Jake – Page 56 – Cannonball Read 17

They’re Playing Basketball?

Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring

February 4, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

This book has been years in the making. And it did not disappoint. I wasn’t a big NBA fan in the 1990s. College was more my thing (Let’s goooooo Murr-Land!/clapclap). To the extent that I followed the league in that time, I was aware of two things: 1. Michael Jordan’s Bulls won everything, 2. Patrick Ewing’s Knicks were the toughest ticket in Manhattan. As I got older and read more about the league, I began to be fascinated with the Knicks of that time: their […]

January 2022 Leftovers

Hit Parade by Lawrence Block

Sex Criminals, Volume 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky

Devils In Exile by Chuck Hogan

Ex Machina, The Deluxe Edition: Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

Munich by Robert Harris

Shella by Andrew Vachss

Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz

No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfeld

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

February 2, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

My resolution for Cannonball Read in 2022 is to only write reviews where I feel like I have much to say and then dump the others in a singular post at the end of the month to track how much I’ve read. This’ll spare me from writing 250+ words about books that I can’t even think of a hundred for. So… Hit Parade **** I enjoy these books and while this is the one I maybe enjoyed the least (did EVERY story need cutaway conversations with […]

Caped Crusade

Batman: White Knight, Deluxe Edition by Sean Murphy

January 28, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

I so rarely write full-length reviews on graphic novels. This is a rare exception cuz…well, I got a lot to say. I’m not a fan of most modern day DC/Marvel graphic novels. They all have familiar story lines, twee dialogue, and conclusive narratives. I’ll grant that I don’t go too deep in the weeds with them but when I do venture out of my Batman/Daredevil comfort zone (like Hawkeye for example), I’m almost always disappointed. While I do enjoy a decent diet of Batman tales, modern ones […]

Standing on One Two Fifth

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

January 26, 2022 by Jake 1 Comment

Colson Whitehead writing a crime novel is exactly what it sounds so depending on how you feel about him as a writer will impact how you feel about this book. I realize that’s a pedantic thing to say because that’s true of almost every writer. But I emphasize it here because I’ve usually never been able to be in sync with Whitehead’s style. I couldn’t finish Underground Railroad and while I liked parts of Zone One and the concept as a whole, he kept losing me with tangents. Still, […]

Spies Alive

The Torqued Man by Peter Mann

January 22, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

The Torqued Man is a very difficult novel to pull off. It has to accurately replicate the atmosphere of Nazi Germany in World War II, introduce two queer heroes enmeshed with each other without the Tragic Homosexual trope, present a novel-within-the-novel that tweaks the story without it losing momentum. become a high wire spy tale in the tradition of Furst and LeCarré, and do all of this in a way that entertains while seamlessly blending multiple genres. And man oh man does Peter Mann do it. […]

Mad Money

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power by Max Chafkin

January 21, 2022 by Jake 5 Comments

My journey through Silicon Valley continues as I learn more and more about its major events and players. And boy, do all of these guys really like Ayn Rand. Like many, I was disappointed at the downfall of Gawker. While I felt like the site (and its offshoots) could be too proud of itself and unaware that its establishment as an institution made their criticisms of institutions a little flat, I think it performed an important service to the media in terms of calling out bs. Being […]

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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