Rated The War Master: Escape from Reality 10/10
<div>The Master causing problems with fictional characters we already know? Yes of course this is a good time.</div>
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Rated Doctor Who: The Revenants 8/10
<div>A really solid Companion Chronicles story, where the Doctor doesn't even have to be there until the second half.</div>
Wants to read The Principles of Uncertainty
Rated If a Lion Could Talk 8/10
It took me all of the first half to really get into it, but I ended up enjoying this a lot.
Edited 47d ago
Rated Doctor Who: Deep Time 8/10
Pretty good! Still doing that weird thing where the Doctor is commenting on Clara's appearance (stop that, writers), but the story is good and the characters don't become one big indistinguishable blob of support staff. <br><br>The quality of Doctor Who novels varies so much, but they're honestly like candy. You're not looking for great literary achievement -- you're looking for an author to get the voices right and to have a plot that makes you want to keep reading. That's it. This does that.
Wants to read I Want to Burn This Place Down: Essays
Wants to read Mermaids in Paradise
Edited 47d ago
Rated Cherry 4/10
<div>This wasn't really for me. I kept going because it was just compelling enough that I wanted to know what happened, I suppose, but what did happen was.... eh. And the rampant misogyny throughout was just... a lot. Occasionally, there were some funny bits, and I really like the red skull cover, but glad to move on.</div>
Wants to read Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism
Edited 18d ago
Rated The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith 10/10
If it's odd to have one of my favorite books be about a sociopathic murderer, I don't care. <br><br>(My full review appears at <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2012/09/27/book-review-the-talented-mr-ripley-by-patricia-highsmith/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 7/10
<div>I was into the second story more than the first, but still a fun listen.</div>
Rated Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us 7/10
<div>First things first — Yes, this cover and title make you think this is going to be a social sciences kind of book. It's not. It's a memoir in essays — which is also fine, but I do wonder how everyone involved in this came to the decision to package it this way. The jacket copy makes the contents somewhat more clear, at least.<br><br>I was not previous familiar with Boylan, though apparently she's been out there doing her thing for years, under her current name and as the previous version of herself. She uses her deadname a lot in some of these essays, so trans people may feel a certain way about that. I am not trans, so I cannot speak to how trans people might like this book in general, but I will say this — She's a trans elder who came out later in life, and even if her journey and way of speaking about it is not necessarily the language younger people use today, it's still important to document the experiences of trans people at ALL stages of life.<br><br>Another interesting thing is the reveal that Boylan's adult daughter is also trans, and her daughter struggled a bit with having a memoirist parent during childhood. She says that she felt a certain pressure to conform to Boylan's narrative of "Look how happy and NORMAL we are," even if that's not what her parents intended. It's a touching moment, the two of them speaking as trans adults with different perspectives. And one can see that, yes, Boylan struggles throughout her essays, even still, to not feel shame for who she is. I imagine it's a hard feeling to shake once it takes root, even knowing that it's irrational.<br><br>Boylan's examinations of being on "both sides" of the gender spectrum aren't quite as fleshed out as the subtitle of the book suggests. She mainly thinks about the trans experience in terms of being a woman —which is fine, that's who she is— but if you were hoping for more insight on the varied ways one can know and express their gender, this isn't the book. Still, it's an interesting collection of essays, and I would guess that previous fans of her work will find something of value here.</div><div><br></div>
Rated On the Move: A Life 10/10
What a lovely book. Going to miss this guy's writing and work.
Rated California 8/10
I don't know if I loved the ending, but this was still a very good book.
Rated The Suburban Swindle 6/10
It’s a slim volume, eight stories alone, but all are drenched in the smallest details — the way a bitter drink slides down throats, the texture of scars from old wounds, and the way the one’s environment turns otherworldly while under the influence.<br><br>I didn’t love every story — some seemed too lost in the details at the expense of plot — but I did appreciate the realness of each character. None are all that likeable, but I’ve certainly met people like them. They’re the screwed up men and women you see out in dive bars, scruffy and intense with one another, knowing the bartender by name. They smoke cheap cigarettes outside and talk blithely about their buddy’s most recent criminal troubles.<br><br><i>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/09/suburban-swindle-by-jackie-corley.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)</i>
Rated Zone One 10/10
Colson Whitehead has written a fantastic, expertly-written story that occurs over just three days, and I think it's worth reading more than once to really catch everything he has happening beneath the surface. It is easily one of the best books I've read this year.<br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/05/zone-one-by-colson-whitehead.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated Torchwood: The Green Life 9/10
<div>I like it when older Jo pops up in things, and pairing her with Captain Jack worked well. And I gotta say, just hearing about the giant maggots instead of seeing them this time was preferable, ha.</div>
Rated Laidlaw 9/10
<div>Because my library happened to have it, the only Laidlaw book I'd read before this first one was <em>The Dark Remains</em>, which was finished by Ian Rankin after William McIlvanney's death. I've read a few of Rankin's Rebus books, which are generally good mysteries, but I'd be curious now to reread and see if I can spot the seams. Rankin may be a perfectly serviceable writer whose work I'll probably read more, of but McIlvanney gave me several moments of "Damn, now that's a sentence."<br><br>I felt like the ending became sort of a foregone conclusion, but otherwise, I loved this book. I can definitely see its influence in so many writers, though no one has quite risen to McIlvanney's gift of characterization and description. (Perhaps Alan Parks' series with Detective Harry McCoy comes close.) McIlvanney can give you a whole life, a whole history, in an apt sentence or two. Sure, DC Harkness's inner monologue gets a little overcooked at times, but this is a noir, and besides, Laidlaw teases him about it. We're all aware of our roles here. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the other books with these characters.</div>