Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About Halbs

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I'm left-handed! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Halbs's Quick Questions interview.)

Halbs's Reviews:

“Which is more mysterious, more inexplicable, dying or/staying alive?”

Earthling: Poems by James Longenbach

August 21, 2022 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Me: “Oh, it’s called Earthling, like what aliens called humans in 1950s sci-fi, lol!” James Logenbach: “Earthling is one of the oldest words in the English language, our original word for ploughman, a keeper of the earth. In poems simultaneously ordinary and otherworldly…” Logenbach’s Earthling is certainly about things of the earth. He ponders (fixates?) on how we’re here for a little, like everyone else has been or will be, but the earth and sky and water remain. In early parts of the book he […]

Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: Death, James Longenbach

Halbs's CBR14 Review No:29 · Genres: Poetry · Tags: Death, James Longenbach ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A Remembrance of Things Past

Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen : Reflections on Sixty and Beyond by Larry McMurtry

August 17, 2022 by Halbs 1 Comment

I have great affection for everything about this book: the Dairy Queen cover photo, the West Texas rumination, the author’s cherishing of books and words. What a delicious book. That DQ photo reminds me of the Dairy Queen I’d often stop at in Goldthwaite, Texas, at the intersection of Highway 183 and 16. I used to go there as a teenager when driving to college. Now I take my own kids there now when passing through. A DQ can be a cultural hub in a […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir Tagged With: Books, Country Life, Larry McMurtry, reading, Texas

Halbs's CBR14 Review No:28 · Genres: Biography/Memoir · Tags: Books, Country Life, Larry McMurtry, reading, Texas ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Soylent Green is people!

Technopoly by Neil Postman

August 8, 2022 by Halbs Leave a Comment

It’s nearly impossible for contemporary critical thinkers to write about our relationship with technology without referencing Postman’s Technopoly. While it was originally published thirty years ago, many of its points and predictions remain as relevant as ever. However, Postman also gets a lot wrong. In particular, his solutions to cultural issues with tech problems seem shallow at best. For that reason, I would only recommend this book to readers interested in the history of our concerns about tech. Postman first asserts that “embedded in every […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: culture, dangers of technology, Neil Postman, social science, technology

Halbs's CBR14 Review No:27 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: culture, dangers of technology, Neil Postman, social science, technology ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Page-turner mystery series alert

Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood

August 8, 2022 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Fortune Favors the Dead is the first book in the “Pentecost and Parker” mystery series. If you like a little bit of Sherlock Holmes and a little bit of hard-boiled noir, this could be the series for you! The Pentecost half of the series is the (in)famous NYC private detective, Ms. Pentecost. Ms. Pentecost is a 1940s Sherlock Holmes – she is hyper-observant, obsessive, and perhaps a little uncaring of her crime-solving crew at times. She is more interested in justice than anything else. Even […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: Detective Fiction, LGTBQ, new york, private eye, Stephen Spotswood

Halbs's CBR14 Review No:26 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: Detective Fiction, LGTBQ, new york, private eye, Stephen Spotswood ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Power to the People!

Finance for the People: Getting a Grip on Your Finances by Paco De Leon

August 7, 2022 by Halbs 2 Comments

Does money stress you out? Were you born into a working class family? Finance for the People is for you! Paco De Leon has written a pragmatic yet empathetic book about how to take care of ourselves in this economy. De Leon talks about why people are weird about money, the stories we tell ourselves about money, and then she unveils her Pyramid of Financial Awesomeness. Chapters are based on each little section of the Pyramid. This makes for an easy-to-follow structure, and each chapter […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: Finances, Money, money management, Paco De Leon, personal finance

Halbs's CBR14 Review No:25 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: Finances, Money, money management, Paco De Leon, personal finance ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

New Rural Chinese Mystery Series!

Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

July 31, 2022 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Thief of Souls is the first book in the Inspector Lu Fei mystery series. I’m not sure how long the series is intended to go, but I know a second book was released earlier this year. In fact, Bookpage’s review of the newest installment is what had me track this one down at my local library. Inspector Lu Fei is a mid-level law enforcement agent for China’s Public Security Bureau (PSB). He lives and works in the rural agricultural town of Raven Valley. The reader […]

Filed Under: Mystery Tagged With: Brian Klingborg, China, detective, murder

Halbs's CBR14 Review No:24 · Genres: Mystery · Tags: Brian Klingborg, China, detective, murder ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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