TV #60 of 2022: Classic Doctor Who, season 4 This is the most incomplete surviving season of Doctor Who, meaning it has the highest number of episodes currently missing from any modern archive: 33 gone, and only 10 available to be viewed. As with all of the absent material for Who, we do have audio …
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Book Review: Desert Star by Michael Connelly
Book #194 of 2022: Desert Star by Michael Connelly (Ballard and Bosch #4) Author Michael Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch story — his 38th book in this broad continuity of LA cops, lawyers, and reporters, if my math is right — finds the detective once again ensconced in the department where he spent most of his …
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Book Review: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Book #193 of 2022: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson (Wax and Wayne #4 / Mistborn #7) [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] Despite retaining its fantasy wild west trappings, the remainder of “Mistborn Era 2” has never lived up to the sheer entertainment value of The Alloy of Law for me, and …
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TV Review: Bob’s Burgers, season 11
TV #59 of 2022: Bob’s Burgers, season 11 Maybe a slight step up from the year before? Most episodes of this family cartoon remain unchallenging comfort television with a group of characters we know and love, but there’s at least some effort here to occasionally push one or another of them into unfamiliar growth territory. …
Book Review: Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel
Book #192 of 2022: Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel There are hints in this 2009 debut novel from author Emily St. John Mandel of the talents she’d bring to later works like Station Eleven, but on the whole, it’s a bit miserable. This is a story about sad people acting inexplicably …
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Book Review: Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen
Book #191 of 2022: Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen A good but not great Star Wars novel, taking place after Anakin and Padme get married at the end of Episode II but before he takes on Ahsoka as his padawan in the Clone Wars movie. The premise / goal here seems twofold: to show …
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Book Review: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott
Book #190 of 2022: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott It’s apparent early on that there are two opposing threads in this story, and while I hoped they would eventually align and synergize, the narrative never really gets there for me. The stronger element is the #ownvoices presentation of Russian Jewish history, specifically concerning the pogroms of …
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TV Review: Dead to Me, season 3
TV #58 of 2022: Dead to Me, season 3 The first year of this show started off relatively grounded and serious before escalating wildly into a succession of ridiculous soap-opera twists, which then took center stage in season 2. This final run seems aimed to split the difference, with more of the identical twin / …
Book Review: The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
Book #189 of 2022: The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea #3) The Earthsea Cycle was originally presented as a trilogy, published from 1968 to 1972, and in that context, I think this concluding novel is a bit of a disappointment. It’s heavy on mysticism but light on plot or detailed worldbuilding, and …
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Book Review: Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie
Book #188 of 2022: Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #27) A weaker Poirot entry. The inciting event of a string of petty thefts, vandalism, and related mischief at a youth hostel seems well below the Belgian detective’s usual standards for investigation, and his premonition that the case will soon prove more serious …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 