Book #129 of 2022: Upgrade by Blake Crouch Unfortunately the weakest and least mind-bending of author Blake Crouch’s recent string of sci-fi thrillers. The premise here of gene-editing increasing a person’s intelligence to superhuman levels is too straightforwardly similar to so many other stories, from Flowers for Algernon to the movie Limitless to the Ted …
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TV Review: Bob’s Burgers, season 7
TV #41 of 2022: Bob’s Burgers, season 7 Here’s my original review of this season from when it aired in 2017: “There are typically few real surprises this late into a show’s run, and although this particular show is still making me laugh, I’d probably be okay if it got canceled. I’ve always loved how …
TV Review: What We Do in the Shadows, season 3
TV #40 of 2022: What We Do in the Shadows, season 3 Another hilarious and eventful year with the Staten Island vampire crew, this time taking a page from the final season of Angel and placing the heroes in charge of the organization that had previously been opposing them (although the delta of morality between …
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Book Review: Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher
Book #128 of 2022: Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher This new Star Wars novel is intended as a bridge into the sequel trilogy of films, which means it’s unfortunately saddled with fleshing out some of the stranger plot decisions introduced by The Rise of Skywalker. So Rey’s parents are — spoiler …
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Book Review: The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff
Book #127 of 2022: The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff A mosaic firsthand account of how Americans in their own words experienced the unfolding tragedies of September 11th, 2001, drawing on author Garrett M. Graff’s interviews with hundreds of subjects as well as several thousand pre-existing …
Book Review: How to Raise an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Book #126 of 2022: How to Raise an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi A thoughtful guide on modeling conversations about race and racism for young kids, in recognition of the fact that they will be exposed to a lot of prejudiced situations and ideas that can be internalized if not actively confronted. This book definitely …
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Book Review: Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly
Book #125 of 2022: Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #20) A disappointingly underwhelming Bosch story. There are two parallel cases that the semi-retired detective is working on here, and we spend too long on the less interesting one, which is obviously author Michael Connelly’s attempt at tackling the hot topic of …
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Book Review: The Ultimate by K. A. Applegate
Book #124 of 2022: The Ultimate by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #50) The Animorphs franchise has a complicated relationship with disability, which I think can charitably be described as author K. A. Applegate occasionally straying into insensitivity while generally having her heart in the right place. Thus, “crazy” is used as a go-to insult, but …
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Book Review: Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes
Book #123 of 2022: Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes An interesting collection of essays, each one focusing on a different woman from Greek mythology and exploring how she’s changed from her earliest surviving depictions through to popular culture impressions today. The focus of the project is already somewhat automatically feminist, …
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Book Review: Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
Book #122 of 2022: Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda A neat little character study of a modern “vegan” vampire — her own term, although she actually means that she drinks pigs’ blood to avoid feeding on humans — who despite her unique circumstances is as overwhelmed and directionless as any other 23-year-old unpaid intern. I …
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