Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About jeverett15

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39 years old. New Jersey resident. Fan of mystery novels, classic literature, and non-fiction about movies, television, sports, and American history.

jeverett15's Reviews:

How to Succeed in Show Business Without Ever Trying

The World's Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian

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Sona Movsesian has been Conan O’Brien’s personal assistant since 2009, although now she’s better known as a co-host/sidekick on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast. Sona has become a fan favorite because of her sense of humor, especially when it comes to poking fun at her boss. Turns out, that lack of professionalism isn’t new. As her memoir reveals, and as Conan has never stopped pointing out, Sona isn’t a very hard worker. The World’s Worst Assistant is a tongue-and-cheek account of how to […]

Motor City Murder

Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard

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Fashion model Kelly Barr is in a tough spot. Under duress, she agreed to help her roommate and fellow model Chloe Robinette “entertain” Chloe’s 84-year-old boyfriend, a wealthy lawyer named Tony Paradiso. It’s pure luck that she’s out of the room when two men break in and shoot both Mr. Paradise and Chloe dead. But that luck doesn’t last long, as Paradiso’s ex-con fixer wants her help getting hold of some valuable items the old man left behind in a safety deposit box in Chloe’s […]

The Whole Town’s Talking

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

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Everyone knows that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but something I would do well to remind myself is not to get too excited and judge a book by its first few chapters. Forty or so pages into James McBride’s new novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, I was sure I was reading a future favorite, and possibly a real classic. Lamentably, the awe-inspiring magic of those early pages does not persist, as McBride’s ambitious scope leads to the plot losing momentum […]

Where Have You Been, My Blue-Eyed Son?

Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter

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Recently, New York Review Books held a big sale on forgotten noir classics and I availed myself of the opportunity to grab a few. (Stay tuned.) Of those, Don Carpenter’s Hard Rain Falling was the one I knew the least about, but which was also the most intriguing. It’s advocates speak very highly of it’s unsparing honestly and hardboiled vibe. I mean, just look at that cover. The story has an unusual structure. The narrative switches perspective at odd intervals, just as the reader begins […]

With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends?

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

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A Spy Among Friends is a story about probably the most successful double agent, and the worst friend, in history. Kim Philby, son of a prominent scholar, rose through the ranks of Britain’s MI6 intelligence service during World War II. Thanks mainly to his charm and his impeccable credentials, Philby served in a series of tremendously important positions in England and abroad, often running the most sensitive and dangerous operations. He was also a Soviet spy. Nicholas Elliott’s career at MI6 rose in parallel with […]

A Curious Collection

Liberation Day by George Saunders

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I’m a big fan of George Saunders, who is probably the best-known short story writer working in America today. At his best, Saunders’s visions of broken possible futures remind me of my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut. Like Vonnegut, it feels wrong to characterize Saunders’s work as science-fiction, but he does seem appropriately concerned with it means for humanity that we have centered technology in our lives and ceded so much to it already. The dark possibilities of tech are at the heart of the title […]



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