Jake – Page 12 – Cannonball Read 17

Hustled

Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O'Brien

September 20, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as Part of CBR16 Bingo: games. Pete Rose is a former baseball player and this is a book based on his life. As I said last year in my review from Eight Men Out, I’ve always had mixed feelings on Pete Rose. Along with the Black Sox, he’s the one most famously banned from baseball due to a sort of gambling scandal. The rampant denialism got under my skin and I’ve just never liked the guy. I’ve softened a little, not because Rose has […]

July-August 2024 Leftovers

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Confucius for Christians: What and Ancient Chinese Worldview Can Teach Us about Life in Christ by Greg A. Ten Elshof

Lucky At Cards by Lawrence Block

A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block

Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK by Gerald Posner

Doing the Devil's Work by Bill Loehfelm

The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Leta McCullough Seletzky

The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter

Burning Angel by James Lee Burke

The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright

Poetic Justice by Andrea J. Johnson

September 14, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Because I’ve been posting most of my reviews due to Bingo, I haven’t kept up with the leftover ones until now. Hope everyone had a good summer. It’s my least favorite time of year but this one wasn’t so bad. Heartsick***: I took this book too seriously when I tried to read it the first time. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride the second. Goofy fun, nothing more. Brief Answers to the Big Questions****: I do enjoy listening to Hawking’s desire to push the boundaries […]

Ohhh Mexico

Mexico Set by Len Deighton

September 14, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

I’m going to review this under the assumption that the reader has read the first book in Len Deighton’s Game, Set, Match trilogy. If you have not, I encourage you to do so (it’s very good!) and skip this review until you have. I liked this one almost as much as Berlin Game, perhaps even more! I love how Len Deighton writes books where he ratchets up the tension just by having people talk. It’s fun. His dialogue is great and it works well to building the story. […]

J’Accuse

To Start A War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert Draper

September 12, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

When Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris this past week, I blanched. I understand the political appeal of Cheney’s endorsement. And I’m on board for whatever it takes to win this election. I am a single issue voter and that issue is my deep desire to not have Donald Trump involved in any aspect of my life. But it’s still disheartening to watch people who want Trump held accountable cheer for Cheney because we let all of these folks off the hook. Robert Draper tries to […]

C I Yikes

Libra by Don DeLillo

Poisoner In Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer

The Ghost by Robert Harris

September 5, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Recently, I read three different books featuring CIA chicanery (two were fictional). This was unintentional but I figured since the themes were similar, I’d just batch review them rather than do individual ones. Libra***** This was a re-read. I liked it the first time. I loved it now that I: a. had a better since of the Oswald timeline after reading Posner’s Case Closed and b. could appreciate the meta-narrative structure in a way I couldn’t before. This is the only DeLillo book I can really […]

Perils of Journalism

I Am On the Hit List: A Journalist's Murder and the Rise of Autocracy in India by Rollo Romig

September 2, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: Bollywood. This is a true crime novel about a journalist in India who was murdered, as well as the uniqueness of south Indian culture and the autocratic rule of Modi. Despite it being one of the largest countries in the world, I know very little about India. I knew Britain treated it like garbage for centuries and that, thanks in part to Gandhi, it won its freedom in 1947. I knew that there are tensions between Hindus and Muslims. […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

About Jake