Michael Chabon – Cannonball Read 17

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

September 23, 2025 by vega-table 2 Comments

Bingo Row 2 – TBR I’ve attempted to read the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay a few times over the years. Something always happens, including two instances where my cat opened my bedside table and ripped the book to shreds. Eventually I gave up. It seemed I was not meant to read it. But when I recently saw it at a bookstore, I decided to try again because I believe in coincidences and don’t believe that fate has destroyed multiple copies of this book. […]

Convoluted and Fun

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

October 14, 2023 by elderberrywine Leave a Comment

CBR15 Passport – Federal District of Sitka CBR15 Bingo In the Wild So there are a few things different this time around. After WWII, Israel collapsed as a state and is no longer accommodating to Jewish refugees. As a matter of fact, the only place they can gain at least temporary refuge is the Federal District of Sitka. As long as they play nice and share it with the native Tlingit. So that works for 60 years or so, but the District is now set […]

Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

July 7, 2022 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

I am rereading this (and will likely get around to other Michael Chabon books later) and for the most part I really enjoyed the reread. This is a second novel that is so far superior to a first novel that there was always the clear indication of talent. And even as a second novel there’s a precociousness here. Chabon was 32 or so when this was published, but the narrator is a burnt-out contemporary novelist working at a university who is somewhere around page 2000 […]

Mixed Bag III

Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales by Michael Chabon et

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

This Telling by Cheryl Strayed

Sweet Virginia by Caroline Kepnes

Shine Pamela Shine by Kate Atkinson

Halfway to Free by Emma Donaghue

Graceful Burdens by Roxanna Gay

Bear Witness by Mark Gaitskill

The Contractors by Lisa Ko

Sun of a Beach by Mia Sosa

The Wonderful Adventure of Nils by Selma Lagerlof

April 12, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Thrilling Tales – 2/5 Stars I’ve read this book twice previously and more or less liked a lot of the stories. But this reread was pretty sour for a few reasons. The story collection is ostensibly a genre collection of adventure stories posed off of Michael Chabon’s childhood of reading such stories. There’s probably references in the introduction to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Edgar Wallace and other Edgars. And so, when I bought and read this story in college, I felt more or less that […]

When Nothing Else Matters

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

March 5, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is fairly easy to describe: an alternate history mystery tale set in a Jewish colony in Alaska that’s about to be handed over to the United States. But it’s so much more. This book pays homage to the great hardboiled traditions of the past but has a big beating heart in the middle. And it also functions as a hilarious and sad commentary on Jewish life post-World War II. I’m aware of how acclaimed Michael Chabon is but I’ve not had much […]

Short story review dump (Part III)

Mono no aware by Ken Liu

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu

The Hofzinser Club by Michael Chabon

The Baboon War by Nnedi Okorafor

Childfinder by Octavia E. Butler

The Five-Forty-Eight by John Cheever

February 21, 2020 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

Mono no Aware by Ken Liu (5 stars) Mono no aware is a Japanese phrase meaning “the pathos of things”. It’s the bittersweet feeling of sadness at the impermanence of things, a careful blend of appreciation and sadness that nothing can last forever. It’s the phrase I didn’t know that I needed in my life – but I think I do, because I experience it fairly often. I think it’s one of the reasons I love Haruki Murakami’s work so much. There is a delicate […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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