Master of the Senate by Robert Caro
First book I finished in 2022…and it might already be the best thing I’ve read. Pack it in, people. I was hoping sitting on it for a day would help me form a more coherent review but I think I’m going to need to process it more to get there. This is gonna be a bit of sentence salad. What I love about Robert Caro’s books is how unconventional they are. Caro has no interest in the typical biography, whether it’s a hagiography, a hack […]
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Girl With the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block
Cold Shot to the Heart by Wallace Stroby
Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League by Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo
All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris
Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortune and Misfortune of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty by Jonathan Pearson
The Blonde on the Street Corner by David Goodis
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Having been busy with Christmas prep, avoiding Delta and Omicron, and other various things, I haven’t had the time to write long, 250+ reviews for these books. I figured I’d just cram them all here since I know I won’t finish Robert Caro’s Master of the Senate before New Year’s Eve. The Fortress of Solitude *** This clears the 3-star threshold but just barely. I appreciate what Lethem is trying to do here and I usually enjoy his work. But this was a […]
You Can Die Trying by Gar Anthony Haywood
I’ve been going through some of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series this past year. One thing I’ve written about it is my concern of how Connelly walks to the edge of police criticism but then draws back because he needs his Harry Bosch character to be “good,” even when Harry is bending and breaking laws to solve cases that apparently only he can solve. I like Connelly a lot, I really do. But reading Gar Anthony Haywood’s take on systemic racism and police brutality in You […]
Disneywar by James B. Stewart
Several folks recommended this non-fiction tome for people like me who love the hit HBO series Succession. Since the third season just ended (and who knows when we’ll get a fourth?), I finally decided to try it. And yeah, fans of Succession will love it. Fans of corporate thrillers/backstabbing will love it too, whether fiction or non-fiction is your poison. James B. Stewart documents in great detail the rise and fall arc of Michael Eisner. These kinds of books aren’t my thing but I can’t imagine there’s a better […]
Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest
I was really excited to get my hands on this. It had good reviews and its quirky nature seemed up my alley. And it…mostly met expectations. Let’s unpack… For all intents and purposes, this is a cozy mystery and I don’t usually do cozies. The relentlessly sunny outlook despite the presence of a dead body, the sexless flirting and banter, the stuffy settings and predictable plots. But even though this has some of that, it was written by a younger person who isn’t trying too […]
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
This was cruising to a 4-star rating and probably the title of my favorite Gamache read. And instead, it lands at 3. Why? A variety of reasons. I liked that most of the action, specifically Gamache’s action, took place outside of Three Pines. I don’t find Three Pines as fascinating as the writer does. Ideally, this series would just take Gamache to different parts of Quebec. Such is life. I also liked that Penny gave Jean-Guy some run. Occasionally, she writes him as too much […]
