Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Jake

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Jake's Reviews:

In Putin’s Russia, Donald Trumps YOU!

House of Trump, House of Putin by Craig Unger

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First of all, much love to this book for having a clever cover. Donald Trump and the Putin nesting dolls…it gave me a laugh every time I looked at it, especially the Putin face sticking out of an oversized body. Second, and more important…this book should have been much better than it was given the subject. I’ve explored some of the connections between the Russian organized crime unit and Donald Trump. I was anticipating this book would make those links more clear. Instead, it’s basically […]

Them Good Ol’ Boys

The Sinners by Ace Atkins

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Do you have a series that’s so deeply enjoyable to you, reading it’s like slipping on a good, comfortable pair of jeans or drinking something tasty out of a favorite glass? That’s the Quinn Colson series for me. Eight books in and there’s not much differentiating one from another, this one included. But man, I really do enjoy these. Atkins creates great characters and he does such a fantastic job building this setting. Every story adds a layer to fictional Tibbehah County and I’m here […]

Pearl Clutching

Rage by Bob Woodward

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Apparently, it took Bob Woodward 3.5 years and close to a thousand pages to deduce that Donald Trump is unfit to be President. Good job, Bob. Here’s a cookie. Like Fear, his other work on the Trump Administration, this is less a book with a narrative thread and more a collection of scattered anecdotes from various sources cobbled together the way someone cuts and pastes articles from a newspaper for a scrapbook. In reviewing a bad movie once, Jamelle Bouie said that the film was “the […]

Thrills and Chills

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

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This is one I was eager to get my hands on given the premise and the reviews. It didn’t disappoint, being one of the best books I read this year and, along with Long Bright River, one of the best new releases of 2020. This book is so many things but at the heart, it’s really a tale of suspense. A lot obviously depends on your perspective (I’m a cishet white guy) but Cole is excellent at blending the existential dread of the Black experience in […]

Demonic Duo

Forever by Pete Hamill

Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt

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Knocked out two books this past weekend, one fiction, the other non-fiction, both somewhat relating to the supernatural. Forever 3 stars Considered by no less than Lawrence Block to be the great New York City novel, I knew I had to grit my teeth through Forever after failing twice before, especially considering the recent death of its author, Pete Hamill. And while I don’t like it nearly as much as Block, I’m glad I did. Hamill is a good writer; I’ve already added another of his books to […]

9/11 Truth and Consequences

Intelligence Matters by Bob Graham

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My threshold for books about the Trump era has risen in the last year, perhaps because I’m taking anti-depressants. My threshold for books about the Bush era and 9/11 remains low (nineteen years ago tomorrow). The effects of it are still felt today and call back to that awful day and the awfulness my country put itself through in the ensuing years. That could’ve been why I didn’t really glom to Bob Graham’s book, although I find its existence fascinating. A sitting Senator wrote about […]



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