Jake – Page 17 – Cannonball Read 17

Night Is Dark and Full of Scare-rs

A Ticket to the Boneyard by Lawrence Block

July 12, 2024 by Jake 1 Comment

Read as part of CBR16Bingo: Earth Day. But I’m replacing the Earth Day square with a “re-read” square. Earth Day is just not a subject that interests me and I have no books at home or on my TBR that would fit a flexible definition of this square. But that’s not a knock on the person who created the Bingo sheet because they created a lot of otherwise awesome squares! Going through my Matthew Scudder re-reads, I realized this would be a tough one. But […]

Trans and Transitions

Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham

July 10, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: liberate. Carlotta is coming home from prison, which is some sort of liberation and she’s trying to find her way as a trans woman in the world, seeking her own path to liberation. I’ve written before about my beef with contemporary writing and how smarmy it’s become. Every villain has to twirl their mustache, every hero has to overcome a specific obstacle to warm the audience’s heart, everything is so boringly Manichaean. There’s little space for complexity, imperfection, growth, […]

To Take Pride

The Stonewall Reader by ed. The New York Public Library

July 9, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: Pride. The book is a collection of oral histories on the LGBTQIA+ Movement before, during and after the Stonewall Uprising. This is the book I’ve been looking for. The history of equity, freedom, liberation for LGBTQIA+ persons in this country is long but not well-recorded. The reason is obvious: many, most, really all of these human beings was considered morally corrupt at best and illegal at worst. It’s only in the last 15-20 years as straight, cis people start […]

Thunder Down Under

Lapse by Sarah Thornton

July 7, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16Bingo: scandal. The main character is on the run to this small town after a fiasco in her past life and has to deal with a fiasco in her current one. I grabbed this one maybe because of Ted Lasso? I don’t remember but I feel like I read somewhere that this was pitched as a Ted Lasso-esque coach solving a mystery. That’s not really the case though. Clementine Jones, though she is similarly running from her past, is not the […]

Best Western

Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda

July 6, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR16Bingo: rage. The rage of women, ex-cons, survivors is centered in this book. The opening chapter contains a monologue on female rage. You ever have an author that you think you should like more? You just try and try with them but they can’t put it together for you? That was Ivy Pochoda until These Women, which I read a couple months ago and will absolutely be in my Best of 2024, with a great shot to place in the top 5. […]

June 2024 Leftovers

The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins

Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City by Adam J. Criblez

Out On The Cutting Edge by Lawrence Block

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nevada by Imogene Binnie

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Exalted by Anna Dorn

July 5, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Happy Pride to all who celebrate! The First Quarry**** I was disappointed in the quality of the last couple of Quarry novels so I wasn’t expecting much…but this was good. One of his best plots and I really enjoyed it. Could’ve done without the racism. Big believer that you can show the casual racism of the past (1970s) without wallowing in it and the book does that. Otherwise, it’s good. Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City**** Stretching a four star […]

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.

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