media update: September

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. Ithaca by Claire North:  A retelling of the story of Penelope, Odysseus' faithful wife, as she tries to keep Ithaca from plunging into civil war.

2. Exiles* by Jane Harper:  Aaron Falk travels to the South Australian wine country for the christening of a friend's son.  But one year earlier, a woman disappeared, and Aaron finds himself pulled into the investigation.  Jane Harper's last two books were standalones, and although I enjoyed one of them, I really missed Aaron, so I was glad to see him return!

3. It Looks Like Us by Alison Ames:  High school junior Riley is selected to work on a research trip in Antarctica that's sponsored by a tech billionaire.  The trip quickly gets ugly when she realizes something unnatural is there...and it can change its shape.  This book owes more than a little to The Thing (and, to be fair, quotes it in the epigraph, so it's not like the author was trying to hide her inspiration), and the tech billionaire being named Alton Rusk was too on the nose, but overall it was pretty good!  It also got me in the mood for spooky season.

2022 TOTAL SO FAR: 38

NONFICTION

Nothing this month.

2022 TOTAL SO FAR:  7

MANGA/GRAPHIC NOVELS

1. Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide by Mone Sorai

2. Tomorrow, Make Me Yours by Kaoruko Miyama

3. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

4. My Wandering Warrior Existence by Nagata Kabi

5. Bolero by Wyatt Kennedy and Luana Vecchio

2022 TOTAL SO FAR:   21 graphic novels and 30 volumes of manga

MOVIES

1. Cam:  A camgirl is shocked when another user hijacks her account...and they look and act exactly like her.

2. Memory:  A hitman (Liam Neeson) refuses to fulfill a contract that goes against his code, forcing him to go on the run.  Unfortunately, he's also developing severe dementia, which makes it hard to stay out of the crosshairs.  Much better than most of Liam Neeson's recent action fare.

3. The Devil All the Time:  The lives of several different characters converge in violent ways.  Well made with a great cast, but unrelentingly grim.

4. Werewolves Within:  A group of people snowed in at a Vermont B&B starts to suspect that one of them might be a werewolf in this fun flick.

5. Thor: Love and Thunder:  Thor teams up with some old friends to stop a villain called Gorr the God Butcher (metal-ass name!) from, well, butchering all the gods.  A visual treat with some funny lines, but not as good as I was hoping.

6. War Dogs*:  Two old friends (Jonah Hill and Miles Teller) become arms dealers and land a lucrative contract with the U.S. Army.  Needless to say, they hit a few snags along the way.  This intriguing and often funny movie is based on a true story.

7. Top Gun: Maverick*:  Maverick (Tom Cruise) returns to the naval academy to prepare new recruits for a dangerous mission.  The script is jingoistic and nothing groundbreaking, but the flight scenes are exhilarating.

8. Jurassic World: Dominion:  Okay, this movie got critically crapped on but it really wasn't that bad!  It had some genuinely exciting action sequences.  It wasn't my favorite movie of the year (or even the month) or anything, but it was fun.

22 TOTAL SO FAR:  60