The very finest in fake lies, yelling, and jokes that aren't worth the legwork
The Locked Tomb Trilogy, Vol. 2: Harrow the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir Ohhhhhhh this spooky bitch and her sepulchral ways! Harrowhark Nonagesimus is back and we all have to live with it, and I for one give thanks to the That Which Lies In The Tomb, lest it wake and show me why I should’ve been content…
Tortilla Flat – John Steinbeck I have only ever been the biggest Steinbeck nerd and fanboy; Travels With Charley is still my favorite nonfiction work and Cannery Row was the first time I realized I could enjoy a novel that didn’t have wizards, journeys to the center of the earth, or medieval anthropomorphic animals who enjoyed…
The Dresden Files, #16: Peace Talks – Jim Butcher I’ve been a die-hard Dresden Files fanboy for the last decade, through every stage of the affliction: Rabid Consumption Proselytization Discomfort With Increasingly Indefensible Sexism “Harry’s A Misogynist But Butcher Isn’t, And Flawed Characters Are More Realistic And Interesting!” “Harry Gets His Ass Kicked And/Or Saved…
Lone Wolf & Cub, Vol. 1: The Assassin’s Road LW&C is one of those things it’s hard to be objective about because of the gravity well created by its history and legacy; if you enjoyed The Mandalorian, the Hawk & Chick episodes of Bob’s Burgers, Logan, Road To Perdition or any other Badass & Child…
The Great Cities Trilogy, Book 1: The City We Became – N.K. Jemisin N.K. Jemisin is a Power: a black, female author who won the Hugo for Best Novel three years in a row for the three entries in her Broken Earth Trilogy. There is simply no one with whom to compare her, so naturally I…
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole Dunces is the funniest book ever written, the kind of funny so smart and profound and forceful that half the time you can’t even laugh because what’s happened is bigger than laughter can hold. I’ve read it half a dozen times and on this occasion read it…
Rivers of London #8: False Value – Ben Aaronovitch I love the Rivers of London books first and foremost because they are Good; they’re about a Black, British cop who discovers that A.) Magic is real and B.) There is an entire, if skeletonized, branch of the Metropolitan Police (known as the Folly) that handles it, and that…
The Outsider – Stephen King In the introduction to Pet Sematary, Stephen King said that before it was published, he was afraid it would be the one that finally went too far, that the public simply wouldn’t let him tell this story about the intersection of death and children. WELL THEY DID, and I’m glad of it…
Little House On The Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House is one of my very favorite shows, and has become a large part of my personal mythology. I came to it reluctantly, buying the boxed set for my wife one Christmas because she loved it when she was a kid, prepared to sit through what I…