …
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Book Review: Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly
Book #121 of 2023: Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller #7) Author Michael Connelly’s latest novel delivers another solid installment of courtroom drama that never quite twists in an unexpected direction or otherwise kicks into any higher gear. The plot: attorney Mickey Haller is contacted by a woman serving time in prison for killing …
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Book Review: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Book #120 of 2023: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean #2) A surprisingly-quick sequel to May’s runaway ‘romantasy’ bestseller Fourth Wing, but I suppose the publisher wanted to strike while the iron was hot — no pun intended. This one is just as great, although truth be told, it probably could have been half …
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TV Review: Bosch: Legacy, season 2
TV #57 of 2023: Bosch: Legacy, season 2 I’m still mad that the first season of this Bosch spinoff sequel ended with — spoiler alert — its young female lead getting abducted from her home by the serial rapist she’d been investigating. It was a cruel cliffhanger and threatened fridging, and while I have no …
TV Review: Star Trek: Picard, season 1
TV #56 of 2023: Star Trek: Picard, season 1 Patrick Stewart seems to be enjoying himself in reprising the title role of this Star Trek sequel series set and produced decades after his time on The Next Generation, but this whole first season is built around a huge miscalculation of what sort of story would …
TV Review: Loki, season 2
TV #55 of 2023: Loki, season 2 This first second year of a Disney+ Marvel show could have easily faltered, given the production troubles that have been leaking out about the studio in general, the pivot away from their previous model of standalone miniseries events, and the recent domestic abuse allegations and arrests of major …
Book Review: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
Book #119 of 2023: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter Not everything in this short novel quite works for me, but for the most part, it’s an arresting and bitterly funny satire on modern corporate life, skewering the emptiness and performativity inherent to some degree in any buzzword-heavy tech job. The protagonist describes letting her ‘fake …
Book Review: Orion and the Conqueror by Ben Bova
Book #118 of 2023: Orion and the Conqueror by Ben Bova (Orion #4) This isn’t the worst title of the Orion saga — it’s a noticeable step up from the angst-ridden previous volume — but it might well be the most boring. Much how the first half of Vengeance of Orion was little more than …
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TV Review: Party Down, season 3
TV #54 of 2023: Party Down, season 3 This workplace sitcom about a crew of hapless Hollywood caterers hoping to make it as actors ironically never found much of an audience in its two original 10-episode seasons back in 2009 and 2010, and even today, I don’t know that I would say it’s popular enough …
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