Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Jake

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I love reading! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Jake's Quick Questions interview.)

Jake's Reviews:

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Black Friday by David Goodis

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A few months ago, a journalist whose newsletter I follow posted about how much he loved David Goodis’ books. We had exchanged e-mails in the past; he turned me on to the fabulous Martin Beck series (bless him forever). Hearing him laud Goodis made me want to read more of the man’s work. When I saw a Black Lizard (bless them forever) copy for sale, I pounced. My favorite avenue to explore existentialism is not in the philosophical novels of graying old men but in […]

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Mucho Mojo by Joe R. Lansdale

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I hate the term “politically correct.” Let’s just get that out of the way. I think the idea of respecting people’s humanity as they want it to be respected is important. When the vast majority of a marginalized group say they don’t want to be addressed with a certain word or in a certain way, making the decision to listen to them is now the downfall of western civilization. Those of us who don’t share a racial, gender, body- or gender-oriented experience as someone else […]

Hardboiled

Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem

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Jonathan Lethem has this habit of writing detective novels and adding his own little curlicues on them. Motherless Brooklyn is fronted by a Tourette’s-minded “detective.” The titular character in The Feral Detective loves runaway animals of all kinds (feral included) and is an escaped cultist. Gun, With Occasional Music is set in a future society and has musical guns and talking animals. Lethem has spoken a lot about his major influences, including my favorite mystery writer Ross Macdonald. What impressed me about this, his first effort, is how polished it is. […]

Thank you, Lowercasesee!

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Thank you, Tori, aka Lowercasesee for my wonderful book exchange books. Frustratingly so, both Leonard Gardner’s Fat City and Joe R. Landsdale’s Hap and Leonard series aren’t available at my local library. As a sports and crime fan, I’ve wanted to read Fat City for years. It was recently reissued under the New York Review of Books imprint, which helps recirculate forgotten classics. So glad to have it. And Mucho Mojo is #2 in the Hap and Leonard series, which I’m excited about. Thanks again, Tori and I hope you have a good […]

Checking In

Out On the Cutting Edge by Lawrence Block

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Although there is a mystery at the heart of the novel, eventually growing to encompass two mysteries, this feels like more of a hangout tale. Apparently, Lawrence Block never meant for his star character Matthew Scudder to go beyond four or five books but after writing a flashback tale in When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, he decided to expand the series to Scudder’s life post-alcohol. Out on the Cutting Edge, book seven in the series, is the first of those efforts and it feels like Block […]

Knight Errant

Songs of Innocence by Richard Aleas

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There’s a reason why I don’t often revisit books I liked once upon a time: they’re probably not as good as I remember. When I reread stuff, it’s usually to either confirm or satisfy some sort of curiosity about the first dance I had with a book. Otherwise, I’d just as soon let it sit in my memory as I’d prefer. I’ll probably never revisit “Richard Aleas”‘ (Charles Ardai’s) Little Girl Lost. It was one of my favorite books from 2010. I remember it being a thrilling […]



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