Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About Jake

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I love reading! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Jake's Quick Questions interview.)

Jake's Reviews:

Hell Hath Fury

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Crosby

July 14, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

CN: violence against LGBTQIA+ folk Confession time: It’s been kind of a disappointing year for me in terms of reading fiction. There’s little that moves me anymore; everything feels so rote. That has little to do with contemporary writers, who are constantly twisting their genres, and more with just a continued familiarity with the tropes. Crime writing that used to entertain me when it reached the level of competent now barely moves the needle. And then, there’s S.A. Crosby. I enjoyed Blacktop Wasteland when it came out […]

Filed Under: Suspense Tagged With: crime, Razorblade Tears, S.A. Crosby, thriller, Virginia

Jake's CBR13 Review No:111 · Genres: Suspense · Tags: crime, Razorblade Tears, S.A. Crosby, thriller, Virginia ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Lightning Round

Tonguebreaker by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Batman Earth One, Vol. 3 by Geoff Johns

Solomon's Vineyard by Jonathan Latimer

Antartica: Journeys to the South Pole by Walter Dean Myers

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

July 12, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

A few reviews of shorter books that I read quickly over the weekend and didn’t have extra time to flesh out… Tonguebreaker ***** Coming to terms with a society that doesn’t want you based on your body…and creating your own space instead…has to be a challenging thing. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha bares her soul to the world in this collection of poems and one-act plays. Her use of language to lecture gripped me and her exploration of what it means to live in this world, to […]

Filed Under: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Poetry Tagged With: Antartica, Batman, Batman Earth One, BIPOC, Disability, exploration, Geoff Johns, Graphic Novel, hardboiled, Jonathan Latimer, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, mystery, New York City, Newberry Medal winner, poetry, Rebecca Stead, Solomon's Vineyard, Tonguebreaker, walter dean myers, Young Adult

Jake's CBR13 Review No:110 · Genres: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Poetry · Tags: Antartica, Batman, Batman Earth One, BIPOC, Disability, exploration, Geoff Johns, Graphic Novel, hardboiled, Jonathan Latimer, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, mystery, New York City, Newberry Medal winner, poetry, Rebecca Stead, Solomon's Vineyard, Tonguebreaker, walter dean myers, Young Adult ·
· 0 Comments

Not Bond? Not James Bond?

Forever and a Death by Donald Westlake

July 11, 2021 by Jake 1 Comment

In a writers group I participate in via social media, someone asked the question a few months ago that if we could have three traits from authors, what would they be? I don’t remember my other two answers but the one I do remember is Donald Westlake’s versatility. The man wrote noir potboilers, political gags a la Ross Thomas, the sparse and sharp Parker series, the slyly comedic Dortmunder tales…he could do it all. He even had a hand at James Bond. Forever and a […]

Filed Under: Suspense Tagged With: Donald Westlake, Forever and a Death, hard case crime, thriller

Jake's CBR13 Review No:105 · Genres: Suspense · Tags: Donald Westlake, Forever and a Death, hard case crime, thriller ·
· 1 Comment

I Got A Plan

Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency by Lou DuBose and Jake Bernstein

July 9, 2021 by Jake 2 Comments

In the Trump years, there was this strand of liberalism/centrism in the Discourse that pined for a Republican administration under George W. Bush. Say what you will about Bush but at least he didn’t (insert latest evil thing Trump did) blah blah blah.  To which my reply was always: Yeah no. George Bush was awful. In many (not all) respects, he was worse than Trump. And one of the main reasons was Dick Cheney. I’m one of the few defenders of Adam McKay’s Vice because I feel like it was a […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #history, 9/11, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Lou DuBose and Jake Bernstein, politics, Vice, War in Iraq

Jake's CBR13 Review No:104 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #history, 9/11, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Lou DuBose and Jake Bernstein, politics, Vice, War in Iraq ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

The Horrors of Replacement Theory Conspiracists

Weeping Waters by Karin Brynard

July 8, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

Some have pegged Karin Brynard as the “South African Stieg Larsson.” For good and not so good reasons, I can see why. I’m not an expert on South Africa. I know the broad strokes of the fall of apartheid and how it functioned before the rise of President Mandela, but as far as how the country is adapting today, I’m mostly clueless. I have no doubt that a herrenvolk government doesn’t just switch to multicultural democracy overnight, and that South Africans are probably several generations […]

Filed Under: Mystery Tagged With: Albertus Beeslaar, apartheid, Karin Brynard, mystery, Racism, Rural, south africa, Weeping Waters

Jake's CBR13 Review No:103 · Genres: Mystery · Tags: Albertus Beeslaar, apartheid, Karin Brynard, mystery, Racism, Rural, south africa, Weeping Waters ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Vacation Reading

Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBT Rights Uprising that Changed America by Martin Doberman

The Pursuit of Pearls by Clara Vine

Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

The Rocksburg Railroad Murders by K.C. Constantine

March Violets by Philip Kerr

Can't Knock the Hustle: Inside Brooklyn's Season of Hope: How Basketball Helped Us Survive Power, Politics, and a Global Pandemic by Matt Sullivan

The Lime Pit by Jonathan Valin

July 6, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

I was on vacation last week and, as you can tell from the stack in the header, I read a LOT… Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBT Rights Uprising that Changed America **** I wish this had focused more on the Uprising itself, as opposed to being a semi auto-biography on those who were involved in it. But it’s still a fascinating story at the nascent days of the LGBTQIA+ Movement, the challenges and complexities, and what emerged from it. A good gateway into learning […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #history, basketball, Berlin, Bernie Gunther, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Nets, Can't Knock the Hustle, Cincinnati, Clara Vine, Eileen Chang, espionage, historical fiction, Hong Kong China, Jonathan Valin, K.C. Constantine, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, LGBTQIA, Lust Caution, March Violets, Mario Balzic, Martin Doberman, Matt Sullivan, mystery, NBA, New York City, paris, Pennsylvania, Philip Kerr, politics, sports, Stacey Abrams, Stonewall, The Lime Pit, The Pursuit of Pearls, The Rocksburg Railroad Murders, thriller, While Justice Sleeps

Jake's CBR13 Review No:102 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #history, basketball, Berlin, Bernie Gunther, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Nets, Can't Knock the Hustle, Cincinnati, Clara Vine, Eileen Chang, espionage, historical fiction, Hong Kong China, Jonathan Valin, K.C. Constantine, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, LGBTQIA, Lust Caution, March Violets, Mario Balzic, Martin Doberman, Matt Sullivan, mystery, NBA, New York City, paris, Pennsylvania, Philip Kerr, politics, sports, Stacey Abrams, Stonewall, The Lime Pit, The Pursuit of Pearls, The Rocksburg Railroad Murders, thriller, While Justice Sleeps ·
· 0 Comments
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