Book #53 of 2026: Love at Second Sight by F. T. Lukens It’s great that today’s young readers have stories like this 2025 YA urban fantasy title, in which queerness is totally normalized. The protagonist is a fifteen-year-old boy with a crush on a male classmate, his best friend uses they/them pronouns and has two …
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Book #50 of 2026: The Rubber Band by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe #3) This third Nero Wolfe mystery, also published under the alternate title of To Kill Again, is fine, much as the previous installments have been. The best elements remain the eccentric homebody detective and his banter with his assistant Archie, while the specific …
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Book #49 of 2026: Moonrise by Ben Bova (Moonbase Saga #1) I remember liking this mid-90s duology about the first lunar settlement within author Ben Bova’s larger Grand Tour sequence of space exploration stories, but mainly for the political element, which it turns out is mostly in the sequel Moonwar. Here that takes a backseat …
Book #48 of 2026: Doctor Who: Frida Kahlo and the Skull Children by Sophie McKenzie (Icons #1) Doctor Who as a franchise has a long history of introducing its alien time-traveler to historical celebrities of Earth, dating all the way back to the Marco Polo serial of its very first season in 1964. This newer …
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Book #47 of 2026: The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker (The Prince of Nothing #1) I know that I read this fantasy novel around when it came out back in 2004, but I couldn’t remember anything about it and I don’t think I ever got to any of the sequels. Revisiting it …
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Book #45 of 2026: Last One Out by Jane Harper Australian author Jane Harper typically excels at depicting the outback settings of her novels, but I don’t feel quite as struck by the location of this one, which takes place in a dying small town. The dynamic there is interesting, with a local mining company …
TV #14 of 2026: Tin Man, season 1 This 2007 miniseries had been on my radar for a long while due to its great main cast, so I’m glad I finally tracked it down to watch it. (A quick note on that: the show is supposed to be three episodes of roughly 90 minutes each. …
Book #43 of 2026: Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy There’s a raw edge in author Jennette McCurdy’s debut novel that makes sense if you’ve read her autobiography I’m Glad My Mom Died, adding up to some very striking passages illuminating a young protagonist who likewise doesn’t have the support structure of a caring parental …
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TV #12 of 2026: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, season 1 A reasonably successful merger of the larger Star Trek franchise with the rhythms of a CW-ish teen drama. This is a Discovery spinoff by means of Jett Reno and Admiral Vance in the supporting cast, but the main focus is on a small cohort of …
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TV #11 of 2026: Classic Doctor Who, season 24 One of the last real times of change for the old British series before its long hiatus, introducing us to the final classic TV Doctor and (eventually) companion. The transition is bumpy and short, spanning only four stories and fourteen episodes in total, which is down …
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