Book Review: Andy Thomas’s Christmas History “From Solstice to Santa”
In the end of his short history, Andy Thomas has a reassuring message: however you do Christmas, don’t worry that you’re doing it wrong.
Christmas Audiobook Review: Connie Willis’s “Doomsday Book”
As a time traveler rolls the yule log and puts up with wine-drunk revelry, synthesized bells sound increasingly ominous carols over Oxford’s High Street.
Book Review: Cathy Guisewite, Post-“Cathy,” Lists “Fifty Things That Aren’t My Fault”
Cathy Guisewite’s new book is a moving reflection on art and life, on personal and social progress, on generation and regeneration.
Audiobook Review: “Resistance Reborn” Gets (What’s Left of) the Star Wars Gang Back Together
Author Rebecca Roanhorse had her work cut out for her. To paraphrase Obi-Wan Dylan, they not busy being born are busy dying.
Book Review: “When Reagan Sent In the Marines” Chronicles the Debacle the Gipper Wanted to Forget
Patrick J. Sloyan’s new book “When Reagan Sent in the Marines” chronicles the widely forgotten history of how U.S. forces were so disastrously deployed.
Book Review: “Alien Vault” Cracks the Egg on 40 Years of Xenomorphs
If there’s an “Alien” fan on your holiday shopping list, wrap a copy of “Alien Vault.” For once, finding a facehugger will be a pleasant surprise.
Book Review: Candida Höfer Looks Inside “Libraries”
Paging through revered German photographer Candida Höfer’s new book, you’re reminded of just how vast a scope of institutions “Libraries” encompasses.
Audiobook Review: “Journey” to “Rise of Skywalker” Starts With a “Spark”
Although the audiobook is aimed at ages 8-13, it’s significant for Star Wars fans of all ages if they’re breathlessly anticipating “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Book Review: “An Encyclopedia of Tolkien” is a Treasure Trove for LOTR Fans
Once you start paging through this alphabetical guide, you might just find yourself reading the 544-page volume cover to cover.
Movie Review: “Lucy in the Sky,” a Movie That Looks to the Skies When It Needs to Dig in the Dirt
In tidying Lucy’s story, Noah Hawley ends up with the worst of both worlds: a film that both makes its central character look ridiculous AND implausible.
Audiobook Review: Gene Roddenberry’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” Novelization Gets a Randy Reading For Its 40th Birthday
40 years ago, Star Trek made its theatrical debut with a prismatic, shagadelic, extremely sincere film that survives as an awkward but endearing spectacle.
Book Review: “Why We Love Star Wars” Celebrates the Small Moments of an Epic Series
Ken Napzok’s compendium of “great moments” is completely inessential and yet, for just about any Star Wars fan, compulsively readable.