Book #44 of 2023: Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #36) I like the espionage hijinks of this novel, although the plot never reaches the thrills of author Agatha Christie’s stories that are more focused in that domain, such as those in her Tommy and Tuppence series. And the setting of a …
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Book #43 of 2023: What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD and Oprah Winfrey A difficult but insightful read, with lots of detailed discussion about early childhood traumas, including the specific situations of kids who witnessed or experienced sexual abuse and graphic violence. As a parent …
TV #10 of 2023: The Shield, season 5 Easily the best run of this series since the first. Forest Whitaker is an outstanding new addition to the cast, and while it’s simple to peg him as the latest Hollywood heavy hitter to come to TV for a one-season arc — like Glenn Close the year …
Book #42 of 2023: Belladonna by Adalyn Grace (Belladonna #1) I realize that some of my issues with this title stem from my personal tastes, and that other readers may find themselves more able to get on its particular wavelength. (It might be popular among the Twilight crowd, for instance?) Certainly, if I had realized …
Book #41 of 2023: Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White Living in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by mutant abominations is tough. Especially if you’re Benji, a trans kid being held prisoner by the fundamentalist cult who originally unleashed the plague and have now injected him with an experimental strain to create their greatest …
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Book #40 of 2023: Dark One: Forgotten by Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with the first author.] I’m torn between three and four stars for this title. I have enough critiques and reservations that I think I’ll go with the lower rating, but I have enjoyed it, for the most …
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TV #9 of 2023: Star Trek: Enterprise, season 2 I will grudgingly allow that this sophomore season represents a degree of improvement over its shaky predecessor. While the early 2000s Trek prequel series remains the weakest iteration of the franchise that I’ve seen to date, the typical episode in this second year generally approaches the …
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Book #39 of 2023: Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson A fun novella-length follow-up to Margaret Rogerson’s earlier fantasy novel Sorcery of Thorns. With minimal plot and a fairly narrow scope, it’s not a full-on sequel — she describes it on Goodreads as “author written fanfiction” — but simply a chance to spend a …
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Book #38 of 2023: Shōgun by James Clavell (Asian Saga #1) I went into this 1975 bestseller somewhat skeptically, both for its length at 1152 pages and for its potential Orientalism, being a white British writer’s take on feudal Japan circa the early 17th century. And it is firmly a work of historical fiction, albeit …
Book #37 of 2023: The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings A good fantasy novel but ultimately not a great one. I still like it in parts, just not nearly as much as I did in high school, and I suspect that this will probably be the last time I ever reread the …
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