Book #152 of 2016: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang Science-fiction is generally concerned with exploring the unknown: potential future technologies, or alien lifeforms, or anything else that could perhaps be possible. And there’s some of that in this collection of stories from Ted Chiang, but the strongest entries are more fantastical …
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Book #151 of 2016: Goldenhand by Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom #5) A triumphant return to the Old Kingdom, finally resolving the fate of the lost Abhorsen, Clariel (whose early life is described in the prequel which bears her name, and which should definitely be read prior to this book). So many old favorites are …
Book #150 of 2016: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein A heartbreaking novel that kept making me want to run home and hug my wife and my dog as tight as I can. This story of a family from the perspective of their dog is terrifically written, but only really recommended …
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Book #149 of 2016: The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie (Superintendent Battle #1) More a comedy of errors than a true murder mystery, Agatha Christie’s The Secret of Chimneys relied a bit too heavily on coincidence for my liking. (It was also the first Christie book that I was able solve before the end, …
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Book #148 of 2016: Seize the Day by Saul Bellow “You can spend the entire second half of your life recovering from the mistakes of the first half.” So laments Tommy Wilhelm in this tightly-focused character study of a New York City Jew longing for a fresh start but unable to find his way there. …
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Book #147 of 2016: Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou A short but powerful essay collection, pivoting back and forth between Angelou’s personal memoirs and her observations / advice for how to live a decent life to the fullest. Although framed as though addressed to her child, it is of course a great read …
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Book #146 of 2016: Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling More heartwarming and less offensive than her previous book. I couldn’t always relate to the situations Mindy describes from her life – like how hard it is to balance dating a White House staffer with being a world-famous television star – but this was a …
Book #145 of 2016: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (The Giver #2) Not nearly as good as The Giver, and also entirely unconnected despite being marketed as a companion novel / sequel. (I’ve been told they tie together in a later book in the series, but on their own this one and The Giver are …
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Book #144 of 2016: Doctor Who: Twelve Doctors of Christmas by Jacqueline Rayner, Colin Brake, Richard Dungworth, Mike Tucker, Gary Russell, and Scott Handcock An absolutely delightful collection of Doctor Who short stories – one for each incarnation so far except the War Doctor – all set around Christmas, somewhere in time and space. All …
Book #143 of 2016: I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas by Lewis Black Either I’ve cooled on Lewis Black’s angry style of comedy over the years or he was just particularly off his game here. Listening to this audiobook as a fellow Jew just before Christmas, I feel like I should have been particularly situated …
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