Book #123 of 2026: Sleep Donation by Karen Russell Interesting speculative premise here — an insomnia plague that’s killing people, the invention of a way to safely donate sleep to the afflicted à la blood transfusion, an Omelas child who’s potentially being exploited to power that, the discovery that someone else’s donation was tainted and …
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Book #122 of 2026: The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully (Merritt & Blunt Mysteries #1) A pretty straightforward mystery story, in which a consulting detective in the Holmes / Poirot fashion is hired to investigate the death of a woman’s mother that the police have ruled a suicide. The …
Book #121 of 2026: Star Wars: Eyes Like Stars by Ashley Poston I swore off author Ashley Poston after not really caring for either Heart of Iron or Among the Beasts & Briars, but Star Wars lured me back with a new line of tie-in novels that Lucasfilm Publishing has described as offering “genre stories …
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Book #119 of 2026: Terrestrial History by Joe Mungo Reed I expected to like this literary science-fiction novel far more than I have, but in the end I think it delivers both too wide a scope and too slow of a plot, which blocks me from investing in either the characters or the events happening …
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TV #35 of 2026: Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka, season 1 Doctor Who’s so-called wilderness years of 1989-2005 saw a wide range of possible story continuations both on and off the screen, some more official (either contemporarily or in hindsight) than others. This six-part webcast falls directly in the middle of that continuum — …
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Movie #36 of 2026: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) This Pirates sequel runs on an engine of pure vibes, offering a shallow but satisfying return to the historical fantasy world of its predecessor (and to a lesser extent, the ever-more-distant theme park attraction that inspired it). Don’t get me wrong: this is …
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Book #115 of 2026: Doctor Who: One Night Only (A Fela Kuti Story) by Tade Thompson (Icons #4) I had never heard of the Nigerian musician / activist Fela Kuti before, so I’ll give credit to this Doctor Who historical adventure for introducing me to him as a fictionalized character who helps the Fourth Doctor …
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TV #32 of 2026: Barry, season 2 I’m giving this hitman-turned-actor series another three-star rating, but I do think this second run is an improvement over the debut, if only for delivering the standout episode “ronny/lily” that is just an absolute triumph of physical comedy and expertly-paced comedic escalation throughout. (My wife, who hasn’t seen …
Book #112 of 2026: Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe by Gail Crowther In both contemporary pop culture during her lifetime and a sustained legacy across subsequent generations, the midcentury starlet Marilyn Monroe has been primarily known for her physical appearance. This new nonfiction title, timed to coincide with the actress’s …
Book #110 of 2026: The Fisherman by John Langan I’m of two minds over this supernatural horror novel, which is only fitting, since it offers a very bifurcated plot. The first and last quarter of the text are delivered to us by the main protagonist, a middle-aged widow who starts fishing as a way to …
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