Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Ya Drink Too Much

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block

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My tour through Matthew Scudder’s New York continues. This is another solid entry in the series. I was a little concerned when I saw Matthew drinking at Armstrong’s and other places on the west side. It seemed to negate the ending of Eight Million Ways to Die. Was Block going to retcon everything or just pretend it didn’t happen? However, the reader soon realizes the whole time this is a flashback novel of something Matthew did in 1975, while he was still binge drinking. And while there’s […]

Back to the Beginning

Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block

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I continue to collect Hard Case Crime novels, even though I barely buy the new ones anymore. I worry sometimes about the spirit of the product but I know Charles Ardai and the folks there do good work to keep the imprint alive. Because I have a backlog of HCC books, I’ve made a commitment to read once at least once a month. This month, I decided to start where it all began: Grifter’s Game, book #1 in the series. Originally published as Mona, it was one […]

City is a Pity; Half of Y’all Won’t Make It

Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block

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My tour of the Matthew Scudder series continues. Many think this is where Lawrence Block made the proverbial leap with these books in terms of quality. That’s probably true; this is far and away the best written book of the series so far. It’s concise and tight. I was engaged the whole time. However, I still think this one falls short of greatness, mostly because of the ending but we’ll get there. Anyway, alcoholic ex-cop and amateur PI Matthew Scudder maneuvers through the bleak landscape […]

Knives Out

A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block

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Made a recent commitment to make my way through Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder series. I found the first three enjoyable enough for passing the time but mostly unmemorable. This was the first one that really moved me. And that’s surprising because the crime itself is based on a mystery trope I hate: slashed women/murdered women/serial killer. When I saw the plot for A Stab in the Dark, I audibly groaned. I can’t stand books like that and I rarely read them. Had I not already been […]

Not Bad

Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

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About ten years ago, I spent a summer working an internship and living with three other people. During the week, I bided time until the weekend, when I could go hang out with my then girlfriend, who lived about an hour away. But until then, there wasn’t much to do where I was at and the four of us were all broke interns. So I killed time reading and doing other stuff. The job I was at had a cart full of random books. One […]

I miss you, Secretariat.

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Two or three years ago, while we were on vacation in The Berkshires, we spent a day at the Norman Rockwell museum. It was great. We learned a ton about Rockwell and his life and walked around the gorgeous property where he painted. As an added bonus, there was a special exhibit on display, featuring all (or at least a lot) of Edward Hopper’s Cape Cod paintings. This was particularly eye-opening, as I really didn’t know much about Hopper other than that he painted Nighthawks. […]



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