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:

Will You Ever Win?

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

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Laura Lippman continues to outdo herself. After an entertaining (but pedestrian by recent standards) standalone in The Lady on the Lake, she again finds the form she had in Sunburn. I don’t know yet which is better but I know I liked them both a lot. While I guess it’s somewhat of a mystery, this book is a horror, with transparent shades of Stephen King’s Misery. And yet, Lippman is able to make it a work all of her own by taking the piggish perspective of Gerry, the writer, and […]

Drawing the Joker

Lady Joker, Volume One by Kaoru Takamura

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Japanese crime stories are often large in scope. They focus on the characters more or less but the writers like to take a broader look at Japanese society. At least, that’s been my experience with the crime fiction that’s been translated state side. Hideo Yokoyama and Natsuo Kirino immediately come to mind. Kaoru Takamura writes in a similar vein. This work was compared to both James Ellroy and Don DeLillo. I didn’t see either, frankly. Although Kaoru Takamura does do the cultural critiquing in the […]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the (reading) Weekend…

Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue by Samuel R. Delany

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg John-Barker, Julia Scheele (illustration)

Widespread Panic by James Ellroy

Quarry's Cut by Max Allan Collins

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Read a variety of books close to and over the weekend. Let’s check it out… Bleeding Edge **** This is a 2021 reread and it’s better than I remember. The ending disappoints but it’s still an entertaining, prescient novel. Pynchon warned us about Too Online culture and yet, here we are.   Times Square Red, Times Square Blue **** I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this. And I liked it! Mostly. This is like a tale of two books. It’s two essays […]

Perfume, Chocolate, and Spies

The Scent of Secrets by Jane Thynne

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I have a dirty little secret that I suppose I’m confessing to the world: I like booksellers more than librarians. Librarians are usually concerned primarily with the administration of their office. Understandably so! I’d just as soon know what I’m looking for in a library so I don’t have to inquire for a librarian’s help. Usually, if I’m going to one, it’s because I want to get a specific something. Rarely do I browse in the library. Bookstores, as I’ve whittled down my wishlist over […]

Ghost in the Machine

U Up? by Cate Disabato

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In the end, this one receives the thinnest of four stars. I’m nudging it over the line because I think it has a lot going for it, even with the protagonist driving me absolutely bonkers for the last 20-30 pages. I guess I should start with the positives: I like Catie Disabato’s writing. She has a gift for creating real, believable characters, even the ghost ones. Her vision of how witchcraft works in this world: that mediums have the power to see ghosts, with certain […]

Mar(e)io of Rocksburg (Easttown)

The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes by K.C. Constantine

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Like many this past month, I watched and enjoyed HBO’s Mare of Easttown. I especially liked the first tier suburban Philly setting, the commitment to local culture, and the character-focused thrust of storytelling, even as there was a murder mystery to be solved. There was empathy for people and their situations in life, all of it centered around the titular Mare, the town detective. I wanted to read a book with similar traits. Long Bright River is the easiest and obvious answer but I read (and enjoyed) that one […]



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