Best Of12/16/20Dec 162Best Of12/16/20Best OfThe A.V. Club’s 15 favorite books of 2020Laura Adamczyk, Danette Chavez, Alex McLevy, and 6 more48A certain amount of escapism through books would have been more than understandable in 2020. (And by “a certain…
TV Reviews9/21/20Sep 211TV Reviews9/21/20B+TV ReviewsNew HBO documentary roots out the Agents Of Chaos who meddled in the 2016 electionInes Bellina39Of the many memes that have come to define the Trump era, “But her emails!” has reached iconic status. Set against a…
Reviews6/29/20Jun 291Reviews6/29/20B+ReviewsSelf Care is a timely beach read that skewers wellness and performative feminismInes Bellina9Has there been a more corrupted term in recent years than “self-care”? What used to be a battle cry of resistance…
TV Reviews5/1/20May 1SaveTV Reviews5/1/20B-TV ReviewsMark Ruffalo’s at the top of his game in the rich but unrelenting I Know This Much Is TrueInes Bellina40Over one hundred countries are experiencing some form of lockdown, the global economy is in free fall, and the last…
TV Reviews3/9/20Mar 9SaveTV Reviews3/9/20B+TV ReviewsNetflix’s horny teen drama Élite is haunted by the future in season 3Ines Bellina11There is a moment in the first episode of the latest season of Élite, Netflix’s sexy Spanish noir teen drama, when…
Reviews2/10/20Feb 102Reviews2/10/20BReviewsAn editor chronicles her meteoric rise and tumultuous relationship with David Foster WallaceInes Bellina44If you’re a straight woman with some artistic sensibility, you may have dated a David Foster Wallace: a red flag who…
Reviews1/13/20Jan 13 2020SaveReviews1/13/20B+ReviewsAnna Wiener falls into tech’s Uncanny Valley in her incisive new memoirInes Bellina15We are only a few weeks into the New Year and an impeached president has already used drone technology to kill a…
Reviews11/4/19Nov 4 2019SaveReviews11/4/19A-ReviewsJenny Slate’s memoir is as strange and whimsical as she isInes Bellina4Readers have come to expect certain things from a comedy memoir, especially when it’s written by a woman. There are…
Reviews9/23/19Sep 23 20191Reviews9/23/19BReviewsTa-Nehisi Coates reimagines the plight of American slaves in the mythical Water DancerInes Bellina9Ta-Nehisi Coates is a Civil War buff. The lauded journalist and cultural critic has read book after book on the…
For Our Consideration6/3/19Jun 3 20196For Our Consideration6/3/19For Our ConsiderationR. Kelly is not the only villain at the heart of Jim DeRogatis’ new book, SoullessInes Bellina83An ongoing investigation led by Homeland Security is expected to end with multiple federal indictments against R.…
Acquired Tastes4/16/19Apr 16 20194Acquired Tastes4/16/19Acquired TastesChinese stir-fry arrived in Peru and gave the world lomo saltadoInes Bellina49The social media campaign begins one month prior to my arrival. I log onto Facebook and type in all caps the…
Reviews3/25/19Mar 25 2019SaveReviews3/25/19B+ReviewsThe personal is political, and vice versa, in Laila Lalami’s engrossing The Other AmericansInes Bellina“When we moved to America thirty-five years ago, many things took me by surprise… above all, I was surprised by the…
Reviews1/14/19Jan 14 2019SaveReviews1/14/19C+ReviewsLust breeds monsters in the full-length debut from the author of “Cat Person”Ines Bellina17It’s a tale as old as Facebook: An unknown author at the start of their career writes a story. It becomes a viral…