Recent reading

- The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz, a literary thriller (pun intended) about an author who steals a story idea from his MFA student after the student dies before using it, only to discover that the student had taken his idea from someone else— and that someone is out for revenge.* I guessed the big plot twist basically immediately,** although I will admit I could not have predicted the details of the crime underlying the stolen plot,*** which is Korelitz's second mystery and unfolds slowly through scattered excerpts of the book-within-the-book. (I don't know if it is, as the MFA student originally bragged, a plot that "couldn't fail" to be the next big pop culture phenomenon, or as unbelievably original as everyone else said, but to be fair to Korelitz, creating a piece of media about a piece of media that "goes viral" in-universe does seem like it would be hard, creatively. High risk of anticlimax, etc.)

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- The Devil and Webster, also by Jean Hanff Korelitz and, oddly enough, also a story that hinges on a case of (more traditional) plagiarism. When a liberal arts college in Massachusetts denies tenure to a popular professor after it discovers he committed plagiarism, the school's first female president faces accusations of racism and a student protest that attracts national attention, led by a charismatic student with his own secrets— ( ... )

- Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan, which is what it says on the tin. I've written before about how much I love Mad Max: Fury Road, which in my humble and correct opinion is the best movie of the 2010s, and I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes retrospective so much! I especially liked hearing from the stunt actors and the people who built the cars and props, and about the editing process. I can't wait to rewatch the movie with new eyes.