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:

When You See the TV Glow

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

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Read as part of CBR17 bingo: TBR The trans experience is messy. It’s muddled. It has no straight (heh) line. There is little synthesis of other persons trans experiences. To paraphrase a famous saying about autistic folk: if you’ve met one person that’s trans, that means you’ve encountered only one trans experience. And I think that’s what Hazel Jane Plante is going for with this one. A beautiful, painful capturing of a friendship that meant more, it’s a reminder that trans people tell these stories […]

Love Islands

Not Like Before by Lily Seabrooke and Jacqueline Ramsden

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: starts with N.  I’ve been trying to read more books with trans authors and trans main characters. Given this perilous moment for trans people, I worry about the erasure of their stories. And I think it’s important to take them in. Also, the trans experience, like every other marginalized experience, is not one just of suffering and pain. Trans people feel joy, feel ecstasy, feel euphoria. Trans people live their lives like any other and mostly want the same […]

Get in to Dodge

Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: workplace. The vast majority of the book takes place at the Buffalo Queen saloon. I love reading. And I’m a voracious reader, as my Cannonball Read review catalog can attest to. Maybe I don’t get to it as much as I have in years past but I enjoy reading and documenting what I’ve read. However, because I devour so many books, I tend to have either read or tried most of the stuff I see on listicles. It’s to […]

Sinners

The White Road by John Connolly

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This is a tough one. I’ve been waiting for four rather long books (by mystery standards) for John Connolly to deliver the goods. I’ve received glimpses into what makes him a good writer and what makes these stories work: some well done mystery scenes and a dash of the supernatural. But I’ve been patiently waiting for him to take the next step. Does he do it here? Yes. But! Sigh… Ok, I’ll go with what works first and what I’m having a hard time with. […]

Misanthrope

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

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I was about halfway through The Keeper of Lost Causes and wondering why I was enjoying it. Everything about it is good, not great, from the misanthropic detective, to the unlikely sidekick, to the mystery itself. It kept landing with me and it took me a while to figure out why… It’s a recognizable story. I never went through anything as horrible as the fictional Carl Mørck did but I do know what it’s like to be screwed over by your superiors, blamed for things that aren’t […]

State Sponsored Horror

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

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I’m not a short story guy. I like a long, dense tale I can sink my teeth into. And there are so many Latin American writers who have penned beauties in that regard. Bolano, Marquez, Gamboa just to name a few. Mariana Enríquez is known for her short fiction collections. I haven’t read them. But in reading the first fifth of this one, I can see why she is so acclaimed. The first part of this book is one of the more visually arresting tales […]



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