Secret Identity by Alex Segura
30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 2/30 DNF @ 30% I gave it the ole college try, as none of the kids say these days. But this book was not for me! I’m really sad about it, because the gritty 70s NYC atmosphere, the love of comics built in to it, and the MC being a queer daughter of Cuban immigrants trying to make it in comics publishing all really sounded like something I would love, but this book was so dull. What […]
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Art doesn’t owe anything to anyone. Songs are about how it felt, not the facts. Self-expression is about what it feels to live, not whether you had the right to claim any emotion at any time. Did I have a right to be mad at him? Did he do anything wrong? Who cares! Who cares? I hurt. So I wrote about it. ― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six It’s funny. At first, I think you start getting high to dull your emotions, […]
In the Midst of Death by Lawrence Block
And so I come full circle with the Matthew Scudder series, for though my re-read will go into 2025 (if I’m fortunate to live that long), this was the first one I read, almost 15 years ago. It didn’t start me down the path. Like my impressions with the first two, I found it derivative. Alcoholic PI, knight errant ex-cop, dirty New York, women killed, etc. But on re-reads, I see what Block was doing. I’m not sure he intended to set up a series; […]
Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon
During the 2020 COVID quarantine period, my wife and I tried to mentally escape our confinement by watching travel shows. Our favorites were (1) Travel Man, hosted by Richard Ayoade and (2) Long Way motorcycle journey series, hosted by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman (yes, Ewan McGregor). Travel Man focuses on many of travel’s fun social/cultural aspects. In contrast, the Long Way motorcycle series focuses more on the wandering/open/adventure aspects. In one of the Long Way episodes, hosts Ewan and Charley are very excited to […]
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
I’m not sure if I can categorize this book as dark academia, but the characters and the story remind me so much of what I enjoyed about “If We Were Villains” and “The Secret History,” it is impossible for me not to draw parallels between them. All three stories are linked by a sudden and violent death, and how those left behind cope with their secrets. Paul is a seventeen-year-old who has recently graduated from high school. He lives with his mother and his two […]
San Francisco Homicide Inspector 5-Henry-7 by Frank Falzon, Duffy Jennings
As a homicide inspector in San Francisco during the 1970s and 80s, Frank Falzon investigated some of the most famous crimes of the decade, including the Night Stalker serial murders and the Moscone-Milk assassinations. I came to this book in a pretty serendipitous way. I’d just listened to an episode of My Favorite Murder in which the one of the hosts covered a case discussed in this book, which she’d come across because her cousin was a colleague of Falzon’s. Just a day later, when I […]
