media update: September

A small media update this month, both because I tossed a bunch of books on the DNF pile (including a couple by two of my favorite authors!) and because Yakuza 5 took over most of my free time.  I wonder if the developers got complaints about the series being too much of the same thing and they said "Oh yeah?  Hunt in the mountains and try to become a pop idol, then!"  I wasn't sure what to think of the changes at first, but wound up loving them.  There's still plenty of beat 'em up action to be had!  I'm excited to play Yakuza 6 and, of course, the recently released Lost Judgment, but I have some real world shit to do before then.

Asterisks denote something I particularly enjoyed or found especially worthy of my time; double asterisks are reserved for the creme de la creme. As always, your mileage may vary.

FICTION

1. The Women of Troy* by Pat Barker:  A feminist retelling of The Iliad.  If you like Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint, you're sure to like this too.

2. Nice Girls by Catherine Dang:  After leaving college in disgrace, Mary returns home just in time for the disappearance of her former best friend, an Instagram influencer whose sunny facade hides a dark side.

3. The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl:  After a video of her sexual assault turns up online, Claudia disappears from her college, and her frantic friends and family try to find her.  

4. The Last House on Needless Street** by Catriona Ward:  A man lives with his daughter and cat (who narrates some of the chapters) in the titular house.  He was suspected and cleared in the disappearance of a little girl, but the girl's sister isn't convinced of his innocence, and she moves next door in hopes of getting answers.  Horrifying, surprising, and heartbreaking in equal measure; it's like nothing else I've ever read.

2021 total so far:  40

NONFICTION

1. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang:  When the author was seven years old, she moved from China to America with her family, where they dealt with culture shock and the fear of being discovered as undocumented immigrants.  (Content warning: animal cruelty)

2. Fuzz:  When Nature Breaks the Law* by Mary Roach:  An entertaining and informative  look into the science of human-wildlife conflict, from dumpster-diving bears in Aspen to monkeys in India that pick pockets and break into hospital rooms to slurp glucose from IV drips.

2021 total so far:  11

MANGA/GRAPHIC NOVELS

1. I Am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani

2. Stray Dogs* by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs  (Content warning: animal cruelty)

3. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine

2021 total so far:  12

MOVIES

1. Wrath of Man*:  H (Jason Statham) takes a job at an armored truck company, but he has a secret reason for being there in this tight Guy Ritchie movie.

2. Malignant*:  After a home invasion leaves her husband and unborn child dead, Madison begins to see visions of murders as they're happening.  The last third is so utterly bizarre and over-the-top gory that I found myself laughing in delight at the sheer spectacle of it.

3. Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard:  Bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) teams up with frenemy Darius and his con artist wife (Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek) to stop a plot that could devastate Europe.

4. F9:  I'm not going to bother reviewing this because you're either the audience for this or you're not.  There is no in between.

2021 total so far:  45