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:

What It Means to Survive

The Night the Lights Went Out by Drew Magary

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Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Representation. Drew Magary writes about suffering a traumatic brain injury and adjusting to the ill effects of it that left him non-able bodied.  There are very few books I’d recommend to people across my family/friends spectrum. This is one. Perhaps it is one of one. Drew Magary is one of my favorite writers but it sure as hell didn’t start out that way. At Kissing Suzy Kolber, I found him to be a loud-mouthed bully, the kind of guy who thinks […]

Sexless and the City

The Gutter and the Grave by Ed McBain

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Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Self care. I collect Hard Case Crime novels and read at least one a month.  I’ve long wanted to finish at least one of the works of Ed McBain. I’ve tried, tried, and tried again with his 87th Precinct books but I just can’t get past the opening pages. I understand what he’s trying to do, and I really appreciate it. But they’ve just never clicked for me. He’s a good writer but I’ll be damned if I can engage […]

And Through the Woods

The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

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Read as part of CBR13bingo: myth I made it a point to know as little about this book going in. I knew that it was a fantasy set in a mythical New York City that involved a family. That was it. And I think that’s the best way to read this book. There is something horrifying that happens in the first third (or does it?) that made it difficult to read but Victor LaValle’s writing style is easy enough to fall in and out of. […]

Up Close and Personal

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

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Read as part of CBR13Bingo: uncannon. The novelist is of Japanese descent and her book comes from the perspective a non-white character.  Reading Intimacies was a beautiful struggle. I wanted to like it more than I did. It has a lot going for it. But it’s kind of a donut book in that there’s a big hole in the middle: we know almost nothing at all about the protagonist. There’s little about her background, who she is, what her interests are, etc. Katie Kitamura even withholds her name. […]

Eat Up

The Dinner by Herman Koch

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Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Libations.  Truthfully, this should be a “White Whale” read. I’ve been putting this one off for years and I further buried it when I wasn’t impressed with the beginning of Herman Koch’s Dear Mr. M. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have picked up a copy had I not been stuck at a bookstore with money burning a hole in my pocket and nothing else looking appealing. Sometimes, I make bad decisions regarding impulse book purchases. This is not one of those times. […]

PDX

Derailed by Mary Keliikoa

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Read as part of CBR13Bingo: New Series. The Kelly Pruett series debuted in 2020. Book two came out this year.  In the “About the Author” section, the reader learns that Mary Keliikoa didn’t get the chance to publish this book until she was 50, despite trying to begin a writing career in her 20s. Things like family and work (she is, or was a lawyer) kept getting in the way. I appreciate that story a lot. And perhaps it made me appreciate her debut effort […]



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