Book #12 of 2017: The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #5) Agatha Christie at her worst. I could be charitable and say that this book is an homage to Poirot’s literary predecessor Sherlock Holmes, as it involves the Belgian detective going up against an international crime syndicate and faking his own death in …
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Book #82 of 2016: Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury I can’t decide whether this was an exceptionally weak collection of Ray Bradbury stories, or whether the author just doesn’t speak to me like he did when I was younger. Either way, I really didn’t care for this collection. “A Piece of Wood” and “Punishment …
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Book #48 of 2016: The Arrivals by Melissa Marr People from throughout earth’s history find themselves mysteriously transplanted to another world, where they awaken in bodies that do not age and can come back to life when killed. If that sounds interesting… then I strongly recommend To Your Scattered Bodies Go and its sequels in …
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TV #29 of 2016: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, season 1 I hate to say it, but this latest Arrow spinoff was a complete and utter trainwreck. I kept watching for the shared continuity with the Arrowverse (and, okay, for Caity Lotz and Wentworth Miller), but I’m not sure if I can put up with another …
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TV #11 of 2016: The Shannara Chronicles, season 1 The Elfstones of Shannara is a thoroughly mediocre novel, the kind of thing that you devour in middle school but in no way holds up to a reread later in life. (I did reread it in anticipation of this MTV adaptation, and it’s fairly unremarkable. Like …
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Book #8 of 2016: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Todd Family #1) I normally love the premise of characters reliving moments from their lives over and over again, but this novel was just so frustrating. To start with, the rules for how each go-through differs are never made clear. Sometimes it seems like the …
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TV #1 of 2016: The Legend of Korra, season 2 Honestly, what even was that? I’ve never been a huge fan of this particular franchise, but this season represents a new low for me. It’s just such a mess on pretty much every level: plotting, character arcs, worldbuilding, you name it. And for Korra and …
Book #88 of 2015: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin I may have been too old when I first came at this book, because the whole affair left me supremely unsatisfied. Kids might be caught up in the adventure of the premise and enjoy watching the characters hunt for clues, but I felt as though …
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Book #29 of 2015: Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen I know Carl Hiaasen is supposed to be this great comedy writer, and his stuff is mostly set in my home state of Florida, so I should be predisposed to like — or at least relate to — the jokes. But I really didn’t enjoy any …
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